doublewide said:
HopeItBurns said:
On most stoves including the Breckwells there are these cover plates, looking at your manual right now here on
Go to page 20 ......have you ever cleaned behind these plates because when ash builds up, efficiency of the stove suffers. I clean behind my cover plates every ton put thru the stove. I also give it the spring cleaning, take off combustion blower and clean the little vanes, clean vanes on convection blower - oil if possible depending if you have sealed bearings. Also important is do you have OAK installed and the last is what brand pellets you burning? Also I remove the exhaust piping and clean that real good.
Thanks for the info. I clean behind the cover plates every time I vacuum. Combustion blower has been cleaned and completely oiled with bearing lubricant. I do not have an oak, but why would the efficiency drop down in about 12 hours (the same amount of airflow is getting in + the damper is only opened about 3/8.") I had all the exhaust cleaned before the season. It looks to me like I need a new seal on the doors anyone know what size it is and how to attach it to a Breckwell? Eric?
So the Breckwells have cover plates that come off, but it's not just the bottom of the cover plates you need to scrape/clear of ash. Above the cover plates also gets excess ash buildup. I had a heck of a time trouble shooting me, as I would remove the cover plates and clean/remove the blower etc, but it wasn't until I bought a long 22" flexible brush that I was able to stick it up and saw it poke out above where the heat exchange tubes are. I had previously been trying to get up there with a screw driver and had some success, but I needed something longer to poke through the thick layer of ash that had built up, which was blocking air flow, which was causing a lazy burn.
It WOULD help if I cleaned the bottom of those ash traps (for a very short period), but it wasn't until I cleaned up in the ash traps near the heat exchange tubes (just the side removable panels, not the middle panels), that I noticed a HUGE difference. The stove now burns the way it was meant to be burned.