Ash Buildup Problem: A Safety Issue

O.K. I guess I've been pushing the ash pan to its limits lately. I see that it's full and then use a leather glove and my hand to push the ash down so I can get more time between emptying the pan. After about 2 months of this I discovered that the hole for the exhaust was almost covered with ash. For newbies there is an exhaust hole that is right in front of the ash pan and this hole can become clogged if the ash in your pan spills over and you let it build up over time. I was pushing the ash pan into the stove after cleaning it and I was also bulldozing the ash into a pile that covered this exhaust hole. Last night I pulled out the shop vac and after a good vacuum the stove is running better. This is a hazard since the fumes have no place to go but in your house.

Thanks for sharing your experience Frank, this particular hazard is mostly unique to bottom vent stoves like your Channing, and can occur even if you don't "level the ash pan". It also can occur in any horizontal surface located very near the exit of the stove flue even in a top vent, like a horizontal run of flue pipe or a heat exchanger like the Magic Heat.

Also important to note, it is not just the exit of the stove that gets clogged, the first el after the stove flue outlet on bottom vent stoves tends to fill up in less than a season, I usually vacuum that area at least three times during a season on any bottom vent stove.

This is a good cautionary note for all users of bottom vent stoves as we enter the latter part of the season, most have been burning since late October and as we enter the fourth month a little inspection and maintenance is a good idea.

Thanks for the reminder!

Yes, a very important reminder. That's why I have a tee at the outlet of the Harman with a cap on the end. The installation instructions show a 90 degree elbow. Just another important item left out of the instruction manual. It does mention removing the pipes for a periodic cleaning, but neglects to mention this critical ash accumulation area. Without the capped tee I have to move the stove to disengage the pipes. I now just have to remove the cap and the baro and I can easily vacuum the pipes.

On my Keystoker Direct Vent (Bottom), it actually has a little metal plate that hangs down over the opening, to prevent the ash pan from going too far back and plugging the exhaust and seems to pull the heat more from the center of the stove, instead of one side...

I usually, once a month or so, pull the ash pan out and run the shop vac all the way in to clean it out. This weekend will be the Hyfire semi cleaning. It's a bottom vent also.

Thanks!

For those not familiar with the design, the Alaska has a bottom vent, offset to the right. It does have a metal deflector over it (looks like a dryer vent hood). the first elbow is a prime spot for ash build-up. But this one's easy to remove for cleaning.
One other note: There were no holes on the stove collar to insert screws to secure the elbow. I did drill holes in it for screws. I was imagining the pipe separating from the stove and poisoning us all in our sleep.

On Direct vent stoves, there is a Flue Switch (Thermal/IR? cutout) that will activate if the exhaust fails or clogs. It is a small tube that goes inside the stove with a hole, the exhaust gas will travel down the tube to the sensor and the stove will shutdown. It has a manual reset on it.

Interesting but on my Alaska Channing which is 2 years old the vent hole is centered in the bottom of the stove with no safety shield to keep the pan from pushing back to far and interfering with the exhaust.

Wood'nCoal wrote:For those not familiar with the design, the Alaska has a bottom vent, offset to the right. It does have a metal deflector over it (looks like a dryer vent hood). the first elbow is a prime spot for ash build-up. But this one's easy to remove for cleaning.
One other note: There were no holes on the stove collar to insert screws to secure the elbow. I did drill holes in it for screws. I was imagining the pipe separating from the stove and poisoning us all in our sleep.