Nice trick for cleaning your pellet stove

Tollster · Jun 20, 2012

I run late september to late april give or take, and burn 5 tons, with little clean out during the cycle. Spring is when I remove covers,clean fans, and so on,typically taking a few hours or so. This year rather than wearing a dust filter, I decided to put it in test mode while scaping the burn chamber out with various putty knives and spackling knives. What a difference, all the light dust was sucked out from the open chamber and none entered the room. It may work on other stoves as well. I am running a Hamon P65,and have so for the past 8-9 years without any failures.

familyman · Jun 20, 2012

Sure beats what I have to go through when cleaning my Jotul wood stove.

wjmst · Jun 21, 2012

Thanks for the tip. I never thought of trying that. That will be on my list of things to try next spring!

cdaigle430 · Jun 21, 2012

I am running the Englander stove, not sure if test mode will do the same but worth a try anyway. I paid a fraction of what you paid for and so far, running for 6 years without failures and I only had 2 jams on the top auger, and even if it does break, its all DIY.

Tollster · Jun 21, 2012

Just be sure to save the chimney tie in for last. I was surprised it sucked the ash dust out even with the ash pot door open and burner door open.Be aware some of the enternal fans may cycle while cleaning,so I had to pull the plug while brushing off the fans with a paint brush. I use various paint brushes and cut the bristles down to about 1.5-2.0" long to stiffen em upsome and still clear the fan fins for easier cleaning. After soo many years it kicks my ash I did not think of it sooner.

rgood · Jun 23, 2012

Tollster - I used to have a corn stove but sold it when I sold that house - How many square feet do you heat wiht your pellet stove? Where is the stove located in the house? Do you also use other heat?

Tollster · Jun 24, 2012

I heat 1800 SF, in a ranch home. It has a walkout basement where the pellet stove is located. I have a forced hot air duct pushing into the living room which is above an insulated garage on the other side of the walkout basement. The living rooom and kitchen run lengthwise above the insulated garage, then stairs go down from kitchen to the walk out basement where the pellet is. I also have an 18" header above the walkout stairs to trap hot air in the basement cieling area, so the fan can circulate it upstairs which is located inside the drop cieling in the basement. Its more or less trapped in the walkout cieling area,so the fan can push it upsrairs, then the cold air sinks and returns to the basement down the stairs. There are additional vents on the heated side of the house allowing the hot ait to cycle into the bedrooms and bath. You can see the draft in the stair in the winter with a match,and its a pretty good one,you can aslo feel it
We have electric baseboard as backup, which is set to 60 or so in the winter and doors shut, except the basement stair door. They do not cycle unless it gets down in the teens.Although we keep the bathroom warm in the winter. I cannot judge the bill as the house is fully run on electric being built in the late 60's when electric was king. Stove, HW heater,dryer and so on. But the pellet stove reduce the bill by 50% or better, as our first years where all electric...early 90's at 210 a month. Now we average 130-180 in winter.Most of that now is parasitic draw,computers,modems,charging type stuff,clocks,microwave, vacuums, TV's, stove clocks,etc.....
The p61 is 61k BTU and pellets are around 200-210 a ton in august,which is when I by the 5 ton before they go up with demand. I had done extensive research before I settled on the harmon, brass nd bronze gears. weld quality, and plate thickness where top of my list, as well as feedback. Harman P61 - YouTube

TIP: I also use a razor blade on the glass to reomove heavy carbon as needed,during the winter to keep the viewing nice,but I noticed it stil had burned on carbon and I am not one that is big on elbow grease anymore. I put some driveway cleaner (AKA Muratic acid on a shop towel,and it wiped right off,now its part of my cleaning supplies.