This is the answer to 75%-80% of stove problems

[pelletizer]

Jimcooncat, Look into learning how to clean your oil furnace yourself, I learned and turns the $125.00 cleaning bill into about $15.00
Been doing mine now for the past 4 years with no issues.

 

[splash]

Dirty or clogged exhaust.


Please check your exhaust. Not by just thinking it is clean because you have only been running it for two months.

1.) Empty the tee cap
2.) Replace the tee cap and smack the vertical rise. Not in the manner of Hulk Hogan smacking his wife but a smack to loosen the ash.
3.) Check the tee cap again.
4.) Run a brush up the vertical rise.
5.) remove the combustion blower and look what is in there.
6.) If needed clean the blower.

This should take less than 20 minutes.

Sorry I forgot
7.) Drink beer and know you did good and saved $$$$


If you can not do the above this is for you.

1.) Go to your phone and call your dealer.
2.) Wait for him/her to come out and do the above.
3.) Pay $300 for that service.

Eric

What's a tee cap? Are you talking about the outside pipes? I have burned a ton of soft wood pellets so far this winter. I have a Breckwell P23 and it seems to be burning through one bag in about 12 hours if it's really cold. This seems kind of fast. I turn it off during the warm days.

 

[chrisasst]

So what if I don't have a T or a vertical rise?

 

[kinsmanstoves]

Dirty or clogged exhaust.


Please check your exhaust. Not by just thinking it is clean because you have only been running it for two months.

1.) Empty the tee cap
2.) Replace the tee cap and smack the vertical rise. Not in the manner of Hulk Hogan smacking his wife but a smack to loosen the ash.
3.) Check the tee cap again.
4.) Run a brush up the vertical rise.
5.) remove the combustion blower and look what is in there.
6.) If needed clean the blower.

This should take less than 20 minutes.

Sorry I forgot
7.) Drink beer and know you did good and saved $$$$


If you can not do the above this is for you.

1.) Go to your phone and call your dealer.
2.) Wait for him/her to come out and do the above.
3.) Pay $300 for that service.

Eric

What's a tee cap? Are you talking about the outside pipes? I have burned a ton of soft wood pellets so far this winter. I have a Breckwell P23 and it seems to be burning through one bag in about 12 hours if it's really cold. This seems kind of fast. I turn it off during the warm days.

level #1 is a pound an hr.
level #2 is 2 pounds and hr.
level #3 is 3 pounds an hr.
level #4 is 4 pounds an hr.
level #5 is 5 pounds an hr.

What level are you running it at?

Eric

 

[kinsmanstoves]

So what if I don't have a T or a vertical rise?

Then the magical pellet stove fairy comes and cleans the entire system for you and all you do is sit there and watch HBO and drink beer. Congrats.



Eric

 

[imacman]

So what if I don't have a T or a vertical rise?

Then the magical pellet stove fairy comes and cleans the entire system for you and all you do is sit there and watch HBO and drink beer. Congrats.

Eric

DRATS!! You mean that I spent that extra $ on that cleanout T for nothing? Why didn't anyone tell me about the magical pellet stove fairy??? >:-(

 

[splash]

What's a tee cap? Are you talking about the outside pipes? I have burned a ton of soft wood pellets so far this winter. I have a Breckwell P23 and it seems to be burning through one bag in about 12 hours if it's really cold. This seems kind of fast. I turn it off during the warm days.[/quote]


level #1 is a pound an hr.
level #2 is 2 pounds and hr.
level #3 is 3 pounds an hr.
level #4 is 4 pounds an hr.
level #5 is 5 pounds an hr.

What level are you running it at?

Eric[/quote]

Eric I run it at level 1 or 2 most of the time. When it gets really cold like in the teens or early 20's I run it at 3 during the evening when we are sitting around. I seldom use 4 and never 5. It just seems like it's burning 40 pounds too fast. I've had it 4 years.
If it's 40's during the day I can usually shut it down for a few hours in the afternoon until the sun goes down. I use it to heat my whole house which is 1500 sq ft.

What's a tee cap? Are you talking about the outside pipes, etc that need to be cleaned?

 

[kinsmanstoves]

So what if I don't have a T or a vertical rise?

Then the magical pellet stove fairy comes and cleans the entire system for you and all you do is sit there and watch HBO and drink beer. Congrats.

Eric

DRATS!! You mean that I spent that extra $ on that cleanout T for nothing? Why didn't anyone tell me about the magical pellet stove fairy??? >:-(

<beep beep> You did not get the memo? chit have to check the mailing list.<beep beep>

Eric

 

[imacman]

So what if I don't have a T or a vertical rise?

Then the magical pellet stove fairy comes and cleans the entire system for you and all you do is sit there and watch HBO and drink beer. Congrats.

