Big Clean tomorrow

[travlnusa]

Last fall I installed our Big E stove at the last minute, and just punched a hole in the wall for the exhaust.

Despite the hap-hazzard install, worked great and loved it. I now have a chimmey that goes up over the edge of the roof.

Now that I have my pellets secured for the year, tomorrow I will be taking off the sides, removing the blowers, etc and cleaning anything and everything I can reach with a brush, shop vac, and compressed air.

Will be ready for another warm winter. Thanks to all on this site who kept me going my first year last year.

 

[tonyd]

Compressed air is the way to go. I did all the normal brushing and cleaning with the shop vac then decided to take the stove outside and give it a good cleaning. You would be amazed by the amount of soot that you will blow out of the stove that you thought was clean. I looked like chimney sweep when I was done. Covered head to toe. I know for sure its clean.

 

[imacman]

Compressed air is the way to go. I did all the normal brushing and cleaning with the shop vac then decided to take the stove outside and give it a good cleaning. You would be amazed by the amount of soot that you will blow out of the stove that you thought was clean. I looked like chimney sweep when I was done. Covered head to toe. I know for sure its clean.

Compressed air is good if you can move the stove outside easily....otherwise you might want to take into consideration using the "leaf blower" method, which sucks all the ash out blows it outside (depending on your install).

 

[jsvo]

used the leaf blower trick on stove at work today, unbelievable. make sure nothing clean is around you.

 

[jjdesch]

Does the leaf blower trick clean off the squirrel cage blower fans as well? I stuck a shop vac in the horizontal vent and letting it suck for 10 minutes. Then I did the leaf blower trick and ran it until I saw no more stuff (but I did not see a mushroom cloud or anything like that). In any event, I do not relish the thought of jackassing the stove outside so I properly take it apart to get at the blower fans.

 

[tonyd]

Using compressed air, I blew off everything I could see. Inside and out. Vacuumed everything many times and when I started blowing air into the slots for the air wash, soot covered the stove again. Big time. So when you think you have it clean, keep cleaning. Its probably not necessary, but the stove was out to hook up the OAK, so what the ha.

 

[travlnusa]

Did not use the leaf blower, but got it all cleaned up.

Was amazed just how much ash kept coming out of every nook and corner.

Started stove, fired right up.

I need to replace a blower gasket and door gasket, then let winter begin.

 

[imacman]

Does the leaf blower trick clean off the squirrel cage blower fans as well?

Probably not. I would recommend removing both the convection (room air) fan and combustion fan and clean them manually. Then do the leaf blower clean.

You have to move the stove outside to remove the fans??? Why?? I remove the fans in the living room...never move the stove.

 

[jjdesch]

There is only 8" of clearance or so between the back of the stove and the wall. While the sides do swing out (Whitfield Profile 30), from what I can see there is easier access to the fans from the back, which means removing the horizontal vent pipe, moving the stove away from the wall and removing the back panel. If I am going to go through that much trouble I might as well jackass it outside and use a leaf blower to blow the hell out of it while I am at it. BTW, is anyone aware of a thick hi-temp grease I can use on the sliding ash removal floor? This had a tendency to develop a loud and annoying harmonic "rattle" last winter which i could get to stop sometimes by tapping it from underneath. I am thinking that a thick hi-temp lubricating grease might provide some cushion to minimize this rattling.