Crazy ash buildup, normal or not?!

[vwmike]

Hey guys

Hope you can help me answer weather my stove is operating normal or not. It's an old whitfield advantage 3 built about 1993 according to the tag. It's new to me as it came with a house me and the wife bought this past summer. It appears to be well kept, the previous owner was sure to leave me all the manuals and even showed me how to clean it.

This week it's been way below our seasonal average, our daytime highs have been well below freezing(very unusual here)!! We've been running the stove 24/7 about 18hrs on1 while out or asleep and 8hrs on 3-5. This has kept the 1400sq ft main floor between 66-72' while burning about a bag a day. So far I'm super happy about the performance of it.

I was barely able to make it Sunday to Sunday between cleaning though, there was so much ash built up inside the stove around the burn pot. The ash pan wasn't even half full though?! There also where zero clinkers in the pot. Attached are a couple pics. I'm not worried about it, just curious if this is normal or not. And I've thoroughly cleaned the stove, behind the fire brick, baffles, convection motor and chimney. The last pic us how little ash was behind the fire brick before cleaning. Thanks!
Mike

 

[Bioburner]

The Whits are good stoves and the build of ash may well be the quality of the pellets.

 

[vwmike]

Forgot to mention I'm burning Eagle Valley pellets!

 

[coldout]

I have an1993 Enviro EF2 but it has a similar burn pot and is a top feed, like yours. Also like yours I can see that you have a small ash pan drawer, not a large one that can hold 4 gallons. I'm not an expert, (for sure) but I have gone through 20 bags or so in mild and negative temps here. I can tell you that mine needs to be cleaned every second or third days due to the ash buildup (depending upon how many bags a day I am burning). I have tried 3 different pellets, all premium, one of which have good reputation here. I get about 2 cups of loose ash per bag, or 1 cup compressed. I will admit, the small ash pan drawer is a major PITA!....if only I had known!!

With all due respect, the different name brand "premium" pellets make little difference in my stove. What makes a huge difference is ash pan size. If I had a bigger ash pan i would go a week without cleaning. If your not getting clinkers, and not overflowing your burn pot after several hours, and your not getting carbon residue in the burn pot, glass or baffles, your at least not burning too lean (on air). If you can't see smoke coming out of the chimney, your good, or at least not lean. Burning lean is dirtier. It leaves black residue. White or ashy residue is ok, or normal.

So, if you burn 4 cups of uncompressed ash over 2 bags (2 days), like myself, I would see that as par, especially for the vintage. I'm open to correction but that is just my humble experience. BTW, I am 5k' elevation. I have 8' of vertical chimney and 12" of OAK. I am not an expert, nor do I play one on the internet...

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

As long as there is no buildup to speak of in the burn pot you are fine, some stoves seem to have a problem of not always getting the ejected ash into the ash pan.

If there is room in the ash pan you can always crack the door enough to push some of it down into the pan, but it is possible for the stove to burn correctly with ash piled up around the burn pot.

The ash amount depends upon the pellets being burned and there is a 5 to 1 ratio of the weight of ash produced with pellets labeled premium.

Where the ash settles out depends upon the air flow through the stove, if the ash traps or venting are partially plugged the reduced air flow will deposit the ash out closer to the burn pot side of the system then the outside of via the venting.

 

[vwmike]

I tried a few different brands of pellets before buying my first ton of eagle valleys. They are the only pellets I could get a good price on (200/ton). These don't seam to make any more ash than any of the others I tried, I did try one brand (Armstrong SPF) that where terrible, lots of ash and big clinkers, so I have seen the effects of bad pellets.

Does having too much damper open cause this? I was thinking with too much flow the ash gets sucked out of the pot, instead of falling through, don't know if it works that way or not....

 

[coldout]

I tried a few different brands of pellets before buying my first ton of eagle valleys. They are the only pellets I could get a good price on (200/ton). These don't seam to make any more ash than any of the others I tried, I did try one brand (Armstrong SPF) that where terrible, lots of ash and big clinkers, so I have seen the effects of bad pellets.

Does having too much damper open cause this? I was thinking with too much flow the ash gets sucked out of the pot, instead of falling through, don't know if it works that way or not....

Well: I don't know. How is your flame? Is it short? Does it fluctuate? Is is orange, yellow? How much throw do you get in your damper from low to high? When you make adjustments, how much do you open or close the damper, over what kind of time interval?

 

[Madcodger]

I have an old Whitfield Quest about the same age as your Advantage. Does exactly the same thing, even with a Super Premium pellet. Ash pan catches very little and it builds up just like yours. Stove was clean as a whistle when we installed it this year, with brand new 4" vent. It's likely just the stove design, if flame quality is good.

BTW, I really like these little Whits. No where near as fancy as my Quad, but cost me about 10% as much to buy, and really throws out heat. Simple to work on, too. Keep er clean and maintained and will be a great stove.

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

I tried a few different brands of pellets before buying my first ton of eagle valleys. They are the only pellets I could get a good price on (200/ton). These don't seam to make any more ash than any of the others I tried, I did try one brand (Armstrong SPF) that where terrible, lots of ash and big clinkers, so I have seen the effects of bad pellets.

Does having too much damper open cause this? I was thinking with too much flow the ash gets sucked out of the pot, instead of falling through, don't know if it works that way or not....

Is your pot open to the ash bin or is there a floor below that burn pot, stoves are not all the same.

I have a huge ash bin, but there is a floor under the burn pot, the only way the ash gets into my bin is to first get ejected from the burn pot by the air flow through the pellet pile, some of it then finds its way into the bin, but it also collects on the area around the burn pot. Eventually it can pile up, as long as the burn pot doesn't buildup with ash everything is fine. The air flow and the actual ash itself determines where the ash exits the exhaust stream. Here is a link to some pellet testing done by another member these are old but should give you and idea of the differences between various pellet, the reviewer is on the East Coast of the US but pellets vary as you have discovered.

The link: https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/60581/

I put 26 bags through my stove once before opening the door to clean, had a nice pile around the burn pot, and just couldn't stand to look at it anymore. Several others on here have gone a fairly long time to see what their stoves could do. A former member put 62 bags through his England Stove Works 10-CPM.

 

[Cottagetime]

Hello, I am also new to pellet stove heating so hi to all of you and thanks ahead of time for your great information. I bought a Whitfield advantage II T . I did a complete tear down and it is now super clean and seams to be running fine. I installed it at the cottage removing a 35 + year old wood stove. I have only run the stove once for about 24 hrs. I also had ash all around the burn pot and was wondering if the damper was open to much making the ash fly up ?? The pellets seam active but are not jumping out of the burn pot but you can see them moving a bit is that normal? Thanks again for any info.

 

[Bioburner]

Hello, I am also new to pellet stove heating so hi to all of you and thanks ahead of time for your great information. I bought a Whitfield advantage II T . I did a complete tear down and it is now super clean and seams to be running fine. I installed it at the cottage removing a 35 + year old wood stove. I have only run the stove once for about 24 hrs. I also had ash all around the burn pot and was wondering if the damper was open to much making the ash fly up ?? The pellets seam active but are not jumping out of the burn pot but you can see them moving a bit is that normal? Thanks again for any info.

A bit of movement of the pellets in the pot is very normal. Helps clean the pot of any buildup of fly ash. Stay warm