Eric

DRATS!! You mean that I spent that extra $ on that cleanout T for nothing? Why didn't anyone tell me about the magical pellet stove fairy??? >:-(

<beep beep> You did not get the memo? chit have to check the mailing list.<beep beep>

Eric

<beep beep> *!#*% mailing lists!! <beep beep>

 

[pelletizer]

Yup the pellet stove fairy I saw her late one night but the wife tossed her out!

 

[imacman]

Yup the pellet stove fairy I saw her late one night but the wife tossed her out!

AHHHHHHHHH.....the joys of no wife.....the pellet fairy is here now, and she is doing a great job of "cleaning" ....I think I'll keep my pipes dirty for a while..... ;-)

 

[UglyTunaSaloona]

I have been reading this site for a couple of weeks and I am amazed at the wealth of information to be found here. THANKS!! I am new to pellet stoves but not heating with wood. We replaced a 21 year old wood burning stove with a Harman Advance-2 pellet stove back in October. So far it is performing like a champ. We live in a 2700 sq ft house and it does a good job of maintaining the temperature at 68-70. I have burned 1 ton of pellets from American Wood Fiber and I am about 1/2 way through a second ton of Energex pellets. Both brands of pellets seem to perform equally well with the Advance. I shut down for a few hours daily and clean the glass, scrape the burn pot, remove the plate from the bottom of the burn pot and clean out that area. I downloaded the Advance Cleaning Guide from the Harman Web site and cleaned the stove following those instructions after burning the first ton of pellets. Since I am coming up on finishing the second ton of pellets within the next few weeks and will be doing a cleaning again I was wondering if there is anything else that I should be doing during the cleaning procedure? Also, what is the standard procedure for cleaning the stove at the end of the heating season? Finally, The stove is vented to the conventional masonry chimney that was used for the wood stove. How often should we have the chimney cleaned?

Thanks in advance for any information.

Ken

 

[drtnshtr]

I clean my stove out thoroughly once/week with the shopvac...I have it vented right through the wall in the living room and I clean the flue out every week as well....I burn AWF pellets also and they dont produce alot of ash so its an easy clean every week....

 

[MCPO]

Dirty or clogged exhaust.


Please check your exhaust. Not by just thinking it is clean because you have only been running it for two months.

1.) Empty the tee cap
2.) Replace the tee cap and smack the vertical rise. Not in the manner of Hulk Hogan smacking his wife but a smack to loosen the ash.
3.) Check the tee cap again.
4.) Run a brush up the vertical rise.
5.) remove the combustion blower and look what is in there.
6.) If needed clean the blower.

This should take less than 20 minutes.

Sorry I forgot
7.) Drink beer and know you did good and saved $$$$


If you can not do the above this is for you.

1.) Go to your phone and call your dealer.
2.) Wait for him/her to come out and do the above.
3.) Pay $300 for that service.

Eric

I'm sure you're right, but if that's what's required, what's the advantage of installing a pellet stove? ... I guess it only makes sense for those who's only alternative is to heat their homes with electricity, propane, or kerosene to currently buy pellets. I guess pellets will really become a niche market.

What's the advantage of installing a pellet stove? Here are a few to remember...

1: Economical. Your heating dollars employ your neighbors in the harvesting, processing and transportation of that heat, not people from other regions of the world. This helps to stabilize your local economy, keeping more dollars local.
2: Enviromental. You make use of a natural, renewable resource.
3: National security. You don't contribute to a run-up in the worlds total use of oil, allowing speculators to drive up the cost of oil. Iran and other countries that don't care for the U.S raked in cash due to the unreasonably high prices we saw over the last 5 years. The less use of oil there is, the lower the price for crude will stay. and yes, EVERY BIT HELPS.

Pellets make sense on a number of levels for those who have each and every alternative available to them. Even if you believe mankind has no hand in global climate change, the above three reasons still stand. Twenty minutes to half an hour to maintain your stove is a small price to pay.

Pellets as a niche market? Honestly, how anyone can think that oil is going to remain cheap is beyond me. Are we really that short-sighted? Is our attention span so dismal? As soon as the world economy turns around, oil is going to go through the roof AGAIN and people will again be clamoring to buy Hybrid cars, pellet stoves and alternative energy generated electricity. Learn about your stove now and follow the Boy Scouts of America motto... "BE PREPARED". Only an oil dealer who hasn't moved into alternative energy would seriously counsel anyone to stay on oil alone. Keep your heating options open and you'll be better off in the future.

And to use your own words: Honestly, how can anyone think that the price of pellets is going to remain at $300 per ton is beyond me. Are you really that short sighted? Is your attention span so dismal? As soon as the economy turn ar...............and so on....

 

[matt85bears]

OUT OF CURIOSITY WHAT IS THE BENEFIT TO BURNING ON HIGH FOR A HALF HOUR.



