To clean or not to clean, and .........

I guess it will come down to motivation and making sure I dont send myself backwards on the disk in my neck. I am at the point that I can do pretty much everything, but it's still "there " and can feel it lurking, if you know what I mean. This is a Royal Pain In The Neck

The ash is there to help insulate moisture, a bucket of damp rid is sitting on the burn pot, the OAK has been plugged for a few weeks and the cap went on the main vent last night. Another bucket of damp rid will go in the ash pan for added protection and maybe one in the hopper-those are my three main spots anyway.

The one thing I MUST do is remove the fire brick as it seems like no matter what, if those are left in place, I get some light rust spotting behind them. Nothing that light sand paper hasnt taken care of. And finally the door must remained latched-I made that mistake once and left it unlatched for the summer, light rust got in that year after a complete spring cleaning and capping. That was before using the buckets of Damp Rid though-when it comes to wringing moisture out of the air, that stuff is da bomb!

 

Well, I couldnt take it any longer, so the stove was cleaned this afternoon. No real bad rust to speak of. Cleaned as good as I could and then used the old freezer thawing trick to dry it out by putting a hair drier inside and closed everything up for 20 minutes or so. Cleaned some more, vac the last pound or so of pellets from the hopper and now have the hair drier back in for a bit longer. I took the cap back off the vent to allow that hot dry air to escape and dry out the venting as well. Then its capping the outside vent again, 3 buckets of damp rid and seal it up.

The vent cleaning can wait until after a few burns in the fall. It wasnt bad to begin with.

Now its time to nurse the neck and shoulder by mowing the lawn later (love the new smiley !!) Advil works great for this

 

Great prices. At this rate, I think there will be a lot of pellet stoves only getting used occasionally this winter.

 

If it's any consolation, I haven't cleaned mine either. I disconnected and plugged the OAK, sealed off the exhaust vent outside and thats it.

After seeing the propane prices lately, it makes me wish I had a propane furnace.

 

Wait a minute, Im supposed to cap off my chimney and put damp-rid inside the stove? I gave the stove a good cleaning and lbt then just figgerd it was good until fall? Did I miss something?

 

Why do today, what you can put off till tomorrow...

 

Humidity can get in from the venting and OAK if you have one. Most of us that have reachable venting (not chimney or through the roof) will cap both to keep moisture out and avoid rust-the most common enemy of a pellet stove. Well most common after those that think these things take care of themselves.

Some add Damp Rid to dry out what might still get in.

With the chimney, I am not sure mow much might get in, but just put a tub of damp-rid in there just to see what water it collects. As we are already at the end of July if you dont have rust starting you are probably OK.

 

Smokinpiney I used to do my complete spring cleaning in May, which included opening the cleanout T behind the stove and stuffing a rag in it to keep humidity and the occasional small bird/mouse out. I also duct taped over the OAK inlet to deter wasps.

Then, in the firebox, I sprayed the interior metal surfaces with Pam, and put a large box of dessicant in. I liked the dessicant better than Damp Rid because you can dry it out in an oven & re-use over & over.

Of course, you need to leave a note in/on your stove as a reminder to remove everything in the fall.

This is what I used, protects up to 15 Cu. ft.:
http://www.amazon.com/Hydrosorbent-...sbs_201_1?ie=UTF8&refRID=19SG4SNTNEFMFHJV6EYP

 

I wanst all that happy with the dessicant that was renewable. Using the smaller metal ones they did not seem to last long before needing to go in the oven again. Maybe the ones that imacman is using are better.

I have had great luck with these. Save the cover and in the spring, empty any water in the base and put the cover back on to be used again next year. No sticking it in an oven to dry it out.

http://www.amazon.com/DampRid-FG60-Refillable-Moisture-Absorber/dp/B002MPPYU2/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1438022249&sr=8-4&keywords=damp rid moisture absorber

I picked up a refill bag that has lasted me 3 years now-just make sure to store it in a good zip lock bag to keep moisture out of the replacement stuff. Add a little bit on to the old stuff to top it off and you are in business.

http://www.amazon.com/Barr-FG30K-42oz-DampRid-Refill/dp/B000ZZWSVY/ref=pd_bxgy_201_img_y

 

Thanks for the info guys. I ordered the two pack of damp-rid in your link gbreda and i'll spray the interior panels like you said imacman. I popped open the door yesterday and there's no sign of rust yet so hopefully im still good.

 

Don't forget to walk outside after first lighting the stove in the fall.....the Pam will make it smell like popcorn outside.

 

Spraying with Pam is the one thing that I continually forget about.....and makes SO MUCH sense !
Popcorn smell in the fall is just another reason to try this

 

I'm late to this party , but I didn't clean mine last spring and I found that covered in ash no rust, so I did the same thing this year I won't clean until Sept.

 

mine has not been cleaned either. Buying oil and doing a nice clean in august. She ran harder in one year than about 5 previous years combined LOL.

 

Still haven't cleaned mine yet either ... It's on the to-do list before end of August. the OP asked a good question - would it help to fire it up first to loosen up any caked on ash in the stove and flex vent before hand? I never have before.

Oh, first post here - been member at hearth site since 2008.

 

Glad you made it over here , Welcome to the show my friend

 

Yeah...Welcome Richkorn...Cocktail time @ FHC is right around the corner, or half over if you're on Will77's shift!!

 

Welcome aboard, its always good to see an old !!!!

My thoughts for firing prior to cleaning was to dry out the sticky stuff due to humidity getting in and the low burns at the end of the season. I really did not want to fire it and then wait for a cool down to clean so I took care of this by using a hair dryer and closing the door with it running for about 15-20 minutes. Worked great and I did not have to open a bag of pellets !!