Outdoor Wood Furnace Info
Outdoor Furnaces - Manufacturers WITH EPA-Certified Models => Portage & Main => Topic started by: Joks79 on January 06, 2017, 10:34:13 AM
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I have trouble keeping the front air chamber clean. Does anyone have any tricks? I'm getting a hot fire and keeping the creosote down everywhere but there. I'm not sure if it is related or not but I have the re-bar spacers in the bricks. I sure wish I had the new style bricks, but I tried to get P&M to give me those at a reasonable price when my stove was new, but Rory won't work with me.
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Rory no longer works there so perhaps give Brian a call, tell him I said he should take care of you or I won't let him ride on the Magic Bus this year at the shows!
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Slim don't forget to up date the shows a on here! I would love to catch a ride on magic buss ! Hopefully you can get it down. Here to Sussex county
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You know there is a chance that the office might ask me to go back to Harrisburg for the outdoor sports show in a few months, we could visit you and MD20/20 at the same time, DO I HEAR ROAD TRIP!
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I have trouble keeping the front air chamber clean. Does anyone have any tricks? I'm getting a hot fire and keeping the creosote down everywhere but there. I'm not sure if it is related or not but I have the re-bar spacers in the bricks. I sure wish I had the new style bricks, but I tried to get P&M to give me those at a reasonable price when my stove was new, but Rory won't work with me.
Joks79, I switched over to the newer style of bricks midway through last season. I think I get more smoke when loading my stove than with the original ones, not sure why.
I also used to get more creosote in the front air loop then but I also found I had moisture in the front of the ash tray area against the door. I wrapped pink insulation around the ash door extension and built a wood box to place against the ash door area, it stays dry in there now.
I could be the bricks, the insulating of the door or combination of them both that helped to keep the air passage from plugging. If you don't have something around the ash door now, maybe try that first - its much cheaper than new bricks.
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Thanks for the replies. I'll give Brian a call this week.
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Rory no longer works there so perhaps give Brian a call, tell him I said he should take care of you or I won't let him ride on the Magic Bus this year at the shows!
Slim, where can I find a schedule for Midwest shows for heatmaster for 2017? Particularly southeast michigan.
Thanks!
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I think that like me, most dealers have been negligent on updating the office on our show schedules so that they can be put on the company website, I'll be working on mine this week.
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Rory no longer works there so perhaps give Brian a call, tell him I said he should take care of you or I won't let him ride on the Magic Bus this year at the shows!
Slim, where can I find a schedule for Midwest shows for heatmaster for 2017? Particularly southeast michigan.
Thanks!
Should be listed on Heatmasters website. I’ll be at the Blueberry Festival again this year, Plymouth Indiana might be farther than you want to drive though.
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I think that like me, most dealers have been negligent on updating the office on our show schedules so that they can be put on the company website, I'll be working on mine this week.
Yah, I know for sure I can do a live burn at the one show, still working on a few others.
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Thanks fellas!
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Rory no longer works there so perhaps give Brian a call, tell him I said he should take care of you or I won't let him ride on the Magic Bus this year at the shows!
From my experience, Brian has been good to work with. He went above and beyond when I needed some parts.
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I have trouble keeping the front air chamber clean. Does anyone have any tricks? I'm getting a hot fire and keeping the creosote down everywhere but there. I'm not sure if it is related or not but I have the re-bar spacers in the bricks. I sure wish I had the new style bricks, but I tried to get P&M to give me those at a reasonable price when my stove was new, but Rory won't work with me.
Joks79, I switched over to the newer style of bricks midway through last season. I think I get more smoke when loading my stove than with the original ones, not sure why.
I also used to get more creosote in the front air loop then but I also found I had moisture in the front of the ash tray area against the door. I wrapped pink insulation around the ash door extension and built a wood box to place against the ash door area, it stays dry in there now.
I could be the bricks, the insulating of the door or combination of them both that helped to keep the air passage from plugging. If you don't have something around the ash door now, maybe try that first - its much cheaper than new bricks.
I got a call from Heat More in December wondering if I was getting moisture in my ash pan. I was not, but they had made up a baffle to help fix the issue for those who are. All I had to do was pay shipping to get it. It's a U shaped piece of sheet metal with fiberglass insulation stuffed in it and it sits just inside the ash door. I was not having a moisture issue before but am using it anyway.
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I got a call from Heat More in December wondering if I was getting moisture in my ash pan. I was not, but they had made up a baffle to help fix the issue for those who are. All I had to do was pay shipping to get it. It's a U shaped piece of sheet metal with fiberglass insulation stuffed in it and it sits just inside the ash door. I was not having a moisture issue before but am using it anyway.
Thanks for sharing... great to know.
