What once was dirty, is now clean.....w/ pics......

[imacman]

Well, it had been a full week since I cleaned the stove, although it was running great.

So I thought I'd do a cleaning, and snap some pics for your viewing pleasure. Sorry about the close-up of the burn pot...it's a little blurry.

 

[kinsmanstoves]

Well, it had been a full week since I cleaned the stove, although it was running great.

So I thought I'd do a cleaning, and snap some pics for your viewing pleasure. Sorry about the close-up of the burn pot...it's a little blurry.

Should have tried to go another few more days.

Eric

 

[imacman]

......Should have tried to go another few more days.

Eric

LOL....yeah, maybe....I'm trying to post some more pics, hold on a few minutes.....

EDIT: Have been trying for 10+ minutes to post more pics, but system won't allow it....have no idea why....Oh well, maybe I'll try later

 

[imacman]

Couldn't add any more pics in the original thread...who knows why....maybe this will work.....

 

[kinsmanstoves]

Nice report on, "This is how I delt with my New Years Day Hangover".

Good job.
Eric

 

[imacman]

Nice report on, "This is how I delt with my New Years Day Hangover".

Good job.
Eric

Yep, except that I was one of those "losers" you mentioned in your thread last night who didn't go anywhere, and was asleep at 12:05 am.....no hangover.....ran out of beer.

 

[kinsmanstoves]

Nice report on, "This is how I delt with my New Years Day Hangover".

Good job.
Eric

Yep, except that I was one of those "losers" you mentioned in your thread last night who didn't go anywhere, and was asleep at 12:05 am.....no hangover.....ran out of beer.

I got sleepy just before midnight and laid down. I woke up this morning and the kids said they came in the bedroom just before midnight and I was snoring. They let me sleep. No hangover either and was working on the home computer at 8am. I had 2 30 packs in the fridge waiting for a couple of the part timers to come over but they are young and did not want to hang with the old guy.

Eric

 

[crausch]

Nice pics! I like your brick panel. It actually looks like real bricks. My brick panel is just all steel colored...not too realistic looking.

Looking forward to the other pics and seeing the finsished/clean stove.

 

[BadDad320]

Great clean out photo series........

 

[mullet]

macman, what are your settings when your running?

 

[Scoop]

Seems like a lot of ash in the burn chamber for a week. What are you burning??

 

[imacman]

Mullet: I have the heat setting on 2nd yellow, and air control at 1 1/2-2


Scoop: I am presently burning NEWP hardwood. Mind you, that was a week of 24/7 burning.

 

[imacman]

Nice pics! I like your brick panel. It actually looks like real bricks. My brick panel is just all steel colored...not too realistic looking.

Code, I painted the brick panel myself with 2 colors of stove paint. The brick was a copper color paint, and the "mortar" lines are sand color......it was just about black when I got it (dealer showroom used model).

 

[imacman]

............ I had 2 30 packs in the fridge waiting for a couple of the part timers to come over but they are young and did not want to hang with the old guy.

Eric

Not even the new dog? I think you should have named him "Brewsky" or "Suds"... :lol:

 

[crausch]

That looks good, I think I might try that after the burning season once I clean everything off. Thanks for letting me know how you did it.

 

[mullet]

Mullet: I have the heat setting on 2nd yellow, and air control at 1 1/2-2

Ok cool that about exactly what I am using. Bad news thought and be aware of this, I was trying to clean the cast iron brick looking back plate and it cracked in half from the pellet shoot all the way up and now its in 2 pieces. There is NO place online to get parts and the 1 place I got the stove from never returned my call and neither did the other store. So I have no idea how much it will cost. I might try and silver solder it with flux. Bottom line be very careful with the back plate.

 

[Shane]

Check your warranty, I can't remember the coverage on those but if your not past two years old you should be good. I had to replace tons of them with little stress cracks when they were solid, not split, under the auger tube. They then changed it to the style you have because they had many getting the stress cracks.

 

[Shane]

I like your fireback too macman, it's cool. It looks better than my yankee, I burned the paint off of that in no time.

 

[Dougsey]

macman, Is there no ash pan on your stove? Does the ash just blow out of the burn pot onto the sides and then you have to vacuum it?

 

[mullet]

Check your warranty, I can't remember the coverage on those but if your not past two years old you should be good. I had to replace tons of them with little stress cracks when they were solid, not split, under the auger tube. They then changed it to the style you have because they had many getting the stress cracks.

Thanks Shane, I hope your right.

macman, Is there no ash pan on your stove? Does the ash just blow out of the burn pot onto the sides and then you have to vacuum it?

The whole bottom of the stove is a ash pan, its like 7" tall and I run about a ton of pellets before I empty mine.

 

[Burn1]

Mac-

Nice pics! Thanks.

I was wondering, you said these pics are after a week straight of 24/7.... Did you go in at all to scrape the burnpot?

Reason I ask is that I am pretty sure my Astoria can't go a week between cleanings, however I am a NOOB, so maybe I could go longer between cleanings and I just don't realize it yet.

 

[Shane]

I went 2 weeks with my Yankee, and went 1.5 weeks with the showroom Astoria once. Never touched the pot.

 

[imacman]

macman, Is there no ash pan on your stove? Does the ash just blow out of the burn pot onto the sides and then you have to vacuum it?

As Mullet said above, the whole bottom of the stove is an ash pan, but it's only used during cleaning. The ash pan is huge, and only has to be emptied after about 3-4 weeks of burning.

Yes, the ash just blows out of the firepot onto the sides and front of the firebox. There's a slider you pull forward after opening the front door of the stove, and 2 small holes open up....you sweep the ash into that, which leads to the ash pan.

 

[imacman]

Mac-

Nice pics! Thanks.

I was wondering, you said these pics are after a week straight of 24/7.... Did you go in at all to scrape the burnpot?

Reason I ask is that I am pretty sure my Astoria can't go a week between cleanings, however I am a NOOB, so maybe I could go longer between cleanings and I just don't realize it yet.

Yep, that was 24/7 straight burning, and no I NEVER have to scrape the burn pot.....it just keeps burning. I find that if there is too much ash building up in the pot, I open the air control a little more, and after an hour or so, it blows most of the ash out.

If you go back and look at the pic I took looking down into the burn pot before cleaning, you can see that the holes are open (the ash you do see there covering some of them was from me cleaning the heat transfer tubes with the slide right before I opened the door)

 

[hearthtools]

Mullet: I have the heat setting on 2nd yellow, and air control at 1 1/2-2

Ok cool that about exactly what I am using. Bad news thought and be aware of this, I was trying to clean the cast iron brick looking back plate and it cracked in half from the pellet shoot all the way up and now its in 2 pieces. There is NO place online to get parts and the 1 place I got the stove from never returned my call and neither did the other store. So I have no idea how much it will cost. I might try and silver solder it with flux. Bottom line be very careful with the back plate.

the early version of the astoria Free standing had a design flaw and a all of our customers refractory cracked.
they changed the design and added a 1/4" gap going vertical at the bottom under the Pellet shoot to it can expand and contract without breaking.