Quadrafire 5100, burn the soot

[LehighGuy]

So here is a (probably bad) idea I am toying with: next time I clean the ash from my quadrafire insert, take the baffle board and ceramic blanket out, and make a quick fire with a couple of small splits and starters that burns hot for 15-20 minutes. The purpose: it would burn the soot off of the compartment above the baffle and perhaps woosh through the the stuff that you normall don't clean because they are out of reach. Is it really a bad idea?

 

[rwhite]

IDK. I doubt it will hurt anything you'll just lose all the heat up the chimney and have all the parts laying around until it cools. I only worry about it once a year when I put it to bed in the spring. I will do a full cleaning and usually just take a putty knife and scrape everything. It's always just fluffy soot and never sticky type creosote formations. Other than that I may sweep the liner once or twice if the cap gets plugged but I have a 1/2" diamond mesh cap that will plug if the air gets real humid and we don't get any wind. Other than the cap the liner is usually clean.

 

[bholler]

it would burn the soot off of the compartment above the baffle

That should all just be dry powder if you are burning right with good wood so it shouldn't burn off at all

and perhaps woosh through the the stuff that you normall don't clean because they are out of reach.

You should be cleaning every part of the stove and vent this would not replace an actual cleaning

 

[firefighterjake]

Typically when I've cleaned the stove pipe and the area above the baffle all I see there for the most part is fly ash which I vacuum up once a year with my ash vacuum . . . I'm not sure what you are proposing would have any true benefit.