AFTON BAY

 

[zendiagrams]

sometimes I find that #7 can be #1 and a solution to many problems

 

[MCPO]

OUT OF CURIOSITY WHAT IS THE BENEFIT TO BURNING ON HIGH FOR A HALF HOUR.



AFTON BAY

With a wood stove the idea was to burn out and minimize whatever creosote that might have formed in the flue pipe since the last high burn but I see no benefit to do this with a pellet stove .

 

[pelletizer]

I sometimes smell the creosote smell when I open the door to clean the glass and move ash to me it smells like new telephone poles on a hot hot summer day.
I may try a 1/2 hour high burn in my Engander and see what it does.
Looks like I am spending most of my night here in the basement with the cat to escape the wife in law :snake: were is that pellet stove fairy when you need her still at macmans?

 

[kinsmanstoves]

I sometimes smell the creosote smell when I open the door to clean the glass and move ash to me it smells like new telephone poles on a hot hot summer day.
I may try a 1/2 hour high burn in my Engander and see what it does.
Looks like I am spending most of my night here in the basement with the cat to escape the wife in law :snake: were is that pellet stove fairy when you need her still at macmans?

Elf or Fairy?


Eric

 

[imacman]

.....Looks like I am spending most of my night here in the basement with the cat to escape the wife in law :snake: were is that pellet stove fairy when you need her still at macmans?

Yep, she decided to take the day off and hang here. I told her she didn't have to clean any stove pipes, and she seemed OK with that.

Eric, you can have the stove elf...... :lol:

 

[kinsmanstoves]

.....Looks like I am spending most of my night here in the basement with the cat to escape the wife in law :snake: were is that pellet stove fairy when you need her still at macmans?

Yep, she decided to take the day off and hang here. I told her she didn't have to clean any stove pipes, and she seemed OK with that.

Eric, you can have the stove elf...... :lol:

Thanks
I have the Elf in the warehouse moving 40 tons bag by bag. I hate vertically challenged people or elves.

Eric

 

[pelletizer]

Could be worse could be the stove TROLL,

 

[imacman]

.....Looks like I am spending most of my night here in the basement with the cat to escape the wife in law :snake: were is that pellet stove fairy when you need her still at macmans?

Yep, she decided to take the day off and hang here. I told her she didn't have to clean any stove pipes, and she seemed OK with that.

Eric, you can have the stove elf...... :lol:

Thanks
I have the Elf in the warehouse moving 40 tons bag by bag. I hate vertically challenged people or elves.

Eric

It was great having the stove fairy here all day. I had planned on moving the rest of the 1 1/2 tons of NEWP into the basement by hand, since it was about as warm as it's going to get here (39) today, but when I told her I was going to give her a massage, she just tapped the "magic wand". and the pellets were all moved...... ;-)

 

[kinsmanstoves]

.....Looks like I am spending most of my night here in the basement with the cat to escape the wife in law :snake: were is that pellet stove fairy when you need her still at macmans?

Yep, she decided to take the day off and hang here. I told her she didn't have to clean any stove pipes, and she seemed OK with that.

Eric, you can have the stove elf...... :lol:

Thanks
I have the Elf in the warehouse moving 40 tons bag by bag. I hate vertically challenged people or elves.

Eric

It was great having the stove fairy here all day. I had planned on moving the rest of the 1 1/2 tons of NEWP into the basement by hand, since it was about as warm as it's going to get here (39) today, but when I told her I was going to give her a massage, she just tapped the "magic wand". and the pellets were all moved...... ;-)

<beep beep> You have issues my friend. Go to a bar and met a real girl. Buy her a drink and shoot a game of pool. See what happens...... <beep beep>

Eric

 

[imacman]

.....Looks like I am spending most of my night here in the basement with the cat to escape the wife in law :snake: were is that pellet stove fairy when you need her still at macmans?

Yep, she decided to take the day off and hang here. I told her she didn't have to clean any stove pipes, and she seemed OK with that.

Eric, you can have the stove elf...... :lol:

Thanks
I have the Elf in the warehouse moving 40 tons bag by bag. I hate vertically challenged people or elves.

Eric

It was great having the stove fairy here all day. I had planned on moving the rest of the 1 1/2 tons of NEWP into the basement by hand, since it was about as warm as it's going to get here (39) today, but when I told her I was going to give her a massage, she just tapped the "magic wand". and the pellets were all moved...... ;-)

<beep beep> You have issues my friend. Go to a bar and met a real girl. Buy her a drink and shoot a game of pool. See what happens...... <beep beep>

Eric

<beep beep> What the !#%* do you think I did before I got rid of the "ex"? At least the pellet stove fairy doesn't talk back or nag...LOL....OK, OK, time for me to get back to reality......where is that pot scraper??? < beep beep>