Airwash question

[scd666]

Purchased a king deluxe kp130 recently. The glass gets really dirty and I've heard about an airwash and issues with the gasket. Was looking for some input on what I could do and how to do it.

 

[johneh]

Have been using pellet stoves for the last 22 years have never seen an air wash system
that will keep ash from coating the glass. Using a natural bristle paintbrush
sweep off the ash once a day Must be natural bristle as the synthetic ones will melt
on the hot glass and make one HE double LL of a mess

 

[SidecarFlip]

Have been using pellet stoves for the last 22 years have never seen an air wash system
that will keep ash from coating the glass. Using a natural bristle paintbrush
sweep off the ash once a day Must be natural bristle as the synthetic ones will melt
on the hot glass and make one HE double LL of a mess

I see you and I think along the same lines.....lol Cheapo HF bristle brushes work best too.

 

[SidecarFlip]

First off 'air wash' is basically advertising hype, it don't exist for all intents and purposes but, if you view glass is getting sooty black, your air to fuel ratio is wonky as in not enough combustion air for the fuel delivered

 

[tlc1976]

I think the only thing that would truly keep the ash off the glass is continuous high velocity air over the glass. But then you would always have clouds of ash, and the glass would likely suffer abrasion. So you still wouldn’t have a clear view of the fire.

Mine went from being plugged solid in a half day, to still being able to see through it 2 weeks later. Nothing but a change of pellets. There’s a big difference between brands.

 

[SidecarFlip]

Mine went from being plugged solid in a half day, to still being able to see through it 2 weeks later. Nothing but a change of pellets. There’s a big difference between brands.

Only thing that tells me is, the pellets you switched to have a lower moisture content than the ones you were previously using. The lower moisture content means for a given amount of pellets, it takes less combustion air to combust them. All wood pellets have moisture in them, hard wood, soft wood and even hybrid pellets and that content really is what causes a different burn and different combustion draft requirements.

Far as the view glass is concerned, it's very abrasion resistant anyway so ash rubbing on it don't impact it at all and you could never have a concentrated 'air stream' over the view glass anyway because the draft fan isn't capable of that kind of CFM in the first place. if you were pulling that kind of draft, you'd burn a hole in the firebox pretty quick. Pellet stoves aren't designed to be blow torches.

I rarely clean mine (view glass) over the season, maybe 1 or 2 times the entire winter but I do use a natural bristle paintbrush on the view glass multiple times daily. Only takes a second to brush the view glass clean and once the cheapo bristle brush gets too short, I replace it. You can get a large bag of them at HF for about 5 bucks.

No matter what you do, a certain amount of fly ash will adhere to the view glass and the color of that will vary with the amount of combustion air you use in the firebox. Mine almost always light grey but I've refined my air to fuel ratio over the years and I know how to set it for the best burn and heat output.

 

[tlc1976]

Only thing that tells me is, the pellets you switched to have a lower moisture content than the ones you were previously using. The lower moisture content means for a given amount of pellets, it takes less combustion air to combust them. All wood pellets have moisture in them, hard wood, soft wood and even hybrid pellets and that content really is what causes a different burn and different combustion draft requirements.

Far as the view glass is concerned, it's very abrasion resistant anyway so ash rubbing on it don't impact it at all and you could never have a concentrated 'air stream' over the view glass anyway because the draft fan isn't capable of that kind of CFM in the first place. if you were pulling that kind of draft, you'd burn a hole in the firebox pretty quick. Pellet stoves aren't designed to be blow torches.

I rarely clean mine (view glass) over the season, maybe 1 or 2 times the entire winter but I do use a natural bristle paintbrush on the view glass multiple times daily. Only takes a second to brush the view glass clean and once the cheapo bristle brush gets too short, I replace it. You can get a large bag of them at HF for about 5 bucks.

No matter what you do, a certain amount of fly ash will adhere to the view glass and the color of that will vary with the amount of combustion air you use in the firebox. Mine almost always light grey but I've refined my air to fuel ratio over the years and I know how to set it for the best burn and heat output.

I was just talking theoretically, yes you would need a higher powered blower or compressor and I believe that would eat into the glass over time.

I clean mine every couple weeks with nothing but a wad of wet newspaper. The ash wipes right off. I don’t open the stove between cleanings. I used to dip it in ash first as I’ve read on here, but one time I grabbed a bit of clinker and scratched the glass. Hasn’t caused any issue and that was 4 years ago I think. I don’t do that anymore.

Actually the new pellets burn best with the damper set farther open than with the old ones. But they will still burn better than the old ones with the same draft. Really they’ll burn at any setting. They are just better all around. It was like splitting hairs trying to keep the old ones to stay burning at all, just a touch too little or too much air and the fire would go out.

 

[SidecarFlip]

Try the paintbrush method. You can do it while the stove is running. Only takes 15 seconds tops.