St. Croix Hastings - Buildup in the burn pot

[burns]

Happy new Year! I had some issues with m St. Croix Hastings stove when it was first installed since the ash clean out rod was not pushed in all the way. Since then, I have had some good burns, and now I am getting a full burn pot after running for about 3 hours. I have cleaned the stove many times and can't get the burn pot to stop filling up. I used a wire bursh on the burn pot and the piece underneath it to ensure nothing was caked on. The pellets I am using are Country Boy Oak pellets and I have been told they are one of the best so I have ruled out the quality of the pellets as a possble issue.
I also found that the seal on the door might not be good.....the rope seems to be coming apart. Please take a look at the pictures below. Any suggestions on how to get my stove to run properly would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks in advance!

 

[krooser]

Pull everthing out of the stove... cerabrick, burn pot, versa-grate, side grates and flappers above the ash pan.

Dump the ash pan and put it back in. Use a hammer to tap on the back wall of the INSIDE of the stove. I bet you'll find lots of ash falling into the ash pan... keep it up until you don't get anymore ash. Make sure you THROUGHLY clean out the area UNDER the versa-grate.... especially the area to the front of the stove... that is VERY easy to miss! Be certain both the burn pot rod and the heat exchanger cleaning rods are pushed in AND the ash pan is tightened.

Reassemble the stove, set the intake damper to be open the width of a pencil, put ten pellets (or so) in the fire pot. Start the stove on #3 and let it warm up before re-setting the temp.

If THAT works you simply have a stove that was plugged up with ash. You should use a strong shop vac or leaf blower to throughly clean your stove.

 

[burns]

Thanks for the response. I am cleaning te stove as instructed but I can't get the versa grate plate out. It's under the igniter and won't budge. Any suggestions?

 

[Xena]

You don't have to remove the shaker plate to clean the stove properly.
Easy way to get in there is to get a short piece of garden hose and temporarily
duct tape it to the end of your vac. Works great and gets all the crap
out of the area under the igniter.

When cleaning the stove, don't forget to remove the baffle and thoroughly
brush the heat exchange tubes/ vac up the ash. I use a wide paint brush
and keep the vac inside to catch the ash immediately. Brush them down
until no more ash falls. This may take a good amount of brushing but
it will ensure the tubes are clean. Use a mirror to view them
if you don't want to keep sticking your head inside the stove.

 

[burns]

Ok, I've taken the entire stove apart, used some tubing to clean under the versa grate, and the ubes behind the flappers. I even removed the plate behind the ash pan and vacummed up those tubes the best I could without breaking out a long wire brush. Hopefully these steps will resolve the issue.
Unfortunately the only steps I can't follow are to put 10 pellets in the burn pot and start the stove on 3. The hastings does not allow for the heat setting to be set when you first turn on the stove. However, I believe it was on 3 when I turned it off.
I'll let you all know in a few hours if your suggestions worked.

Thanks!

 

[krooser]

You can get the versa-grate out by allowing the stove to run with the door open...it moves back and forth on it's shaft and should move enough in a minute or two to allow you to pull it right out... took me awhile to figure that out.

When I first got my stove I'd restart it with a handfull of pellets... it always would overfill the burnpot. If I only use a few pellets it works must better.

 

[mkmh]

Happy new Year! I had some issues with m St. Croix Hastings stove when it was first installed since the ash clean out rod was not pushed in all the way. Since then, I have had some good burns, and now I am getting a full burn pot after running for about 3 hours. I have cleaned the stove many times and can't get the burn pot to stop filling up. I used a wire bursh on the burn pot and the piece underneath it to ensure nothing was caked on. The pellets I am using are Country Boy Oak pellets and I have been told they are one of the best so I have ruled out the quality of the pellets as a possble issue.
I also found that the seal on the door might not be good.....the rope seems to be coming apart. Please take a look at the pictures below. Any suggestions on how to get my stove to run properly would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks in advance!

All great advice so far. The only time I saw ash build-up anything like that I had a blockage somewhere in my exhaust chamber. Using a leafbower or strong shop vac to suck it all out should clear it.
On the other hand, if your stove is new this year (I seem to remember it is) you may want to try another brand of pellet. Just because someone recommended those to you doesn't mean they'll burn well for you. Furthermore, it is possible to get a bad batch/ton of a good pellet. Try a different brand of pellet is typically one of my first troubleshooting steps when I encounter a burn quality issue.
Let us know how it goes.

 

[burns]

Mkmh, when I first had the stove installed the installer did not know that the ash pan clean out rod needed to be pushed in so it ran for quite some time with it open. I believe this caused black smoke to come out of the chimney and ash to buildup in the exhaust tubes. In the process of cleaning the stove yesterday I decided to vacuum out the exhaust tubes using some tubing taped to the hose of my shop vac. I also did as others suggested and used the tube to clean out under and in front of the versa grate and cleaned all of the heat exchange tubes on top. Well, all of these suggestions combined seem to have resolved the issue. I will know for sure tonight when I turn the stove off and check the ash pan. I'll post a message tonight to confirm.

 

[krooser]

Those stoves get plugged with ash behind the firebox... a good "suck job" with a leafblower or strong shop vac will do wonders... looks like you are on the right track.

 

[burns]

Tapping on the back back panel was a great suggestion as well! Quite a bit of ash fell when I did that.

 

[Xena]

Tapping on the back back panel was a great suggestion as well! Quite a bit of ash fell when I did that.

Yep. I've been doing that since my stove was new. Four yrs
later have never once needed to use a leaf blower or any other
similar method.

I'm sure lots of installers out there do not familiarize themselves
with specifics of each stove make/model. The details are in the owners manual
though and the st croix manuals from what I've seen, are a little more detailed than many out there.

 

[krooser]

Many dealers and installers are clueless about the stuff they sell and service...

 

[Latent]

Same stove, same pellets, same problems even down to the fire brick. Behind the fire chamber on top jam a stiff wire and go back and forth, up and down scrubbing. The leaf blower at the end did the trick. I have country boy pellets and so far no problems burning clean. Make sure that the ash cleanout rod is in all the way when burning.

 

[burns]

Glad to hear I am not the only one who experienced this! Next time I will clean out behind the fire chamber with a wire brush. Great idea.
For now, I have a perfectly operating stove and am loving the efficiency and warmth. A perfect flame no wasted pellets and nothing building up in the burn pot at this time. As Krooser stated "80% of all stove problems are caused by dirty stoves." I can attest to that!
My house is 1375 sq ft......on heat level 3 with temperature below 30 outside my house was a toasty 75 degrees. Very nice!
I am good to go! Thank you all for your assistance!