End Of Season Cleaning on a Channing 3 Stoker

Hello All,
This is my first season burning coal. I have been looking around the forum for cleaning methods, and I had a few questions.
1) The baking soda/water solution what is the ratio and what can be cleaned with it.
2) My stove is in the living room and it is direct vented out with the black flue pipe. It has no horizontal sections per se but it does have two 45 degree bends to it. Do I need to take it all apart and clean it out? And if I need to take it apart can I screw back together with the same screws in the same screw holes?
3) The auger in the Channing is a half circle that rotates to push the coal out. Is it difficult to take apart and put back together for cleaning? Is there any websites that show how to properly disassemble it?
Thanks for all of the help.
Robert

Hello is there anybody out there? On another note I was cleaning the glass on the front of it with this stove top cleaner that another member suggested. Its work really well on the glass and I was wondering, could I use the same product to clean the rest of the stove? Is there any chemical reactions that could take place that anyone knows of? The brand of cleaner was the Weiman Smooth Top Cleaner. Thanks for any advice.

Well I can't tell you a ratio, but would think a box of baking soda in a gallon of water would do it. It's sort of like cleaning battery posts. I guess it is to neutralize the acidic nature of the caol ash, I have never done any of that stuff myself, I just clean it out good and button it up to keep out the moisture. A lot of the guys use a spray, LPS or something like that. It prevents rust, but I have never had an issue so I don't bother.

Here is the last post on the subject, there are a few.

http://nepacrossroads.com/viewtopic.php?t=1547

If you want more the search feature will probably get you a bunch on the subject.

Thanks for the info coaledsweat. I will try some of those ideas out and look into getting some of that LPS.

Basically you want to clean out every bit of ash you can. Us a stiff brush, power wire brush, vacuum cleaner, and scrapers to get the inside as close to bare metal as you can.

Then use a sponge and wash down as much of the inside that you can. I'd remove the chimney pipes and elbows, clean and wash out with the baking soda solution as best as you can. Then don't reinstall them, instead stuff the pipes with wadded up newspaper and wrap in newspaper. The paper will help absorb humidity and keep the metal as dry as possible.

After the inside of the stove has dried, then spray it down with LPS or other preservative spray. Or you could brush it down with light oil. What you are trying to do is seal the metal surface from exposure to oxygen and humidity. I'd stuff more wadded newspaper in the stove and especially in the flue exit.

Inside of the hopper will probably be rusted, wirebrush and spray paint with good enamel paint.

The stoker unit should be removed, all the ash, stray coal needs to be cleaned out from around the stoker mounting area, inside the stoker, and especially under the grate. Under the grate will usually be full of sand-like coal fines. The inside of the motor and gearbox should just need a blast of air or a good dusting with a vacuum. If the motor has oil point give then a drop or two of oil.

If your chimney is stainless steel, clean the ash out of the chimney and stuff the end of the pipe with newspaper, if you can access the top of the chimney do the same and cover it with plastic. If your chimney is a ceramic/masonry one, then the cleaning is not all that important, the ceramic liner is pretty much impervious to the acids in the ash.

I think any of the above efforts will help preserve the stove for many decades of use.

Hope this helps. Greg L

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Thank you very much. That will help immensely. The LPS from what I have read leaves a residue on the metal. Obviously to prevent rust. But what happens when I goto restart the stove next year? Should I clean the residue before I start the fire or will it be okay if I leave it alone. Thanks for all of the advice.

Just light a fire, it will burn off in seconds.

Thank you. Well I know what I'll be doing next weekend.