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On another note, lately it seemed the boiler was having some trouble staying up to temp. Tonight I cleaned out the ash pan and shined a light in to see if I had an air obstruction and sure enough the elbow just before the ash pan was half full of ash blocking the air flow. Now to see in the next few days if that was the issue.
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I received an email from P&M a couple years ago saying to not leave the ash pan in the stove, just to use it to scoop out the ashes. But I found that it would push the ashes to the rear and potentially put ashes in the elbow. Now I just use the lid of my ash pail under the door, and pull the ash out with the rake/scraper tool.
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Is there a baffle to block the ash getting back into the air inlet? If not it wouldn't be hard to fabricate one. The Heatmaster C & MF series are like that. Some ash will eventually get over it though. All it does is make the air enter up high near the grate. If we have a "my fan isn't blowing anymore" call that's one of the first things I ask them to check. :)
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Take the hose off the blower and blow out with leaf blower or air.
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Hi everyone I have a few solutions to the lower bricks clogging up. If you remove the center ones and use a masonry grinding wheel and shave off some of the curved part of the brick this will allow the ashes to fall into the ash pan a little better.
I just came from a very successful Farm show in Ottawa Canada. We are now providing free of charge a Insulated ash pan plug to resolve the moisture problem. The reason you do not see the moisture in the upper bypass chamber is the outer insulated door. P&M will have them at your local trades show for free to give to past customers. I also found that I use a small ice pick on a long handle to keep the air vent cleaned. It is located at the very back of the ash pan where the air is first introduced from the blower. It can get blocked by the ash pan by pushing the ash right to the back. I hope this helps a little.
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I have had my bl-2840 for three years now and I'm still struggling to keep the air flowing. I'm ready to turn it off next weekend and I know that everything is now plugged as the air flow is really bad and burning much more wold then I should. To say the least I'm a little disappointed with the product as this issue is really impacting the amount of wood burned and the amount of effort required to keep it going. Is it worth me calling PM to see if they have a fix for the issue?
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I've never seen a P&M up close but I've dug into a lot of Heatmaster grated units . I try to trace the airflow all the way from the fan, into the ashpan, up through the grate, through the baffles, and out the chimney. A choke point anywhere will create slow burning which = creosote= less air = creosote... Etc. The problem doesn't go away til the choke point is removed.
But I may not be understanding what your specific issue is.
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Do you guys leave your ash pans in? How deep is your coal bed?
Only issues I have is if the wood is a little wet it can form a crust layer of ash that will block the air flow.
I try to keep my coal bed small, so it is easier to stir/rake. And I mostly load my wood running east/ west so it stays over the grates.
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When i shut my stove down this spring i found that all but the front brick space was plugged.I had to use a puddy knife and a hammer to clear the opening in the brick.
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There is a better way mike!
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OK i am listening .
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Get yourself a snake like is used for pulling wire, break off a piece that is long enough to reach through the hole, leave the hook on it, put one end in your cordless drill and the other in the hole, if needed, a small piece of copper tubing can be slid over the snake and you can hold it with your hand to stabilize it. The hook will bounce around in the hole and break the creosote free, once it is broken up it burns easily.
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thanks: Mike
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My BL 28-40 also had the bottom fire bricks spacing out of whack. Some tight , some wide so this season as an experiment I am using 1/2 in bolts with washers tight to one side to try and keep the bricks close to where they should be. I've had no trouble with the front air vent plugging. When I first started using the stove 2 years ago I was letting the ash get too high and it seemed like I was burning more wood than I should. It seems if I let it burn down to just a nice bed of coals, stir it well and put in enough wood till next time it works just fine and I have no complaints so far. Oh, except I used shark bites to plumb it all together. Today I replaced 13 of them with the crimp style because the Shark bites would leak at start up and shut down. About half of the shark bites are still OK but I expect them to leak in the next few seasons also. It seems the pipe must be perfect size and no damage to the OD and you insert the pipe once only for them to work good?
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I've seen the sharkbites leak too when they cool off. Sideways strain makes it worse. Use crimps where you can. The tool isn't that expensive any more, especially the SS ring crimper. Sounds like you have one tho.
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Some of the Shark bites that leaked were due to side ways strain. When I did the install I did not realize how much PEX grows when warmed. The run from the boiler to the house is "about" 130 feet. The pipe that enters the house grew 6 inches and put a lot of strain on the fitting. That one leaked a little and was replaced and the pipe shortened enough that when warm, things will only be a little out of alignment. Several of the Shark bits did not have strain issues but may have taken apart and refit more than once or the outside of the pipe was less than perfect. It was kind of an expensive lesson with the fittings. Today will be the first fire of the season so I will know which fittings to replace next summer.
Boiler is up and running but had to replace one more Shark bite due to a gallon per minute leak.