Enviro Milan - keeping the glass clean and vibration noise down

[RAVinMetrowest]

I'm new to the pellet game as I had my insert installed 3 weeks ago and have had about 20 short time burns of a few hours each so far.

Over the weekend, I did a thorough cleaning of the stove, including removing the case 'brick' panels at the back of the firebox and vacuuming out the adjustable vent area behind the left panel.

After re-assembly, after the next burn, I've noticed that the smoke deposition on the glass has changed. I'm having trouble keeping the glass clean. I've attached a photo of how the smoke/fine ash is collecting on the glass. I assume this is related to how tight I have set the 3 brick panels when I re-assembled them. I do not see this as a functional problem - just a slight change in air flow.

I bought a bottle of Rutland Conditioning Glass Cleaner and am using it to clean the tough residues as well as leave a protective coating on the glass to promote easier cleaning in the future.

I know this insert is supposed to 'wash' the glass with air flow but I am getting more smoke/ash on the glass than expected.

I have what I feel is a healthy fire and am burning a bag of La Crete softwoods now.

As far as vibration noise, I have various vibration noises when the stove runs. Sometimes I give the hopper door a firm push to eliminate the vibration. I'm seeking out the various sources of noise; one was the surround and I gave it a slight adjustment and it stopped. If I find a repeated cause, I'll apply some material to dampen/stop the vibration (being aware of flammability issues). Advice on quelling vibration is appreciated.

Enjoying the forum, learning a lot, buying various bags of pellets to see how they burn, etc. So far, all the pellets I've used burn well (nothing in the fire pot that would not clean up with the ash vac nozzle) just varying amounts of ash. I'm running the hopper out to take a couple of internal pictures and see if anything is going on where the pellets meet the auger. I've used Green Team Supreme ($5), New England Wood Pellet ($6), North American Pellets Premium ($5), Maine's Choice Premium ($5), La Crete softwood ($6.50). Next up Green Team Platinum ($6) and then Fire Side Ultra ($6) and Maine's Choice Premium Wood Pellets ($5).

 

[RAVinMetrowest]

OK, I thing I've got this.

Even though I've only burned about 6 bags of pellets, and had about 20 burns of a few hours each to get the hang of things, I did another thorough cleaning today as well as cleaned out my Powersmith ash vac.

I paid special attention to the 'brick' panel as I reinstalled them. Do you know that the upper baffle, that is "V" shaped and resides above the panels, is not shown in any of the manuals or referenced in the owner's or technical manual? A weird omission!

The limited manual also does not mention how the glass is designed to be kept clean. My reputable sales team did discuss the 'air wash' design but the manuals make no mention of it.

The door has a series of holes around the perimeter of the outside of the frame. These holes allow air to be drawn into the stove and washed over the glass.

I have also been using Rutland glass cleaner that also puts a film on the surface of the glass to aid in keeping it clean.

As I clean the door glass, I see some of the cleaner get into the area on the inside where the frame has a gap and it leaves a white residue.

After I cleaned out the stove of all ash, I got out my compressed air line and a blow gun. I blew out each of the holes around the perimeter of the window (about 30). Dust, pellet fines, cleaner residue, and other FOAD came blowing out from all around. Some may have been there from the manufacturing processes or the initial gasket install.



I put the brick panels back and tightly clustered the 2 end panels around the center panel. I had used some anti-seize lubricant on the 4 bolts that hold on the bars that retain the brick panels and this seemed to work well (I also noted that they were 10-24 threads and picked up some stainless replacements last week at the hardware store in case I vacuum up the stock ones).

I bought a vacuum attachment at Harbor Freight that had some micro sized tools and a 1/2" hose - for around $8. I could run this down the exhaust port and into the exhaust fan housing to get any ash that might of made its way down this passage. Also picked up some nice chip brushes for a little over $1 that greatly assisted in cleaning the window gaps and the heat exchanger.

After everything was all assembled, I treated the glass - twice - and set out to see what was causing the vibration. I took some rolled up balls of aluminum foil and secured 2 metal flaps/deflectors that reside on each side of the firebox on the outside. They had the opportunity to vibrate and I eliminated this free hanging flexibility by wedging the small balls (about the size of a 3/4" pencil) in the areas to stop the vibration.

I've been burning for the past 3 hours and the glass has minimal buildup - directly in the center and no annoying vibrations.

I continue to experiment with various pellets, while watching the talk about running out and the need to horde pellets before they run out, but for now - the insert eats anything I throw at it and cleans up with a simple vacuum without the need to scrape anything.

Regarding my PowerSmith Ash Vac, the thing gets extremely hot above the motor. I'm running it for short durations - 8 minutes max per cleaning step with breaks as I continue to work. The plastic is not melting and there are no signs if damage, but it is a little alarming. I wrote to the manufacturer (they have not responded yet).

I cleaned out the ashes after I was done. Got about 12 oz. of extremely fine ash that I saved in a clear plastic bag. Thought the manual discourages the use of compressed air to clean out the filter, after shaking out the majority of accumulation on the metal side, I carefully blew out the filter with air that was not too intense. All went back together without issues.

Not sure what to do with the ashes but I'll repost that question in another thread.

Hope you enjoyed reading my findings.