Need Help!! Astria Monticeto chimney cleaning....

[lagace639]

I want to cleaning my chimney but my Astria Monticeto fireplace has tubular baffles in the top and on top of them, there is two pieces of insulation. I need to know how the baffles and insulation remove so I can get on the roof and clean the chimney, allowing all the creosote to fall straight into the fireplace..... Can anyone help me out????

 

[begreen]

Is there a straight shot up to the flue outlet through the bypass when it's open?

 

[lagace639]

Is there a straight shot up to the flue outlet through the bypass when it's open?

Yup the flue is straight up! But the problem is, I can’t get those tube baffles and those two pieces of insulation out so it’s impossible to get up on the roof and run my sweep right down into the stove. And obviously if they're not removed, all the creosote that I clean from flue, is just gonna come down and pile up on top of that insulation. That would make things almost worse

 

[begreen]

From the manual on page 10:
SECONDARY AIR TUBE REMOVAL INSTRUCTIONS
1. Remove the two ceramic baffles, gently
pulling them forward and down.
2. To remove the burn tubes first remove the
bracket which position and secures the
tubes in place. This is done be removing
the (2) screws (see Figure 8) which hold
this bracket in place (upper left side, inside
the firebox).
3. Once the bracket is removed, each tube
may be removed by sliding it to the left and
dropping the right, and the sliding the tube
to the right.
4. Re-installation is in reverse order.

 

[lagace639]

I can’t find the screws for those baffles and those ceramic cannot come out of there without taking the baffles out first. That illustration looks to me the Monticeto estate because it has the two doors. Mines only the montecito cause it only has the one big door. Here is some pics if you can tell by them

 

[begreen]

The baffles are the ceramic boards, not the tubes. The baffles should slide forward and then tilt down to come out in front of the secondary tubes. The screws should be on the bracket on the left side that holds in the tubes, but you don't really need to remove them. With the baffles out of the way, anything swept down will fall into the firebox. Then you can just brush off the tubes and do the cat maintenance too.

 

[lagace639]

Yup I hear ya, but there’s no way the baffles are coming out like they are there now. The upper corners of the fireplace taper in so it won’t allow the baffles to pass. As for the bracket on the tubes, there are no screws visible. The only thing I can think that would be a possibility is if I cleaned the stove out, and then took the brick surround out from inside and maybe there’s a bracket behind them that holds the tubes in that I can’t see here now. Poor design in my opinion

 

[lagace639]

Yup I hear ya, but there’s no way the baffles are coming out like they are there now. The upper corners of the fireplace taper in so it won’t allow the baffles to pass. As for the bracket on the tubes, there are no screws visible. The only thing I can think that would be a possibility is if I cleaned the stove out, and then took the brick surround out from inside and maybe there’s a bracket behind them that holds the tubes in that I can’t see here now. Poor design in my opinion

U can see the tapered shield of some sort here in the pic. Maybe I’ll have to try and remove that piece in order to slide the baffles out ‍♂️

 

[begreen]

Have you contacted Astria support?

 

[lagace639]

I’ve tried calling Astria direct and always get routed to a dealer. When I ask them the questions they have no idea cause they only sell them not fix/work on them. Very frustrating!

 

[armanidog]

This is what it says in the Astria Montecitowith one door manual:
"Top Baffle Removal Prior to Cleaning The Chimney Before starting to clean your chimney, we recommend that you remove the top baffle to avoid creosote dust collection at the top of the baffle. Follow these steps to set the top baffle out of the way: 1. Remove the side refractory holder. They are located at the top of the refractory. 2. Lift the front baffle. 3. Slide the back baffle under the front baffle. You now have access to the chimney"
(broken link removed to http://astria.us.com/system/document_files/files/000/000/352/original/900120-00_F_AST_Montecito_(TRADCE)_EPA_FP_EN_IICO.pdf?1534879665) page 6.
So it looks like both baffles stay in with the rear one sliding under the front baffle. You should be able to see the chimney in the rear. .