St. Croix Pellet stove building up creosote

[alternativeheat]

Hmm, not as bad as I expected. But Tony we are spoiled with the simplicity of P61 cleanings. A lot of stoves require these additional steps as in the video. What my dealer told me when we researched St Croix vs Harman though is that the St Croix would require more frequent cleanings than the Harman's. He sells both. We had interest in the Prescott but he kind of steered us towards Harman. I liked the looks of a lot of the St Croix stoves though. Then my wife started really hanging on the words reliability and dependability, we are owning this the rest of our lives type stuff. With that the dealer stopped discussing any stoves but Harman. I believe he sells three brands there at least.

 

[Tonyray]

Hmm, not as bad as I expected. But Tony we are spoiled with the simplicity of P61 cleanings. A lot of stoves require these additional steps as in the video. What my dealer told me when we researched St Croix vs Harman though is that the St Croix would require more frequent cleanings than the Harman's. He sells both. We had interest in the Prescott but he kind of steered us towards Harman. I liked the looks of a lot of the St Croix stoves though. Then my wife started really hanging on the words reliability and dependability, we are owning this the rest of our lives type stuff. With that the dealer stopped discussing any stoves but Harman. I believe he sells three brands there at least.

yeah... additional steps for sure.....
agree about being spoiled...
I tell people my 7 yr old grandson within a few times could clean a Harman.. that's how simple it is..
I'm sure the St Croix is an excellent stove though..
btw:
soon as the weather stays brutal cold steady, I'm dying to try these out...
Made by Energex from the finest sawdust possible... limited quanity each year so they Only sell to selected stove dealers which I assume means the same customers each year.
0.5 ash.... we'll see...paid 250.00 ton back in the early buy spring...didn't come in till last month.
bought 2 tons..

 

[alternativeheat]

yeah... additional steps for sure.....
agree about being spoiled...
I tell people my 7 yr old grandson within a few times could clean a Harman.. that's how simple it is..
I'm sure the St Croix is an excellent stove though..
btw:
soon as the weather stays brutal cold steady, I'm dying to try these out...
Made by Energex from the finest sawdust possible... limited quanity each year so they Only sell to selected stove dealers which I assume means the same customers each year.
0.5 ash.... we'll see...paid 250.00 ton back in the early buy spring...didn't come in till last month.
bought 2 tons..

Good luck with them !! If I can get a few more of these AWF white pine Super Premiums I will pick them up in the next few days. Then around Thanksgiving I'm going on the Energex Hardwoods. Gonna be cold tonight compared with recent weather, dipping into the mid 20's from what I can tell. Ya it's coming.

 

[Tonyray]

Good luck with them !! If I can get a few more of these AWF white pine Super Premiums I will pick them up in the next few days. Then around Thanksgiving I'm going on the Energex Hardwoods. Gonna be cold tonight compared with recent weather, dipping into the mid 20's from what I can tell. Ya it's coming.

I have 2 ton Energex hardwoods in the basement...
very hot also a bit ashy but the heat is worth it. [if u never burned them]..

 

[TimfromMA]

Only 3 more bags left over from last year then its douglas fir the rest of the season.

 

[Tonyray]

Only 3 more bags left over from last year then its douglas fir the rest of the season.

I still have not gone over 15-16 hrs Straight per bag pellets. most times around 14 hrs.
maybe not gonna happen with a P61.
I'll see what the Energex golden pellets do this winter.

 

[heat seeker]

That video makes it look a lot worse than it is. I've never had more than a very small amount of ash in my ash traps. I run the combustion blower while cleaning the stove, and just stirring that little ash sends it out the vent.

I use a 2" paint brush and a small putty knife. I don't vacuum or use a scraper (unless you consider the putty knife a scraper). I have never used the flex cable, either, but I do visually check that area, and it's never dirty.

I'm a bit surprised that St Croix posted that video. I would be discouraged, too, after seeing it. I think that they should rethink that video. Those full ash traps must be from ages of neglect.

No doubt the LBT helps a lot. I do it once per ton.

Never a hint of creosote on my glass, just ash that wipes right off.

Okay, defensive mode off!

 

[Tonyray]

That video makes it look a lot worse than it is. I've never had more than a very small amount of ash in my ash traps. I run the combustion blower while cleaning the stove, and just stirring that little ash sends it out the vent.

