10 CPM Cleaning Question

[Atomicskr]

So I'm new to this pellet stove. It's a 10-CPM made in 2009. Ran great at the beginning of the season but recently has started overflowing the burnpot on any heat setting above 5. Decided to give it a thorough cleaning today. Cleaned the vertical and horizontal parts of the chimney, removed and cleaned the exhaust blower and housing. Removed the burnpot, cleaned the top ledge, sides etc. I removed the cover plates that the slides hit and found a ton of ash back there. What is that area? Could that excess ash be the cause of my overflowing burnpot? Are there any areas I missed in cleaning? I can't seem to find a good guide for that model.

 

[Ssyko]

That would be the heat exchange area, where the magic happens to make the stove a heating device. Yes it it vital that area is cleand regularly thats where your heat from the flame is transferred to the air the convection blower sends into your room. It is also a pathway for heated waste/ash on its way towards the combustion blower to be sent up the pipe and outside. Ash buildup clogs the path thus restricts the airflow and heat and also how well your flame burns.

 

[Mt Bob]

Yes,I think you will find your stove,after time,can benefit from the rubber mallet,leaf blower,air hose tricks,they get plugged.

 

[Atomicskr]

I've seen videos of the leaf blower trick and I may have to try it. What is the air hose trick? Also are there any other areas I should be cleaning out? The manual isn't really the best at telling you how to clean these things. I will say that cleaning behind those plates made a huge difference. Pellets stayed lower in the burnpot and the air coming from the vent was 10-15 degrees hotter than normal.

 

[Ssyko]

Air hose isn’t really a trick but take stove outdoors, and use compressed air and blow everything out of your stove tap with a rubber mallet and repeat till nothing more comes out.

 

[Atomicskr]

So I guess cleaning whatever was behind that plate didn't fix my overfilling issue..... I ran it for about 30 hours on heat setting 4 and the burn pot is starting to overfill, air holes are all covered and the flame is starting to get lazy. Any suggestions?

 

[Ssyko]

Leaf blower. It would be the best thing to do just to make sure all the paths are open. You may have a weak combustion blower motor.

 

[Watcher1]

I get so confused sometimes! I run a Magnum 3500 with a cast iron burn pot no stirrer. Burning corn pellet mix now and I pop my clinker out at least twice a day if not 3 times if I am running it hard. When I burn pellets I can go about a day and a half but then I have to get the ash out of the bottom of the pot. I just open the pellet bin lid which turns off the auger; after the fire dies down I open the door and flip the clinker or ashes over the side. I am trying to figure out/ are these other stoves just supposed to keep there pots clean all the time just from the air going thru them? I'm interested to know in case I bring or buy a new stove in here. Thanks.

 

[Dataman]

I have Harmon XXV and the Burn Pot stays clean except for some Black Stuff on the sides and bottom. I have yet to have any air holes blocked (1st Season with it). Zero Clinkers. I get grey ash (most of the time, black soot if chimney needs cleaning I found out recently) most of the time and it pushes forward into the bin. I think it could go for month. Tried 2 different types of pellets. Same results, but one brand better wrapped.

Got down to -7f this AM. Dropped 1 degree in house to 72f. Went thru 1 bag of pellets last night. When in 20's it's 1/2 bag.

My old stove was BK King. Nice to not be fooling with wood.

I use Harbor Freight tool for scraping.
https://www.harborfreight.com/hand-tools/precision-hand-tools/4-piece-pick-and-hook-set-66836.html

Downside was Cost of the stove. $3300 for spring by of floor model. Had some teething problems with buzz. Screws impacting distribution fan.

 

[Atomicskr]

Interesting you mention a weak blower motor.... the blower motor on it was noisy when I fired it up for the first time so I ordered an off-brand replacement that was way cheaper. Maybe I got what I paid for? Anyhow, I ordered a new motor direct from Englander that should arrive today. I'll see if the new motor doesn't fix the issue. If not I'll leaf blower it.

 

[Atomicskr]

Turns out it was the cheapo exhaust blower.... got the new one direct from Englander, gave the stove a good vacuuming and haven't had a problem since. Thanks all for the input!

 

[Ssyko]

Believe me i hate spending the money on oem but. They do work better. Glad your up & burning. Stay warm

 

[Atomicskr]

Lesson learned and thanks again for the advice!


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[Mt Bob]

AWsome.stay warm.I have heard of the same thing happening in St Croix stoves.