No... it's not the tell-all sex expose book by Rosie O'Donnell....
With the exception of my first year with my stove ('07) burning some lower grade pellets and finding I need to push the ash pan dump rod in all the way, I have never seen a clinker in my stove... but after two days of a slightly lazy flame and less heat output, I shut it down and did some investigating.
I pulled the firepot and couldn't believe my eyes... it was 40% plugged with clinkers... and I had a small amount of unburned pellets in the ashpan... another thing I never see. I scraped the firepot, did a real quick vac job (only two days since the last cleaning) and i pushed the ashpan back in when I noticed a problem... the pan didn't want to fit "flush" with the stove... it sorta rocked back and forth in the middle.
I pulled it out, reached in the stove and found a handful of ash pushed up against the back wall of the stove... the ash wasn't allowing the pan to set properly... must have been an air leak! I fixed that with a quick vac job, fired up the stove and voila!... a nice healthy flame again
It's amazing that a little problem like that will create a poorly burning stove and a dis-satisfied owner.
With the exception of my first year with my stove ('07) burning some lower grade pellets and finding I need to push the ash pan dump rod in all the way, I have never seen a clinker in my stove... but after two days of a slightly lazy flame and less heat output, I shut it down and did some investigating.
I pulled the firepot and couldn't believe my eyes... it was 40% plugged with clinkers... and I had a small amount of unburned pellets in the ashpan... another thing I never see. I scraped the firepot, did a real quick vac job (only two days since the last cleaning) and i pushed the ashpan back in when I noticed a problem... the pan didn't want to fit "flush" with the stove... it sorta rocked back and forth in the middle.
I pulled it out, reached in the stove and found a handful of ash pushed up against the back wall of the stove... the ash wasn't allowing the pan to set properly... must have been an air leak! I fixed that with a quick vac job, fired up the stove and voila!... a nice healthy flame again
It's amazing that a little problem like that will create a poorly burning stove and a dis-satisfied owner.