Newbie to the forum. Question about cleaning the baffle in the 2015 Magnolia

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Jeffair10

New Member
Dec 11, 2013
19
Ohio
sites.google.com
Hello fellow wood burners
I have been reading this forum for some time, great info for sure. Am at a spot where I needed some advice, so I registered, thanx.
I have had a USSC Magnolia for 5 years now, bought it new from TSC. I like it for the heat output and the length of burn time, although my big old house could probably use a bigger box.
I moved the Mag to a different spot in the basement this fall seeking better heat distribution, and it has worked nicely. But I had to add some black pipe and another elbow to the flu, and that has caused a fair amount of smoke to come out the door when opened, even when the flu is nice and hot, which it never did in the original spot I had it in.
So the other day, I got to inspecting it, and noticed that there were ashes up inside the baffle, blocking most of the little holes. This has turned out to be a real PITA. I've tried tricks with a shop vac, a wire, a piece of banding, even tried lightly tapping the baffle with a hammer to clear the ashes out.
Does anyone have a better avenue to pursue?

Also while inspecting I found that one of the fire bricks that are up in the baffle was cracked. These bricks are 8 1/4" by 6" and I had to order a replacement from the USSC site. Cost was nearly $30 with shipping :eek: for one brick!
At this time I am burning 2 year old Ash, fantastic heat.

Sorry for the long winded initial post.

Cheers
 
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Well I think I answered my own question. After the methods I previously used, I put 4 medium splits of Ash on medium to small hot coals in it and let it rock and roll.They look pretty clean now, and it is sweet to see the flames dancing in and out of the holes!

I was in TSC earlier today and they had a USSC 2000 and a Vogelzang stove that looked like a slightly smaller version of the Magnolia. And in both of them they had EW tubes with a bunch of holes in them. Are the tubes more efficient then the baffle my stove has?
 
Here she is rolling along just south of 450.

Wood Burner 004.jpg
 
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