Stove cleaning/leafblower method

[johnnh]

All,
I have completed my end of the year cleaning but did not employ the leafblower method. I cleaned the horizontal and vertical runs of the pipe with a brush, then pushed a 4 HP shop vac hose end into the horizontal run as far as I could go until I probably touched the exhaust blower end. This was done multiple times with an "in and out" motion. Is this enough? I feel like I am missing out here. I have read all about the leafblower method on previous threads, and I feel like I know how to do it. I just have to buy the leafblower. For some reason I am scared to death about hurting the unit. Thank you,
John

 

[peirhead]

I keep my stove pretty clean and only have about 5 ft of exhaust pipe....I do the leaf blower after everything else is cleaned vacuumed and brushed out...not much comes out the blower!! I wouldn't bother 'cept I already had the leaf blower so why not!!

 

[Tonyray]

I keep my stove pretty clean and only have about 5 ft of exhaust pipe....I do the leaf blower after everything else is cleaned vacuumed and brushed out...not much comes out the blower!! I wouldn't bother 'cept I already had the leaf blower so why not!!

As u can on picture to left, my exhaust is standard 5 ft I think...
anyways, I bought a leaf blower about a month after I had just cleaned the exhaust pipe top to bottom with a 4" dryer brush. [was a good price]
From the inside I used a thin shop vac hose and very carefully pushed it slowly past the ESP probe and all the way to the end at a 90.
long story short, did my "close it up for summer" full stove cleaning and then hooked up the leaf blower making sure I left the Harman P61A door open a bit so no vacuum problem.
Nothing came out.... little dissapointed but I guess using a brush for outside and bottle brush in the ESP probe tunnel cleaned it fine.
I would not worry about leaf blower.. sounds like your fine.
Next year I will skip the manual brushing outside to justify buying the 42.00 Home Depot leaf blower/vac to try it out.

 

[JohnD]

All,
I have completed my end of the year cleaning but did not employ the leafblower method. I cleaned the horizontal and vertical runs of the pipe with a brush, then pushed a 4 HP shop vac hose end into the horizontal run as far as I could go until I probably touched the exhaust blower end. This was done multiple times with an "in and out" motion. Is this enough? I feel like I am missing out here. I have read all about the leafblower method on previous threads, and I feel like I know how to do it. I just have to buy the leafblower. For some reason I am scared to death about hurting the unit. Thank you,
John

I know the last 2replies said don't bother with leaf blower.... I disagree! I use the leaf blower every time I clean the exhaust, which is about once every 6-8 weeks and at the end of the burn season. I clean with a brush all the way up to the rain cap and the into the horizontal pipe that runs directly to the stove. The brush doesn't pull the ash out of the pipe completely and some stays, especially in the horizontal section. The leaf blower completely sucks all the loose ash out, and there is usually a good amount. Some say it's not necessary, and that may be true, but it definitely cleans out the ash and gives me piece of mind, so why not. I stick a rag in the vertical pipe first and suck out the horizontal section as this is where most of the residual ash is. Then I put the rag in the horizontal section to clean out the vertical. There's not as much ash in the vertical section. Using the leaf blower also pulls a lot of the ash out of the exhaust chamber of the stove itself, once you have scraped and loosened the ash there. I have a Quadrafire Classic Bay 1200. hope this helps!

 

[Tonyray]

I know the last 2replies said don't bother with leaf blower.... I disagree! I use the leaf blower every time I clean the exhaust, which is about once every 6-8 weeks and at the end of the burn season. I clean with a brush all the way up to the rain cap and the into the horizontal pipe that runs directly to the stove. The brush doesn't pull the ash out of the pipe completely and some stays, especially in the horizontal section. The leaf blower completely sucks all the loose ash out, and there is usually a good amount. Some say it's not necessary, and that may be true, but it definitely cleans out the ash and gives me piece of mind, so why not. I stick a rag in the vertical pipe first and suck out the horizontal section as this is where most of the residual ash is. Then I put the rag in the horizontal section to clean out the vertical. There's not as much ash in the vertical section. Using the leaf blower also pulls a lot of the ash out of the exhaust chamber of the stove itself, once you have scraped and loosened the ash there. I have a Quadrafire Classic Bay 1200. hope this helps!

Curious here..
how do you keep the rags from being sucked in by the Leaf Blower?

 

[Mt Bob]

LBT is very handy for those stoves that are hard to clean,nooks and crannys,around the corner passages.Also handy in middle of winter,easy to use for a quick clean instead of shutting down stove.I have no need for one with my type of stove and exhaust,but do use compressed air for the back passage.

 

[johnnh]

As an update to this, I was in Home Depot yesterday and bought a Toro 12A, 390CFM leaf blower for $49. I brought it home and attached the provided vacuum tube, which then fit perfectly in the bottom of the T cleanout. Duct taped it air tight, duct taped the chimney cap air tight, and turned it on. Although it was not like the dramatic YouTube videos where people rely solely on his method to clean the stove, I was surprised at the amount of ash that came out. For a count of 5, ash came out of the blower. I'm happy that for the most part, the stove could be considered as "clean" to verify my cleaning methods are good without the blower. But I'm also happy that every last bit of ash is out of the unit. I'll employ the method after every cleaning.

 

[BrotherBart]

.Also handy in middle of winter,easy to use for a quick clean instead of shutting down stove.

Huh?

 

[doghouse]

Also handy in middle of winter,easy to use for a quick clean instead of shutting down stove.

Yea, I'd like to see that. I'll bring the 'refreshments.'

 

[Mt Bob]

My mind did not transfer to my fingers.Wanted to say something like teardown and do a full cleaning in the middle of winter.Oh well old age strikes again.Funny it took someone so long to notice.

 

[JohnD]

Curious here..
how do you keep the rags from being sucked in by the Leaf Blower?

Just jam them in tight....I had one pull out into the leaf blower, no big deal, just time consuming to pull it out and reinsert it in the pipe.