Creosote

[Bioburner]

Should be fine. I would give the motors windings attention as they can really suck up the fine dust and hot motor is a fast way to kill it.

 

[alternativeheat]

Should be fine. I would give the motors windings attention as they can really suck up the fine dust and hot motor is a fast way to kill it.

Ya, it's probably due for that. I did my fall cleaning but non of that yet and the convection blades probably need cleaning too. I was waiting for the first ash dump because I'll be doing the fines box and all at that time and have the covers off then. Cat fuzz is our biggest culprit there usually.

 

[jertola]

The fan was only stuck on the shaft nothing wrong with the motor itself. Everything is ok now. I did the 18" rise for 2 reasons. The first is that there is a basement window right under the deck there. I needed it for the clearance. The other was rumors of wind affecting the stove on real windy days when going straight out. Besides, now I just clean it from the clean out Instead of having ash everywhere. There is rarely anyone in the backyard after I close the pool so having it near the walkway didn't bother me.

 

[bogieb]

I've never had my P61 fan off, going into our fourth season with this stove. I clean in there monthly during the season and never have seen enough junk to consider removing the fan. It's hardly worth brushing out , never mind removing it. this stove has really good draft though, I think the junk moves past the fan well and I find it in the horizontal pathway or in the clean out T and it's just powder at that.. I have an air compressor, I could just give the blades a light blowing off actually but I use a nylon paint brush.

Like you I have never removed the blade and use a paint brush to clear off any ash buildup. Hmm, maybe a can of compressed air would also do it.

 

[Bioburner]

I used canned air on trying to get the windings clear aided by the shop vac before I got a small tank compressor. I wouldn't go out and buy one for just one stove but having 3 stoves in the house and is handy to top off car tires or small impact tool on small job plus the fact it was the same cost as 10 gallon air tank of $25 was a no brainer. Clearance item from Home Depot

 

[alternativeheat]

Mine is the Husky 8 gallon portable 110 volt air compressor ( $150, could have done a little better at harbor freight but I didn't trust the units there). It's just about enough for me, basically 5 or so cfm at most of the working pressures I use: airbrushing, finish/brad nail gun, lvlp paint gun, blowing off wood working, blowing out internal bores at my wood lathe, airing car tires, tractor tires and running a 1/2" impact wrench if needed. It will handle a low volume random orbital sander too, though right now we have an electric one anyway.. This compressor is not industrial grade but it's good enough for my intermittent uses and I was sorely lacking an air compressor here. A few years ago I had given a 220 volt 12 cfm unit away and been kicking myself for not replacing it with a 110 volt unit for years ( that 220 circuit got used for our apartment addition we put on). Then when I retired and didn't even have access to a portable air tank to bring home for a shot of air, that was it, had to get something. At least I have air and probably sufficient, if I find myself getting more industrial, I can upgrade later ( unlikely)..

 

[bogieb]

I do have an air compressor (probably the same as yours @alternativeheat ) that I got on sale at HD for right around $100-120. And then I have a 5 gal Husky air tank (40 psi) that I can fill up too. But, I'd prefer not to pull it out just to do the P61 - the P43 doesn't get dirty enough to need it.

I cleaned the P61a this afternoon and did use some compressed air that I have some for my computer anyway - brushed the fan first and vacuumed up that stuff, then sprayed air at the fan. Had the shop vac going to clear the worst of the ash blown off. Worked good.

 

[Bioburner]

I worry more about the dust bunnies that collect in the motor windings and raise the motor temps that can fry the wiring and cook out the oil in the bearings. Doesn't hurt to blast the back of the control board in case the dust has some conductive particles.

 

[jertola]

Went today and ordered 4 tons of pellets. Mixed it up a bit to see what works best. I'm getting two tons of Barefoot, a ton of Northern Warmth super spruce, and another ton of Northern Warmth Douglas Fir pellets. If I did my research right, Northern Warmth are really Okies. Costed a small fortune but worst case is if I'm not impressed I can always just buy Greene Team next year.

 

[jertola]

Decided to burn some other left over pellets I had. I don't get a nice cone shape to my flame. It's kind of wide, and a little lazy in my opinion. I wish I could post a video. Here is a pic of my flame anyway. What do you think.

 

[alternativeheat]

Looks lazy but it is a photo and not video, as you said. I found a leak in my ash pan door when my stove was new. I didn't use a dollar bill but the flame of a charcoal/grill lighter. I went all around both doors with the flame with the stove running, when I got to the lower right corner of the ash pan door, the flame got sucked right inside the stove for a distance of about 3-4 inches along the bottom . When I opened the door I could see an eyebrow of ash was air washed away on the back of the door. I always felt the lower door was not as snug as the top door, so I stripped off the gasket and went down to the hardware store and bought the next size up gasket material and that has been perfect. I never would have found that leak with a dollar bill, I wouldn't have tried to get it into that corner. This now being the fourth heating season with the stove I'm expecting gasket trouble at any time LOL. Just sayin.

 

[Deezl Smoke]

Decided to burn some other left over pellets I had. I don't get a nice cone shape to my flame. It's kind of wide, and a little lazy in my opinion. I wish I could post a video. Here is a pic of my flame anyway. What do you think.

To me, depending upon what setting you had it on, that flame does not look all that bad. Maybe a little low on air, but a real lazy flame will be darker in color and much taller as well as not as active. Lazy flame looks like a match flame. But I am looking at a still picture and my observations from such should only be taken as my OPINION, not factual advice to act upon.

I'll be curious to know how the spruce pellets work out.

 

[Deezl Smoke]

The fan was only stuck on the shaft nothing wrong with the motor itself. Everything is ok now. I did the 18" rise for 2 reasons. The first is that there is a basement window right under the deck there. I needed it for the clearance. The other was rumors of wind affecting the stove on real windy days when going straight out. Besides, now I just clean it from the clean out Instead of having ash everywhere. There is rarely anyone in the backyard after I close the pool so having it near the walkway didn't bother me.

Windy days do/will effect your stove's performance. But it does not matter if the piping is straight out or up 10' It's all about air direction at the point of exit. Many, many factors will determine this. If you have piping up above the roof line and the wind direction and surrounding structures which include trees etc., cause a specific turbulence around the piping exit, it can stall the combustion air from leaving the end of the pipe. Often it does not matter what design of cap you put on it. Kinda like a tornado. When a house is flying up into the air, is it pushed up there with high pressure, or pulled up there with vacuum (low pressure)?

 

[jertola]

To me, depending upon what setting you had it on, that flame does not look all that bad. Maybe a little low on air, but a real lazy flame will be darker in color and much taller as well as not as active. Lazy flame looks like a match flame. But I am looking at a still picture and my observations from such should only be taken as my OPINION, not factual advice to act upon.

I'll be curious to know how the spruce pellets work out.

I'll give you guys all the info I can about the pellets as I use them. Other than the original Barefoots I purchased with the stove, I've always used box store pellets. I hope these are worth the extra $, as it was a lot.

 

[Lake Girl]

I have a turbo cap on my horizontal venting. I was initially concerned about wind direction but it seems to reduce or eliminate any problem.

 

[alternativeheat]

Wind and SW wind in particular, with resulting down drafts are the main reason I ran liner up my chimney 23ft and continued another couple of feet and then put on a non direction termination cap. It now doesn't matter what direction the wind blows from, it just helps the positive draft situation. The chimney to that fireplace always had downdraft issues, not now.

Also, if I had punched out the back of the fireplace with a horizontal vent it would have experienced ever changing wind directions, and in mid winter those can be 40-50 mph strong or even more. It did cost a few more bucks but I'm glad I cleared the peak of the house with the venting..