Hot cleaning

[Snowy Rivers]

This morning its in the upper 20's F outside and the Old whit is full of ash, at least the area around the burn tray and inside the firebox.

I started the little Whit to help keep the house warm and shut the big unit off.

The fans continue to run for maybe 15 minutes, but the stove is not going to be cold for another hour or more.

Vacuuming the stove at this stage is not a really good idea, unless a vacuum fire is something you have always wanted to see.

Our vacuum is a central unit mounted in the basement and I really don't want to catch the dust canister on fire.

Sooo, just as soon as the stove shut down, out with the leather gloves, pliers and other suitable tools to handle a HOT Burn Pot.

A quicky sweep out of the ashes into the ash tray then remove that and dump it in a suitable metal canister and outside with it.

All told, the fire was out maybe 30 minutes max.

All back up and going again. \\\\was still too hot to do more than give the windows a quick wipe off with a dry rag and vacuum the loose ashes off the door gasket and window clamping plates.

Toss everything back in add a handfull of shells, press the go button, stick the torch in and in about 30 seconds close the door, turn the feed on and its Off to the rodeo.

This weekend I will cool it off longer and do a better cleaning and tend to the glass as well.

Week ago Sunday I removed the ash traps, and cleaned it well and sucked it wth the leaf blower really good too.


The really fine ash from the shells piles up pretty quick on a 24/7 schedule.

Usually its Sundays job to clean the stoves, but this past Sunday got stupid busy and I missed the normal cleaning.

Tonight is "Survivor Night" and we go to friends house for dinner and the show, and I dont want to have to fool with the stove at 9:30 when we get home.

SO its done.

The only downside to Pellet stoves, but well worth every minute for the cheap heat that it provides.

Here is a Piccy of some shells on a piece of white paper. This allows one to really see just what this stuff looks like.

Snowy

 

[St_Earl]

i'm getting really really good at the art of hot cleaning.

turn stove off. wait a minimal time and pull the burn pot rod letting the ashes/embers drop into the drawer.

wait slightly longer and start brushing down the fire box. i know i wait long enough because the bristles on my paint brush don't smoke. ha!

having the stove fans still running carries the fine ash out the flue so i can aggressively brush things down fast w/o worrying about the room filling with super fine ash.

then leather gloves and pull the three back plates. brushing them down inside the stove while the blowers are still running.
i stack them on the little drop cloth i use in front of the stove.
then brush out the channel that leads to the combustion blower. just not going so far as to touch the blades.
i found the perfect brush for that job.

take my long screwdriver and scrape the burn pot. (oh yeah. i have a small wire brush i do the sides of the burn pot as the first step in all this)
put the back plates back in.

then i spread the ash out in the bottom of the fire box using my paint brush and give it a minute or less and vacuum.
haven't caught my vac on fire yet.
it's just fly ash in the fire box anyway. i still check though.
and i check the canister of the vac when i'm done to be sure.

no glass cleaning when it's really cold.
turn old helga back on and continue playing xbox in my shorts.

 

[bigruckus]

I do a hot clean alot...my Thelin fills up with ash on one side often....so I open the door and spoon out the hot ash...takes me about a minute to do this...I do not turn off the stove with the blower still going...I just open the door and keep it running...I do wear a leather glove...

 

[Easternshore Bob]

NASCAR pit crew style.

 

[Bank]

I do the same, twice a day I scrape the ash from the burn pot and use that Harman tool thing to to scrape the burnpot under the hot pellets. It's easier to remove any clinkers and crud when the stove is hot rather than letting it cool and harden.

 

[kmapsrule]

I do the hot clean dance once a day (no ash drawer on this stove)
I Place it in shutdown mode and wait for the flames to die out then:
1.) glove up, and quickly give everything inside a quick wire brushing
2.) pop the energy boost plates
3.) Pull and carry the fire pot to the ash can
4.) Replace Fire pot and boost plates
5.) Wipe glass with dry cloth
Relight
takes about 8 minutes total