...........hey, even the Harmans have to be cleaned at some point.
Harman`s might be able to go all season long without cleaning except for an occasional pot scrape and ash pan emptying but the fact is the more ash buildup there is the more it insulates the heat output of the fire that the exchanger and steel mass should be absorbing and blowing into the room. It simply goes up the flue instead. I`ve had to increase the feed rate (fire size) to get the same amount of heat that I normally get from a clean stove.
Regardless here`s a picture of what I do when I clean the heat exchanger and brush down the inside of the stove.
I tape and cut a cross slit in the heavy transparent plastic to insert my hand with the scraping tool , brush, etc. Little if any ash dust comes out.
Of course with the Harmans (maybe others too) the stove exhaust fan will suck out the dust that would normally fall out of the open door. As long as the door is open/removed no pellets will feed.
http://www.pbase.com/image/109875222.jpg
Harman`s might be able to go all season long without cleaning except for an occasional pot scrape and ash pan emptying but the fact is the more ash buildup there is the more it insulates the heat output of the fire that the exchanger and steel mass should be absorbing and blowing into the room. It simply goes up the flue instead. I`ve had to increase the feed rate (fire size) to get the same amount of heat that I normally get from a clean stove.
Regardless here`s a picture of what I do when I clean the heat exchanger and brush down the inside of the stove.
I tape and cut a cross slit in the heavy transparent plastic to insert my hand with the scraping tool , brush, etc. Little if any ash dust comes out.
Of course with the Harmans (maybe others too) the stove exhaust fan will suck out the dust that would normally fall out of the open door. As long as the door is open/removed no pellets will feed.
http://www.pbase.com/image/109875222.jpg
