Harman P68 cleaning after 4+ tons and 4+ months.

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T

TheMightyMoe

Minister of Fire
Aug 2, 2012
596
Fairbanks, Alaska.
Quick write up, been busy with full time work and school this year, no time for hearth.com fun =/

I don't recommend this, but I was planning to try this since last year. Results are in. I forgot to take pictures.

Ash can was about an inch from full, and the sides had a good 6-8 inches on them.

Only cleaning I did was daily scraping, and hitting the top of the stove with a dead blow hammer to knock ash off the heat exchanger.

Previous year I cleaned monthlyish.

Some notes:

This time instead of emptying ash, I just vacuumed it all into a shop vacuum with bag, no ash dump / moving it through the house, worked nicely.

No noticeable build up on the exhaust fan or ESP or in the horizontal venting.

There was some THICK ash on the sides of the exhaust area before the fan, but nothing creosote like, came off with a paint brush.

Pellet usage wasn't noticeably different based on filling and total usage. I buy 5 tons a year, with usually a ton from the previous year on hand, looks like results will be similar.

I am burning from what I understand cream of the crop pellets "Blazers", I've had no issues or complaints with them.

I did tune the stove using a manometer, I should have re-checked it before cleaning.

Plan for next year is to try to run it all year, and just empty the ash can / burner area with a vacuum. No mess!
 
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Brass balls!
I could not wait that long to clean the stove and the exhaust. I would be pacing around the stove after three weeks
 
I hate to see if you do the same on your transportation. Granted your not cycling the stove so ash etc never gets much of a chance to settle in the venting as cool venting attracts more products of combustion.
 
Bioburner said:
I hate to see if you do the same on your transportation. Granted your not cycling the stove so ash etc never gets much of a chance to settle in the venting as cool venting attracts more products of combustion.
Click to expand...

I verified the results of my experiment, no build up on fan or ESP or horizontal exhaust, or anything that would give me a reason to think I am hurting the stove. If I had noticed a lazy flame, I would have maintenanced my stove.

If something breaks it isn't really cost comparable to a vehicle by any means...

Vehicle on the other hand costs 10x the amount of my stove, and requires maintenance.

The way I see it, the P68 has a HUGE ash can for a reason.
 
boo boo said:
Brass balls!
I could not wait that long to clean the stove and the exhaust. I would be pacing around the stove after three weeks
Click to expand...

*_* I only do the exhaust annually, I'm sure I could go 2-3 years without based on previous years, but it's easy enough to do annually.

Although I also burn very good pellets apparently.
 
The key is the Blazers. You might not be so successful with Energex or Stove Chows. For me though, I couldn't go that long, I'd deem myself lazy for one thing but from experience on my P61 the fines box gets pretty packed by the fourth week and also the igniter compartment.. I'd like to skip going to the bathroom when I get busy but it doesn't work that way.
 
Don't got time to worry about being lazy, fill the stove, leave at 5:30am get home at 10pm everyday.

The main reason I tried this, was every monthly cleaning seemed almost pointless, maybe 1/4 full ash can and no build ups anywhere.
 
+1 on quality pellets. I only burn Somersets (except when I had a hard time locating some last year end of season). I've haven't cleaned the chimney or blower since I purchased it 5 or 6 years ago. I decided to do it this year as I was having vacuum issues. I shouldn't have bothered. Hardly anything came out during chimney sweep/leaf blower trick and the fan had no build up on it. The vacuum issue was door seal. Burn good pellets with a good tuned stove and cleaning is minimal.
 
TheMightyMoe said:
Don't got time to worry about being lazy, fill the stove, leave at 5:30am get home at 10pm everyday.

The main reason I tried this, was every monthly cleaning seemed almost pointless, maybe 1/4 full ash can and no build ups anywhere.
Click to expand...
Cool, you are fortunate to have such good pellets on hand !
 
As I stated before that running the stove constantly does not let it cool down when most of the ash and products of combustion seem to gather and cling. Most of stoves buildup is when we cycle or turn on and off as in the shoulder season so your findings don't really surprise me. I do find that the cleaning of the exchanger helps get more heat out thou. My car monitors how many cold starts etc and tells me when to change so a long thousand mile trip barely reduces the time till change. Same can really apply to your stove too.
 
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alternativeheat said:
The key is the Blazers. You might not be so successful with Energex or Stove Chows. For me though, I couldn't go that long, I'd deem myself lazy for one thing but from experience on my P61 the fines box gets pretty packed by the fourth week and also the igniter compartment.. I'd like to skip going to the bathroom when I get busy but it doesn't work that way.
Click to expand...
Correct!! I started this season with 1/2 ton Stove chows from last year, then 2 tons Energex hardwoods....
went over 3 tons before I Cleaned the outside exhaust and was lot of crud/ash in the pipe..
I'm sure if I burned a Lot cleaner 3 tons I wouldn't have seen the crud...
agree also about the fines box and Igniter compartment....even when I just do a quicky of paintbrushing all the ash into the ashpan and scraping the burnpot,
I still address those 2 areas..
 
I clean the top exchanger and brush down ash on the sides every week to get as much heat as possible. I notice a huge difference which I confirm with my IR temp gauge. Approx. 80 degrees difference with the stove in stove temp 4. I want that 80 degrees in the room not out the exhaust. I realize the ESP controls the temp in stove mode as the flame is a little higher once I clean as my heat comes in the room vs out the exhaust to maintain the ESP exhaust temp.
 
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TonyVideo said:
I clean the top exchanger and brush down ash on the sides every week to get as much heat as possible. I notice a huge difference which I confirm with my IR temp gauge. Approx. 80 degrees difference with the stove in stove temp 4. I want that 80 degrees in the room not out the exhaust. I realize the ESP controls the temp in stove mode as the flame is a little higher once I clean as my heat comes in the room vs out the exhaust to maintain the ESP exhaust temp.
Click to expand...
opps.. forgot to include brushing the heat exchanger ALWAYS...
you should see my 2" Paintbrush from not waiting till the exchanger has cooled off enough..
Nylon brush is half melted..!!!.
time for new one.
Also, I did the leaf blower thing yesterday and just to check, I ran the 4" dryer vent brush up into the exhaust from the bottom and LOT of crud that was caked on cam out So The Leaf blower thing for me from now on is to do AFTER the manual brushing..
Not depending on just the leaf blower anymore.
 
Last edited:
Bioburner said:
I hate to see if you do the same on your transportation. Granted your not cycling the stove so ash etc never gets much of a chance to settle in the venting as cool venting attracts more products of combustion.
Click to expand...

Are you saying not to buy a second hand anything from this poster?
 
I don't know about that but if I were him I sure as $#^* would look at living someplace else that don't require me to work 18/7. It makes one old to fast and to grumpy.
 
The dead blow hammer routine don't work on my brand but a length of 2x2 slapped back and forth on the inside does a good job as well.
 
The Quadrafire E2 is going way overboard on knocking the ash out the stove:(
 
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'Automatic' ash removal...................:p
 
I work 40-50 hours, taking 14 (14 hours) credits, and a 3 hour lab. Then there are the study groups and homework. I actually enjoy my job, the school is just a plan B.

I actually use to put a board on the stove, and hit that to knock the ash off the exchanger. Now I have a decent dead blow, so I skip the board.
 
I use the board method on the inside. I take out my marital frustrations on the baffles._g
 
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