5 Essential Pellet Stove Cleaning Tips

Pellet stoves offer clean burning, low emissions, and – most importantly during the colder months – a high heat output. 

But if you’re new to owning a stove or aren’t quite sure how best to maintain it, specific cleaning tips for pellet stoves are a must. This way, you’ll ensure that your home is safe and warm and that your pellet stove continues to work well for longer. 

But what cleaning products will you need? And what care tips should you follow? Keep reading to find out more about how to clean your pellet stove. 

1. Check Your Burn Pot Every Day

Cleaning your stove as often as possible helps remove any rust or buildup that could cause certain pellet stove parts to break or stop working. In particular, you should scrape out your burn pot once a day to stop an excess from forming. It will also be easier to clean later if you scrape it out every day. That said, if your pellets don’t produce a lot of ash, while you should still check your burn pot every day, scraping it out every two to three days may be enough. 

2. Keep the Glass Clean to Monitor the Insides

As well as improving the appearance of your stove, cleaning your pellet stove’s glass panel helps you check what’s going on inside. Although it depends on how often you use your stove and the type of pellets you burn, most cleaning advice recommends using a pellet stove glass cleaner on the surface every two or three days. 

3. Use an Ash Vacuum to Clean Your Ash Pan

While larger ash pans can go two or three weeks before they need emptying, smaller ash pans or those in high-usage households will need emptying every week. Often, the best tactic is to empty it out while you’re deep cleaning your stove. Likewise, using an ash vacuum with a steel hose and steel body is the best way to keep the ash pan clean. 

4. Watch for Buildup on Your Vent Pipes

Many factors have an impact on how often you’ll need to clean your vent pipes. But pellet stove maintenance tips explain that you don’t want the buildup to get more than a quarter of an inch thick. With this in mind, regular checking will ensure that you know both when it reaches this point as well as how long it takes to get there for future reference. 

5. Clean Creosote Buildup Straight Away

Creosote buildup gets stickier and harder to clean over time. Leave it until it reaches its tar-like third stage and you’ll have to pay a professional pellet stove cleaner to remove it. With this in mind, make sure to check the creosote buildup and remove it from your stove while it’s still dry, flaky, and easy to clean. 

Essential Pellet Stove Cleaning Tips

As these pellet stove cleaning tips show, pellet stoves need regular maintenance and cleaning. 

But, adhering to this cleaning advice is key to keeping your pellet stove working and keeping your family safe and warm. 

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