pellet stove cleaning

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salt & battery

New Member
Dec 20, 2015
44
new york
I moved my stove so I figured I would put it outside on the deck open up the doors and I got a powerful electric blower and blasted it. I had cleaned it out when winter was over. it looked like a volcano eruption. it took ten minutes to where ash dust finally stopped. I looked like a coal miner. I have a P43 and the dust that came out the slot where the airwash air comes out of the series of holes was amazing. I think it will really run good this year and I will do the same to it every year now being I ran it 5 years and never did it
 
My P38 has been running seasonally since 2004 and although it gets a thorough cleaning each year I`ve never blown out the air wash holes since they are otherwise hard to get at. That said my air wash , stays clean for about 3-4 weeks after quick monthly cleanings and the stove always runs optimally. . So it appears the ash in the air wash doesn`t much affect the stove operation , at least in my particular installation. Theoretically I guess it COULD plug up and possibly affect the burn.
 
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on mine if you open the door on the bottom of the opening into the stove there is a long slot which is under the angle piece that has the holes for the air wash .I blew the air in that slot which forced out an unbelievable amount of ash very easy to do if yours is the same I would think it is. I not only cleaned that out the whole stove produced a massive amount of ash. I blew out the whole area where the ash pan is a lot came out the exhaust pipe in the back. wonder why I have to log in every time I post
 
Can you post a pic? On the P68 sometimes I will blow air into the air intake on the back of the stove. If I open the door, I do see slots where it meets the bottom door gasket (if that makes sense). Never thought about blowing air in there.
 
on mine if you open the door on the bottom of the opening into the stove there is a long slot which is under the angle piece that has the holes for the air wash .I blew the air in that slot which forced out an unbelievable amount of ash very easy to do if yours is the same I would think it is. I not only cleaned that out the whole stove produced a massive amount of ash. I blew out the whole area where the ash pan is a lot came out the exhaust pipe in the back. wonder why I have to log in every time I post

My stove is in the middle of the finished basement . Blowing compressed air into it is not an option for me.
 
Can you post a pic? On the P68 sometimes I will blow air into the air intake on the back of the stove. If I open the door, I do see slots where it meets the bottom door gasket (if that makes sense). Never thought about blowing air in there.
yes I have a continuous slot right above where the bottom door gasket sets I can see the imprint of the gasket.. yours might be a little different. the amount of ash dust that came out was unreal. I just angled the blower at one end of the slot it came out other end did the other side and even in the middle. I feel it is better to blow the air inside the stove. when I blew it on the exhaust motor blades behind the ash pan a lot came out the pipe in the back. I cant see what to clic if I wanted to post a pic
 
Is it bad that I just realized... I never cleaned my stoves after final burn last season? <>

I hope not...you just made me realize I never fully did mine either.

I was pretty good with monthly cleanings though, so I don't expect any big problems.
 
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By not cleaning it at the end of the season I ended up with black guck inside, ash and humidity combined. Is that stuff bad or can I just fire up the stove and let it dry out then clean it?
 
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You're fine. I had that last year. All I did was clean the stove and light it when I needed to use it at the start of the burning season. Just do a high burn for your 1st light this season.
 
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