I use a 2" paint brush and a small putty knife. I don't vacuum or use a scraper (unless you consider the putty knife a scraper). I have never used the flex cable, either, but I do visually check that area, and it's never dirty.

I'm a bit surprised that St Croix posted that video. I would be discouraged, too, after seeing it. I think that they should rethink that video. Those full ash traps must be from ages of neglect.

No doubt the LBT helps a lot. I do it once per ton.

Never a hint of creosote on my glass, just ash that wipes right off.

Okay, defensive mode off!

yeah..
the video is all I had to go by and it looked a bit busy...

 

[bbfarm]

"Too low for this stove", please explain.
Unless you have some sort of exceptional circumstances a stove should run on all settings. IMHO

It just "simmers" I guess for lack of a better word. That's when the window gets dirty and more cresole

 

[bbfarm]

Lol that video must be from years worth of not cleaning the ash traps.

 

[alternativeheat]

I have 2 ton Energex hardwoods in the basement...
very hot also a bit ashy but the heat is worth it. [if u never burned them]..

Ya my stove got a pretty good diet of the hardwoods last year, same as you I thought real hot pellets fairly ashy. It's OK I'll go through this ton and then on to the DF's we have stored at the dealer. DF has next to no ash but neither do these AWF Super Premium I'm burning now ( less than .25% ash it says on the label and they mean it).

 

[Tonyray]

Ya my stove got a pretty good diet of the hardwoods last year, same as you I thought real hot pellets fairly ashy. It's OK I'll go through this ton and then on to the DF's we have stored at the dealer. DF has next to no ash but neither do these AWF Super Premium I'm burning now ( less than .25% ash it says on the label and they mean it).

off topic:
noticed that I burn thru more pellets keeping it in room/manual overnite 11-7am] than room/auto. At least enough to notice anyways..
.although has been bitter cold here at night.. 20's..
same ole story.. tryin to save wear/tear on ignitor..

 

[alternativeheat]

off topic:
noticed that I burn thru more pellets keeping it in room/manual overnite 11-7am] than room/auto. At least enough to notice anyways..
.although has been bitter cold here at night.. 20's..
same ole story.. tryin to save wear/tear on ignitor..

Once it hits the 20's outside then in my house it doesn't matter if I use manual or auto in room temp mode but medium fan vs high can make a difference. And since at night I don't care if the bedroom is slightly cool I will use medium fan, turn it up when I get up. Last night though I had the fan on medium and it still was a bit warm in the upstairs bedroom. Time to turn on the ceiling fan and push that heat back down stairs.

 

[Tonyray]

Once it hits the 20's outside then in my house it doesn't matter if I use manual or auto in room temp mode but medium fan vs high can make a difference. And since at night I don't care if the bedroom is slightly cool I will use medium fan, turn it up when I get up. Last night though I had the fan on medium and it still was a bit warm in the upstairs bedroom. Time to turn on the ceiling fan and push that heat back down stairs.

I use medium fan speed.. never really had it past that..
so in this kind of weather what is your per day pellet consumption?
and what mode are you in overnight...same as day/?

 

[heat seeker]

How did we get here from Creosote in a St Croix?

 

[alternativeheat]

How did we get here from Creosote in a St Croix?

We will move it to another thread, sorry about that !

 

[Tonyray]

We will move it to another thread, sorry about that !

yeah..
think I kickstarted the highjack unintenionally.. sorry gang..

 

[krooser]

Have a St. Croix Pellet stove that all of a sudden is building up with creosote. My husband totally cleaned the stove (for the second time in 2 weeks) a week ago and decided to shut the stove down today to take a look at it. When he pulled the pipe off and the blower out it was packed with creosote. We had to get another blower for the stove at the end of last year and the only difference from the old blower to the blower we are using now is that the impeller pitched is different and larger. The sales person said it would work. We did not have any trouble with it until now. I should also mention that it caused 2 chimney fires from this - which we caught just in time.

Any help would be welcome.

Thanks.

If you haven't had your stove completely torn down and cleaned i would bet you have a stove that's plugged with ash. Do you clean the stove/vent using the LBT? You need to run your stove on at least setting #4 or 5 every day if you are running it on the lower setting…