New pellet stove venting question.

Fairly new here, after wanting a pellet stove for some time to supplement my old earth stove wood fireplace insert, I picked up a cheap king pellet stove off Craigslist for $250 bucks.
After a good week or so of messing with it, and having no luck getting it to not overfill the burn pot and shutdown , I said the heck with it and bought a England Stove Works Model # 55-SHPCB120 from lowes.
2200sq ft, 120lb hopper,fully automatic, just set the temp an it fires up / shuts completely down as needed.
Got it all installed and has been working wonderfully!
Has no problem heating our drafty 1400sq ft 1901 farm house, but of course it is normally only supplimenting our woodstove as we have several cords stacked up and ready to burn with little investment in any of it.

So my question is about the venting.
As I said, it's installed and running just fine. But as a newb, I then found the evl writeup on here, and now am a bit concerned.

My evl, is, well, pretty high! Lol the old house has oil fire hot water baseboard heat throughout as well, so when I installed the stove, I had to put the thimble a bit higher, rather then run it straight out the back of the stove and out and I didn't want to run the pipe up on the inside and out, wanted to hide it behind the stove.
The stove is on a hearth pad, caddy cornered in our livingroom, 3" pipe, an appliance adapter out of the stove, to 2-90's in the shape of an S, into the thimble, 12" horizontal outside, to a clean out T, then straight up 4 feet to a couple 45's (had them, didn't have another 90) then a snowcap.
Is this hurting anything even though it seems to be running fine? Would adding to the 4' of vertical rise help/hurt?
I also have the outside air kit that came with the stove also installed.

What do you pellet heads think? Lol

 

Well, I had a real long write up and then the page froze on me, and I lost it all. Let's suffice to say that you have an EVL of 19 - that just isn't good, you've already discovered it but want someone to tell you it is still alright. I won't be that person. Find a way to lower the EVL (maybe outside?) or go with bigger pipe.

I would worry about that S-shape inside regardless of what you decide to do. That is where ash will drop out and create an airflow obstruction - and it won't be easy to clean.

 

I guess the first thing is are you getting a dirty burn? If not, I'm not sure that I would worry too much about it then. I basically have the same configuration on my Quad but have no rise outside, just goes straight out the wall. I'm into the second season with this and have not had a problem with ash buildup in the "S" configuration off the appliance adapter BUT that's not to say you will or won't. Are you familiar with the leaf blower method of cleaning your vent?....well it cleans the stove too.

Here's my setup:

 

THIS is where the majority of ash exiting the stove will be trapped... Big +1 to bogieb 's reply above.

Depending on the amount of vertical rise in the pipe from stove exit -> to the thimble - the ash will plug the bottom of the first bend, or the middle connector between the (2) 90's forming the 's'.

You really should remove, and visually inspect, the entire 'S' bend for ash buildup after 1/2 ton burned (or sooner), if any airflow change in flame, e.g. 'lazy flame' ..

Our setup here, 3 in. duravent pipe: a straight exit from stove appliance adapter to a 12 in. pipe to -> a 90 degree -> to a 12 in. pipe -> to a flue block plate -> to a 3o in. flex pipe inside the chimney to get above the smoke shelf: I disassemble the entire section below the flue block plate every 25 - 35 bags, and brush clean. * I have to do this, we have no 'T' in our venting setup.

I never let it go more than 1 ton - we can't: the stove will not run properly if we do. That's how much ash is trapped at the bottom of the (3 inch) 90 degree bend here, enough to affect stove operation, burning 'decent' softie pellets. * YMMV - your setup is different, but hope the feedback helps.

*** Check that 90 venting every 1/2 ton until you get a comfort level for how often it will need to be cleaned. ***

Happy Roasting !

 

Sorry if I sounded churlish in my earlier reply – I was a bit peeved that the site dumped my rather fabulous post (if I do say so myself )

If you don’t have to have the 4’ vertical outside – you can lose 2 off your 19 EVL. I’m also a bit confused as to why there are 2-45* elbows at the termination. In my mind’s eye that makes a 90* and it is pointed to the ground. But then you have a snow cap, so I am obviously missing something in your explanation (I suck at visualization, so it’s me not you)

If you go straight out, and only put on one 45* elbow as your termination (the 45 will break the prevailing wind), then you have lost a total of 5 off you 19 EVL – putting you at a comfortable 14 EVL. Of course I have no idea type of clearances you need – so you may have to keep that 4’ vertical. If you can eliminate just one of those 45’s, you can at least get down to 16 EVL, which is closer to the limit anyway.

And, you might want to think about putting a cleanout at the point you come off the stove. That will make it much easier to clean that S-shape. Yes, a leaf blower will help, but I would not count on it doing everything.

My configuration inside, with a straight out 2’ and 45* termination is a 14 EVL and I haven’t had any issues. At your present EVL, you might not have any issues yet, but everything is sparkling clean at the moment.

 

All the above comments are right on....EVL is HIGH. As Bogie said, it runs great now, while everything is sqeaky clean, but as ash builds up, things might go downhill. And it won't be the stove's fault. IMO, if you keep things as they are, only thing that will help you is to upgrade, starting with a 3" ----> 4" stove appliance adapter and 4" pipe after that. Expensive, but the only option I can see w/o seeing pics of the entire install.

 

You guys are awesome!

I do know about the leaf blower, my brother was just telling me about how he "rolls coal" lol
Sounds like it'd be a great idea.

The burn seems to be fine, doesn't seem dirty, flare doesn't seem lazy at all.
I have pulled the S apart once so far and it was pretty clean. Just a bit of soot as exspected.
I just pulled the cap out of the T that is outside, had about 1/2 inch of ash in it, looked just like that ash in the stove where it collects.

The stove compared to my brothers setup seems to have pretty good flow, but his just sits on a lower setting all the time. Mine is always cranking itself up and down as needed, when it's on high it looks like blowtorch time lol
I guess my biggest concern was back pressure on the ventfan.


Thanks so much for the comments and advice!

 

Keep us updated on how that stoves treats you. It's a new model from Englander and there is not a lot of info out there. It's a very intriguing option in my opinion. Really love that hopper size!!

 

Your evl is too high. There are 4 90 degree turns in the run which is an evl of 20 add in the 3 for the straight pipe and I count 23 4" vent is called for in that case.

 

The 2- 45's make a gradual 90.
It's coming off vertical pipe, turning into the horizontal mounting snow cap.

 

Thank you. I certainly will keep you guys updated.
Yes, love the big hopper as well, just now put more pets in, got 5 full days out if the last load.

 

Get that thought out of your head it is incorrect.

 

Thank you!
Sure would like to go straight out and up.
Unless I figure a way to do it, I may need to switch to 4"

 

Looks like mine!

 

45 degree turns have interesting EVLs attached some books say 2.5 and some say 3 makes little difference since when added together it comes to at least 5.

 

I agree with 98% of the reply's.It is winter,just stay up on cleaning it,would not change it out this time of year.I always hate to see 2 90's inside,just bad waiting to happen,but has to be done sometimes.