Fahrenheit Endurnace 50F Project

Mine I start in the default setting of #3 and it kicks in #5 as the proof of fire is initiated for 15 minutes to build a bed level. Yours might be the same even in Automatic/Manual but I could be wrong. Too bad I don't live closer, I'd be there to wrench with you and get the beast going

 

For sure. That'd be mint if you lived closer. Could do some work on the stove and a bit of lol

My buddy Mike just left here. We lifted the hopper to try and get the pellets dropping out of the auger in one piece instead of sawdust. It seems better but the pellets still seem to get mangled a lot, giving me a bunch of small piece that evaporate out of the burn pot. I find right now I'm still not getting a very good coal bed.

 

OK good to know. This really has me wondering then why I failed to get ignition a few times. Hmmmmmm.

I seem to have too many things I'm chasing. I need to get back to the core items everyone has been adamant about addressing. The problem is all the variables. I'm unsure if bad pellets are part of my problem. I mean, I know they burn fine in the Harman, but maybe the 50F doesn't like them. I've tried a couple other brands with not a lot of improvement. So I don't think pellets are a problem.

BUT.... I can't seem to get a good coal base, and if I slow the air feed I get a very dirty burn. I mean jeepers, I'm getting a dirty burn still with air wide open and the thing burning away to the point that there is hardly a coal base.

 

Can you put a mirror and look up behind the rear panel on both sides. By having the tubes blocked tight, they're probably coated with heat transfer material. Maybe you're on to something with crushed pellets?

 

You mean have a good look at the back passage behind the back panel?

I just checked on the stove, pellets are better but still getting a bit of damage. Might have to make another small adjustment to prevent them from hanging at the top of the auger chute.

Also, I did a quick clean of the heat exchanger tubs. There was lots of fly ash on them so I know the air is going up over the. It's just that they are heavily coated with a thin layer of carbon. So I'm sure this is part of my heat transfer issue. I'm burning the heck out of the stove right now as after each test burn the material seems to clean easier. So tomorrow I'll give the heat exchanger tubes a good clean.

FYI, with my IR gun I'm reading over 300 C on the fire box side of the baffle plates. So that means the air should be good and hot on the heat exchanger side.

 

With the stove fully heat-soaked, the difference in feed rate between

1.2 lbs / .544 kg and
1.4 lbs / .635 kg per hour

is 15 degrees F / 9 C effective increase at heat exchanger output. (On the stove here.)

It's -that- critical to have ample material in the burn pot.
--
Solving the auger feed issue may go a long way to getting the heat output you seek ..

 

It doesn't immediately hit level 5 when you turn it on. Maybe that's where the confusion is.

I'v watched mine in realtime on the LCD, Each level has a countdown then it goes up 1 level, countdown starts again, then up again until level 5 is reached. So the furnace runs on level 5 on startup but not immediately, it takes roughly 15-20 minutes.

 

Take a peak with mirror and flashlight to see if any more blockage exists. That coating on the tubes can rob you of heat. I wonder if there's a spray to loosen up carbon on the tubes. Anything to help kick start the cleaning process.

 

Yes exactly, it Ramps up. It sounded like everyone thought it hit level 5 instantly. Just want to clearify so no confusion.

One time my furnace went out. So I went to check it and realized the burn pot was FULL with pellets. Not sure what happened but I was laughing because it was so full I had to scoop them out, all unburned. It must have just kept feeding as though it was burning them until no proof of flame knocked out the furnace. And yes....I did save and reused those new pellets that were over fed.

 

Maybe if they were wet at one time?
I recieved a bag, as I was pouring them in I realized they were HUGE. So I stopped and realized they were mush when I touched them. They were dry but at one time they got wet and blew up. Had to empty the hopper, fun.

 

That's a nice color of gray there Dex! It's a different auger system to a Harman and a new learning process for us. Have to keep that in mind with those fines in the chute which is not a issue with the Harman.

 

I've only put maybe 6 bags through this stove, and vacuumed out the hopper around bag 3. I guess what I am seeing could be bag fines, but I don't think so.

In watching the stove run and the auger feed, I can see the pellets that are dropping in to the burn pot are split and crushed. Looking at what is in the hopper and what is falling into the burn pot you can see the pellets have been broken down into smaller pieces. I think I'll need to get some pics to show you what I am seeing.

I'll do it when I go back to just pellets. I actually bought some corn today and mixed it 50/50 with pellets. I am finding I can open the air damper to get a better burn, while still holding a coal base. I'm getting a nicer flame so I'll run it for 6 or 8 hours and they see how clean it burned.

I'm still not getting a pile of heat out of it at level 3 though. I double checked the back passage area today, cleaned every heat exchanger tube with emery cloth, and did a scrape of all inner firebox walls and upper heat exchanger area walls. I got probably 2 - 3 more cups of craps off everything. The more I burn the unit the more it seems to let the build up break off.

BTW Beauty looking ash colour in your fire box. Hope I can get to that point soon!

 

You can try to run without a fire and manually feed the pellets in a catch container and verify what's happening to the pellets.

 

I've had pellets get wet before, and in this case, it's not what has happened. As I mentioned to Dex, I'll take some pics of pellets from the hopper and pellets after the trip up the auger.

Wow, that sounds like fun. I'd hate to have to pull that mess out of a hopper!

 

Wow, that's a fairly big difference in temp output for not a lot of pellets.

And just for you CF. I cleaned the heat exchanger tubes today with emery cloth. Man, what a pain in the azz. They look a lot better now and the carbon build up is gone. The tubes are pretty beat up from not being looked after. But loads better than before!

I'm running it now, but not getting much more heat output. Maybe 5 - 10 degrees. Buy hey, that's 5 - 10 degrees more I didn't have before.