Endless Questions From A Pellet-Newbie Brain

[fireitup]

Sunday morning, finished my install on a Breckwell P23 insert, and I couldn't be happier as a rookie. The liner practically fell in, and I was worried about an offset that could've caused a problem. Turned the stove on with a full bag of Chow, and in less than 10 minutes we had a nice flame going with the damper set at "half". I have two seemingly dumb questions, but I’ll ask them anyway. 1) Do you folks typically leave your stoves unattended for many hours at a time, say 6-8 hours during the course of a day? I realize they’re running all night, but there’s someone on the premises, if God forbid there’s a problem. 2) I’m sure it varies considerably, but when you shut down for a good cleaning, how long typically for cool-down so it’s safe to get in there?

 

[mralias]

1. Yes
2. Until it is cool enough to vac out. (ashes go outside immediately after I am done vacuuming.)

 

[Polar Bear]

I have left mine for nearly 16 hours unattended. I don't worry about them too much AS LONG AS THEY ARE PROPERLY MAINTAINED.

I'll generally shut mine down for an hour before I do anything other than dump the burn pot.

 

[fireitup]

Question #3: when you folks say you "scrape your burn pot", can you describe specifically what you mean? I know some people here scrape 2-3 times a day as convenient. If you scrape from the burn pot into the main chamber, isn't the fire itself going to be extinguished?

 

[Chrisnow86]

ive done that time to time, and i just scrape out like the ash and leave the bed of coals.. i don't scrape out everything in the burn pot. cause ya if you did that the fire would go out.. in my stove the front of the bun pot (closest to the glass) will pile up with ash i just scrape that out while its running..

 

[fireitup]

OK, so you guys are "scraping around the edges" of the fire itself, going after the black, fluffy stuff. This just keeps the air flow in the burn pot at an acceptable level, correct?

 

[Chrisnow86]

ya exactly.. i just stole one of my wife's stainless steel cooking spatulas hahaha it works perfect

 

[fireitup]

Don't tell my wife and I won't tell yours! And if I don't have anything to scrape, then I must have a pretty good burn going with no significant ash build-up! What's better than that?

 

[johneh]

Do you folks typically leave your stoves unattended for many hours at a time, say 6-8 hours during the course of a day? I realize they’re running all night, but there’s someone on the premises, if God forbid there’s a problem.

During heating season we burn 24/7 weather any one home or not
only down time for weekly vac and glass cleaning

 

[Chrisnow86]

ya its a lot in the pellets you are burning better quality less ash and more heat.. i had mine running for 12 hrs last night and never cleaned it once with a good flame

 

[bags]

I have scraped mine while it was burning scraping under the coals, as I am experimenting on my new install. Fire keeps going here. I did put it out once but it quickly re-ignited on its own with hot coals only because pellets were low as I had the feed turned down low. I just get under the coals with the cleaning tool / scraper that came with my Harman P68. Not familiar with your stove. For that matter, I am not even familiar with mine completely.

Another words you do not have to extinguish the burn pot to do a quick daily scrape. At least not with the unit I have. I bought a cheap set of leather welding gloves and they work well. Harbor Freight specials. They cover your forearms.

You and Chrisnow86 are playing with fire! Not the stoves but stealing the wives tools. Don't get caught and if they ask if you have seen it the kids are great scape goats. LOL!

 

[fireitup]

Selling out the kids, never thought of that, good call!

 

[Chrisnow86]

if anything my little guy will probably sell me out! haha