Is there any reason it would actually not be a good idea to shut down my 25-PDV and clean it daily (vaccum,scrape the burn pot and clean the glass)?
Any reason not to shut down my stove and clean it daily? (25-PDV)
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I am interested to see the responses to this post.
I shut mine down every day, and scrape the burn pot/sides of pot. Every other day I scoop out the ash from down under the burn pot, but the air intake. Seems like now, once a week I add a little dry graphite in to stop the top auger squeak, empty the side ash bins, and vacuum the intake out. Once a month or so, I hit the exhaust piping with my pellet stove cleaning brush. So far, knock on wood pellets, not much trouble out of my 25pdvc.
I shut mine down every day, and scrape the burn pot/sides of pot. Every other day I scoop out the ash from down under the burn pot, but the air intake. Seems like now, once a week I add a little dry graphite in to stop the top auger squeak, empty the side ash bins, and vacuum the intake out. Once a month or so, I hit the exhaust piping with my pellet stove cleaning brush. So far, knock on wood pellets, not much trouble out of my 25pdvc.
Oh... Forgot to mention - My only concerns with shutting down everyday is the life-span of the ignitor, plus the added electricity usage of the ignitor... Don't know if it's significant or not, but don't really care, I'm saving money and I'm warm. Beer tastes much better when enjoyed while you're not freezing.
Another question to add, I get about two cups of black ash after burning a bag of pellets. (Granules LG brand) Is that normal?
Some good questions that you guys ask. I also shut down my pel- pro, formerly cheap charlie's brand pellet stove every 1 bag, for a thourough & complete clean out, although last night I let it run 19 hours non stop & it ate 1&1;/3 bags, or maybe only 1 bag, I'll find out 4 sure when I refill the hopper.
But, while the stove ran well & didn't soot up the glass much, I think I just won the world's record for the largest clinker ever formed. The entire fire cup is just one large non stop clinker,from side to side and from top to bottom.
I turned off the stove when I woke up in the morning, just 3 minutes after getting out of bed
as I noticed that the pellets could no longer fall out of the feed chute into the fire cup & were begining to burn in the end of the feed chute.
Fortunately, my auger assembly is such that it makes a positive fire proof seal between the combustion chamber and the hopper and the hopper lid has no gaskets or latches; it is meerly a dust cover.
My next challenge will be to see just how tough that giant ,wall to wall, clinker really is.
I'm perplexed as to why it even formed as I was running a lot of primary air as attested to by the relatively clean window glass.
When I am stingy with the primary air, the window can turn black in under 2 hours, but after a 19 hr run the window is only gray & tan, here & there.
So with all that primary air, a clinker should not have formed, let alone the mother of all clinkers.
Bottom line, yes, I do a 2 hr shutdown With a complete clean out , every bag of pellets I burn.
It will be daily if I burn 24/7 or maybe once every 3 to 7 days, when I am running my wood stove as primary heat with pellet as backup heat .
But, while the stove ran well & didn't soot up the glass much, I think I just won the world's record for the largest clinker ever formed. The entire fire cup is just one large non stop clinker,from side to side and from top to bottom.
I turned off the stove when I woke up in the morning, just 3 minutes after getting out of bed
as I noticed that the pellets could no longer fall out of the feed chute into the fire cup & were begining to burn in the end of the feed chute.
Fortunately, my auger assembly is such that it makes a positive fire proof seal between the combustion chamber and the hopper and the hopper lid has no gaskets or latches; it is meerly a dust cover.
My next challenge will be to see just how tough that giant ,wall to wall, clinker really is.
I'm perplexed as to why it even formed as I was running a lot of primary air as attested to by the relatively clean window glass.
When I am stingy with the primary air, the window can turn black in under 2 hours, but after a 19 hr run the window is only gray & tan, here & there.
So with all that primary air, a clinker should not have formed, let alone the mother of all clinkers.
Bottom line, yes, I do a 2 hr shutdown With a complete clean out , every bag of pellets I burn.
