proper cleaning

[61snowrider]

OK guys, I have read many post here on cleaning. I still don't have it down pat!! I did buy a leaf blower but havn't used it yet. But for inside I have been using our house vaccum and I would like to get away from using that. Today I used my new shop vac, ( already had it never used it yet ) but it is only a craftsman 2 gal. 1.5 h.p. I ran the exhaust pipe out the window so the exhaust would not be in the house. It was not near enough suction. So what size does everyone use to clean the pellet stove from inside the house? I bought pipe and fittings to reduce the pipe down small to get in those hard to reach areas. That is when I had hardly any suction!! What do you guys use to reduce the pipe down to get hard to reach areas? I always had trouble this year with black burning ( this my 4th year ) but one day I cleaned it and a bunch ( more than usual ) smoke filled the burn area before igniting and POOF, it ignited but blew dust out the back. Either the draft pipe or the intake at the bottom. I have a St. Croix. Since then it has been burning like it did when it was NEW!! Yes I have taken out the motor and cleaned the blades and down in that hole. ( on the left side of the stove ) What do you think exploded and cleaned itself? Whatever it was I need to clean this area. I always clean out the 2 fly trap doors. Yes at times I take the bricks out and beat on the steel plates to knock the soot down to the trap doors. When you pull the bottom rod out to drop the ash in to the pan is there an area here that needs sucked out? How does that air get to the burn pot? Is there a little tunnel here coming from the blower in the back? Sorry if I don't reply but I have to leave at 6:15. But I will read all replys Thanks

 

[tchdngrnby]

Locate and read the following thread. "Ugh, ok, just about out of options with Prescott EXL"…

 

[nailed_nailer]

Snowrider,

I don't know anything about your stove. But here is what I do for my Enviro. From an older posting.

I just spent the last 3 hours deep cleaning my EF-2.

So far this year I have burned about 3/4 of a ton of New England's and a couple of oddball bags of other pellets.

Last weekend when the thermometer was dipping into the mid-20's here I had a hell of a time keeping my house warm. I had the stove cranked and it was all it could do to keep the house at 68. Last year I ran it at about the 3/4 feed rate and it heated the whole house no problem. I give it a regular cleaning about every 3-4 days so I knew I was due for a deep clean. Also My heat exchanger tube scraper had become disconnected from the pull rod and it needed to be repaired.

I pulled the fake firebrick liner and the 3 steel firebox liners. Noticed a lot of rust back there. I spent about an hour with a wire brush and the vacuum getting all the loose rust and accumulated ash out of the ash chambers. While there I also really cleaned the exhaust passages going out to the damper. The corners were caked with ash. I also really cleaned up above and around the heat exchanger tubes.

I then moved to the left side and pulled the combustion blower and vacuum tube. I cleaned the blower impeller with carburetor cleaner, a wire brush and compressed air. I spent some time straightening the blades as they were a little wobbly. I sprayed the electric side of the motor with electric contact cleaner. I let that sit then blew it out with the air. I then scraped and brushed the entire exhaust passage to and from the blower. I have noticed my damper has been a little sticky lately so I gave it a shot of powdered graphite. It now slides smooth. I blew out the vacuum tube and nipple just for good measure. I re-assembled the exhaust side and closed it up.

I then moved to the right side. I pulled the convection blower and gave the air passages a brushing. I took the blower down and blew it out with compressed air. I used some more of the contact cleaner on the electric side and also used it on the squirrel cage to free up the accumulated dust. I again blew it all clean with air. I oiled the ports on the motor with 3 in 1. I gave the inside of the stove a quick vacuum and re-assembled the convection side. I then closed it up.

I now moved to the rear of the stove. I have been having an issue getting my clean out "t" cap off. So I used an oil filter wrench to get it off and then cleaned out the vent stack with a 3" stack brush. I do this with the vacuum stuck in there with the brush to suck up any crap. Once clean I applied a health layer of hi-temp (2000 deg F) anti-seize to the threads of the clean out cap. Hopefully this will help next time. I re-assembled the venting.

I finished up scraping the burn pot liner, emptying the ash pan and giving the fire chamber a good vacuum. I also added a 1/4-20 nut and lockwasher to the back of the heat exchanger cleaning scraper. Now it works again like it used to .

I threw in a handfull of fresh pellets, hit them with the torch and away I go.

The convection blower is putting out about 1.5x the air it was before and the house rapidly heated to 74 degs. Temps are supposed to dip back into the 20's tomorrow so I will see how much difference I made.

Now with the heat taken care of....it time to start Christmas shopping...............

---Nailer---

I have recently learned of 20W 3-1 oil for motors.

I use a Rigid WD06350 6 Gallon shopvac. I replaced the standard filter with a HEPA filter.
I am a wood turner so I turned down a block of wood to jam fit onto the vac hose. Into that I RTV'd a 8" section of 1/2" hose to reach those tight places.

Good Luck,
---Nailer---

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

The link to the thread referred to by tchdngrnby:

https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/forums/viewthread/53054/