Weekly Cleaning....Is This Normal???

[lordj37]

I installed a new CAB50 three weeks ago. Pretty simple install.....45 degree out the back, two foot horizontal through the wall to a clean out "T" then a four foot vertical to a 90 and end vent. I've been burning Isabella brand pellets which the bag identifies as "100% softwood." The manual and maintenance section says I should be completing a thorough cleaning approximately once a month or 25 bags. I burn approximately 1 bag a day. My problem is, my stove seems to need this cleaning every 7 days. Flame gets very tall and lazy on the 6th or 7th day to the point I need to shut it down and do a complete cleaning. After vacuuming everything out within the stove including the removal and cleaning of the three baffles, it burns great. About the only thing I don't follow to a tee is the DAILY clean-out of the firepot (hate waiting for it to cool off). Is this frequent cleaning normal?????

 

[Woody1911a1]

i clean my stove (an insert ) weekly . scrape the burn pot as necessary which ,depending on the brand of pellet , can be daily .

you need to learn when your stove needs what and when .

 

[hyfire]

I would say pretty much yes, when the flame goes lazy its losing air from ash in/near the holes..

 

[TCZON]

Yep, daily cleaning of the burn pot keeps it happy. I have a different stove, but this is my routine (just over a month in on burning our new-to-us stove)

Daily - remove excess ash from burn pot. Depending on how full the burn pot is, this may be every day and a half, since we've switched to softwood pellets. I don't always shut the stove down completely to do this, just use a modified garden tool DH made to remove as much of the excess as needed, leaving my bed of coals burning.

Weekly - let stove completely cool down, empty burn pot completely, remove burn pot and scrape it completely. Remove upper baffle and vacuum heat exchangers. Clean door. Vacuum anything I can see

Monthy (we did this after 2 weeks with the old pellets we were burning 25+/- bags) - everything above, plus remove additional left side baffle and vacuum out, clean exhaust blower, check all gaskets etc.

Since we did the big cleaning last week, and switched to softwood, we're burning less pellets with higher heat. It takes a little bit of time, but the maintenance is worth it.

 

[TimfromMA]

About every 10 bags or so I use my ash vac to do a quick vacuuming of the ash around the burn pot and the ash pan. I do this with the stove still running (DO NOT ATTEMPT TO VACUUM OUT YOUR STOVE WHILE ITS RUNNING UNLESS YOU HAVE AN ASH VAC). About twice a month I shut the stove down completely for a full cleaning. I clean out my vent after every ton. At the end of each burning season, I call the stove dealer who comes in and completely disassembles the stove and throughly cleans each and every part. Over the summer, I attach a piece of window screen over the vent on the outside of the house to keep bugs, birds and other small critters out.

 

[Lake Girl]

Over the summer, I attach a piece of window screen over the vent on the outside of the house to keep bugs, birds and other small critters out.

May want to cap and put damp rid in combustion chamber to keep moisture levels down. High humidity here so it is worth it...

 

[TimfromMA]

My stove dealer actually recommended keeping the ash pan door open over the summer. It allows the stove to "breathe" to prevent moisture build up.

 

[hyfire]

About every 10 bags or so I use my ash vac to do a quick vacuuming of the ash around the burn pot and the ash pan. I do this with the stove still running (DO NOT ATTEMPT TO VACUUM OUT YOUR STOVE WHILE ITS RUNNING UNLESS YOU HAVE AN ASH VAC). About twice a month I shut the stove down completely for a full cleaning. I clean out my vent after every ton. At the end of each burning season, I call the stove dealer who comes in and completely disassembles the stove and throughly cleans each and every part. Over the summer, I attach a piece of window screen over the vent on the outside of the house to keep bugs, birds and other small critters out.

Are you sure its approved for sucking up burning hot ash??????????????My power smith ash vacuum would catch on fire????????

 

[BrotherBart]

Are you sure its approved for sucking up burning hot ash??????????????My power smith ash vacuum would catch on fire????????

 

[TimfromMA]

Yep, it's good. Besides, I'm only vacuuming the ash.

 

[Hdhogger]

About the only thing I don't follow to a tee is the DAILY clean-out of the firepot (hate waiting for it to cool off). Is this frequent cleaning normal?????

This is the problem. If you don't clean the burn pot daily you will have this problem, lazy flame. Seems to me it's easier to clean the pot daily than to do a full cleaning weekly. I clean the pot daily and do a full cleaning every 25 bags or so. Stove runs like a champ.

 

[Polar Bear]

I skipped my weekly cleaning last weekend and noticed after 2 weeks, the fire was getting lazy. Spent the 20 minutes on it, and it's back to running like a champ. Well worth the few minutes to get a good burn and a clean burnpot.

 

[lordj37]

Thanks for all the replies. I'll start emptying the burnpot daily and see how that goes. I just hate taking the time to wait for the ash/coals to cool before I drop it down into the ash pan and I'm not comfortable doing that while it's hot

 

[undr]

pelpro 120 here, i use a large flat screwdriver to clear out any built up ash in the burn pot every evening when i get home from work. i burn hardwood pellets most of the time so i can go 10 days before i have to shut it off for a couple hours to cool and vacuum it out and properly clean/scrape/wire brush the burn pot(5 min max). fill it up with pellets and tun it back on. at or about the 30 day mark i clean it out properly. i usually just wait for a nicer day or evening(not too cold) to do the full clean up.

 

[Hdhogger]

Thanks for all the replies. I'll start emptying the burnpot daily and see how that goes. I just hate taking the time to wait for the ash/coals to cool before I drop it down into the ash pan and I'm not comfortable doing that while it's hot

I shut the T-stat off when I get home from work - wait until the exhaust blower shuts down, about 15 - 20 minutes. Clean the pot and if there's a lot of ash in the firebox I will vac it out, turn T-stat back on. Never had a problem.

 

[The Ds]

We do like Hdhogger does.... turn stat all the way down, wait for blower to turn off. At that point I take a small broom and dustpan, broom up the ash from the firebox and dump it in the ash pan, then pull the rod to dump the burnpot. About once a week I check the holes in the burnpot to be sure they're open, but they always are. Our daily 'cleaning', from stat off to stat back on, is about 30 min. at most. Very easy stove.

 

[Hdhogger]

Our daily 'cleaning', from stat off to stat back on, is about 30 min. at most. Very easy stove.

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