Hampton GC60 With A Ton Of Hard Build Up In Burn Pot?

[Nick Sterner]

I have a Regency Hampton GC60 that I'm using as our only heat source. I run 2-3 bags a day through it depending on our current temps. By the end of the week there is a ton of creosote build up in the burn pot. So much at times that the agitator will start to rub. This stuff is ineradicably hard and has to be beaten off with the scrapper tool. It's nothing that could be scraped inside the stove. Last year I had two very distinct spots in the burn pot that built up, so I drilled a small 1/8" hole in the area and it helped, but this build up it the entire front wall of the burn pot.
Is this normal? What can be done to prevent?

Thanks

 

[DAKSY]

What kind of pellets are you burning? Hardwood? Softwood?
I'm burning Cleanfire Pacifics (softwood) & I hardly get a build up at all in the burn pot.
Even the notorious Harman "Speed Bump" isn't as prevalent as when I burned hardwood pellets...
I still scrap the pot every other day or so...Just out of habit...

 

[TimfromMA]

Sounds like clinker material. Most pellets produce some amount of it. Lower grade pellets tend to produce more.

 

[jtakeman]

What can be done to prevent?

Most likely changing pellets. Its not a clinker, its carbon build up. Certain brands build up faster than others. Stove Chow will get me in a weeks time where MWP will go a full month without having to beat the daylites out of the burnpot liner!!

Which pellet brand are you burning?

 

[Nick Sterner]

Most likely changing pellets. Its not a clinker, its carbon build up. Certain brands build up faster than others. Stove Chow will get me in a weeks time where MWP will go a full month without having to beat the daylites out of the burnpot liner!!

Which pellet brand are you burning?

I'm burning Curran Blend Pellets
Last year was my first year with the stove and I tried 6 or 7 different brands. The Curran Blend gave me the best heat. Probably not the cleanest and they do produce quite a bit of ash, but I'm looking for heat.

 

[DMKNLD]

Scrape the pot as soon as the hot embers quit glowing after stove shut down - insulated gloves a must ! The colder the fire pot gets the more the residual carbon and pellet impurities will 'cold weld'.

After a quick clean out of the fire pot air holes with the appropriate sized gun bore brush or allen wrench I spray non-stick cooking spray into the pot - it breaks up any residual carbon deposits and lubricates the fire pot bottom and clean - out door linkage mechanism.

 

[Bob E]

Soaking the burn pot in some water for 5-10 minutes will make it easier to get all of that stuff off. Of course that also means down time

 

[SidecarFlip]

Soaking the burn pot in some water for 5-10 minutes will make it easier to get all of that stuff off. Of course that also means down time

2 pots work well, one in the stove and one in a pail of water, soaking. After a good soak, the hard carbon comes right off, no beating or scraping needed. Don't beat on the pot, it's not an anvil.

Another 'trick' I've learned is radius the ends of the agitator fingers relative to the rotation. That allows the fingers to slide over the hard carbon raher than 'diggin in' and causing agitator jump and/or noise and will prevent it jamming (in a worse case scenario) and causing agitator motor failure.

Every stove produces hard carbon unless you have a corn only unit with a clinker pot. Facts of life/soild fuel heating.