Summerizing?

Well, I'm used to winterizing motorcycles, boats, yard equipment, etc. etc.

I've vacuumed out the stove and dusted off the hearth, greased the hinges with moly-60, and arranged the wood stacks in places where Mrs. Blue likes them.

What else does one do to summerize (if that's a word) a stove?

Check all the gaskets. Check to make sure the door closes well (paper or dollar bill test). Clean chimney. Make darned sure you have good wood to burn next year. Get 2-3 years ahead on your wood pile. Find time to relax.

I bought a 6" PVC pipe cap to put in place of my chimney cap in the offseason. I have yet to put it on, but want to if I get to it.
Every year I end up with a ton of bees, flys etc in the stove come burning time. Some live, some not.
Other than that, I don't even vacuum it out anymore. I sweep and on to the next year.
I did repaint it when I had the cracks fixed.
Oh clean the blower every year or two if you have one.

You sure bluedogz? Kind of cold out there tonight...

I noticed we get some moisture building up inside when the stove is not in use for a few days, I figured that was the point of the cat litter...

I'm thinking of cleaning everything really good, putting a small pan of cat litter in the back, then drilling out some holes in short logs to create one of those "log candle holder" things to put in front of the pan. Then I can light the candles when I want and hide the pan. Of course I'll also super clean the hearth (sweep, clean with spray cleaner since the stones do get dirty) and maybe reseal (natural stones), clean the blower again (I do that about once a week anyway), clean out the wood box from little bits of wood and stack nice dry pieces in there and empty the cast iron steamer/reseason it. And of course clean the tools and hod.

I'll also till the ash into the garden and stash the can away until next season (covered stainless can).

And keep working on the mountain o' wood in the yard, lol. We've got 5 or 6 pallets stacked 6' high now...and are maybe 1/3 through it. With more to come...

For Me:
Shovel remaining ash,
Close primary air,
Stuff a ball of rolled up newspaper in the flue,
Close flue baffle
Store kindling box, hearth tools, matches, gloves, etc in garage,
Remove, clean, oil, and replace blower.

Remember to remove ball of newspaper next fall.

Got my firebox cleaned, glass polished, awaiting chimney sweep next week. After freezing my ar$$ off this morning, I have reloaded. My wood is a little water splashed, hope it dries enough by the time I get home. Thank goodness for Ecobricks.

Vacuum it all out . . . and clean the glass.
Dust the stove and hearth and stove pipe.
Clean out the steamer.
Sweep the chimney.
Inspect the gaskets and joints inside the stove.
Graphite the hinges and air control.
Put a box of baking soda inside the firebox.
Reseal the slate hearth -- sometimes I do this in the Fall.
Empty the woodbox.

As for the wood pile . . . that work never ends . . .

Jake, pardon my ignorance--what is the steamer?

Steamer pot on top of my woodstove . . . I put potpourri and water in it . . . the hard water tends to gunk things up a bit by the end of the burning season so I scrub it all out.

Ah...forgot about those things, don't use one on the insert.

But they make half kettles for inserts.
For example:
http://www.woodlanddirect.com/Wood-...-Kettle-for-Fireplace-Inserts-and-Wood-Stoves

Neat!! How cool is THAT??

Neat!! How expensive is THAT??!!

That is a little better, the link above shows them for $109. The thing is my insert "top" rarely gets hot enough to boil water or even create meaningfull evaporation to increase indoor humidity.

I know someone mentioned this earlier, nothing should go on the stovetop that needs water. In my case my wife put a plant on the top last summer and every time she watered she missed some and eventually I got some rust.

Fortunately, I am about 2-3 years ahead on wood. Frankly, I'm so happy with the 30 I just want to make sure i don't &$%#! it up by neglect.

Soot Eater is on the way, too.

Still burning as I write so not ready to hang it up for the summer yet. However for me I remove stove pipe and bag for the birds. If I were to clean I would wait till sept to brush chimney. Give the stuff plenty of time to really dry up and a good portion will have fallen off on its own. Thats about it for me.