It will be daily if I burn 24/7 or maybe once every 3 to 7 days, when I am running my wood stove as primary heat with pellet as backup heat .
biohill,
On the two cups of ash / bag of pellets, you are actually doing a little bit better than me.
I get about 2.5 cups of ash via visual guesstimate / bag of pellets.
Oh, BTW, that is only the large quantity that I scoup out by hand using a cut open hard pack empty
cigerette pack as a scoup. (You cut the front off the pack & staple the ends closed to make a little rectangular box. It is all that will fit in my combustion chamber & ash trap.
All the rest I take out with a wet/ dry vac, filter modified for handling ashes.
I am begining to suspect that my combustion chamber is way smaller than most & this seems strange to me for a 50,000 btu/ hr unit. But the fire pot is 7 in wide x 3 in x4 in , so there is room for 3 -4 hands full of pellets in there at once. More guestimating, I didnt realize I would be needing to measure my fire pot as I didnt know about making this post.
Actually,it never occured to me to take a measuring cup and measure the ashes I take out of my stove after a run.
Very Interesting, maybe I will take a set of measurements and repost here.
On the two cups of ash / bag of pellets, you are actually doing a little bit better than me.
I get about 2.5 cups of ash via visual guesstimate / bag of pellets.
Oh, BTW, that is only the large quantity that I scoup out by hand using a cut open hard pack empty
cigerette pack as a scoup. (You cut the front off the pack & staple the ends closed to make a little rectangular box. It is all that will fit in my combustion chamber & ash trap.
All the rest I take out with a wet/ dry vac, filter modified for handling ashes.
I am begining to suspect that my combustion chamber is way smaller than most & this seems strange to me for a 50,000 btu/ hr unit. But the fire pot is 7 in wide x 3 in x4 in , so there is room for 3 -4 hands full of pellets in there at once. More guestimating, I didnt realize I would be needing to measure my fire pot as I didnt know about making this post.
Actually,it never occured to me to take a measuring cup and measure the ashes I take out of my stove after a run.
Very Interesting, maybe I will take a set of measurements and repost here.
petejung,
I would not worry about the igniter electric useage, I'm not sure because I never bothered to look , but I dont think the ignitor uses more than 1000 watts to 1300watts, similar to a toaster or small electric space heater, and then only for 10 minutes or so.
I will try to find out the real numbers when i get some extra time & repost here. It should be in my owner's manuel.
I have heard that a badly designed ignitor only lasts 6 years, so you might expect
8 to 12 years from a well designed or more heavy duty ignitor.
The igniter is meerly a 110vac heating element, similar to a electric stove burner ring,
only small & straight. Mine seems to be 1/2 diameter x 3inch long. but another guesstimate
on my part. Something else for me to measure.
I would not worry about the igniter electric useage, I'm not sure because I never bothered to look , but I dont think the ignitor uses more than 1000 watts to 1300watts, similar to a toaster or small electric space heater, and then only for 10 minutes or so.
I will try to find out the real numbers when i get some extra time & repost here. It should be in my owner's manuel.
I have heard that a badly designed ignitor only lasts 6 years, so you might expect
8 to 12 years from a well designed or more heavy duty ignitor.
The igniter is meerly a 110vac heating element, similar to a electric stove burner ring,
only small & straight. Mine seems to be 1/2 diameter x 3inch long. but another guesstimate
on my part. Something else for me to measure.
When I burned an Englander, twice a day I would put on a glove and slide a putty knife under the clinker and flip it off to the side where the ashes are. No need to shut down the stove.
actually the igniter in that model uses 300 watts , the on time for it in startup is 13 minutes. as for durability , we set up a test stand and left an igniter cycling on/off on 13 minute cycle for 3 months 24/7 , had no problems , they should last for years even lighting daily
- Apr 14, 2006
- 89
This year, I'm using softwood pellets, which create not only more heat but more ash. I vacuum it out every day--or two.
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