Leaf Blower clean out?

[brihvac]

Was reading through the forums and see the leaf blower clean out. I think I get the idea. Hook up the sucker end and suck it out. Is there anymore to it? Do you blow up the other end of the pipe? Will this work on a flexable liner up the chimney? I have not hooked my stove up yet but Im trying to get educated. It sound like a great idea to do throughout the year. I thought I was just going to run a brush down once a year in the spring when I shut down the stove.

 

[Fish On]

it all depends on how much you plan on cleaning your stove and how many tons u burn. i have cleaned my stove 4 times already this heating season.

keep it clean and it will give you no promblems.

cleaning an insert is a pita though

 

[DexterDay]

Leaf blower is after you do your full cleaning. To suck out everything that you may have missed and then some. But YES, they do work wonders. 3 threads this weekend about them. The leaf blower trick is like a fire, takes awhile to catch, but once it does, spreads like CRAZY

 

[Snowy Rivers]

Works wonders.

Many stoves are built in such a way that a complete cleaning of all the internal passages is virtually impossible.

The soft fluffy fly ash settles into these nooks and crannies and stops airflow out the exhaust.

Once you have done the best cleaning you can do, hook the suction side of the leaf blower to the vent and let it rip.

Be sure to have the door on the stove open to allow full airflow up through the heat exchangers and passages.

Believe me, the crap that comes out is amazing.

You don't really need to do anything more than let the mass airflow do its job.

A leaf blower is a very essential part of the cleaning regimen as far as I am concerned.

Takes only a short time and the job is done.

Doing the normal cleaning is good, the leaf blower trick is the finishing touches.

A stove thats never been SUCKED out is never really clean.


Under normal opperating conditions, the velocity of the airflow through the stove, simply can't stop the fly ash that gets through the traps from glogging up the remote areas.

Short of removing the exhaust blower and doing an extreme cleaning there is no way to achieve these sorts of results.

Removing the exhaust fan will usually require a new gasket and possibly other sealants.

Just a lot of work that is eliminated with the use of the SUCKER.

Just be sure to hook the SUCTION side of the blower to the stove pipe and LEAVE the door open while you run the blower.

If your stove has the passages that go behind the back wall of the firebox, you may want to have a helper tap on the stoves back wall with a small hammer (firebrick removed)

Doing this will help dislodge any build up of ashes that have formed over time.


After you suck the stove, then reinstall all the baffles and other stuff then do the suck trick one more time, this will allow the high velocity air to get any little tid bits that are left in the heat exchangers.

Snowy

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

Be certain you are careful with the tapping if your stove has cast iron parts it is possible to break the castings.

 

[brihvac]

Thanks.
Mines gonna be a little more difficult. I will have to get out a 32' ladder seeing I live in a 2 story colonial. But it is do-able. I cant wait to see a an electric leaf blower on my roof blowing soot. I will make sure I do it at night.