Pellet heads!! What's up today?

After enough slip and falls I dont trust any sole on ice. For my hikers that I wear daily, Merrell uses Vibram soles and absolutely suk. I switched to Keen 2 years ago and they are night and day better than Merrell.

The hill here makes cleats very usefull. especially at the point where the grade increases a few degrees.

I went 20 years not using them when the driveway was iced. Now that I tried them 2 years ago, I wont clear the iced driveway without them. Enough falls when shoveling taught me that hard lesson. Not so much when blowing as I have a "walker" to hold on to

 

Yeah, I dont get much either this time of year, but what I do get helps.

 

X3 no ice in the driveway here anymore either. We had a nice warmup yesterday - 58 degrees. Loads of rain too.

 

Just finished doing a deep clean of both stoves. Although I did a light cleaning of both stoves 2 weeks ago, I hadn't done a deep clean since some time in December for the P61a and it was the end of November for the P43.

The P43 was very, very clean. I am used to having about 2/3 full ash pan after two weeks (thus I usually clean every 2-3 weeks). But running with Matras for 1 of those weeks, and a mix of MWP & Matras for this last week, the ash pan was 1/4 full. Impressed! I went ahead and did the LBT for good measure but didn't need to run the sooteater thru the exhaust. When it came time to do the P61a I was anticipating an easy time cleaning it.

However, the P61a, which also ran a week on Matras and a week on a mix was not the same story. Although the Matras left very little ash in the burn pot (as in, I didn't even get any mustache for a couple of days), the ash pan was about 2/3 full. This stove can go 3-4 weeks on middling pellets. I didn not stir the ashes to see how much they might settle - so that may have made a difference. I was also pretty shocked that I had to really scrub the exhaust all the way thru a couple times with the sooteater. And the part between the ESP and the fan was caked on heavily enough that I used a blade to scrape the sides, which is very rare. As an example, when I took the entire pipe apart this past fall, when I moved the stove, the pipe walls were very clean even though I hadn't done a spring cleaning. Seems although the pot stayed very clean and the stove burned less when using Matras, it wasn't nearly as impressed as I was overall. Not saying the Matras were disliked by the stove, just saying that I was surprised by the effort I had to put into cleaning it.

Weird since the P61a has a pretty straight exhaust that runs up about 6 feet and the P43 has a convoluted, short exhaust and barely has any rise, that should trap more cr*p.

To be fair, the P61a seems to like hardwoods really well (Cubex, Hamers ), and is content to munch on middling HW/SW mixes, but really didn't care for DF's when I tried a couple of bags. It also really likes Vermonts when I can get them. Also, the P43 burns less pellets overall than the P61a, so it is bound to stay cleaner (excepting the ash pan since the P43's is smaller).

Once again, my stoves show that each install and each stove may act differently with the same pellets. It is kind of cool seeing them each have their own personality though

 

Dan

 

Brought in the rest of the TSC-MWP's from the garage which uncovered the Vermonts that I got off CL last summer. Brought in 10 bags of those so they are ready when the colder weather hits.

Moved the car out to the driveway and squeegeed as much water out of the garage as I could. Left the entry door to the basement open to let the P61a work a little and help dry out the floor out there and possibly raise the humidity level in the basement (currently sitting at 28%). Kittens are not amused as they are shut into a bedroom so they don't go wreak havoc out there. Rita is laying here on my desk but I have the gate shut to keep her upstairs. Have the stove timer on so I don't forget to shut the door then let the kittens out.

 

Holy cow I've been productive - got my taxes done and e-filed. Nice surprise on what I'm getting back. Doesn't have a comma in it, but still figured it would be very little (or that I would owe). Yeah, I know, I gave Uncle Sam an interest free loan but seriously would not have made but less than $1 on it if I'd put it in a savings account, so I'm okay with it. I've owed before and they hit me with penalties on top of the shortage - not like I (we) owed thousands either, just over the threshold of that era (mid 1990's). Don't have a clue what the threshold is now, but don't want to find out the hard way.

 

Doesnt this just suk

Claremont home heavily damaged after snow crashes into it

 

Actually this is BV for astro/safari owners,this will be 3rd year.Guy that started it never heard if the VW one,lol.

 

It's Friday

 

I can't wait.

Just cleaned the stove, could have went another week but figured now would be better. Gonna need all the BTU I can get.

 

I dont know about that. Notice Mr Vortex had been missing for quite a while while we froze our azzes off?

 

And it didnt come soon enough

Take your vitamin "T" with salt 'n lemon slice!
Hey! que veneno-

 

Still snowing,gonna have to plow tomorrow,again,how much depends on how much more tonight.Rich guy is coming in sunday,called me again,his neighbor over there has road blocked again,cause he cannot push snow any further,lol,will probably open it up,again,with plow truck,then take tractor over and widen the road.Stupid new kid neighbor has a 1 ton ford,8' plow,cheap car tire chains on rear,no chains on front,and no weight in the bed.Seems like the 2 hours I spent explaining things to him,last summer,went nowhere.Oh well,his neighbors will pay me(already covered) and they shall be talking to him,about his part of the road.

 

Good to know. I was looking at Merrell hikers but ended up buying Keen's. Still breaking them in.