P61 making black ash

[subsailor]

My troubles started a couple of weeks ago. I was at the tail end of a 25 bag run of some ashy GT's and I noticed the firebox had a lot of smoke in it, especially whenfeeding pellets. Enough to where I could see black smoke coming out of my outside exhaust. That continued after I switched to MWP softwood. I clened the stove thoroughly the following weekend, although I forgot to clean the ESP (CRS syndrome). The stove still had a lot of smoke, but not as much. This past week I noticed the firebox was covered in very black ash, including my ceramic logs. Friday I thoroughly cleaned the stove again, this time including the ESP (it had a heavy coating of ash.. I checked all the holes in the burnpot, vacuumed under the burnpot, checked the venting, vacuumed under the burnpot again. After this, the ash went back to it's normal gray, and I figured all is well. Today I noticed my oak was connected to the stove very well, so I secured it better. I noticed a couple of hours later, the black ash is back. So I obviously have an air flow problem, but I can't figure out why. The kicker to all this is the fire is active, not lazy at all. There's no excessive ash buildup on the glass. I currently have my oak disconnected to see if that makes a difference.

What am I missing here? Could it be the ESP is failing?

 

[jtakeman]

First time burning softwoods? Lower your feedrate a nitch or 2. Softies like it lean and mean!

Making sure your vent and esp is also clean, can't hurt any either! What was that kooser said?

 

[subsailor]

I don't believe that will make any difference on a Harman. The feed rate is pretty much a max setting.

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

Check to make certain your flapper is free and hook that OAK back up softies need a good slug of air

When you get a chance check all of your gaskets.

 

[imacman]

Have you checked the outdoor OAK inlet screen?

 

[subsailor]

Check to make certain your flapper is free and hook that OAK back up softies need a good slug of air

When you get a chance check all of your gaskets.

I did check the flapper. It's working normally.

Have you checked the outdoor OAK inlet screen?

The screen is clear although I did see it has a hole in it. My oak is a straight shot and I looked from the inside, it is clear.

 

[mikesj]

Did you clean behind the exhaust fan? You can get a lot of build up behind it. That could cause some airflow issues.

 

[subsailor]

Did you clean behind the exhaust fan? You can get a lot of build up behind it. That could cause some airflow issues.

Yup.

 

[P38X2]

Wish I could offer my $.02 That's very strange sounding.

Did looking through your OAK include the flex pipe or whatever goes from your thimble to the stove? Can you see everywhere through your thimble? In other words, is there an area inside your thimble that's open to the inside of the thimble? Hope that makes sense. Maybe there's a critter nest or a piece of a bees nest that's flopping up and restricting some of the flow.

No other ideas here. I guess that's my $.02

 

[subsailor]

Wish I could offer my $.02 That's very strange sounding.

Did looking through your OAK include the flex pipe or whatever goes from your thimble to the stove? Can you see everywhere through your thimble? In other words, is there an area inside your thimble that's open to the inside of the thimble? Hope that makes sense. Maybe there's a critter nest or a piece of a bees nest that's flopping up and restricting some of the flow.

No other ideas here. I guess that's my $.02

No, it's clear. That's what's baffleling me and made me think it might be the ESP. Other than the ash color, the stove is running fine. I've got 2 bags of maximum hardwoods I'm going to burn next weekend when it turns colder. Maybe it is a gasket like Smokey suggested. It's just funny that early today all ws fine then all of a sudden everything is black again.

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

Door latches (includes the doors you always use, hopper lid and the means to scrap the burn pot) and gaskets interact.

 

[subsailor]

Door latches (includes the doors you always use, hopper lid and the means to scrap the burn pot) and gaskets interact.

I hear ya.

 

[P38X2]

Crud in the combustion fan?....although I'd expect that wouldn't be intermittent. Smokeys idea sounds quite plausible.

 

[boosted3g]

Mine was running a little higher in the ash dept so with a little investigating i found that my ash door gasket was leaking a little bit. The way its built on the p61 you cant do the dollar bill test but i saw a little bit of a streak of ash on the door so i knew something was up. There is adjustment so maybe the bolts got a little loose and moved on you. I know i almost never open that door since that ash pan has to hold at least a ton of pellet ash.

 

[Lousyweather]

Im sure, given the clarity and knowledge of the previous posts from the OP, that he has checked most of the obvious things. Basically I have nothing to add except to check the air path, from soup to nuts. if you have a outside intake, take it apart...make sure bees havent mad e a winter home there (yea, seen that). Check the damper, air box, holes in the burnpot, combustion fan and blades, then the outlet path. All pretty obvious, really. Failing that, change the pellets, see if there is a difference (different brand). Cozy up with someone who owns a DDM, let them check your ESP. Its NOT the feed rate.

Im sure I dont have to mention that since its fairly warm, these things tend to run dirtier....

 

[DOLLARBILL]

Wish I could help but cannt So Ill will say GOOD LUCK !

 

[subsailor]

I think the stove is running more like normal, but it's been so warm it hasn't really run much. They ash looks a more normal gray. The only thing I can think of is when I reconnected my OAK yesterday morning I somehow ended up blocking the airflow. Time will tell I guess.

 

[mepellet]

could you post a pic of what the ash looked like? and also a pic of what your ash normally looks like if you have one?