A few Big E questions from a semi-new user

[Extremesolo]

I have burned a little over a ton through my Big E and now I have a few questions. MIne does not have an ash pan so I shut it down once/week to vac out the ashes and thoroughly clean the glass. Will cleaning it less often affect the heat putput of the stove? When the ashes get close to the bottom of the burn pot I usually clean it but I don't know if it is necessary or if I should let it go longer. Also how often should I clean the blower and other internal parts of the stove? And finally, I have been burning it on the "2" setting and want to install a programmable wireless thermostat. What is a good programmable, wireless stat that is compatable with the Big E circuit board. Thanks for any help.

 

[buildingmaint]

# 1 Yes , not cleaning as often will effect heat output. I clean mine once a week.
Remember to clean out behind the little doors in the burn chamber.

# 2 Clean out your stove once a week , depending on how many pellets you are
going through, if you are burning 7-10 bags a week once a week is fine, if
your burning 11-20 bags twice a week would be my MO.

# 3 I give my stove a " whole cleaning " once a month. I clean both blowers the exhaust
pipe , take compressed air hose and clean the burning chamber, clean out behind
the little doors in the combustion chamber. I think it helps keep the stove
running at peak preformance.

# 4 I use a programable stat on mine , I bought it at Busy Beaver , it is a Lux TX 500B.
It is a cheapo , I only paid like $ 30.00 bucks for it. Have not had any problems with
it , had it for 4 years .

 

[kinsmanstoves]

# 1 Yes , not cleaning as often will effect heat output. I clean mine once a week.
Remember to clean out behind the little doors in the burn chamber.

# 2 Clean out your stove once a week , depending on how many pellets you are
going through, if you are burning 7-10 bags a week once a week is fine, if
your burning 11-20 bags twice a week would be my MO.

# 3 I give my stove a " whole cleaning " once a month. I clean both blowers the exhaust
pipe , take compressed air hose and clean the burning chamber, clean out behind
the little doors in the combustion chamber. I think it helps keep the stove
running at peak preformance.

# 4 I use a programable stat on mine , I bought it at Busy Beaver , it is a Lux TX 500B.
It is a cheapo , I only paid like $ 30.00 bucks for it. Have not had any problems with
it , had it for 4 years .

Tried to send you a PM and says you are full.

After you clean your stove please do your PM folders.

Eric

 

[buildingmaint]

I'm full of what Eric ?????????????? LOL LOL . It was closed , PM to your hearts content . Thought you were telling me I was full of sh-------t lol. Which may be true ,

 

[flamegrabber]

Hi BuildingMaint,

Can you be specific as to how you perform you point # 3?

How do you clean both blowers? Do you remove them and if you do are there any instructions for doing this?

If you don't remove them how do you clean them in that case?

How do you clean the exhaust pipe? Do you mean the entire vent pipe? I don't know what you mean by that. Do you disconnect the clean-out tee? Could you be more specific?

Have you ever found any creosote during one of your cleanings?

I've cleaned out the burn chamber several times and vacuum out the ash behind the little doors about every 15 bags.

I've also taken off the bottom of the clean-out tee and there's been nothing but a very small amount of very fine dust in it.

I wish there was a writen procedure and instructions for the whole cleaning. Mine's almost due for one ( just under 1 ton burned so far ).

Thanks alot for any help.

FG.

# 1 Yes , not cleaning as often will effect heat output. I clean mine once a week.
Remember to clean out behind the little doors in the burn chamber.

# 2 Clean out your stove once a week , depending on how many pellets you are
going through, if you are burning 7-10 bags a week once a week is fine, if
your burning 11-20 bags twice a week would be my MO.

# 3 I give my stove a " whole cleaning " once a month. I clean both blowers the exhaust
pipe , take compressed air hose and clean the burning chamber, clean out behind
the little doors in the combustion chamber. I think it helps keep the stove
running at peak preformance.

# 4 I use a programable stat on mine , I bought it at Busy Beaver , it is a Lux TX 500B.
It is a cheapo , I only paid like $ 30.00 bucks for it. Have not had any problems with
it , had it for 4 years .

 

[buildingmaint]

I can remove the exhaust / combustion blower squire cage for cleaning , I have not removed the convection blower squire cage because I don't want to strip out the set screw head as I do not know what size it is , and it is hard , not impossible , but hard to get it out. That being said , I take a tooth brush to every blade and scrub, brush, scrape , each blade , I then use compressed air hose to blow the blades off, while having my wet dry vac running to pick up all the dust. The combustion blower removes easily , being held in with 6-8 self taping metal screws , remember that the gasket needs to be replaced after taking out the blower, it falls apart easily , so just put it in your mind to replace it . Just loosen the self tap screws and give the whole assembly a 1/4 turn and it will come out , motor and cage.

My exhaust pipe is a straight out pipe , with no elbows or any turns. I know , I know I should have it piped out and up , but it works and is easy for cleaning . So I just take the cap off and run my wet dry vac hose down the pipe until it stops and vac out the ash, I also run a brush down the exhaust pipe to loosen the ash before vacuuming.


One time I got some very nasty black gooey big f-in mess , that was from my burn pot being not seated correctly I guess
. It was soooooooo nasty I could not move the heat
exchange tube scraper , and the inside of the stove
had to be scraped , along with the combustion blower
. I don't know what it was , but it was nasty nasty crap
, and a bi------ ch to clean. It was my own fault because I smelled
it burning deferent and didn't check until it was tooooo late .

