chimney sweep frequency

[bartly]

Hello,
So I have a Quadrafire 1200 insert. Been using it for about 7 years or so, with pretty much the same usage. I heat my house with the gas furnace set at 68 or so, but have the pellet stove come on for about 4-5 hours every evening to keep my living room nice and toasty. The pellet stove cycles on/off several times once the room gets to 78. On the weekends I run in the evenings and some during the daytime when I am home. So I think I am kind of a moderate user of it. The first year I had it installed they suggested a yearly chimney sweep along with a pellet stove cleaning. I payed for that for the first two years and asked the guy about the chimney and he said I could probably do it every other year being as I don't use the stove as my primary heat source. So I got to thinking these stoves are supposed to be pretty darn efficient, and guessing there is not much sap in the pellets. Do they require routine chimney sweeping as much as a regular fireplace? Just wondering if I could do it every 3 or 4 years and be good. I know erring on the side of caution is probably best, just wondering what people have experienced. Do any of you clean your own chimney and find it doesn't get as dirty as one might think? Also, I didn't pay attention to the install wondering if my chimney has a pipe going up it or if the inside of the chimney is exposed brick for soot to catch on. Sorry for the long text, just seems I get to typing and have way more to say than I thought. Thanks for any info/insight on this.

 

[DAKSY]

I clean my pellet vent every year & would recommend that everyone do it yearly, too.

 

[briansol]

I don't sweep it... I kinda 'shake it out' and clear it out.

you'll KNOW when your pipe is dirty. the stove will start burning lazy. I do mine just about every ton.

 

[boo boo]

Hello,
So I have a Quadrafire 1200 insert. Been using it for about 7 years or so, with pretty much the same usage. I heat my house with the gas furnace set at 68 or so, but have the pellet stove come on for about 4-5 hours every evening to keep my living room nice and toasty. The pellet stove cycles on/off several times once the room gets to 78. On the weekends I run in the evenings and some during the daytime when I am home. So I think I am kind of a moderate user of it. The first year I had it installed they suggested a yearly chimney sweep along with a pellet stove cleaning. I payed for that for the first two years and asked the guy about the chimney and he said I could probably do it every other year being as I don't use the stove as my primary heat source. So I got to thinking these stoves are supposed to be pretty darn efficient, and guessing there is not much sap in the pellets. Do they require routine chimney sweeping as much as a regular fireplace? Just wondering if I could do it every 3 or 4 years and be good. I know erring on the side of caution is probably best, just wondering what people have experienced. Do any of you clean your own chimney and find it doesn't get as dirty as one might think? Also, I didn't pay attention to the install wondering if my chimney has a pipe going up it or if the inside of the chimney is exposed brick for soot to catch on. Sorry for the long text, just seems I get to typing and have way more to say than I thought. Thanks for any info/insight on this.

Your flue will collect more fly ash or creosote faster from startups and shut downs than continuous use. You should see what it looks like in there before going years with out cleaning it

 

[bartly]

Thanks for the info. Near as I can tell I have to pull the insert pretty much apart and out to see up the flue (I am guessing that's the part that is just above the insert where the bottom of the chimney is?) All I've really ever done myself is pull pull the rear wall plates off and cleaned the ash of the outside of the tubes. Guess this summer I better learn how to disassemble it so I can clean things more thoroughly.

So I guess I should have asked, do you guys get up on your roof and shove one of those chimney sweeping brushes up and down the chimney (or tube I guess) to clean it? I just kind of don't like being up on the roof, so I guess I better hire someone.

Thanks again for the comments.

 

[briansol]

Most stoves have a T clean out on the unit where the exhaust attaches. open that up, shake the pipe gently and have the vac ready for the ash fall. slowly and then shake it harder as you get more and more out of it.
also, search for 'leaf blower trick'

 

[CamperWill]

Most stoves have a T clean out on the unit where the exhaust attaches. open that up, shake the pipe gently and have the vac ready for the ash fall. slowly and then shake it harder as you get more and more out of it.

Just did that this weekend, was amazed at how much ash was trapped in there.

 

[Bioburner]

Just ran a brush down the venting with the 2 day warm spell. Mid season cleaning. Should have no problem going till end of season. Then will take out and power wash. I do burn some corn in the Harman and the Bixby gets straight corn. Seem to have no corrosion coming on 5 years with the Bixby with this practice.

 

[mralias]

I have the same stove and I clean mine every other vac session. Tap,unsnap and vac the clean out box and you would be surprised how much ash falls down the pipe. I also run the 3" vent cleaner brush once a year up and down the vent pipe and for a little more fun attach the leaf blower to the top of the chimney cap and blow the ash over to my neighbors white vinyl sided house. I would highly recommend cleaning out that box once ever other vac session. Saves big time on the combustion blower.

