Harman xxv, how often to clean?

[grathan]

The manual says every ton it should be cleaned. I was using this routine for a few years. Last year I started scraping the baffles and removing the pan while the stove was running, but for some reason smoke billows out into the room this year when trying that.

So I have switched to a weekly cleaning program with the stove shut down. I think this has caused a 5-10*F increase in room temps. That is pretty significant for me, so I am considering going to 2-4 day schedule? Does this sound logical? It seems i lose a 2-5 degrees over the course of a couple days and cleaning isn't really that big of a deal.

 

[john193]

Every week I would shut down the stove. Scrape the heat exchanger with a wire brush and all surrounding areas where ash accumulates. Empty the ash pan, scrape the burn pot smooth. I'd clear the ignitor housing every other week. I'd clean out the augar dust trap every month.

Moving from a per ton to a weekly cleaning will increase your efficiency as the ash just acts as an insulating layer. But there seems to be no benefit to going every 2 days IMO, especially when you factor in your time. I had no issues performing a weekly cleaning

 

[RKS130]

I aim for once a week cleaning of my Accentra, with every other week being more complete; ie., removing the baffles, cleaning the ESP, etc. Works for me.

 

[Twinturbo6.4]

I vacuum mine weekly and clean the fines box once a month, besides doing that and cleaning the ESP end vent pipe What else needs to be done to the XXV? I have removed the exhaust blower on a monthly basis as well but thats never really dirty. Is there a major tear down that you should do to the XXV?

 

[UpStateNY]

I am burning two bags a day of premium low ash pellets right now. Every three days I do a warm shut down the burn to scrape the burn pot to get the clunkers out and a quick scrap of the overhead baffles. Every three weeks I do a cold shut down to do the following:

• dump ash pan
  
• remove and clean all 7 metal pieces inside the Harman Advanced front burn area
• clean all baffles with paint brush and vacuum
  
• clean lower exhaust fan with paint brush and vacumm
  
• thorough scrap burn pot and clean under burn pot where the igniter is located.
• clean glass doors

If I burn big box store high ash pellets, the above is done every two weeks and scrap of bun pot clunkers every day.

 

[Twinturbo6.4]

As far as I know there are no panels inside the XXV to remove

 

[Tonyray]

Every week I would shut down the stove. Scrape the heat exchanger with a wire brush and all surrounding areas where ash accumulates. Empty the ash pan, scrape the burn pot smooth. I'd clear the ignitor housing every other week. I'd clean out the augar dust trap every month.

Moving from a per ton to a weekly cleaning will increase your efficiency as the ash just acts as an insulating layer. But there seems to be no benefit to going every 2 days IMO, especially when you factor in your time. I had no issues performing a weekly cleaning

Sounds about right...
Top 3 to me are fines box, Igniter compartment, and heatExchanger...
meaning if your gonna skip something till next time, Like Maybe do a brush down to the ash pan without vacuuming or not do a vigorous scraping, I wouldn't skip either of the 3...

 

[alternativeheat]

I feel it depends on pellets. Ashy pellets indeed can use a good brush down every 3 days and I can imagine with a stove where ash can get behind panels then that means removing panels.. The worst pellets I ever used in my P61 were this way, though it has no panels to remove inside besides the usually igniter chamber and fines box of course. . Really clean burning pellets I go two weeks on the more major cleaning and just a quick brush on the week. The burn pot I scrape daily no matter what, it's just habit.

 

[Tonyray]

I feel it depends on pellets. Ashy pellets indeed can use a good brush down every 3 days and I can imagine with a stove where ash can get behind panels then that means removing panels.. The worst pellets I ever used in my P61 were this way, though it has no panels to remove inside besides the usually igniter chamber and fines box of course. . Really clean burning pellets I go two weeks on the more major cleaning and just a quick brush on the week. The burn pot I scrape daily no matter what, it's just habit.

yes..
with stove chows, deff required more regular attention..
only burned 25 bags left over from last year.. Great heat but don't want to deal with mountains of ash anymore..

