Mt Vernon AE rookie, cleaning questions

[noremorse63]

Hi, I recently bought a Mt Vernon AE insert and it was installed in the spring. So far it has run fine with no issues at all. In fact it is heating most of the house fine--we are really impressed. My question is about cleaning. I do a weekly cleaning, ashes, the fire pot, and take off the plate (not sure what it is called) and clean the heat exchanger out, and the air ports in the back.

My 1st question relates to the 2 fans--combustion and exhaust. I cleaned the one on the right side--exhaust I think, but I have read threads about needing to clean the left one as well, but it isn't clear how or when. Also, do I have to do anything about the auto clean mechanism? I am not even sure how it works since I don't have the patience, but I do have ash in the ash pan and I hear it squeaking too. Since it is an insert, the working space is pretty tight.

My second question is the hopper, how often do i need to clean that? I think the manual says every 1 ton, but it that really needed--like they used to say about changing the oil every 3k miles no matter what? If so, what attachment do I use, not sure if the wet/dry vac hose would fit in there to get the remainder of the pellets out.


Finally, I am burning on sunflower seed mode and while I do use some pellets, the heat is awesome and I have not had any issues with it. I realize I will need to probably replace the igniter more often, but I do seem to get cleaner burns this way. BTW, how hard is it to replace the igniter? can I buy the ones off Ebay?

thanks for any help. So far my wife and I have been really impressed with this insert. It has already saved us a ton on propane heat and we are not using the heat pump upstairs at all! And feel free to add anything I may not of mentioned. I am burning Somersets now--after going thru a ton of Power Pellets that came with it.

 

[mralias]

Both blowers yearly unless you are burning cheap ashy pellets then you may want to consider twice a year. Hopper every ton or monthly unless you are burning high fine content pellets. You can use a dry vac to suck the pellets out and the fines, re-screen the pellets and back into the hopper they can go. More Frequent cleanings of the hopper can prevent nasty augur jams. Not sure what you mean by squeaking in the ash pan but squeaking is not normally a good sign. Someone else that owns this stove may help you on that one. Before any of these cleanings make sure the stove is shut down properly and unplugged.

Sorry, never burned sunflower seeds and don't know anything about them. Manual indicates fire pot and ash pan require daily cleaning with alternative fuels.


That's a nice heater you got there, enjoy

 

[Harvey Schneider]

My experience with the Mt Vernon is limited to the past year. The squeak you hear is the bottom of the fire pot sliding on it's guides during an auto-clean. I think I am going to try dry moly spray on it to quiet mine down. I don't know that it does any harm, but I find the noise annoying and I worry that there may be fretting corrosion from the continual scraping.
A few weeks ago somebody posted cleaning instructions for the Mt Vernon AE. My apologies to whomever it was, I don't mean to steal your thunder, I just took the easiest route and uploaded them again.
I don't find that the Mt Vernon cares much about fines in its pellets. When I was using Lignetics, I could sometimes see fines trickling down the chute along with the pellets. I have since switched to Greene Teams and see about a heaping teaspoon of fines in a bag of pellets. The outside of the insert stays much cleaner but I don't see any difference in performance. I have never had a pellet feed problem other than one with long pellets blocking the chute. A long piece of electrical wire used to probe up the chute (with power off) quickly cleared that.
The Mt Vernon doesn't really need a lot of TLC. I thoroughly vacuum it out once a week including behind the plate and in the two ports at the bottom behind the plate. For this last area I use a flexible hose adapter that I can snake into the ports. Cleaning the pin array on the heat exchanger is done with a four inch wire brush and vacuum together. You don't need to go crazy there, just keep the ash from accumulating.
I clean the window with a damp paper towel about every three days. I wait until the thermostat has set back the temperature and the window is cool to the touch. While I am at it I vacuum the fly ash off the platform and out of the ash pan.
This all sounds like more than it is. I spend about ten to fifteen minutes a week cleaning the stove.
Cleaning frequency is, of course, based on what and how much you burn. This insert is heating most of my house and I put a lot of pellets through it.

 

[smoke show]

I spray graphite lube on the auto clean rails thru the ash pan opening when squeaking occurs.