I want to preface this first by saying that I love my XXV stove, but....I am getting somewhat frustrated! Ok, having said that, here's my current problem.
Have been burning the stove 24/7 for past week. Went to load the hopper yesterday and do a quick scrape of the burn pot. When I closed the door, I noticed a film on the outside of the lower left corner of the door. Used my finger to swipe it and it came away dirty/black. I'm thinking this is residue and that the door must be leaking. However when I latch the door it seems quite tight. Will have to try the $1 test today.
I have also noticed somewhat recently that the flanges behind the burnpot have an almost black accumulation vs. the gray/white build up that I seem to remember having before. I had thought that perhaps it was because I am using a different pellet than last year. (Uncle Jed's this year - some of you may remember that I had a moisture problem early in the season with wet pellets but they were replaced.) What do you think? Should the residue on the flanges not be so black? Or is it my imagination and the buildup on the flanges is a "normal" color?
One other thing. I have also noticed that it does not seem to be producing as much heat output as it had in the past. But again, thought it might just be my imagination?
Do you think a bad gasket is causing the residue outside and possibly the blackish buildup on the flanges?
So....here are pictures. Should say that I know the stove is dirty. But wanted to leave it dirty so the tech could see how it is burning, therefore did not clean it after turning off. We have had the stove since 2006, so it has seen several seasons of burning.
Residue on door.
taken with out flash
taken with flash
burnpot and flanges
Have been burning the stove 24/7 for past week. Went to load the hopper yesterday and do a quick scrape of the burn pot. When I closed the door, I noticed a film on the outside of the lower left corner of the door. Used my finger to swipe it and it came away dirty/black. I'm thinking this is residue and that the door must be leaking. However when I latch the door it seems quite tight. Will have to try the $1 test today.
I have also noticed somewhat recently that the flanges behind the burnpot have an almost black accumulation vs. the gray/white build up that I seem to remember having before. I had thought that perhaps it was because I am using a different pellet than last year. (Uncle Jed's this year - some of you may remember that I had a moisture problem early in the season with wet pellets but they were replaced.) What do you think? Should the residue on the flanges not be so black? Or is it my imagination and the buildup on the flanges is a "normal" color?
One other thing. I have also noticed that it does not seem to be producing as much heat output as it had in the past. But again, thought it might just be my imagination?
Do you think a bad gasket is causing the residue outside and possibly the blackish buildup on the flanges?
So....here are pictures. Should say that I know the stove is dirty. But wanted to leave it dirty so the tech could see how it is burning, therefore did not clean it after turning off. We have had the stove since 2006, so it has seen several seasons of burning.
Residue on door.
taken with out flash
taken with flash
burnpot and flanges