New user end of season cleaning and summer storage

[escyr]

2021 Harman Absolute 43. Our last fire was in April and I'm now getting around to my year end cleaning and summer storage. I can't find any threads on what the recommended steps are for this. Can anyone point me to any threads?

If not, then please comment on what I've done. I don't want there to be an issue in the fall upon re-start.

From the inside of the house; I've scraped, brushed, vacuumed and dry ragged all of the ash that I could out of the inside of the stove. Removed the igniter cover and brushed and vacuumed that out. Removed the exhaust fan cover and brushed the fan and ran the stainless steel bristle brush up the exhaust then vacuumed it.

From the outside; I've run a 4" Sooteater from my cleanout tee in toward the stove and vacuumed it out. Run the 4" Sooteater from my cleanout tee up to my termination cap and vacuumed it out.

I have a very tight, well insulated house with an air exchanger and live within 3 miles of the ocean. Should I cover my termination cap with a plastic bag to keep the humidity out? Should I disconnect or cover my fresh air intake to keep the humidity out?

I've read people use WD40, fogging oil, Fluid Film and/or DampRip inside of their stove. What are the pros and cons of using WD40, fogging oil or Fluid Film inside my stove? What size DampRid should I use?

 

[Tonyray]

2021 Harman Absolute 43. Our last fire was in April and I'm now getting around to my year end cleaning and summer storage. I can't find any threads on what the recommended steps are for this. Can anyone point me to any threads?

If not, then please comment on what I've done. I don't want there to be an issue in the fall upon re-start.

From the inside of the house; I've scraped, brushed, vacuumed and dry ragged all of the ash that I could out of the inside of the stove. Removed the igniter cover and brushed and vacuumed that out. Removed the exhaust fan cover and brushed the fan and ran the stainless steel bristle brush up the exhaust then vacuumed it.

From the outside; I've run a 4" Sooteater from my cleanout tee in toward the stove and vacuumed it out. Run the 4" Sooteater from my cleanout tee up to my termination cap and vacuumed it out.

I have a very tight, well insulated house with an air exchanger and live within 3 miles of the ocean. Should I cover my termination cap with a plastic bag to keep the humidity out? Should I disconnect or cover my fresh air intake to keep the humidity out?

I've read people use WD40, fogging oil, Fluid Film and/or DampRip inside of their stove. What are the pros and cons of using WD40, fogging oil or Fluid Film inside my stove? What size DampRid should I use?

Sounds like u covered many areas. Dont forget to vaccum the fines box. Yes to using damprid. Yes to covering the outside exhaust. I use pam cooking spray for inside walls. Non- flavored of course. As you can see even with exhaust closed off of which i use a 1 gallon food freezer bag with zipties, i still get few inches of moisture over 6 month period. I put 1 damprid in the ashpan and 1 in the firebox. ( home depot paint section has the canisters.). Harman P61A. Btw. I also do the reverse exhaust cleaning by pushing thru the exhaust from the outside with the chimney bristle brush and vacuum it from the inside tunnel.

 

[bogieb]

I ball up newspaper and place in the termination before placing a bag over it (I remove the cap and put the bag over the pipe). I do basically the same thing for the OAK.

If i have a lot of pellets left in the hopper I scoop most of them out, but I try to time it so there isn't much left so I don't have to do that. Pellets will soak up a bit of moisture - they'll still burn, but not quite as well.

I used fogging oil for years in the P61a (baement is more humid than the main floor). Then one year I didn't and there really wasn't much difference. Last year I just balled up a few full sheets of newspaper (one in the ashcan and one to either side of the firepot), and seems to be fine. Not saying that's the best solution, just that it seemed to work fine.

 

[escyr]

Sounds like u covered many areas. Dont forget to vaccum the fines box. Yes to using damprid. Yes to covering the outside exhaust. I use pam cooking spray for inside walls. Non- flavored of course. As you can see even with exhaust closed off of which i use a 1 gallon food freezer bag with zipties, i still get few inches of moisture over 6 month period. I put 1 damprid in the ashpan and 1 in the firebox. ( home depot paint section has the canisters.). Harman P61A. Btw. I also do the reverse exhaust cleaning by pushing thru the exhaust from the outside with the chimney bristle brush and vacuum it from the inside tunnel.

