If you read this thread, I picked up the stove listed
https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/forums/viewthread/89900/
I picked up the stove and the guy really had no idea what was going on. He hadn't cleaned his vent in years, had no idea about cleaning the stove, and no idea why it was having trouble keeping a flame going.
I missed the suggestion to take pics and make a refurb thread until I was done (too excited to get another stove), but I did basically all that was recommended and I took pictures once it was taken apart. Next deep cleaning I repost internal shots.
Here's some pics of the stove on my deck a few hours after pick up/purchase
The stove (very basically) needed cleaning...bad. Everything was functional. I took the stove apart, had some brushes (wire and soft), a shop vacuum, scraper, and tool set on hand and cleaned everything. I removed all the grime you see in the picture. I took the squirrel cage apart as much as I could, cleaned inside the blower, insde the exchaust, etc.
No matter what I did I always found more. The side handle/know is still stuck. It appears to be a rod you pull in and out to allow more air in or out and adjust that setting. No matter what I tried, it didnt work.
I'm guessing a cleaner rod went up front to clean/shake the heat tubes the air blows out of. Those things had about 1.5 inches of ash built up on them. The guy had no idea there was an ash pan. His exact words were "there's some broken or locked up button in the front you push but it never worked for me so I dont know what it does". the broke button was a flat head screw type knob to take out the ash pan, which was stuck and had about six inches of ash in it. The holes that allow air in and out had ashes in it.
I honestly spent more time vacuuming and getting ash out than anything else. The rest was scraping and cleaning. Really not a big deal. There was just ash everywhere, compacted and in eveyr corner. I would think I had it clean and I would move the stove and something would break loose. Its as if there was a deliberate effort to compact as much ash in the stove as possible.
I then painted the stove with high heat, flat black paint. Once it dried I installed the stove. I painted over some of the brass because I'm not a fan.
Next deep cleaning I'm going to take it fully apart again and snap some photos.
Long story short, I installed this in my house where my Harman is a bit weak. Fired it up and it keeps about 60% of my house blazing hot. One more of these and I wouldnt need a furnace at all. My house is long so a lot of registers are weak. With this thing I burn less pellets (a bag lasts about 15 or 16 hours), and the coldest room in my house is at 71, with my harman set to about 68.
This combined with my harman... I burned two bags in the stove, and four bags in the Harman PF100 lasted me from friday around 6 pm until this morning when the low fuel light came on.
https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/forums/viewthread/89900/
I picked up the stove and the guy really had no idea what was going on. He hadn't cleaned his vent in years, had no idea about cleaning the stove, and no idea why it was having trouble keeping a flame going.
I missed the suggestion to take pics and make a refurb thread until I was done (too excited to get another stove), but I did basically all that was recommended and I took pictures once it was taken apart. Next deep cleaning I repost internal shots.
Here's some pics of the stove on my deck a few hours after pick up/purchase
The stove (very basically) needed cleaning...bad. Everything was functional. I took the stove apart, had some brushes (wire and soft), a shop vacuum, scraper, and tool set on hand and cleaned everything. I removed all the grime you see in the picture. I took the squirrel cage apart as much as I could, cleaned inside the blower, insde the exchaust, etc.
No matter what I did I always found more. The side handle/know is still stuck. It appears to be a rod you pull in and out to allow more air in or out and adjust that setting. No matter what I tried, it didnt work.
I'm guessing a cleaner rod went up front to clean/shake the heat tubes the air blows out of. Those things had about 1.5 inches of ash built up on them. The guy had no idea there was an ash pan. His exact words were "there's some broken or locked up button in the front you push but it never worked for me so I dont know what it does". the broke button was a flat head screw type knob to take out the ash pan, which was stuck and had about six inches of ash in it. The holes that allow air in and out had ashes in it.
I honestly spent more time vacuuming and getting ash out than anything else. The rest was scraping and cleaning. Really not a big deal. There was just ash everywhere, compacted and in eveyr corner. I would think I had it clean and I would move the stove and something would break loose. Its as if there was a deliberate effort to compact as much ash in the stove as possible.
I then painted the stove with high heat, flat black paint. Once it dried I installed the stove. I painted over some of the brass because I'm not a fan.
Next deep cleaning I'm going to take it fully apart again and snap some photos.
Long story short, I installed this in my house where my Harman is a bit weak. Fired it up and it keeps about 60% of my house blazing hot. One more of these and I wouldnt need a furnace at all. My house is long so a lot of registers are weak. With this thing I burn less pellets (a bag lasts about 15 or 16 hours), and the coldest room in my house is at 71, with my harman set to about 68.
This combined with my harman... I burned two bags in the stove, and four bags in the Harman PF100 lasted me from friday around 6 pm until this morning when the low fuel light came on.
