CLEANING OUT STOVE ABOVE BAFFLE

[Todd]

I was cleaning out my ashes today and got a little carried away after I noticed about a 1/2" of fly ash above the baffle. I couldn't get my hand up there to sweep the ash out so I started taking apart the baffle and tubes. The tubes came right out after removing a cotter pin. But the ceramic baffle was another story. The baffle sits on top of a steel bracket that looks like it was set into place before the top soapstone panels were set. I don't know if there is a way to get it out without breaking the ceramic or dismantling the top of the stove? Maybe Hearthstone does this for a reason? There is no mention of removal of baffle in the manual. Maybe I can rig some kind of flex hose on a vacuum to get the ash out? Anyone ever run into this problem? I can't even get at it from the stoves exhaust. What a pain!

 

[Rick]

In my Hearthstone Bennington that steel bracket is just sitting across a little ledge in the stove so it was easy to remove. I broke my baffle while trying to remove it, as it is fairly fragile. After spending $100 to replace it I've decided to remove the "heat exchanger" the next time I want to clean on top of the baffle. Oh yeah, i also cracked a corner off the replacement baffle while putting that in. Ah, good times.

Rick