Don't blame it on the pellets

[trbinrat]

I haven't posted hear in quite some time. But thought this might help someone out if they were on the fence about cleaning their stove.

I have a Enviro Maxx and have had it for 6 years. I love this stove. It heats my large cape very well even though it's in the basement.

According to some people I don't treat my stove very well. LOL I run it non stop from mid october to mid april. With an a quick cleaning every other month. Which includes a brush and a leaf vac. I tend to pay more attention to the flue pipe than the stove.

This year like most I've burned a lot of pellets and most have been green supremes from lows and HD and a bunch from Tractor Supply and some MWP fro the local agway. The stove was do for a cleaning so I got out the leaf vac and the flue brush and did the usual cleaning, vac out the stove and all was good.

A couple of days later I got a ton of NWP and started to burn them. I noticed that the flame was lazy and check the burn pot. It was half full. So I shut down the stove and cleaned it out. Next day same thing. I'm like what the hey these pellets are awful. cleaned out the burn pot and restart the stove. Next day I came home from work and the house smelled smokey so i shut down the stove and when it cooled down I opened it up to find that the burn pot was full of hard ash and the pellets were over flowing into the ash bin and burning in the bin NOT GOOD.

Well I kept blaming the pellets until I took the stove apart to find every nook and cranny was filled with ash. The stove couldn't breath even though the flue was clean. So I spent 3 hours ripping the stove apart and cleaning everything even dusted off all the electrical with a paint brush. I put the stove back together and fired it off. What a surprise it was working 100 time better. I guess after 6 years I was getting lazy and instead of looking into the real problem I was just blaming it on the pellets.



Mark

 

[Lake Girl]

So while the leaf blower cleaning may be helpful, it doesn't replace getting into the internal workings with a brush and vacuum? It's true what they say "Clean stove is a happy stove"

 

[Bioburner]

Poor constipated stove, wasn't getting enough fiber brush.

 

[alternativeheat]

I haven't posted hear in quite some time. But thought this might help someone out if they were on the fence about cleaning their stove.

I have a Enviro Maxx and have had it for 6 years. I love this stove. It heats my large cape very well even though it's in the basement.

According to some people I don't treat my stove very well. LOL I run it non stop from mid october to mid april. With an a quick cleaning every other month. Which includes a brush and a leaf vac. I tend to pay more attention to the flue pipe than the stove.

This year like most I've burned a lot of pellets and most have been green supremes from lows and HD and a bunch from Tractor Supply and some MWP fro the local agway. The stove was do for a cleaning so I got out the leaf vac and the flue brush and did the usual cleaning, vac out the stove and all was good.

A couple of days later I got a ton of NWP and started to burn them. I noticed that the flame was lazy and check the burn pot. It was half full. So I shut down the stove and cleaned it out. Next day same thing. I'm like what the hey these pellets are awful. cleaned out the burn pot and restart the stove. Next day I came home from work and the house smelled smokey so i shut down the stove and when it cooled down I opened it up to find that the burn pot was full of hard ash and the pellets were over flowing into the ash bin and burning in the bin NOT GOOD.

Well I kept blaming the pellets until I took the stove apart to find every nook and cranny was filled with ash. The stove couldn't breath even though the flue was clean. So I spent 3 hours ripping the stove apart and cleaning everything even dusted off all the electrical with a paint brush. I put the stove back together and fired it off. What a surprise it was working 100 time better. I guess after 6 years I was getting lazy and instead of looking into the real problem I was just blaming it on the pellets.



Mark

My P61 gets a weekly cleaning and a pot scrape two to three times a day. With a Harman you don't have to shut the stove down to scrape the burn pot fairly well but on the weekly I still find a little carbon on it.

Cheap pellets are dirty is my finding, some pretty good though non the less. Others are dirty and also less heat so the stove really mows on these suckers to make the same heat a better pellet will produce using less. My Harman likes the less expensive hardwoods better than the softwood, or I do I guess. They seem to still produce a fairly clean and A a bit lower level of flame even though there is ash to produce the same or more heat than the huge softwood flame. So it seems, I'm new to pellets this winter and new to hardwood pellets in the last 3 weeks. Just my observation thus far !

Smoke detectors ? I read you smelled smoke, I didn't read that the detectors were going off . Or was it too low a level of smoke ?

 

[john193]

Every other month cleaning is a stretch.

 

[hyfire]

What does the manual say about cleaning the stove internals? 6 years what were you thinking Read Page 9-11 carefully!

 

[batchman]

I went with the Maxx partly because that's an insanely easy weekly list, and I always get busy right when something important is needed.

Plus in a few places it says "Bi-Annually" so every two years, right??!!?? LOL

Good to hear that 6 years later the OP is still happy.

Cheers,
- Jeff

 

[trbinrat]

Hyfire
I guess my post was a little miss leading. I didn't mean that I hadn't done a thorough cleaning in six years. It meant that I was getting lazy and stretching it out. I do clean all those part you posted every time I empty the ash pan. the build up of ash was in behind the ash pot where the fire box baffle connects to. This is where the air goes through before entering the exhaust blower. I have never had a build up there before and didn't think to clean it the last time I took the baffle out. Now that this has happened I will be cleaning that area on a regular bases.

Alternativeheat
Yes I have smoke detectors and check the regularly. No the smoke wasn't enough to set them off it was just enough to put the smell of smoke in the air like when you open the door of a wood stove to put a log in.

 

[hyfire]

Ok , I understand now, don;t get lazy or things can go wrong. However , that being said I am guilty of not cleaning my flue after 40 bags, good thing my draft gauge picks a slight restriction up so i can detect this...

 

[Bioburner]

Ok , I understand now, don;t get lazy or things can go wrong. However , that being said I am guilty of not cleaning my flue after 40 bags, good thing my draft gauge picks a slight restriction up so i can detect this...View attachment 128658

Time for some EXLAX,Uhhhhha

 

[Tonyray]

Ok , I understand now, don;t get lazy or things can go wrong. However , that being said I am guilty of not cleaning my flue after 40 bags, good thing my draft gauge picks a slight restriction up so i can detect this...View attachment 128658

hyfire,
is that view from outside or from inside?

 

[hyfire]

That is i view from my outside Double T fitting, it lets me clean in both directions. vertical and horizontal. A very expensive fitting but well worth it in the end, or I would have no way to clean the horizontal. You are looking at the horizontal view, with the end cap removed.

 

[batchman]

Wow Hyfire that is pretty impressive. Is your vent horizontal straight out of the stove?

Cheers,
- Jeff

 

[hyfire]

No, the stove has a normal tee fitting on the end, then 4 feet of vertical rise then a 90 bend then 2 feet horizontal pipe then the 4 way tee outside then another 6 feet of vertical rise..I get .05" w.c if the power fails, which is good enough draft to prevent problems... I am just suprised how the ash builds up on the horizontal pipe, and it does have a small slope upwards too..

 

[trbinrat]

Hyfire And that's just burning 40 bags? I don't feel so bad now Mine doesn't look that bad after two tons.

My flue comes out of the stove to a T then 3' up and then a 45 then 2' then another 45 then up 1' then a 90 then out the wall 18"

I never have a problem with draft even on a loss of power.