how often do clean your e-classic 2300

[jason1977]

this is my first year and i was wondering of often i should clean the chambers and the fire box.  also do u throw the ash troll on the wood or on the walls.

thank for the help.

[albirk]

The ashtrol goes werever it lands throw different place every day as the cleaning go my freind said about once a week for his a good sat. morning thing to do @ a 5 gallon bucket full

[stumper]

Reaction chamber once a week.  Turbulators  and flue area every other week.  Fire Box, I use a hoe to scrape the sides and top when it needs it, some times every day.  Full cleaning of the fire box once a month if temps allow, been as long as 6 weeks in a cold spell.  I clean the area around the damper every day often twice a day with a small hoe and it still sticks, I have to poke it open with a stick most every time.

[MudBud]

I agree with all the others after 3 years of running the 2300.  Also wood makes a difference as Stumper shows about the door sticking.  I burn a lot of pine wood, if the damper door won't open I know my fire is really low and can open the main door with no issues, tap it with a stick and its all good.  I scrape that each day as well.  Turbulators I only do about once every month or 2 with no issues.

Every fall just before I start I do a full cleaning which includes using a shop vac near the stack to get all the material out. Pull apart the solenoids and run the shop vac inside the tubes to insure no particles are left.  scraping all the creosote out of the main box takes some time, much easier if the area is still warm. Also a perfect time to do a full inspection.

Total time to fully clean is about 3 hours.

[stumper]

I "try" to do my full cleaning as soon as reasonable after shutting it down in the spring.  I would prefer to have it clean so corrosion cannot be happening underneath.  I  also cover the smoke pipe at that point to keep the rain out.

[doctorb]

I think that there are two different issues, cleaning vs. maintneance.  In terms of maintenance, I scrape daily to insure that the air holes are open.  This means, for me, trying to time the loading of the stove when the coal bed is still good, but the majority of the logs are embers.  This allows access to the air hole level of the firebox with a long hoe.  It is also easy to poke through the coal bed to make sure good air flow downward through it can occur.  IMO, this daily maintenance helps avoid about 90% of the trouble with the E-2300, and it takes less than a few minutes.

Cleaning is different.  I let the fire burn way down about every 2-3 weeks, dependent upon the use, to do the terminators, flue area, and reaction chamber.

Going to take my solenoids off tomorrow.  Never done that before and I want to have that clean before I fire up the stove this week.  Doctorb

[Dean186]

I have the E-Classic 1400 and even though your question was to E-Classic 2300 owners, there are enough similarities that I will post my thoughts.    I will be watching this post to learn from other E-classic owners. 

When I'm busy, there are days I just toss wood in and don't worry about any of it.  However, most of the time I will let the wood burn down and do a quick scrape of the sides with a large steel hoe and run the new tool, that Central Boiler sent out, through the ash bed.  I like the new tool; it is much easier to break up the ash at the bottom and corners.

Then, about once a week I let the fire burn down and I will scrape the insides around the air holes, the door ledge and maybe the bypass chamber opening (I don't have much trouble with the bypass door sticking on the 1400).  At this same time, I clean the ash out of the reaction chamber.  I scrape the sides of the heat exchanger every two to three weeks based on need.   

Then, just before reloading with wood I sprinkle Ash Troll on the ash bed.  So, I use the Ash Troll weekly, but the manual specifies it being used more often. 

If there were good coals left in the firebox after this weekly maintenance, I will get a good burn right away after loading, but most of the time, the first cycle will not get to the high burn phase.  Like most of the E-classic owners know, even though the furnace is not operating in high burn mode, the reaction chamber temperature is still above 500 degrees and the furnace is producing heat  and the house is staying warm.

[Steve_M]

any thought on using a presure washer to clean the firebox to remove material that is hard to scrape off.  I would be looking to do this before I start a fire for the season.

Steve 

[doctorb]

I would shy away from that.  Water in the firebox can only lead to rust and condensation.  I don't think that even the best pressure wash will remove caked on creosote.  My advice.....get a good hot fire going - door open - to burn most of it off.  Scrape the rest while it's hot.  I find just barely opening the door is the best method.  I do not do this often because I don't think it's often necessary.  The creosote tends to take care of itself, over time, as long as you keep the airflow holes open.  I scrape them when the fire is low on a daily basis.

Carefull, the flames can come out the door and ruin the gasket, not to mention your eyebrows.  The stuff burns off at the right temp, and the stoves are not designed to get that hot in the firebox, more so in the combustion chamber.  Doctorb

[beenthere]

I suspect my water 'boiler' is different, but in 35 years of use, I've never scraped any creosote off the walls. It gets just so thick and burns off, and never more than maybe 1/4" thick.

But scraping must be needed to open up air holes and such for the e-classics.

[Steve_M]

I doubt I have over a 1/4" either, my concern was that it was insulating the fire box from the water jacket and not allowing good heat transfer.  By the way I run an 5 year old Empyre 450 which like a CB Classic.

Steve