OK, I have been a member here for a few years and have learned more than my fair share. I did my own install, (hearth and tile work as well), and am so thrilled with my stove that I tell everyone about it and am probably responsible for at least half a dozen sales of this model and/or it's bigger brother. My first year I ran the stove manually, and last year i added a programmable thermostat,,,, wow I see a pretty good difference in pellet consumption, but even better the first floor of my house stays a toasty 72 degrees if that's where I set it! I would NEVER put my t-stat for my gas hot water system anywhere over 66,,,,,, and would have to sit around with my Snuggy on! I also have adjusted all of the settings (thanks to the wonderful info on here) to make my stove as efficient as I think it could be,,,, even changing settings for different brands of fuel. That being said, I have my stove pulled onto my back porch, and have the following dissasembled:
-both auger motors--greased with high temp grease
-conbustion fan-- removed, seperated from motor and cleaned like shiny new
-igniter--removed, cleaned and orifice cleaned to burn pot
-augers--removed, burnished on wire wheel, auger path tube burnished as well
-burn pot removed
Here are my questions/concerns;
I have about a total of 3 1/2 tons of pellets through it till this point, all of last season and most of the season before and i clean the burn pot and wear plate daily, ( i do not run my stove over night), and ritually vacuum it all out every Saturday morning during the season.
The amount of soot/ash/black stuff in the vent pipe, attached to the combustion fan blade and housing was really not too bad and it's all cleaned up nice now. I am ordering a gasket kit this evening to get it all back together but am wondering about the gasket (if there is one), for the room (convection) fan/housing. I have not removed this unit as of yet. Is there a gasket for that?
--Also is there any way to clean the actual heat exchanger? I can get in the rectangular opening behind the impingement plate, but I'm sure there must be alot of ash down on the bottom in there that just can't wait to get caught up in my shop vac's hepa filter.... or do I just vacuum what i can get from the opening?
----Also I am going to swap the 2 auger motors,,,give the bottom feeder a breather this season. Good idea?
----Also the gaskets for the bearing blocks of the auger motors look pretty good and seem to have had a few dabs of High Temp RTV on them,,, i was just going to re-use them since them seem good,,,,,good or bad idea??
Thanks in advance for any help you guys can offer,,, I'm sure I've forgotten some stuff, but as I remember,, I'll post
John
NE PA
-both auger motors--greased with high temp grease
-conbustion fan-- removed, seperated from motor and cleaned like shiny new
-igniter--removed, cleaned and orifice cleaned to burn pot
-augers--removed, burnished on wire wheel, auger path tube burnished as well
-burn pot removed
Here are my questions/concerns;
I have about a total of 3 1/2 tons of pellets through it till this point, all of last season and most of the season before and i clean the burn pot and wear plate daily, ( i do not run my stove over night), and ritually vacuum it all out every Saturday morning during the season.
The amount of soot/ash/black stuff in the vent pipe, attached to the combustion fan blade and housing was really not too bad and it's all cleaned up nice now. I am ordering a gasket kit this evening to get it all back together but am wondering about the gasket (if there is one), for the room (convection) fan/housing. I have not removed this unit as of yet. Is there a gasket for that?
--Also is there any way to clean the actual heat exchanger? I can get in the rectangular opening behind the impingement plate, but I'm sure there must be alot of ash down on the bottom in there that just can't wait to get caught up in my shop vac's hepa filter.... or do I just vacuum what i can get from the opening?
----Also I am going to swap the 2 auger motors,,,give the bottom feeder a breather this season. Good idea?
----Also the gaskets for the bearing blocks of the auger motors look pretty good and seem to have had a few dabs of High Temp RTV on them,,, i was just going to re-use them since them seem good,,,,,good or bad idea??
Thanks in advance for any help you guys can offer,,, I'm sure I've forgotten some stuff, but as I remember,, I'll post
John
NE PA