Hudson River Davenport Insert Burning Terribly

[McGrai37]

Hello, I know you guys get this question all the time but I've been having a heck of a time with my insert this year. I've had it since 2013. I deep cleaned it this summer and everything was great the first week or two after we turned it on. Now I can't get it to burn for more than a day without being completely overrun with half burned clinkers and huge, lazy flames. At first I thought it was what it always is and cleaned it out again, worked a bit better for a night and then back to the same old issue. I tried the dollar bill test and the door is solid while the ash tray wasn't. I bought a new gasket and while it offers a bit more resistance, I can still get the bill out fairly easy. The ash tray itself is all kind of warped (the front looks fine), could this be the issue? I'm not sure what else I can clean, I've taken off the inside baffles, vacuumed the vent pipe, the intake, the motors, the tubes, etc. If there's something that's often missed please let me know and I'll try that. The place I bought it from is out of business so I'm hoping to knock this out myself but I'm getting close to finding a technician. Thank you for any help in advance.

 

[JRemington]

Is it vented with a 4 inch liner up the chimney?

 

[JRemington]

You must be in my area.

 

[McGrai37]

Is it vented with a 4 inch liner up the chimney?

I couldn't guarantee the size but yea it's vented with a liner up the chimney

 

[JRemington]

I couldn't guarantee the size but yea it's vented with a liner up the chimney

We sell these. Have you pulled the liner off the back of the stove?

 

[McGrai37]

We sell these. Have you pulled the liner off the back of the stove?

Yea pulled it off and knocked it around with the vacuum hose until the ash stopped coming out. I do that twice a year usually, sometimes more if need be. Also pulled the insert out enough to get the vacuum into where the liner attaches on the back of the insert.

 

[JRemington]

Did you connect the ash vac to the flue and turn the vac on? If you can do that and then remove the vac, turn the stove on for a couple seconds and put your hand over the flue and see if there’s a good flow of air coming out. Have you gone up on the roof and run something down the liner and check for obstructions? Is the burn pot holder ears locked down into the two holes? And you said you pulled the brick liner and the three steel plates behind it and cleaned there? Have you pulled the combustion blower and cleaned it? Does it burn the same with the draft lever in as it does out?

 

[JRemington]

We’ll get this thing burning like new lol.

 

[JRemington]

Did you say the back of the burn pot is warped?

 

[McGrai37]

Did you connect the ash vac to the flue and turn the vac on? If you can do that and then remove the vac, turn the stove on for a couple seconds and put your hand over the flue and see if there’s a good flow of air coming out. Have you gone up on the roof and run something down the liner and check for obstructions? Is the burn pot holder ears locked down into the two holes? And you said you pulled the brick liner and the three steel plates behind it and cleaned there? Have you pulled the combustion blower and cleaned it? Does it burn the same with the draft lever in as it does out?

Is the flue where the liner connects? If so, I have put the vac in there.

I have not gone up on the roof and would really prefer not to, it's a steep two story one.

The burn pot is locked in to the slots. I did pull the liner and the three plates and cleaned that all out.

I have not pulled the blower, is that something I would unattach and clean?

The draft level is currently all the way out but I have not noticed any appreciable difference when I adjust it.

I appreciate you taking the time with me on this, thank you.

 

[McGrai37]

Did you say the back of the burn pot is warped?

The burn pot is not warped, but the ash tray is.

 

[JRemington]

If there’s no change in the flame with the lever in or out you either have something plugged or a leak in the combustion chamber. I think my next step would be to pull the combustion blower. Unplug the stove, unplug the blower, loosen the six bolts, turn it and pull it out. Make sure you poke back in towards the chamber to see if there’s any blockage. Scrape of the fins and when it’s clean put it back in. If it tears the gasket bad use a small amount of high temp silicone to seal it. Before doing this though start the stove and push in hard on the ash pan cover and see if the flame changes.

 

[JRemington]

One other thing. Before doing that pull the stove out so you can get to the cold air intake. Start the stove, light a lighter and see if it sucks the flame in.

 

[McGrai37]

Thank you again for taking the time to answer my questions on this. I started this thread right before I went away for the weekend, didn't mean to ghost you. I checked the flue and there was good air coming out. When I did this, I noticed the flame was much better. I borrowed some rods and got a 4in brush and immediately knew my liner was an issue. I couldn't believe the amount of stuff that came out. I would unhook it from the stove and bang it around to get ash out twice a year, but I never put it together that I needed to run a brush up there. After about an hour and what would probably fill most of a 5 gallon bucket of ash the stove is working much better. Thank you again.

 

[JRemington]

Did you say the burn pot is warped?