Austroflamm Integra owners.....how often do you shut down to empty ash?

[skibumm100]

I love my Austroflamm Integra "V1" Insert. My house has been able to stay warm as this thing puts out the heat. I'm burning about 2 - 2-1/2 bags a day when it's cold. I have been burning La Crete's so they are high BTU, low ash softwood pellets. My local supplier has been rationing pellets to 1/2T per purchase. They ran out of La Crete's and the weather was warmer so I told my wife to use up some of the FSU's. Big difference in ash production and clinkers. You have to stir the burnpot a lot more often and that tends to make a lot of ash fall through the burnpot. filling up the shallow space underneath and restricting combustion air. This leads to, you guessed it.....more clinkers. How often do other Integra insert owners shut down to clean out their stoves? The design of this insert doesn't allow ash emptying with the stove running. The burnpot must be removed to get the ash pan out. I have run it long enough to have the pan, which sits on the area surrounding the burnpot to fill up to the point of ash sloughing back into the pot. Just wondering how others handle this.

 

[Mark_ms]

My '92 does not have an ashpan, but when I use the cleaning rods for heat exchanger tubes, I will listen to see if there is a metallic sound when the rods are place "at rest" when I start to hear "thuds" on both rods it is time to clean ash from both heat tubes and combustion chamber.

 

[skibumm100]

How do you clean out? The ash pan on mine is a shallow pan (~1" deep) that covers the floor of the stove. It has a hole in the middle where the burn pot sits. I have to remove the burn pot and then pick the pan out of the stove and try to dump it w/o spilling ash everywhere. I have run my stove for a week before dumping the pan and cleaning out the whole stove. It doesn't take long too do but I don't see an easy way to get rid of the ash without shutting down. I use a shop vac with a HEPA filter and vac out under the burn pot and above where the hot air goes into the heat exchanger. I usually pull the bottom cast plate and vac out that area as best I can. Then put it back together and fire it up. I was thinking about splitting the ash pan in two so I could empty it on the run. I might still have to vac out under the burn pot, though.

 

[Mt Bob]

Usually 7-10 days,but I burn less pellets than you.I turn stove back during the day,no one home,do not waiting a while to warm up house,shut stove off when going to be 40 or above with afternoon sun(cabin has good south sun.Have pulled pot,dumped pan and put pot back in,no shut down.Good pair of gloves.Have seen a ton of ashes under pot,never seen it affect burn.Also have spare pot,have swapped them out running,as the holes get plugged.If mark is not using the ash pan,what kind of mess does he have when opening door?I use coal hod to dump pan,but if stove was upstairs would build something bigger.Try not to teardown except after winter,but sometimes you get poor pellets!

 

[steamguy]

When we had our old Austro, we'd clean the burn pot once a day. Try this method, it's easiest: Pick up the burn pot, invert it over the ash pan and BANG it once or twice on the ash pan. Try for the loudest possible noise, one that makes the dog jump. Usually you don't need more than one good rap. Then every time the ash pan gets full, scrape the burn pot. This keeps the draft area under the firepot relatively clean. Anything that gets down there affects the draft.

This was taught to me by a dealer who'd been handling them ever since they began importing them to our area.

I echo Mark's remark for when to tear down and clean, and would add that also if you notice the scraper rods are standing up a ways.

the cleaning rods for heat exchanger tubes, I will listen to see if there is a metallic sound when the rods are place "at rest" when I start to hear "thuds" on both rods it is time to clean ash from both heat tubes and combustion chamber.

MAN I miss that stove. It was so well built and quiet; ours lasted for almost 20 years...

 

[Hdhogger]

You don't have to remove the ash pan to clean. Just vac it out and remove the pot once a day to clean. Get some welding gloves so you don't have to wait for the stove to cool all the way down to grab it. Works for me.

 

[jumpinin]

Burn pot cleaned 2X day - early morning before work and then in early evening when running 24/7 as it has been. Burns much better when clean and it can breathe, after 10 hrs or so, the buildup in the bottom of the pot is about 1/2" - 3/4" high.
Weekly I drop the front cast iron panel and vacuum heat exchange tubes / exhaust port. Complete cleaning (ash tube/heat exchanger) after every ton. Annual cleaning early spring all of above & combustion motor removal/cleaning w/ new gasket.