I know how you feel about the owners manual , not much info .
Eric , from Kinsman stoves is way way more informed then I
as far tech , and how to stuff . I'm still learning new stuff myself.
When my stove got the black gooey stuff it it , folks from this
board talked me threw it, almost in real time .

As far as the exhaust pipe goes , only one time in the last four years has the electric
failed , and the exhaust smoke came into the house, and it was not that bad.
At 4 o'clock in the morning wind blowing like 50 mph, snowing , I did not feel like
putting up my ladder to vac out the smoke with my wet dry vac , which I
would of if I had better conditions lol.

 

[flamegrabber]

BuildingMaint, first thanks alot for the info.

Let me ask you a few more questions:

How much time does it take to do the full cleaning? ( conbustion & convection fan blade cleaning, etc. ) ?

Just trying to get an idea on how extensive it needs to be.

Also, where do you get replacement gaskets for the combustion blower? I assume from Breckwell, no?

The squire cage you mention ( don't know what it is... ), I took off the combustion blower side panel and saw the blower and some screws attached to it that were screwed in from the side.

Those screws were screwed in from the side with the screw heads exposed from the open panel ( perpendicular to the floor ). Are these the ones you mentioned that need to be loosened?

These may sound like brain dead questions, but not to me.

Last week we lost power and my stove leaked no smoke at all. I saw it through the glass but nothing escaped. No smell.

I guess that's a good sign.

Thanks again,

FG.

I can remove the exhaust / combustion blower squire cage for cleaning , I have not removed the convection blower squire cage because I don't want to strip out the set screw head as I do not know what size it is , and it is hard , not impossible , but hard to get it out. That being said , I take a tooth brush to every blade and scrub, brush, scrape , each blade , I then use compressed air hose to blow the blades off, while having my wet dry vac running to pick up all the dust. The combustion blower removes easily , being held in with 6-8 self taping metal screws , remember that the gasket needs to be replaced after taking out the blower, it falls apart easily , so just put it in your mind to replace it . Just loosen the self tap screws and give the whole assembly a 1/4 turn and it will come out , motor and cage.

My exhaust pipe is a straight out pipe , with no elbows or any turns. I know , I know I should have it piped out and up , but it works and is easy for cleaning . So I just take the cap off and run my wet dry vac hose down the pipe until it stops and vac out the ash, I also run a brush down the exhaust pipe to loosen the ash before vacuuming.


One time I got some very nasty black gooey big f-in mess , that was from my burn pot being not seated correctly I guess
. It was soooooooo nasty I could not move the heat
exchange tube scraper , and the inside of the stove
had to be scraped , along with the combustion blower
. I don't know what it was , but it was nasty nasty crap
, and a bi------ ch to clean. It was my own fault because I smelled
it burning deferent and didn't check until it was tooooo late .

I know how you feel about the owners manual , not much info .
Eric , from Kinsman stoves is way way more informed then I
as far tech , and how to stuff . I'm still learning new stuff myself.
When my stove got the black gooey stuff it it , folks from this
board talked me threw it, almost in real time .

As far as the exhaust pipe goes , only one time in the last four years has the electric
failed , and the exhaust smoke came into the house, and it was not that bad.
At 4 o'clock in the morning wind blowing like 50 mph, snowing , I did not feel like
putting up my ladder to vac out the smoke with my wet dry vac , which I
would of if I had better conditions lol.

 

[buildingmaint]

It usually takes me 1 to 1 1/2 hours to do a full cleaning .

I bought my gaskets from Breckwell , but will probably
buy my next ones from Eric at Kinsman Stoves . He is
a semi local dealer, close to where I live.


Squire cage is just another name for the blower fan
minus the motor.


The motor/fan / blower that has the gasket is the exhaust fan, or the one on the
right hand side of the stove if you are facing it.

The other motor/fan /blower/is on the side with the control panel or left
hand side.

The exhaust motor/fan /blower has hex head self tapping screws that have a
slot for a straight blade screw driver

The other has self taping screws [3 ] , but only gives you access to the
blower/cage/fan , so you can use a Allen wrench to take the cage /fan/blower off


Hope I didn't confuse you , Feel free to send me PM'S if you have any more questions.

 

[imacman]

Squire cage is just another name for the blower fan
minus the motor.

Not to be picky, but the correct name is "squirrel cage"........ :cheese:

 

[flamegrabber]

Thanks alot BuildingMaint.

I will be sending you a few more questions after I take off the panels and have another look.

You have been a big help. Great info, now I know what to look for. Thanks again,

FG.

It usually takes me 1 to 1 1/2 hours to do a full cleaning .

I bought my gaskets from Breckwell , but will probably
buy my next ones from Eric at Kinsman Stoves . He is
a semi local dealer, close to where I live.


Squire cage is just another name for the blower fan
minus the motor.


The motor/fan / blower that has the gasket is the exhaust fan, or the one on the
right hand side of the stove if you are facing it.

The other motor/fan /blower/is on the side with the control panel or left
hand side.

The exhaust motor/fan /blower has hex head self tapping screws that have a
slot for a straight blade screw driver

The other has self taping screws [3 ] , but only gives you access to the
blower/cage/fan , so you can use a Allen wrench to take the cage /fan/blower off


Hope I didn't confuse you , Feel free to send me PM'S if you have any more questions.

 

[buildingmaint]

Your welecome flamegrabber, I know what it was like to be new to all of this. Glad I can help some new pellet burners .
I 'm glad I found this web site early on ,
the folks here were great answering all
my questions.