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[Roger2561]

Hi all, well, I thought I'd report on the cleaning I performed on my Eclassic 1400 yesterday morning.  It was about a month and half between cleanings due to too many other things that got in the way.  One thing I will tell you; don't wait a month and half to clear the primary air holes and primary air tube.  A few of the holes were completely plugged; it took a good 45 minutes to get them "chiseled" out (note to self; call CB to see if a removal panel retro kit is available for the E-Classic 1400).  Regarding the primary air tube; it was approximately 60% blocked.  It's a wonder the thing operated as well as it did through the very cold weather we experienced this year.  I found everything else as expected; some fly ash buildup on the heat exchanger, some ash had deposited at the  "T" in the chimney, found fly ash at the rear of the heat exchanger.  All of it came out rather easy.  This ends the public service announcement.  Roger   

[hockeyguy]

Roger, That doesn't sound like you to be slacking on your cleaning! You must be busy. I've been on a good schedule this year cleaning the heat exchangers every 2 weeks and cleaning the main air tube once a month. It seems to be helping on temp. recovery times.
With frequent cleanings, the exchangers don't accumulate much junk and make cleaning fast and easy.
My primary air elbow seems to be getting pitted- I'm wondering if it's going to develop a hole. I probably will replace at the end of the season. Has anyone else seen this?

[Roger2561]

Roger, That doesn't sound like you to be slacking on your cleaning! You must be busy. I've been on a good schedule this year cleaning the heat exchangers every 2 weeks and cleaning the main air tube once a month. It seems to be helping on temp. recovery times.
With frequent cleanings, the exchangers don't accumulate much junk and make cleaning fast and easy.
My primary air elbow seems to be getting pitted- I'm wondering if it's going to develop a hole. I probably will replace at the end of the season. Has anyone else seen this?

hockeyguy - You're right, I was slacking but not by being lazy, that's for sure.  My younger brother and I have been building an apartment for him on the second floor of my house.  This house is very old and nothing is level, square nor plumb making the job very challenging.  Plus, we're not carpenters so what an experienced guy or gal could in 10 minutes would take us 2 hours to figure out.    It past final inspection yesterday so he's moving himself in.  I would help him but I tweaked my back on Wednesday by trying to prevent myself from falling on the ice.  Generally the reaction chamber is cleared of ash every week, primary air holes are cleaned every 2 weeks and the primary elbow is cleaned once a month.  This is the first time that I have gone a month and half between cleanings.  The OWB operates much better and cleaner when everything is open and free of creosote and ash buildup.  Regarding the elbow - mine is beginning to show pitting to the point that a couple of areas are quite thin.  I'm going to check with a couple of people I know who own machine shops to see if they can make one for me out of stainless steel.  The steel plates which block the air from entering the firebox and to which the solenoids are connected have been replaced with stainless steel.  I had a piece of SS in my work shop so I made my own.  The steel ones that came with it were nearly corroded through. Oh, and the nuts and bolts that hold the plate to the solenoids have been replaced with SS.  The mild steel nuts and bolts that came with it completely disappeared due to corrosion.   Roger