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Minister of Fire
The first instructional posting for the use of the leaf blower was posted by Krooser in Nov. of 2008, https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/forums/viewthread/29847/ "Cleaning your stove with a leaf blower...No Kidding"
In my opinion, this is still the best step by step instructional thread to follow when considering using a leaf blower for cleaning. In that thread, the issue of having the the stove door is addressed. Krooser quoted his dealer, (who informed him of this neat idea),
"The stoves fan don’t move while cleaning… at least not on my St Croix. The dealer recommends you open and close the door while doing it and to move the heat transfer tube scraper rod during the cleaning. I didn’t do this since I was alone when i did it. My dealer uses this technique on all the stoves they sell… Harman, Lopi, S. Croix, Thelen and more…. part of their standard cleaning service.
Any blower with vacuum will work… your adapter may differ from mine but I would imagine it would still be simple.
This deal is so simple… and effective everyone with a stove should give serious consideration to trying it. "
For the past 3 burning seasons, I have used this method without a "known" problem. I do add one thing. A remote switch which allows me to be inside with the stove, and control turning the leaf blower vac on and off while I am doing my thing opening and closing and cleaning. The remote I use is one of those cheap green remotes used to turn Christmas lights on and off. It has a three prong plug. The remote itself is very small and can slip into any pocket.
I use duct tape to hold the leaf blower in place. You can easily have the whole thing done, all picked up and packed away in less than 30 min. No mess inside as the vac mode sucks all the loose ash right outside. My leaf blower cleaning is done after every ton of pellets burned. The "smoke monster" isn't as impressive with that frequent cleaning schedule, but the stove sure burns nice and hot!
In my opinion, this is still the best step by step instructional thread to follow when considering using a leaf blower for cleaning. In that thread, the issue of having the the stove door is addressed. Krooser quoted his dealer, (who informed him of this neat idea),
"The stoves fan don’t move while cleaning… at least not on my St Croix. The dealer recommends you open and close the door while doing it and to move the heat transfer tube scraper rod during the cleaning. I didn’t do this since I was alone when i did it. My dealer uses this technique on all the stoves they sell… Harman, Lopi, S. Croix, Thelen and more…. part of their standard cleaning service.
Any blower with vacuum will work… your adapter may differ from mine but I would imagine it would still be simple.
This deal is so simple… and effective everyone with a stove should give serious consideration to trying it. "
For the past 3 burning seasons, I have used this method without a "known" problem. I do add one thing. A remote switch which allows me to be inside with the stove, and control turning the leaf blower vac on and off while I am doing my thing opening and closing and cleaning. The remote I use is one of those cheap green remotes used to turn Christmas lights on and off. It has a three prong plug. The remote itself is very small and can slip into any pocket.
I use duct tape to hold the leaf blower in place. You can easily have the whole thing done, all picked up and packed away in less than 30 min. No mess inside as the vac mode sucks all the loose ash right outside. My leaf blower cleaning is done after every ton of pellets burned. The "smoke monster" isn't as impressive with that frequent cleaning schedule, but the stove sure burns nice and hot!
