I have a Quadra Fire Castile insert, and I'm wondering how you go about cleaning out the hopper of any sawdust or small particles that may settle at the bottom or around the auger unit.
My manual is very sketchy on this, basically all it says is "vacuum out the hopper" . Well that says a lot, but how do you get down into the bottom of the hopper? With a stove you can walk around it and you have access all the way around it, but an insert is fitted into the fireplace opening and then decorative moldings are put on it, so you only have access to the front of it.
I can only put my hand down in the hopper so far as it slants towards the rear and theres no way you can reach into the hopper opening much at all. I was going to let the insert run itself empty, then try to slide my vacuum hose into the hopper opening as much as possible to get any fines or sawdust out of it.
I have the Video DVD that came with the unit, and it doesnt even mention cleaning the hopper under the care and maintanence section at all. It talks about how to empty the burn pot, scrape it, dump it, take out the firebrick panels, and vacuum behind the firebrick, but nothing about cleaning the hopper.
Occasionally , I can hear the auger make a faint squeal noise, and I'm assuming its moving the pellets up the tube with some resistance but thats been that way since I bought it which was only a few months ago, so its had a total of 24 bags of pellets so far and I always take the last portion in the bottom of the bag, and I strain it using a spaghetti collander, which works real well, all the fine particles drop out into the waste basket but Im sure with the pellets rubbing one another in there I must have some settlement of fines in the bottom somewhere ?
Anyone who owns the Castile insert, have any tips on cleaning out the hopper? Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.
Thankyou in advance, keep warm !!
My manual is very sketchy on this, basically all it says is "vacuum out the hopper" . Well that says a lot, but how do you get down into the bottom of the hopper? With a stove you can walk around it and you have access all the way around it, but an insert is fitted into the fireplace opening and then decorative moldings are put on it, so you only have access to the front of it.
I can only put my hand down in the hopper so far as it slants towards the rear and theres no way you can reach into the hopper opening much at all. I was going to let the insert run itself empty, then try to slide my vacuum hose into the hopper opening as much as possible to get any fines or sawdust out of it.
I have the Video DVD that came with the unit, and it doesnt even mention cleaning the hopper under the care and maintanence section at all. It talks about how to empty the burn pot, scrape it, dump it, take out the firebrick panels, and vacuum behind the firebrick, but nothing about cleaning the hopper.
Occasionally , I can hear the auger make a faint squeal noise, and I'm assuming its moving the pellets up the tube with some resistance but thats been that way since I bought it which was only a few months ago, so its had a total of 24 bags of pellets so far and I always take the last portion in the bottom of the bag, and I strain it using a spaghetti collander, which works real well, all the fine particles drop out into the waste basket but Im sure with the pellets rubbing one another in there I must have some settlement of fines in the bottom somewhere ?
Anyone who owns the Castile insert, have any tips on cleaning out the hopper? Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.
Thankyou in advance, keep warm !!