View attachment 295920

Is the "fines box" the area under the burn pot where the igniter is? The top of it has all of the small holes that the combustion air blows through, or is the "fines" box" something in the feed system?

 

[Tonyray]

Is t

Is the "fines box" the area under the burn pot where the igniter is? The top of it has all of the small holes that the combustion air blows through, or is the "fines" box" something in the feed system?

he "fines box" the area under the burn pot where the igniter is? The top of it has all of the small holes that the combustion air blows through, or is the "fines" box" something in the feed system?

no....it's part of the feed system UNDER the auger.
what u described is the ignitor compartment where ash falls thru the burnpot holes..
going by my harman P61A, looking at the stove from front, the bottom right side panel comes off.. 2 screws that u don't have to remove. just loosen. u will see a plate with a wing nut.. remove the wing nut and that plate comes off.. for some of us, lot's of sawdust lives there. for others they say they never get much at all.
I burn good softwoods but i do get lots of fines in that compartment..

 

[Washed-Up]

It’ll look a bit different on yours but should be similar

 

[escyr]

Great thank you all!

I'll cover my flue and fresh air intake, get some DampRid to place inside and find my fines box to clean that out.

I'll see if there is any rust inside in the fall before I spray anything inside.

 

[Washed-Up]

Here is a video that might help

 

[Washed-Up]

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[Tonyray]

Great thank you all!

I'll cover my flue and fresh air intake, get some DampRid to place inside and find my fines box to clean that out.

I'll see if there is any rust inside in the fall before I spray anything inside.

that's it... you got it all.. btw: damp rid is not costly but after u buy a container or 2, they also sell refill bags there so u just buy pound or 2 bag of the stuff and just re-fill your containers each season...

 

[Tonyray]

View attachment 295930
It’ll look a bit different on yours but should be similar

yes.. on the later yrs ones that wing nut is almost on the bottom of the plate.

 

[bogieb]

no....it's part of the feed system UNDER the auger.
what u described is the ignitor compartment where ash falls thru the burnpot holes..
going by my harman P61A, looking at the stove from front, the bottom right side panel comes off.. 2 screws that u don't have to remove. just loosen. u will see a plate with a wing nut.. remove the wing nut and that plate comes off.. for some of us, lot's of sawdust lives there. for others they say they never get much at all.
I burn good softwoods but i do get lots of fines in that compartment..

My P43 gets barely any fines and the P61a is stuffed full every time I clean it (about 1x/month during burning season). And the ash in the igniter area is the opposite. That's even when I burn the same pellets.

 

[Tonyray]

My P43 gets barely any fines and the P61a is stuffed full every time I clean it (about 1x/month during burning season). And the ash in the igniter area is the opposite. That's even when I burn the same pellets.

My P43 gets barely any fines and the P61a is stuffed full every time I clean it (about 1x/month during burning season). And the ash in the igniter area is the opposite. That's even when I burn the same pellets.

yes.. my P61A is full after 1 month of 24/7 burning.. deff the softwoods i burn..
Matras are very small and lot of fines in the bag but at 88K BTU I have no problem dealing with it.

 

[johneh]

88K BTU

Tonyray do you mean 8.8 k BTU?
because the best I can get is rated at 9000 BTU
from Cubix (hardwood)

 

[Tonyray]

Tonyray do you mean 8.8 k BTU?
because the best I can get is rated at 9000 BTU
from Cubix (hardwood)

oops...the bag states over 8900 btu..
the Douglas firs I burn are 9000 btu.

 

[escyr]

Thanks for the tip on the "fines" box. This is what I had in it after burning 2-tons of softwood pellets in my Absolute 43.

 

[Tonyray]

Thanks for the tip on the "fines" box. This is what I had in it after burning 2-tons of softwood pellets in my Absolute 43.

View attachment 296068

that's about what my big Harman P61A has after month or so of burning softwoods 24/7..

