Hi guys, as most of you know I recently had a Harman P61A installed in my BASEMENT (sorry, a shout out to my Basement Dweller Brothers) (Although, I think Cellar Dwellers has a better ring) and I was wondering what you all do for maintenance on your pellet stoves through out the heating season? I have my manual here in front of me but I just wanted to hear the real world regiment of the pellet burners so I can avoid the newb mistakes and keep this burner running strong. Do you scrape the burn pot once a week, twice a week. How often do you clean the entire system? What do you use to clean the glass, I know this greatly depends on the type of pellets you burn, but I'm just looking for some pointers from the pros around here.
I typically clean/vacuum/scrape my stove every three days or so, depending on how ashy the pellet I'm burning is. I usually clean the glass with just a damp paper towel and paper towels. If I get real energetic I grab some stove brite stovetop cleaner and clean the glass too. It leaves a nice smooth feel to it. Around every 20-25 bags or so I use the leaf-blower method and then after a ton or so I do a full pull-the-stove-outside and use the air compressor and do a full cleaning on it.
I've been burning since Oct 15th and haven't cleaned yet. Still is only burning here and there. So I don't clean all that much until we get rolling. Every stove brand will require different cleaning routines, Should have a schedule in the owners manual. But I'm sure a member who own's a Harman P-series will be along to offer advice in a bit. I do remember reading they use the supplied tool to scrape the burnpot to keep the air holes clear and pull the clumps over the edge. Some say every day some say once every couple of days. Probably depends on the quality of the fuel.
Here's a link from the Harman web site. http://www.harmanstoves.com/en/Owne...gInstructions/P38P61CleaningInstructions.ashx I scape the burn pot daily ,wipe the glass with a paper towel. I vac out ash about once a month = 30 bags burned, pull the sides empty fines box vac the distribution blower. The whole thing takes about an hr and 2-3 Beers
Once a month I give it a good cleaning. Scrape the pot every 3 days, and I do the venting twice a year. And at the end of the season really tear into it. I'm adding pulling the auger to that list. It's all easy to do. Just a PITA cause of the tight space.
Depending on the quality of pellets being burned, I give the burnpot a quick scrape once a day or so. Does not really need it, but I am in the habit of doing so. Glass gets cleaned every couple of weeks. Full cleaning once a month. Been burning Sprucies for the past three seasons and pretty happy with them as they burn clean and hot. The stove can burn anything I have put through it, but the lower the quality of pellets, the more I have to clean. I am too lazy for that.
I use Rutland Glass Cleaner on my glass after wiping it with a wet paper towel first. I clean the glass, chip the carbon out of the burnpot, and clean the ash off the heat exchanger and upper half of the stove with a paint brush every week. Vacuum under the burnpot and combustion blower every other week. Empty the ash pan and clean the ESP probe every 3-4 weeks.
All the posts above just about cover it. I do 2 good deep cleans a year. One mid season, and one at the end of season. As for scraping the pot? My stove is a bottom feeder, but doesn't have the incline like a Harman. It's a level pot. Completely flat. So I just let it go. When I run High/Low (a few nights so far ) it gets some kind of growing ash on the end, but then when it calls for heat, it gets pushed off by pellets or up by the air.
damm I havnt used the term cellar since I moved out of MA. As Pallet Pete mentioned, I now relate that to "wine cellar". Regarding cleaning, the above posts pretty much sum it up. Once we get into 24/7 season I'm lucky if I shut it down once a month, although I scrape the burnpot periodically while burning. There's another reason to use better pellets...less cleaning.
The reason I paid the big $$$ for my stove was so I didn't have to buy better pellets. Cleaning the stove isn't a big deal.
Some of us in the northern climes have been burning a little longer. It was easier than listening to a whole lot of noise.
But you are using better pellets. Better than Infernos, better than NEWP, better than Nations Choice... etc You actually have some great brands there. Wish I could come across some FSU, but the MWP are doing great for me as well. But yeah its nice knowing you can burn anything in a Harman.
The higher quality pellets you burn the cleaner your stove will stay… less maintenance… fewer repairs in the long run. You could run crappy gasoline or cheap oil in your car, too… but you'll pay for it in the long run. A clean stove is a happy stove. There are several videos on you tube regarding cleaning your Harman… good viewing.
That IS true, but that just means the stoves "brain" is increasing the feed rate to get the heat output you want. Buying better pellets may cost a little more initially, but the stove won't have to feed as many to keep the same temp (and hopefully have less ash to clean out and less fines), hence a possible cost saving in the long run.