 

[chken]

The manual says every ton it should be cleaned. I was using this routine for a few years. Last year I started scraping the baffles and removing the pan while the stove was running, but for some reason smoke billows out into the room this year when trying that.

So I have switched to a weekly cleaning program with the stove shut down. I think this has caused a 5-10*F increase in room temps. That is pretty significant for me, so I am considering going to 2-4 day schedule? Does this sound logical? It seems i lose a 2-5 degrees over the course of a couple days and cleaning isn't really that big of a deal.

The manual's recs are your starting point until you gain enough experience to adjust the routine to your liking. If you think you need to clean more, then that's what you do, and if you think you need to clean less, then that's fine too. There are so many variables, pellets used, stove location, length of vent, that what works for one does not work for another.

 

[grathan]

Thanks for the replies. I think I will go for a 2-3 day shutdown schedule next year. I burn the best pellets I can get and the 2 degrees difference after 2 days is definitely worth my time (10 minutes tops). It's not really the cost of the pellets, more like the two degrees gained for a full 48 hours that motivates me.

I'll just keep the vacuum near the stove instead of hauling it to and from the garage. Hope to have ignitor back in service as well. Hmm maybe I'll even make a 2nd ash pot so that I can just swap out instead of going outside to dump in the snow.



Ideally I would love to get back to hot cleaning. Maybe a wirebrush flameproof vac brush/nozzle and some type of augmented smoke removal.

 

[SXIPro]

If I had to clean my stove every 2 to 3 days I'd be donating it to be used as a boat anchor. Ridiculous.

 

[alternativeheat]

I doubt he is talking about a massive cleaning in 3 days. On my P61 about every 4 or 5 days I take the Harman tool and give heat exchanger a quick scrape myself. I'd like to have a paint brush with brass or copper bristles truth be known. I do this with the stove running , I don't shut it down. This is in between real cleanings of 2-4 weeks depending on pellets ( with the exception of the real crap ones I got last year that filled the ash pan 2/3 full in 4 days of burning ). So much depends on pellet quality. The poster will figure it out.

 

[Tonyray]

Thanks for the replies. I think I will go for a 2-3 day shutdown schedule next year. I burn the best pellets I can get and the 2 degrees difference after 2 days is definitely worth my time (10 minutes tops). It's not really the cost of the pellets, more like the two degrees gained for a full 48 hours that motivates me.

I'll just keep the vacuum near the stove instead of hauling it to and from the garage. Hope to have ignitor back in service as well. Hmm maybe I'll even make a 2nd ash pot so that I can just swap out instead of going outside to dump in the snow.



Ideally I would love to get back to hot cleaning. Maybe a wirebrush flameproof vac brush/nozzle and some type of augmented smoke removal.

I think you will not need to clean every 2-3 days which you will soon find out next season. but it;s your stove...

 

[Tonyray]

I doubt he is talking about a massive cleaning in 3 days. On my P61 about every 4 or 5 days I take the Harman tool and give heat exchanger a quick scrape myself. I'd like to have a paint brush with brass or copper bristles truth be known. I do this with the stove running , I don't shut it down. This is in between real cleanings of 2-4 weeks depending on pellets ( with the exception of the real crap ones I got last year that filled the ash pan 2/3 full in 4 days of burning ). So much depends on pellet quality. The poster will figure it out.

that's what I need.. brass or copper bristles...
you should see mine from brushing a semi-hot exchanger all winter...
trash can at end of season..

 

[alternativeheat]

that's what I need.. brass or copper bristles...
you should see mine from brushing a semi-hot exchanger all winter...
trash can at end of season..

Tony, I know EXACTLY what it looks like !! Why do you think I said brass or copper bristles !!lol

 

[DOLLARBILL]

this yearI average about every two weeks or so but only because its been unusually cold! other years three to four weeks thats with a good pellet like LeCreates or Cubex ! This year I tried Okies ...never again to much money and hype for me very dusty had a foul oder just did not care for them at all ..live and learn so the saying goes !

 

[Tonyray]

this yearI average about every two weeks or so but only because its been unusually cold! other years three to four weeks thats with a good pellet like LeCreates or Cubex ! This year I tried Okies ...never again to much money and hype for me very dusty had a foul oder just did not care for them at all ..live and learn so the saying goes !

