Breckwell P-2000FS Problem

[mayhem]

Not my stove, it belongs to my brother, just want to help him out as its his main source of heat and currently down.

Bought it in the late 90's and its always run on the cool side for heat output in my opinion, but has done a decent job of adding some BTUs to a very big, old house. Had a recent break in at the house this past summer, the kids went in through the stove pipe and busted out the thin wall where the vent went through. He finally got around to hooking it back up and now he says it doesn't fire properly. He cna light it with a torch and it does run, but he said its very smoky and some smoke back drafts into the living area. I took a very quick look at it the other day and when I opened the front door I couldn't help but notice the entire combustion chamber is just covered in creosote...pitch black, hard yet brittle, oily creosote on everything...glass is almost completely covered even.

Now I'm a total noob with pellet stoves, but it seems to me that if he's got creosote in there, its probably also gummed up all the air vents and exhaust. Is there a recommended procedure for disassembling and cleaning this thing so he can get some heat back in the house or maybe it will highlight the real issue? I don't know, but I'm thinking that a pellet stove should not have much, if any buildup of creosote at all since the pellets should be very dry already...or is that not correct?

Thanks.

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

Creosote is condensed wood combustion by products, you don't need a lot of moisture, just a small air starved fire or even a fire with a lot of air. What really does it is that the flue temperature remains below the condensation point of the combustion byproducts, these then condense on all surfaces of the stove they come in contact with that are below the condensation temperature.

You have to pull out and use some soap, water, and elbow grease, on the parts that are covered in the mess. If the part doesn't come out easily you have to clean in place. It is a messy job.

Do not try burning it off as it easily gets out of control and will destroy the venting and likely the house as well.