Burn pot buildup

[ThePoncho]

New Ravelli RV80. Installed 2/4/22. I bought it to replace a nearly 14 year old Avalon Newport.
It's been a great little stove so far. So much quieter than the old Avalon and rated at about 7,000 BTU more. I have a small home and it takes care of things nicely. I have it pretty much figured out, still learning little nuances and idiosyncrasies here & there.
The installer said it should be cleaned once a week. The ashpan could probably handle that but I don't like the amount of ash I see on the grate that surrounds the burn pot or that falls from the heat tubes above so I stick to every 3 days, sometimes 4.
One thing I notice is that after 2 to 2 1/2 days there's a hard buildup about 3/4" thick on the bottom of the burn pot. Of course this causes the pellets to come right to the very top of the burn pot, almost overflowing upon restart. Photo attached. I've taken to removing the burn pot and knocking this out on Day 2 of burning the stove after a cleaning.
This process appears to be accelerated when in Eco Stop mode where the stove turns on and off when the specified room temperature is reached. If the stove is in steady burn mode it seems go longer before this occurs. With fluctuating temps lately I can't run in steady burn, as the room heats 18 to 20 degrees higher than the set temperature when it's been in the mid to high 30's outside.
This isn't a major deal and is easy enough to deal with. Just wondering if anyone else with a Ravelli has experienced this and if so, have you found a better way around it?

 

[scajjr2]

Carbon buildup, aka speed bumps. On Harman's it's in the manual to scrape the burnpot (stove comes with a tool) once a day. Lower temp burns, stop & starts can lead to faster buildup of the speed bumps. You can use a screwdriver, small pry bar, etc to scrape them off.

Also quality of pellets can factor in.

sam

 

[ThePoncho]

The Ravelli manuals are definitely written by someone who has English as a secondary language.
I've always used a gasket scraper and wire wheel in a drill on my burnpots every couple of stove cleanings on the previous Avalon. I've adhered to that on this stove for the most part. At the very least I hit the inside of the pot with a small hand wire brush every cleaning.
I think I can get by with this new stove by just knocking that piece of lava rock out every couple of days because I generally clean after every 3 full days of running anyway. I'll continue to hit it with the wire wheel a couple of times a month.
Thanks for the insights.

 

[Mt Bob]

Burn pot should be cleaned daily, per Ravelli.

 

[ThePoncho]

Burn pot should be cleaned daily, per Ravelli.
View attachment 293357

I didn't get that documentation with the stove, but I did find it online and have it downloaded to the desktop computer.
I must have missed this among the multiple languages. Easy enough task. Just grab it with a glove and dump it when it's in shut down mode.

 

[Mt Bob]

Many stoves that have old style burn pots, you can scrape and scoop out the hard chunks, without shutting stove off. Just did it in my Integra. But, some stoves are so sensitive, they quickly go into shut down mode. Also, being a Ravelli, I recommend purchasing and having a spare burn pot handy, they don't seem to last long in those stoves.

 

[ThePoncho]

Many stoves that have old style burn pots, you can scrape and scoop out the hard chunks, without shutting stove off. Just did it in my Integra. But, some stoves are so sensitive, they quickly go into shut down mode. Also, being a Ravelli, I recommend purchasing and having a spare burn pot handy, they don't seem to last long in those stoves.

Yeah, it only takes a minute. I've done it after the fire has stopped, the convection fan has stopped but the exhaust fan is still running.
Grab it, dump it and reinstall it. The stuff doesn't seem to be stuck fast to the burn pot, it falls right out. The burn pot does get a more intensive cleaning when the stove is completely shut down to be cleaned.
I've read of at least one user here that's gone through multiple burn pots. Probably not a bad idea to keep one on hand.

 

[Kiwicountry]

Many stoves that have old style burn pots, you can scrape and scoop out the hard chunks, without shutting stove off. Just did it in my Integra. But, some stoves are so sensitive, they quickly go into shut down mode. Also, being a Ravelli, I recommend purchasing and having a spare burn pot handy, they don't seem to last long in those stoves.

How does one go about doing that while the stove is running. I have a Ravelli Sara insert?