St Croix Hastings black glass burning on high

[mflip]

I have a Hastings that is probably 10+ yrs old. I do a thorough cleaning on it each year including the exhaust, ash traps, etc. This winter I'm having issues with burning on settings 4 & 5. If I burn on 1 or 2 the glass starts to brown a little which is expected. If I turn up to setting 3 the glass will actually clear up for the most part. This seems to be my most efficient setting. If I set it on 4 or 5 the glass completely darkens up within about a half hour. I'm figuring it has to be something where there is not enough air flow to burn on the higher heat, but can't figure out exactly what's going on. As I mentioned I clear the ash traps (hammering the back wall) at least every week or so and give the tubes a nice thorough cleaning. Any ideas on what may be the issue on my higher settings?

 

[Mt Bob]

When was the last time you pulled the combustion blower and cleaned in there and the impeller?

 

[mflip]

When was the last time you pulled the combustion blower and cleaned in there and the impeller?

Hey Mt. Bob. That was also part of my annual maintenance back in Sept. I started full use of the stove around early November. I remember because it's always fun trying to get the setting back in to line up with the screw holes.

 

[kchace]

It sure sounds like you have an airflow issue. The higher settings require more air and if it can’t get through there then the stove will do what it’s doing for you. With that said, the air has to get in, and the air has to get out. Anything causing a restriction on the cold air or the hot exhaust side can cause a burn problem. If you have a cold air input, verify that it’s not clogged in any way. But the exhaust is the place to really check. The Hastings have some passages in the lower back behind the firebox that can be hard to clean And impossible to see. If you have an ash vac with the little hose attachment it can help to get at the passages behind the firebox. One thing to check is to pull out your ash bin and carefully examine the back wall behind where the ash bin fits. If you have a newer Hastings, there will be a removable clean out door in that back wall. St Croix put that in on later models to allow better access to some of the harder to clean areas of the stove’s exhaust passages. If you have that, take it out and get in there To clean more. Also, have you checked your chimney? If it’s starting to get clogged that could definitely cause your kind of problem. If all else fails, I strongly urge you to perform the Leaf Blower Trick on your stove. Hastings are one of the stoves that really respond well to that.

as an FYI I also have a Hastings which I run 24/7 on a thermostat. In the colder weather (like now) level 4 and at other times level 3.

hope this helps.

Ken

 

[rickwai]

It needs the leaf blower trick. YouTube it.

 

[rickwai]

So while waiting for the combustion fan, I went to Lowe’s a couple days ago and bought a $79 Craftsman blower/vac. Hooked it up to exhaust and let it rip. A solid 45 seconds of nothing but the blackest soot and buildup came out followed by another minute of debris before it was blowing clean. Just like the vids (I was glad I decided to add about 6’ of vent hose to the exhaust to control it and not have this giant cloud going to the neighbor’s!). Because of work, I wasn’t able to try it until yesterday morning but, no joke: it’s like a completely different stove. I fired it up and it lit in a couple minutes. At that point, I knew something magical had happened. Again, I had no frame of reference to what the flame should look like except from the St. Croix manual, but it was (and is) perfect: spikey, bright, and so far able to go up to level 3 w/o any degrading of flame, only more intense as I assume it should be.

While the fan is supposed to come today and I’ll still install it, the advice from here to try the leaf blower trick was invaluable. I couldn’t be more grateful to the members. If anyone is in same boat, do the trick. Game changer.

Thanks again to the members here for their suggestion!

• The results of the leaf blower trick on a St Croix from a few months ago

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