ALL PELLET STOVE OWNERS/GOTTA QUESTION FOR YOU!

[DarbyDog]

My question is about VENT-PIPE ASH! How often do you clean it out during the winter and what method do you use to do so? I have a very old Whitfield Quest pellet stove (first pellet stove ever mass marketed) that came with the home we purchased almost twenty years ago, It's in the basement, but I only started using it full-time this winter because i moved my office there. Refurbished it last year and it's working fantastically well now and it's a blessing against the sub-zero temps we get here in the Colorado Rockies. However, after the first 45 days or so of using it, I inspected the vent-pipe tip for any kind of buildup and, low and behold--lots of dry ash. I'm estimating possibly twenty percent closure of the lumen. So of course, I disassembled the exterior vent pipes and brushed them all out real good. It was all DRY ash, no gooey stuff, so that was reassuring. And I'm using what I think are high-quality pellets, so I'm not at the moment worried too much about creosote buidup. I also used a Shop Vac to pull ash out of the exhaust path. BUT...now I'm kind of focused on keeping the vent pipes from clogging up from ash. And I'm now wondering what the consequences of a semi-complete closure of the vent pipe would be. Surprisingly, I haven't run across very much discussion of this subject online anywhere; maybe I'm just not digging deep enough. But anyway, I'd like some opinions from other pellet stove owners on this.

 

[jackman]

Welcome to the forum. I clean out my vent pipe once/year or after 2 tons of pellets burned. The vent has a screen with large openings (1") where it exhausts and does require me to remove for cleaning but the buildup is usually not significant. The screen is necessary to keep the critters out of the pipe in the off season. Perhaps the screen on the end of your vent pipe is too small.

I've never had an issue with ash clogging up in the pipe. Most of the ash ends up in the trap at the bottom of the pipe where it meets the stove. If I detect signs of lazy flame or incomplete combustion I know it's time for a deep cleaning including the vent pipe. A good properly sized stove brush does the job.

 

[johneh]

I clean mine twice a year . Once in the spring, when heating season is over
and again in September to check for nests, critters or wasp/bee nests
My chimney is 10 ft. of class A 6 in insulated chimney and 5 ft. 3-inch double-wall
pellet pipe . Top down with a 6-inch poly brush and 3-inch done with a 3 inch poly brush
The ash is vacuumed out at the clean-out tee back of the stove

 

[ARC]

I clean mine twice a year sometime in January (19th) this year my horizontal run was about 1/2 full and fire was starting to act lazy.
Shut down do usual cleaning then I used leaf blower to suck out ash from vent pipe. You need a leaf blower that has the vacuum funtion and suck ash out not blow in. Search pellet stove leaf blower trick on this forum or on utube.

https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/mid-season-internal-cleaning.209201/

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[Washed-Up]

Same as above although when I know a cold snap is coming I’ll do a thorough cleaning then leaf blower trick and use an air compressor with fine nozzle in the fire box.

 

[Dataman]

Clean mine about once a year in Spring. Use Brush and then Leaf Blower. This year not going to clean it. Got Low Temp Heat Pump. Burned 1.5 bags of pellets. So no need to do it. (Midea G3 Evox Unit - 3 Tons). I replaced Wood Stove spring of 2018 with Harmon XXV. So I have 8" Pipe for Chimney. Some ash collects in pipe going out the wall. Brush and Leaf Blower solve that quite nicely. Learning this new Heat Pump (Replace 2001 Unit that was OLD and did not work well past 30f). Elec Use this Month is actually down from last year. Very Warm Winter. Almost 10% less electricity used. "Jan 2025, 5623kw used vs Jan 2026 4753kw. Saving the costs for 3 Tons of Pellets so far. I have used it when I wanted quicker temp rise in Living Room. Few hours then turn off.

Your bill is 9.49% lower than last year.