 

[Mt Bob]

I do scrape pot 2 times a day,unless running above #2 setting,but I do not call this cleaning,just maintaince.Do not usually worry about back plate untill 3 tons as I crank up stove to 3/4 twice a day.Any higher makes more ash instead of blowing it out.

 

[Hdhogger]

Burn pot cleaned 2X day - early morning before work and then in early evening when running 24/7 as it has been. Burns much better when clean and it can breathe, after 10 hrs or so, the buildup in the bottom of the pot is about 1/2" - 3/4" high.
Weekly I drop the front cast iron panel and vacuum heat exchange tubes / exhaust port. Complete cleaning (ash tube/heat exchanger) after every ton. Annual cleaning early spring all of above & combustion motor removal/cleaning w/ new gasket.

Oops, forgot. I would probably clean the pot twice a day but I'm only running this stove 10 hours a day, it's in my warehouse (cold storage) and shut down at night.

 

[Flammam]

I flip the chunk out of the bottom of the burn pot once a day. Shut down about every 20-25 bags for a ash dump and vac. Break down every ton and clean behind the lower and upper plate. Seasonally complete teardown including blower motor cleaning.

 

[Mt Bob]

Forgot to say I also cheat.When stove is down,hit switch to turn on blower,and hit overtop the upper baffle with air.Have an old air compressor in basement.Amazing what a blow gun with a bendable end can do.

 

[Mark_ms]

.If mark is not using the ash pan,what kind of mess does he have when opening door?I!

...Oh That Ash pan! Serves me right to post before coffee...

 

[pinetop12]

First year/ Rika Integra II Vacuum ,pan and ,pot , everyday/ and clean glass daily / Takes 3-5 mins including a quick wire brushing of burn pot. / Once per week take plates off and brush everywhere I can reach and vacuum Takes 20-30 mins . Deep cleaned after 1.5 tons, seemed unnecessary ..

Having clean glass everyday is worth it. The Misses likes her glass clean.

 

[Jeff Lawson]

I scrape the pot every bag and a half or so. Dump the ash pan when it gets full.

What are these plates everyone is talking about? Just kidding.

 

[skibumm100]

...Oh That Ash pan! Serves me right to post before coffee...

C'mon Mark, straighten up and fly right. J/K....yeah, that one.

I have been using a big Rigid plastic shop vac with the HEPA filter. If I had a real metal ash vac, I would be more inclined to vac out when hot. With the FSU pellets, I was getting a pretty big biscuit in the pot and could flip it out to the side. I have switched back to La Crete's and turned the fuel trim back to decrease the pellet feed relative to air and the pot isn't building up with as much ash so I think I can run a little longer between cleanings. I guess I could use gloves or channel locks to remove the pot while it's still burning and dump the pan. The part that stink is if you wait too long, and the ash builds up against the door, it falls out in front of the convection air intake and some of it blows back in your face. The flyash from the LaCrete's is very fine and light.

 

[Mark_ms]

I really don't think of it as an ash pan per se, it is a pellet crematorium recovery area..yeah that's it!

 

[Frank Nuhfer]

I have the Integra II and run it almost exclusively at 5%. It burns just slightly more than one bag/day at this setting. I wait until the glass gets cloudy and then empty the burn pot/ash pan and vacuum the air passage under the burn pot. I use the vacuum with a soft brush on the glass first, and then wipe the glass with a wet paper towel. The soot comes right off. I estimate that I do this every 3 days running 24/7. I remove the cast iron plates about once or twice a year and vacuum the tubes behind the plates. I use the tool to poke between the tubes to make sure the holes are open to the passage to the combustion motor. Once a year I vacuum out the entire stove, combustion motor area, and chimney flue.

 

[RKBAGUY]

Frank's procedure and mine are about the same. I clean out the burn pot every day and a half by using BBQ tongs to lift the clinker from the bottom. Roughly every 3 days, I remove the ash pan. For that, I flip the auger switch on the control pannel, allow the stove to cool for about 30-40 minutes, use an oven mitt to dump the burn pot and ash pan, vacuum the chamber under the pot (I created a 'gasket' by cutting a hole in a quart soup container to cover the opening) and then relight. It's not out long enough for the cast iron to cool, so the startup process is curtailed and the stove gets back up to temp quickly.

I burn about 1-1.5 bags a day depending on temp, but I have a small place and keep the tem 60d overnight and 70d during the day.