 

[Washed-Up]

No kidding Tony….my P61A is only about 1/3 full…wonder what the difference is

 

[Tonyray]

No kidding Tony….my P61A is only about 1/3 full…wonder what the difference is

update : after re-thinking it, it's more like every other cleaning which would be like 8 weeks.
I probably have around half full at the 4 weeks period cleaning.. At 24/7 use.
I burned very small softwoods which are the Matra.. don't remember ever burning a smaller kernal pellet.[Canadian sprucewood from Canada].
lot of fines in the bag but close to 9K BTU so I live with it.
there are also quite a few pieces of pellets that slip thru into the fines box..
quite a big size hole under the auger into the fines box so it's easy to see how so much can fall thru.
on other hand i burned hardwoods yrs ago, even the cheapy stuff from Box stores and barely any fines at all in the box but would get some busted pellet pieces.
all started to accumulate when I switched to softwoods..
douglas firs are the only softwood i ever burned where fines we're almost nill..

 

[Washed-Up]

Fair enough, I burn some softwoods when I can get them but mostly fur hardwoods and they’re both low on fines

 

[Ocelot]

I burned very small softwoods which are the Matra.. don't remember ever burning a smaller kernal pellet.[Canadian sprucewood from Canada].
lot of fines in the bag but close to 9K BTU so I live with it.

Love those Matra pellets and the heat and clean burn they give!

You are right though, they are often small and have more fines. Especially last season for some reason. I burnt over 4 1/2 tons of them and half were really small while 2 tons were more normal size depending on when in the season I bought them. As for the fines, I have lots of time and don't mind the extra step, so I sift them and get very little in the fines box. My "system" is I keep a big galvanized metal trash can inside my heated porch/sunroom which holds about 4 1/2 bags. It's in the next room from the stove and I have a custom wood/ and screen sifter I made, so I use that to fill a 5 gallon metal bucket with sifted pellets each time I want to fill the hopper.

Ray

 

[Ocelot]

Sounds like u covered many areas. Dont forget to vaccum the fines box. Yes to using damprid. Yes to covering the outside exhaust. I use pam cooking spray for inside walls. Non- flavored of course. As you can see even with exhaust closed off of which i use a 1 gallon food freezer bag with zipties, i still get few inches of moisture over 6 month period. I put 1 damprid in the ashpan and 1 in the firebox. ( home depot paint section has the canisters.). Harman P61A. Btw. I also do the reverse exhaust cleaning by pushing thru the exhaust from the outside with the chimney bristle brush and vacuum it from the inside tunnel.

View attachment 295920

I'm curious on the covering of the vent outside. Is it strictly for moisture in the stove itself, or the vent? I'm not against it, but I've never done it myself in 12 years. I've found with some other things over the years that having some airflow in things is often better than sealing things off and trapping moisture that may get in.
Of course, as I said, I could be totally wrong when it comes to pellet vent which is why I'm asking. I replaced my vent last year, only because I had to move it when I replaced my old Englander with the new Harmon and after 11 years, the inside of the vent was still perfectly fine.

I am doing the Damp Rid containers this summer which is a great idea and if the consensus is capping the vent helps the stove as well, I can do that also.

Ray

 

[Tonyray]

Love those Matra pellets and the heat and clean burn they give!

You are right though, they are often small and have more fines. Especially last season for some reason. I burnt over 4 1/2 tons of them and half were really small while 2 tons were more normal size depending on when in the season I bought them. As for the fines, I have lots of time and don't mind the extra step, so I sift them and get very little in the fines box. My "system" is I keep a big galvanized metal trash can inside my heated porch/sunroom which holds about 4 1/2 bags. It's in the next room from the stove and I have a custom wood/ and screen sifter I made, so I use that to fill a 5 gallon metal bucket with sifted pellets each time I want to fill the hopper.

Ray

Like to see a pix of it.

 

[johneh]

Uncaped vents have seen Bird nests, wasp nests, bee hive
mice into the stove as well as birds, squirrels, and any critter
that likes dark places to hide. Experience talking now I always
cover the vent and chimney

 

[Ocelot]

Like to see a pix of it.

The sifter? If so, here's a pic, it's roughly a foot across in size: