Newbie..... carbon deposit question

[xraydog]

Hello All,
I am a newbie pellet stove user coming from years of wood stove burning.

This is my first season and I am burning a Harman Absolute 43 stove with Instant Heat Pellets.

The stove has been working flawlessly since October, however, I am noticing some real stubborn carbon deposits in the burn pot which takes a lot of effort (screwdriver and hammer) to clear. I usually clear them weekly when emptying the ashpan.

I have seen several posts about 'carbon deposits". I have a few questions that I was hoping you more experienced burners can help me with.

1) Are Carbon deposits the result of the pellet composition, quality or result of stove operation?
2) Do these hard deposit affect the stove operation and should I worry about removing them on a regular basis.
3) If pellet related what should I look for in pellet composition to avoid or limit them?

Thanks,

Rick D

 

[alternativeheat]

It's a combination of heat range burned and pellet composition, you may be operating the stove in the honey zone for those particular pellets. Course with some pellets there is no optimum range to burn in that won't produce the carbon. And just about all pellets produce some carbon if even minimal. Often long periods of lower burns , a lot of stopping and starting , just low stove requirement situations, help produce more carbon. And good hot intense burning produces less generally. If what you are getting is just a shiny black glaze then burning really hot for an hour or so should burn that off. If it's the dull crusty stuff, then you probably have to chip it off, but burning hot may help produce less of it in the first place..

Some pellets are just prone to this more than other pellets. Something you could try is just pickup a few bags of something different and see if they behave better or worse under the same conditions.. Also with a Harman you can scrape your pot daily with the stove running and that reduces the weekly build up dramatically (least I assume you can still do that with the higher tech Absolute). You just take a tool and scrape under the burning embers.

 

[jackman]

Welcome to the club! The carbon deposits, aka clinkers or speed bumps, are just a fact of life with pellet stoves. I clear mine every time I pour in a bag. A good automotive gasket scraper makes the job easier. If you run the stove hotter for an hour beforehand it softens them up.