How much time to clean your stove?

[Bioburner]

Something stuck in my craw after trying to resolve someones stove issue that they didn't have the time to clean their p series.

My PC45 with a crosslink which needs a couple more brush strokes to get clean needed a proper cleaning yesterday as the feed rate was creeping up as the ESP when I finally got there was the size of a pencil. Total time running a bottle brush over everything and down the exhaust throat and careful brushing of the ESP, dumping of the bin and a vacuuming of everything including the glass and firing backup was 8 minutes by the time I got back upstairs to look at the clock.

I used to have a stove that took over half an hour to properly clean and it needed that job done every week.

Eight minutes is about the time of two commercial breaks on a hour tv show.

Maybe I am a bit shack nuts as the temps this AM is -7

 

[tiger]

How much time to clean your stove?

I spend a half-hour on my weekly cleanings; I could probably go faster if needed.

Finally got an appointment for the installer to come out for a first "maintenance" cleaning; it will interesting to see how long it will take me to duplicate whatever he does, but at least that's only once per ton.

 

[heat seeker]

It takes me about 20 minutes to do a deep cleaning except for the LBT. I actually enjoy the job, and take my time at it. If I do the LBT, add another 10 minutes for setup and cleanup. I could do it much quicker, and skip non essential parts of the cleaning process and get it done much sooner, but as I said, I enjoy the process. I do it every 3 or 4 days, when the glass gets dirty.

 

[HP52NOVA]

That 's an open question, I guess it depends what kind of cleaning. For the weekly cleaning, keep in mind that the stove needs to shutdown first & cool down, then it takes me about 20 -30 minutes. But I do take my time, no rush.

The monthly cleaning or after every ton of fuel - takes me over an hour, maybe 1.5H. All these stove parts coming out, vacuuming, scraping, etc. - takes time to make perfect. I guess if you rush it, the time can be cut in half.

The yearly cleaning by a dealer/installer is supposed to take an hour, but again I have not seen one done right in under 1.5. If I would be doing it, count on 3 hours I guess its good I don't work in the business!

 

[bogieb]

Maybe I am a bit shack nuts as the temps this AM is -7

My temp at 4AM was -5, so I'm right there with you Bioburner. It takes a bit of time to chip off the crud from the burn pot since the Harman idles so much, so it probably takes me 15 minutes to do a weekly cleaning. Naturally it is longer every 2-3 weeks for adding in the fines box, really scrubbing the baffles and cleaning the outside section of the venting.

The Hastings takes at least about 20 minutes every week - then longer every 3-4 weeks to remove the side covers and clean everything behind there.

 

[funflyer]

Yep, about 20 minutes which includes getting the leaf blower from the garage and taking the ash pan to the fire pit in the backyard. My vent is easily accessable at shoulder height so while the wife uses a paint brush in the stove to brush and tap the ash loose I hold the blower up to the vent outside. Looks like a freight train for about one minute outside the house. We have it down so well that the vacuum is only needed to cleanup around the door and the bottom below the ash pan.

 

[St_Earl]

i'm going to guess 15 minutes including the glass.
i scoop almost all of the ash out prior to vacuuming, so i don't have cool down time to slow me down.

the heatilator is incredibly easy to clean though.
just the baffles to take out. i never have to scrape the pot. though i give it a quick brushing with a brass bristle brush. a couple times a season i will use the drill fitted with a wire wheel with downward facing bristles.

 

[Snowy Rivers]

Our situation is a tad different due to burning shells, which leave a lot more ash deposits.

Once the stove is cool, the process of cleaning the fire box, sucking out (leaf blower) the vent and areas inaccessible, plus cleaning the glass takes about 30 minutes on the little Prodigy.

The Advantage takes a bit longer if I am at a point where I need to remove the fire back and the inner baffles to do a complete clean out. (monthly)

Not a lot different, just a bit more often is all.

 

[boo boo]

Compared to you guys I must be a slow worker or more detailed because I am still 45 to 55 minutes for a proper clean
Brushing the inside is the fast part
I do vacuum the fines box by the auger, the ash bin under the igniter and push the dryer lint brush from the inside of the exhaust to the tee outside and then the outside flue. If I scrape down the flame guide add another few minutes

 

[Bioburner]

I found that doing the fines box is only needed on our stove once a year so now do it at the end of season cleaning with motor and room fan cleaning. PC45 has a open tray and is a easy brushing. I can run the long handled bottle brush goes all the way to the venting and the venting after the shoulder season cleaning, seems to not need anymore cleaning till end of season with a brush and LBT. Pressure ignition system is not a issue till end of season cleaning.
Just an addition to my original posting.

