American Harvester 6039 Suggestions

[SoftballDad]

I got a used American Harvester 6039 from my brother in law. I am using it in my uninsulated garage. It is a 3 button model with no manual draft. Just 2 roughly 3/8" holes on each side under the fire box area.
I was wondering if anyone has magic settings to get the most heat out of this stove. I am not using it all the time just once in a while when I want to do some things in the winter. So pellet consumption is not a factor just max heat. Right now I am getting 210 degree air out of it and that is about as good as I can get.
Thanks,
Mike

 

[SoftballDad]

A few other things......I took everything apart on the front. Mine has 2 metal pieces that lay in the bottom left and right of the firebox area. These pieces of metal cover a hole on the floor and the rear wall. They just sit in there. I am assuming these are clean outs. the rear holes were completely full of ash. There is a hole under the actual firebox. It had tinfoil over it or at least part of it. The foil had partially came off. Is this the outside air intake? Should it be covered? I took the fake brick off the back wall of the unit and there are two holes behind there. I have read on here to use 1 1/2" knockout plugs in these. Should I do that on my older unit?
Sorry for all the questions I just want to make the most of this stove if I can.
Thanks,
Mike

 

[chieffan]

The two angle iron piece should be back against the back of the stove to cover those two clean out openings. The opening under the burn post should be left open for the ashes to drop down into the catch pan. I would not cover them up. The holes behind the brick design piece are also clean outs. With constant use I clean mine out ever 3 days with a steel tub vacuum. If your getting 210° heat and the flame is dancing good, I would say your stove is working like it is supposed to. If you want a little more heat get some dry 12% max. shelled corn and mix with the pellets. Corn burn hotter than wood.

 

[FirepotPete]

If the stove wasn’t deep cleaned regularly you will need to tap around the walls to get the ash to fall out of the upper corners. Just don’t tap on the fake firebrick, remove it first.

Here’s some pics I made to help cleaning these stoves.

http://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/ussc-6039-6041-internal-cleaning.152067/

 

[SoftballDad]

Thank you guys for answering my questions. I am totally new to this but really excited about getting rid of my old wood burner and using this stove. I did take my shop vac to the inside of the unit and cleaned out a lot, and I mean a lot of ash. I will take the blowers off and clean them as well as use some compressed air to blow out some passages. I will most likely do a leaf blower cleaning to it as well. Should I take the vacuum switch tube off and do that with the door closed or leave the tube on and do it with the door open? Unless you all feel I should do this differently.

I bought 2 - 1 1/2" knockout seals and will be installing them as well. I put a US Stove 69FAK kit on it but I did not take the back off the stove. Am I assuming correctly that I need to do that and put the other section of flexible hose inside the stove? Again, sorry for the dumb questions I just want to do this right the first time.

Thanks again for taking the time to answer! It is very much appreciated.

 

[FirepotPete]

Yup make sure that there is pipe running from the back of the stove to the pot. You will need to either drill some holes or remove the cap behind the pot if it is still in place. To remove it is easier to pop it off from behind with a hammer and pipe or old screw driver.

I put a brass ball valve in the OAK/FAK, I can then stop air flow when shutting down for cleaning and close it off for the off heat season. Being that you have no manual slide damper you may find a ball valve helpful for air flow control.

 

[SoftballDad]

Awesome!! Thank you!! did you use a 2" ball valve on that?

 

[FirepotPete]

Awesome!! Thank you!! did you use a 2" ball valve on that?

I think it is. I put it in many years ago. I’d take a pic but for the most part it is all covered with fire proof insulation to stop the frost from collecting on it when it gets real cold.

I took the pipe with me to f&f and fitted it before I installed it.

 

[SoftballDad]

Is there a lot of advantages to the 4 button control panel?