St Croix Auburn Operation

[kool_jason]

I am questioning how I have been operating my St Croix Auburn stove. I purchased it 2009. It vents directly through the wall to a T, 4ft vertical, 90, and then 90 vent. I usually burn a ton of pellets a year. This year I have burnt over 2 tons (100 bags). I had been running the stove without the outside air intake hooked up until half way through this season. The damper is set at 1 o'clock if looking at it from the side. I am questioning how quick the pot fills and when I drop the "clinker". On setting 2 I can run my stove for about 8 hrs before I have to drop the clinker. Setting 3 6 hrs. Setting 4 3-4 hrs. Setting 5 2hrs. I drop the "clinker" when the flame has gone lazy and the pot is full but not over flowing. Others tell me their stove runs and the ash flows over the sides of the pot. I clean my stove now about once a week. The ash pan is completely full. Ash looks clumpy. I purchased the "pellet pot" with my stove and do not have the shield portion installed. If I do not drop the clinker the pot will overflow the feed ramp. I would like to run my stove on higher setting for an extended period of time to better heat my home. Until this year I was unaware of how much cleaning a pellet stove needs. I had been using my Lovless vacuum to vacuum just the inside of the burn area. I have now cleaned the heat tube baffle, heat tubes, the pot, the two ash traps (older model only has 2) with the cut down choke cable on cordless drill, blower motor, and the chimney twice. I have never cleaned the combustion fan or the housing. I viewed a YouTube view showing a cut out of a St Croix where they snake a coat hanger through the ash trap to get behind the pot into (?) the combustion housing? I was also told the there are some type of vents behind the fire brick. Where do they go?

I am looking at buying a 12amp Craftsman leaf blower $38 to suck the ash through the outside chimney T.

I want to know if others stove operate at the same rate as mine. How long at what setting can you run your stove.

 

[TimfromMA]

I have a Hastings.

I give my stove a quick vacuuming out of the burnpot and the ash pan about every 10 bags or so. I do a full cleaning twice a month and I clean my vent after each ton. I call my stove dealer at the end of the burn season to do a full tear down, clean and re-assemble.

I run the stove on 3 all winter and use about 1 bag of pellets per day.

 

[MSmith66]

Your damper maybe opened too much. A good starting point would be to place a #2 pencil on the bottom of the air tube and close the damper down on the pencil and then remove the pencil. After that, you should not have to open the the damper anymore than that but, you can close the damper more if needed. When you do this you are closing up the air and forcing the air at a smaller,faster rate than you would if you opened the damper with would not force the air if it was close. It would be like blowing into a straw( smaller area, more forceful) instead of a garden hose at the same length( large area, less forceful). I have done a lot of draft tests on the St. Croix stoves to show the owners the difference and trust me you would be surprised at the results. First and foremost, CLEAN that sucker OUT! ) Let us know how you make out.

 

[Lake Girl]

Not sure of the quality or content of the videos on their website but I would find one on cleaning the internal exhaust pathways - usually to the side or back or both of the combustion chamber. Tried to find a manual on line for operation that may show areas to be cleaned but can't seem to pull one up (internet is a problem today). Anyone have photos or videos of clean-out procedure?

Unplug the stove before cleaning... disconnect vacuum line from switch end and clean line. I have a dryer vent lint brush that I use to clean these chambers and use a shop vac with a smaller hose attached to adapter and use drywall bag. Guess the coat hanger would work as I'm not sure how open that area is on your stove. Shop vac has more power than ash vac... hose gets into farther recesses of the exhaust path. You need to pull the combustion blower as well but you likely need a replacement gasket. Careful not to damage any sensors, blades on the fan.

Welcome to the forum and get working on that deep clean...

 

[KodiakII]

Don't be afraid to bang the crap out of the back of the fire chamber (for lack of a better description). Remove the ash trap covers and you can see all kinds of crud falling down. I also have the flexible cover from a manual choke that I feed up in and spin with a cordless drill.

 

[kool_jason]

I wanted to hear from more Aurburn owners.

 

[TimfromMA]

St Croix owners are few and far between. The people out here may not own your exact stove but that doesn't mean they don't know what they are talking about.

 

[kool_jason]

I am simply trying to get the most information as possibly from other owners. MSmith66, I have closed my damper more. I can tell the stove is running better. I have not had a chance to deep clean yet. Thank you everyone so far that has given input.

 

[kool_jason]

I purchased a Craftsman 12 amp leaf blower from Sears $38. Attached a thin walled 4" PVC 90 ($5) and a rubber 4" to 3" adapter ($10). The 90 pushed right into the mulching tube (fairly good seal).

I went to my dealer "Copycat Stove" Webster WI. I spoke with Jeff there. He showed me that behind the firebrick, there are 2 metal buttons near the feed ramp. Pop these out and use a clothes hanger to clean. I used a paint brush to clean all the heat tubes. Pulled out the pot and scraped the build up off it. I pulled the bottom slide out portion of the pot out and cleaned that as well. Vacuumed everything! I removed the back off the stove and took off the 4 nuts to remove the combustion fan. The fan and the pathway to the burn pot all had a layer of soot. I scraped this with a screw driver. I then attached my choke cable to my cordless drill and cleaned the combustion pathway, the ash traps near the burn pot, and the holes where the 2 buttons were. A 1/4 cup chunk came out of the combustion pathway near the far right side (if coming from the back of the stove). I vacuumed everything again. I replaced the combustion fan gasket and reassembled everything. At this point I felt my stove was very clean.

I then hooked up the leaf blower outside. I had 5 seconds of solid black soot come out. I then plugged the end of my chimney at the end of its rise and had 2 more seconds of black soot. I let the leaf blower run a few minutes allowing more grey soot to come out.

I started my stove and started the damper adjustment process of checking the pot every half hour, raising the heat settings, and making sure the pot is "balanced". If looking at the side of the damper, the adjustment lever would be at a 2 o'clock position.

I started my stove at 8:45 pm. I went the all the heat settings and then left my stove on setting 3 overnight. It has been 14 hours now. The pot has filled but is still balanced. The flame is lively and is not as tall prior to cleaning. The firebrick is still clean and the glass is just starting to get a little dark on the top corners.

I would have to say the worst thing I was doing to my stoves operation was "cheating the burn pot". If the burn pot was not full enough to use the coal rake, I would quick pull out the bottom of the pot and let some ash drop into the ash drawer. This was clearly shoving ash or un-burnt pellets into the combustion pathway. I see now why others on this forum drop everything out of the pot and start over. "cheating" is WRONG.

I am very happy with the way my stove now runs. The information I have received on this forum and through my dealer has helped me get my stove running much better!