 

[chken]

Daily=zero, weekly=20mins, monthly=45mins with LBT

 

[Caleb Joens]

Daily: 30 seconds
Weekly: 30 minutes
Every ton: 60 minutes w/ LBT (replaces that weeks cleaning)
Yearly: 2hr w/ vent brush and exhaust blower removal and cleaning.

 

[Tonyray]

Compared to you guys I must be a slow worker or more detailed because I am still 45 to 55 minutes for a proper clean
Brushing the inside is the fast part
I do vacuum the fines box by the auger, the ash bin under the igniter and push the dryer lint brush from the inside of the exhaust to the tee outside and then the outside flue. If I scrape down the flame guide add another few minutes

Same time here to do same cleaning.....including pulling dry ash out of the Iginiter compartment.
my exhaust tunnel usually has some fine greyish powdery ash so I use a long bristle bottle washer brush and do the same.
Also gentley brush the ESP back/forth rather than remove it many times..
Good pellets leave behind " clean ash" which sounds silly but there is a difference...

 

[ttdberg]

My stove gets shut down every morning before I go to work, so it gets a 1 minute burn pot scrape and paintbrush swiping of loose ash into the pan trick every morning. The glass gets cleaned about once per week, another 1 minute job there. I do a full ash vac cleaning when the ash pan is full (after burning roughly 1 ton) which also includes the fines box, combustion fan area, and vacuuming the back of the stove where the combustion fan motor and distribution fan are. That takes about 15 mins. I'm a little more crazy about keeping the igniter / combustion air compartment beneath the burn pot clean, so in addition to hitting that during the full cleaning, I will also pop off the cover and clean it out about half-way between full cleanings as well - that takes about 2 mins. For me, taking the ESP out to clean, and also cleaning the flue are once per season operations. When I clean the flue in the fall, there is almost nothing in it. It's really just a thin layer of light brown ash. I burn about 3.5 - 4 tons per year, mostly Vermonts.

 

[UpStateNY]

Every 3 days two or three minutes to scrape down the burn pot and restart the burn.

Every 3 weeks 30 minutes to remove all 7 pieces of metal, clean, and empty ash pan.

Spring cleaning takes me about 2 hours removing all fans for complete cleaning.

 

[Dr.Faustus]

2 minutes a day to scrape the burnpot on my pdvc monday through saturday, running 24/7. i rarely even shut her down for this. Every sunday, stove gets shut down for major cleaning for 30 minutes, top to bottom. LBT, vacuumed, scraped out, air compressor the inside holes of the burn pot, air compressor the exhaust path with the leaf blower running for good measure, also blow out the airwash path and the room blower.
lastly disconnect the vent and shoot some compressed air into the exhaust port with the shop vac running from the other side to catch the ash.
30 minutes tops, runs like new afterwards and a clean stove is way more efficient.

*30 minutes includes the time it takes to start the compressor, run the air hose from the garage to the livingroom, get all the tools and vac from the garage and put everything away and dump the ashes out of the shop vac and bang out the filter

 

[rich2500]

5 Mins. for the weekly cleaning, remove ashpan and dump it, vacuum inside, replace ashpan and wipe glass. I have no baffles to remove and only air passage is exhaust under ashpan which I can get shop vac hose in there.

 

[hossthehermit]

Clean

 

[ironpony]

Daily 10 seconds
Biweekly 30 mins.
end of year 1 hour

 

[bags]

Cleaning? My manual never said anything about any cleaning.... Where is my manual anyway? The wife must have used it to start the first fire. I'll blame it on her.

1.) About 10 seconds tops to scrape the pot while the stove is running after I dump a new bag of pellets so at least once or twice a day depending on temps.
2.) Weekly or bi-weekly about 15-20 minutes to scrape the scrape pot well, firebox walls, exchanger, and brush down. Could be quicker but stove has to cool.
3.) Monthly same as above but add in the gentle brush cleaning of the ESP probe, fines box, ash removal, igniter box area, very thorough fire box scrape brush and clean, vac out all. Pull the exhaust plate and clean blower area and fan.
Maybe an hour tops. could likely be done in less time but I am in no hurry doing so. Haven't timed it but will this weekend.