 

[bartly]

Again, thanks for the replies. Sounds like I better clean that area, I'll have to read on the leaf blower trick. I'll start there, then see if I can work up the nerve to get up on the roof with one of those round brushes this summer. I found these pics in my owners manual. Mralias, looks like the cover plate is on the left side, thanks for the info. I'm kind of anxious and scared to see what comes out. I think this might be the 3rd winter since I paid for cleaning and have just been keeping the front end clean, never cleaned anything more than this on it. So reading my manual it says to use a quality service technician to clean both the Exhaust Blower and Convection Blower, you ever tackle those by your self. Not sure what cleaning would entail, maybe pulling the motors and blowing them out and cleaning the blades maybe. My maintenance chart says these should be cleaned/inspected yearly. I don't recall the cleaning guy taking out the motors, maybe just blow on them with compressed air in place. I can see that not making the wife happy with white carpet in the living room. If nothing else, glad to know about that cleanout area, Thanks!

 

[mralias]

So reading my manual it says to use a quality service technician to clean both the Exhaust Blower and Convection Blower, you ever tackle those by your self. Not sure what cleaning would entail, maybe pulling the motors and blowing them out and cleaning the blades maybe. My maintenance chart says these should be cleaned/inspected yearly. I don't recall the cleaning guy taking out the motors, maybe just blow on them with compressed air in place. I can see that not making the wife happy with white carpet in the living room. If nothing else, glad to know about that cleanout area, Thanks!

Yep, do it myself every year. Pull the stove out to work on it. The combustion blower requires a new gasket which you can make yourself fairly easy. I think Don 2222 made a couple of step by step instructions to cut out your own that are pretty good. Remove the 5 or 6 screws around the outside of the housing plate, unplug the two connector spades and it will pull right out. Ash is what leads to the demise of these units. The convection blower comes out easy and is located in the back center, just a couple bolts and it pulls right out. Unplug the molex connector and the area of cleaning is fairly evident. Lot's of ash collects on the bird cages. Also a cleaning of the vacuum switch line should be done a couple times a year. Unplug from the vacuum switch and blow or suck (never into the switch) and you will find a bunch of fines come out. Oh yeah, UNPLUG THE STOVE BEFORE YOU DO ANY OF THIS! Nothing worse than a fried control board. I find one of these shown below helps you move the stove around pretty easy. Slid it forward onto this and wheel it were you can work on it. Harbor Freight has the for about $12.

 

[briansol]

your stove may be different, but my blowers basically never get dirty. I've opened them a few times now and every time i'm mad that I wasted the time to get one rogue dust bunny or ash flake out of it.

the pipe is the big deal. I do mine every 50 bags at least.

 

[mralias]

your stove may be different, but my blowers basically never get dirty. I've opened them a few times now and every time i'm mad that I wasted the time to get one rogue dust bunny or ash flake out of it.

the pipe is the big deal. I do mine every 50 bags at least.

Wish the blowers on the cb1200i would not get dirty but the ash gets sucked right through the combustion fan and the cage on the convection fan gets pretty caked with a fine powder ash. I have had to replace both blowers in less then 10 years because of this.

 

[bartly]

Yep, do it myself every year. Pull the stove out to work on it. The combustion blower requires a new gasket which you can make yourself fairly easy. I think Don 2222 made a couple of step by step instructions to cut out your own that are pretty good. Remove the 5 or 6 screws around the outside of the housing plate, unplug the two connector spades and it will pull right out. Ash is what leads to the demise of these units. The convection blower comes out easy and is located in the back center, just a couple bolts and it pulls right out. Unplug the molex connector and the area of cleaning is fairly evident. Lot's of ash collects on the bird cages. Also a cleaning of the vacuum switch line should be done a couple times a year. Unplug from the vacuum switch and blow or suck (never into the switch) and you will find a bunch of fines come out. Oh yeah, UNPLUG THE STOVE BEFORE YOU DO ANY OF THIS! Nothing worse than a fried control board. I find one of these shown below helps you move the stove around pretty easy. Slid it forward onto this and wheel it were you can work on it. Harbor Freight has the for about $12.

Thanks for all that great info. I'll put it to good use, hopefully someone else will too. Have you had to replace your burnpot or flap plate yet? I'm on my second plate and now the pot has a patch welded in it. I found a hi-temp (Lytherm) insulator for the base of the burnpot, I'll have to search on the gasket making, guessing the blower gaskets don't need the super hi temp rating of the burnpot gasket.
Was surprised there wasn't a complete 1200i cleaning video on youtube, seems like everything else is on there. Don't need the video now though, Thanks!