Pellet stove blues ...

[Vinelife]

Hello, and I hope everyone had a great summer.

I have a Quadrafire Santa Fe. Last spring I did the normal thing and cleaned it really good, did a leaf blower thing on it. I also sprayed with Pam, and also put Damp Rid inside of the box. However, we had an exceptionally humid summer up here in northern michigan. I tried pulling on my ash pot thing that moves the ash to ash bin, but it is stuck ...I mean totally stuck. Any suggestions ? I thought I could remove ash bin and tap on the bottom of it with hammer to see if that frees it up. When I put the stove away last May I could pull it out and in easy. So any suggestions would be great...

John
Fellow Pellet Pig..

 

[Bilzer007]

Hello, and I hope everyone had a great summer.

I have a Quadrafire Santa Fe. Last spring I did the normal thing and cleaned it really good, did a leaf blower thing on it. I also sprayed with Pam, and also put Damp Rid inside of the box. However, we had an exceptionally humid summer up here in northern michigan. I tried pulling on my ash pot thing that moves the ash to ash bin, but it is stuck ...I mean totally stuck. Any suggestions ? I thought I could remove ash bin and tap on the bottom of it with hammer to see if that frees it up. When I put the stove away last May I could pull it out and in easy. So any suggestions would be great...

John
Fellow Pellet Pig..

John,
Use some penetrating oil and soak all the moving parts and rod underneath. You can then tap it lightly with a hammer to free it up. Once it is free you can put some oil on the parts and you should be back in business.

 

[Vinelife]

Can you give me an example of penetrating oil ...?? Ty...

 

[Overfireinthehole]

Wd40 makes a penetrating oil formula. PB blaster works great. If everything is clean, spray it all down and then you can tap the bottom of the pot with a hammer and flathead screwdriver while pulling on the rod. If it’s still stuck, you can loosen the nut that holds the slide plate in the ash pan. It’s pretty straightforward if you get where you can look in there.

 

[Vinelife]

Ok, i'll give this a shot ... ty ..

 

[Jhawknseattle]

I second pb blaster, great stuff.

 

[Vinelife]

Can you guys explain to me what pb blaster is, and where I can obtain such a treasure ..?

 

[Jhawknseattle]

Most autoparts stores. Just a very solid penetrating oil. In my old life I was a trailer tractor mechanic and that stuff helped me break loose alot of bolts I thought I was going to have to torch out.

 

[Vinelife]

Ok, how do I apply it.. is it a spray ? And what parts under there should I apply it to ??

 

[Overfireinthehole]

Ok, how do I apply it.. is it a spray ? And what parts under there should I apply it to ??

It’s a a spray. The bottom of the pot is what your pulling so spray that.

 

[Vinelife]

Ok... ty ...

 

[Vinelife]

Ok, so here is what I did ... I loosened the screw to the device that moves the plate and I was able to get it going again. It just seemed like it seized up, but no rust. Good to go now... thanks for the help Pellet people ...

 

[tlc1976]

Glad to hear you got it working. I agree about the humidity. All the stuff I had stored in boxes in my garage got moldy. Was fine for the 2 summers prior.

I never do anything special with my stove for summer. Thankfully it started up just like any other day.