The way I see it is that my stove has worked hard and well heating the house well for 720 hrs. non-stop in 30 days. So spending a total of about an hour and a half tops for a clean in a months time is a drop in the bucket. This also reminds me of what type of time and effort I would have into handling wood. I don't even want to think of the cold and not so happy time there. Now who would like to argue about wood being just as easy again?

Been there, done that. Funny thing to put perspective on processing wood is I did about 10 cords a year on average for the last 10 years. More before that but I will not bother with it. 10 yrs x 10 cords = 100 cords. Now for these fellows burning 3-4 cords a year which is good and reasonable in ten years they are 30 - 40 cords total in ten years. I have already handled 30 years worth of wood in a sense in the last 10 yrs. I think it's about time for me to retire from that time consuming mess!

1 1/2 hours a month plus maybe an hour handling pellet humping. I am very good with time involved staying nice and warm with pellets.
My conclusion is that burning pellets is a mere FRACTION of time and effort vs. heating with wood. Anyone wanting to argue about that needs their heads examined.

As for total cleaning time in a month: About 2 hours tops in a months time all said and done. Not a bad trade off for 720 hours of a nice and CONSISTENTLY WARM home.

 

[earl764]

I normally spend a half hour weekly. One hour when it's a bigger/more serious cleaning.

The stove asks so little to keep it running well and we rely on it for great heat. Not to mention if you have a combustion device like this in your home, if you don't take care of it and respect it's needs it will let you know. Possibly in a very negative way.

 

[ironpony]

Cleaning? My manual never said anything about any cleaning.... Where is my manual anyway? The wife must have used it to start the first fire. I'll blame it on her.

1.) About 10 seconds tops to scrape the pot while the stove is running after I dump a new bag of pellets so at least once or twice a day depending on temps.
2.) Weekly or bi-weekly about 15-20 minutes to scrape the scrape pot well, firebox walls, exchanger, and brush down. Could be quicker but stove has to cool.
3.) Monthly same as above but add in the gentle brush cleaning of the ESP probe, fines box, ash removal, igniter box area, very thorough fire box scrape brush and clean, vac out all. Pull the exhaust plate and clean blower area and fan.
Maybe an hour tops. could likely be done in less time but I am in no hurry doing so. Haven't timed it but will this weekend.

The way I see it is that my stove has worked hard and well heating the house well for 720 hrs. non-stop in 30 days. So spending a total of about an hour and a half tops for a clean in a months time is a drop in the bucket. This also reminds me of what type of time and effort I would have into handling wood. I don't even want to think of the cold and not so happy time there. Now who would like to argue about wood being just as easy again?

Been there, done that. Funny thing to put perspective on processing wood is I did about 10 cords a year on average for the last 10 years. More before that but I will not bother with it. 10 yrs x 10 cords = 100 cords. Now for these fellows burning 3-4 cords a year which is good and reasonable in ten years they are 30 - 40 cords total in ten years. I have already handled 30 years worth of wood in a sense in the last 10 yrs. I think it's about time for me to retire from that time consuming mess!

1 1/2 hours a month plus maybe an hour handling pellet humping. I am very good with time involved staying nice and warm with pellets.
My conclusion is that burning pellets is a mere FRACTION of time and effort vs. heating with wood. Anyone wanting to argue about that needs their heads examined.

As for total cleaning time in a month: About 2 hours tops in a months time all said and done. Not a bad trade off for 720 hours of a nice and CONSISTENTLY WARM home.

but wood is free.............

 

[Bioburner]

but wood is free.............

But my time isn't. Last time I listed all the equipment to make that free heat the investment was pretty high. If it wasn't for the fact we need to keep the property clean we would not be using any cord wood.

 

[bags]

And so is your time, gas, 2 cycle oil, bars, chains, delivery, chain sharpening, spark plugs, saws, splitters, axes, mauls, sledge, waking up cold in the middle of the night, tires on equipment moving wood, fuel in them, boots, backs, hands, etc; You want a "free" puppy?

Don't get me wrong and off topic here. Puppies and "free" wood are both great!

I burn wood but definitely prefer pellets all things considered and the small amount of overall time involved to keep a house consistently warm 24 hrs a day with minimal effort.

It is nice Bio has asked this to make us stop and think about how the mundane cleanings and dumping ash pans are such a burden to obtain 720 completely warm hours of heat for so little effort overall.

Now go clean your stoves! Ungrateful people.... LOL!

 

[heat seeker]

I would have to buy wood, then stack and store it, then carry it (and the bugs) into the house, etc., etc. Pellets make more sense for me.