Pellet Stove Technician therapy thread

JRemington said:

I had a guy yesterday tell me we we robbing people charging 49 for a wall thimble because he got his for 9. The problem is his is B vent. He didn’t care for the look of his wall stud after 8 years.

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Like Forrest Gump says.....'Stupid is as stupid does' My all time favorite line.

SidecarFlip said:

Black plastic huh? What were they doing Growing dope?

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Yeah maybe the stacks of cages and many foil pans over flowing with cat litter and whats left of the carpet worn thru is there to mask the smell of the grow. And the nastiness in the kitchen with stuff running down the front of the cabinets and 1/2 the doors torn off and the junk and trash piled everywhere chest high is staged to aid in a escape route in case the law caught up to them!
No I doubt there is any of that going on, It is a old lady with a grown mentally handicapped son. And when they come into the shop to get pellets they look normal, but the smell gives it away.
I typically dont have to deal with conditions like that. The shop I work for sells Harman pellet and Mendota gas. We all know the cost of these units so that typically us in nicer homes, or at least kept homes. If someone is dropping $5000 on a stove install they probably have a decent place (Most of the time). Some homes are kind of a mess but not filthy and unsanitary.

It always surprises me some of the homes that have a Harman stove. Sometimes that stove is the nicest thing they own. I worked on an allure 50 in a house that was so filthy that when they lifted the install packet off their shelf where they had put it The year before when it was installed you could see where it had been sitting because there was about a quarter inch of dust all around the outline of the package.

SidecarFlip said:

I am too. In fact my labels are still intact and readable on my venting after 15 years. That tells me that even if the install sucks, he's not overheating the venting at all.

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This is on the back of the St Croix installed in’09 about 12” from stove. Sorry for the image size. I struggle when uploading... Can someone add photo loading instructions to the top part of the forum or is it there somewhere?
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Musta been a long week........ Not cleaning them prior to warm (humid) months causes internal corrosion too. You guys have a nasty job...

my weekends have been doing just that Jeff. word of mouth has me turning my hobbie into another JOB.

I sure am glad not may folks around here have pellet / biomass stoves and no one knows I know how to maintain / repair them. I'll keep it a secret.

JRemington said:

It’s that time of year again and I’m needing therapy. 17 calls for stove cleanings. Every one of them want it done now but can wait a “couple days”. Now I’m not going to do anything for 2 days. Ssyko are you ready to clean some stoves?

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Long time no chat Gents. I’m booked into the end of November. How’s your schedule looking? Anyone having to wear masks in customers homes? Positive side effect: I don’t blow black snot at the end of the day! Lol. Negative side effect: some of my customers are pretty annoyed that I’m wearing a mask in their home. Winter 2020 is gonna be a rough one...

Overfireinthehole said:

some of my customers are pretty annoyed that I’m wearing a mask in their home.

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Tell them what I tell them that it is for there protection not mine
seems to make them more receptive

johneh said:

Tell them what I tell them that it is for there protection not mine
seems to make them more receptive

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I just tell them I’m required to wear it by the company and I don’t want to get fired. Lol

My latest call. My 2 year old quadrafire mt vernon will not start up and i have cleaned everthing including washed the whole exterior(Beautiful enameled stove). So i pull the stove adapter (not sealed) and pipe and take it outside and run the brushes through them and had about a coffee can full of soot so not to bad. Now Where the adapterfits on the manifold i see a charred twig sicking out as i take a look, i find a birds nest haha, pulled the combustion blower and found this

The birds beak was holding the blades from turning lmao. What a way to go. yep you guessed it “i cleaned it!!” Along withe the convection blower and area in and around it

New gasket and sealed pipes all is good. Added to my anual clean list. The young lady’s dad kept the skeleton of the bird

All I can say is NICE. Was the young lady pretty? I can do about anything for a smile (and a buck)....

SidecarFlip said:

All I can say is NICE. Was the young lady pretty? I can do about anything for a smile (and a buck)....

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A buck? My... your cheap!

Overfireinthehole said:

A buck? My... your cheap!

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The older you get and dirtier you get, the cheaper you get. You'll understand when you are my age....

Maybe I should form a division of my farm LLC and go in the stove service business, I know enough about them to be dangerous and it probably beats doing heavy fabrication in the shop. Right now I'm working on a front end loader bucket that looks like the owner ran it into a brick wall. I have to cut one of the sides off as well as the top 2/3rds of the back and replace them and reweld everything after serious hydraulic ram work.. Then I have to completely remove the old welded on mounts and add a SSQA adapter plate and make it all pretty again.... and I have his rotary chopper sitting outside. Looks like he was chopping car parts with it. Serious welding on the deck itself plus straightening out the caved in side. I thank the Lord for my big gas axe and the rosebud. I can fix about anything if I get it hot enough.... Never seen chopper blades as dull as these. No cutting edges whatsoever. The cutting edge is blunt. Probably have to order new blades and maybe a gearbox too, bet he never changed the gear oil or even checked it but will know more when I get it inside and on the hoist.

I'm thinking stoves might be an easier deal but just as dirty...lol

Years ago I did a couple installs for friends for free but then I'm easy. I do like cutting holes in people's drywall and studs. Amazing what you see inside a wall... (no insulation...

Well, I’m not a tech, however I do have a good understanding of pellet stoves, specifically Harman...my old pellet pro 2 across the street seemed to crap out, the guy that bought it from me said the “fan wasn’t working, I asked him if he’d been cleaning it like I showed him...he said he vacuumed it out a few times in the past 3yrs...so I went over to have a look, combustion fan was barely turning, and I had to vacuum out nearly 2” of ash on the bottom of the firebox, also could barely see through the window...did the leaf blower trick on it and still barely a spin....I wiggled the shaft and huge movement up and down...bearings...gave him a link for a fan replacement and fan blade...went over a few days ago to put the new fan motor in and was I ever surprised when I pulled the combustion motor...pics below
Well....turns out he was extremely honest....vacuumed out a few times looks about right
It’s back running like a champ with a 1.75a motor in it

Washed-Up said:

Well, I’m not a tech, however I do have a good understanding of pellet stoves, specifically Harman...my old pellet pro 2 across the street seemed to crap out, the guy that bought it from me said the “fan wasn’t working, I asked him if he’d been cleaning it like I showed him...he said he vacuumed it out a few times in the past 3yrs...so I went over to have a look, combustion fan was barely turning, and I had to vacuum out nearly 2” of ash on the bottom of the firebox, also could barely see through the window...did the leaf blower trick on it and still barely a spin....I wiggled the shaft and huge movement up and down...bearings...gave him a link for a fan replacement and fan blade...went over a few days ago to put the new fan motor in and was I ever surprised when I pulled the combustion motor...pics below
Well....turns out he was extremely honest....vacuumed out a few times looks about right
It’s back running like a champ with a 1.75a motor in it
View attachment 270247 View attachment 270248 View attachment 270249

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Wow, that's a mess. I'm amazed it was still recently functional. I hope the neighbor appreciates your help.

Nothing beats filth and lack of maintenance, well, no0thing but a cold butt.

JRemington said:

“We only bought this stove 3 months ago and the fan doesn’t seem to be pushing any air. You told us this was a good stove that was reliable. We want you out here today and get this fixed”. WTF do you do, use the fan as your vacuum? Clean your floors every once and a while.

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Must have a boatload of furry animals in the house (that are shedding).....

Or else they are sweeping everything toward the stove for the fan to take it away

rickwai said:

Or else they are sweeping everything toward the stove for the fan to take it away

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With humans, anything is possible as well all know. Lot of 'filth' for 90 days. I'd hate to see what the rest of the house looks like.....