Interesting...
I will agree about the $$$.. too much but I burned Okie Gold and Platinum and great heat no ash on the Plats.
The golds had medium heat and low ash but it was a bit grity or sandy feeling..

 

[alternativeheat]

this yearI average about every two weeks or so but only because its been unusually cold! other years three to four weeks thats with a good pellet like LeCreates or Cubex ! This year I tried Okies ...never again to much money and hype for me very dusty had a foul oder just did not care for them at all ..live and learn so the saying goes !

Oakie DF ? I haven't noticed too much dust in them but this years is producing some kind of hard crusty ash , almost a narrow string of clinker looking material or glaze, at the leading edge of the hot pellets. I've broken it up and pushed it back in to burn off some more. Also carbon deposits on the burn pot. Not pleased with that. I can get at times around here AWF White Pines, burn just as hot, cleaner and nearly $100 a ton less expensive. The question is , when is that time ? The Oakies I can pre Order and the dealer will store them, wish I could do that with the AWF WP.

To me Oakie Platinums have always been dusty. I vowed off those last year deeming LaCrete as just as good without the dust . Oakie Platinum I liken to LG with slightly less ash. I can buy LG for $50 a ton less.

 

[DOLLARBILL]

I got both the Platinums and Gold just was disappointed after all I had heard about how super they were ! Maybe next year Ill try a ton or two of the DFs but doubt it I buy and store for next year in the spring ! All the Maine pellets just didn't do it for me when the price was within 10/20 $ of Cubex or similar products two years ago a friend bought a trailer load of pellets we got them for 150 a ton they were burning dirty but if that ever came around again id buy them !

 

[SXIPro]

this yearI average about every two weeks or so but only because its been unusually cold! other years three to four weeks thats with a good pellet like LeCreates or Cubex ! This year I tried Okies ...never again to much money and hype for me very dusty had a foul oder just did not care for them at all ..live and learn so the saying goes !

What type of foul odor? I remember a few years back when they smelled awful. I think there was even a poll on here to vote whether they smelled more like puke or like cat pee. The batch I had smelled like puke. Pretty lovely.

 

[SidecarFlip]

...Cat pee is oak wood in the pellet mix......, Puke is just puke.

 

[peirhead]

[/quote] Ideally I would love to get back to hot cleaning. Maybe a wirebrush flameproof vac brush/nozzle and some type of augmented smoke removal.[/quote]

I hope you guys are cleaning your exhaust piping periodically as well......a nice clean stove is going to be a waste of effort it it can't breathe

 

[grathan]

Do others get smoke in the room when opening the door with a flame? It used to not be so bad i think, but now It would stink the room up if I had it open long enough to scrape the baffles. I'd like to see some kind of magnetic system where you could clean the baffles with the stove running and door closed. I know the furnaces have a way to bang the heat exchanger, but it's not very good from what I gather.

Do many people do vacuum-free cleaning? just tried this. I think this would be great for a two-day schedule. I used nylon brush, the stove had been off for 30 minutes at least. The baffles are clean. That scraper tool is pretty much useless on baffle ash.

I am thinking:
2 days = hot baffle clean
1 week = pan dump/ quick window wash/ quick burn pot scrape/ empty ignition box
3 weeks ash clean out from around pan (undecided about using a vacuum or just a dust pan)
1 season = pipe cleanout/ fines removed from back

 

[grathan]

I doubt he is talking about a massive cleaning in 3 days. On my P61 about every 4 or 5 days I take the Harman tool and give heat exchanger a quick scrape myself. I'd like to have a paint brush with brass or copper bristles truth be known. I do this with the stove running , I don't shut it down. This is in between real cleanings of 2-4 weeks depending on pellets ( with the exception of the real crap ones I got last year that filled the ash pan 2/3 full in 4 days of burning ). So much depends on pellet quality. The poster will figure it out.

How bad does the smoke get? do you worry about hot fly ash flying out into the room? I wonder if I should be shutting the fans off when scraping baffles with a flame present..