Hi again. I've noticed that my burnpot is totally filled with ash after 24 hrs with my new P68. My flame seems extremely high and somewhat sluggish. No draft meter test was done because the guy didn't have it with him. Have an OAK installed. Am I on the right track? Low draft maybe?
Kev, can you give us some details about your setup? You said in another thread that you swapped out a P43 with a P68. How long were you using the P43? e.g. a week, a month, 5 seasons? Is the P68 brand new or used? Was it professionally installed or a self-install? What brand of pellets are you burning in it? What does your venting look like (length, up and out, straight out, etc.) What mode are you running the stove in, room temp or constant burn (stove temp)? What are your feed rate and temp settings? Is the stove achieving the configured temp and then settling down or is it running full blast continuously? If you can post some pictures that would be great. Pictures of the stove setup as well as a picture of the full burnpot you describe. To rule out the OAK as the cause of any issues, you can simply disconnect it for a day or two and see if it makes a difference.
Ok. Good point. My P68 is brand new as was my p43. I have 4 inch chimney pipe that goes straight up thru the chimney. 33 ft up! OAK the same. Somerset pellets. My fire was like a blowtorch with the P43 and now I feel my p68 runs a bit dirty with lazy flames. I'm getting about 375 max with my magnetic thermometer whereas I'd get 425 with my p43. Flame definitely burns forward towards the front glass. Almost hits the front glass. . And high! Normally on 4 feed rate. I tried sending some video but I'm getting an error message. It's running full blast constantly. Thoughts?
If it was installed by the dealer, definitely should have run a draft test.....they don't keep a meter in the van?! Cant stress enough how important it is to get an initial draft reading on a new install....if the liner is dirty, clogged, etc, you'll see it with a draft test. While the p43 might have had to work harder, thereby being possibly warmer, you shouldn't really have a lazy flame....should be active, spiky, and yellow-orange. The amount of ash would/could be directly related to the quality of the pellet though, as ttberg mentioned above. Has the liner been cleaned lately? Is the cap congested with soot? (This would be at the top of the chimney).....is the damper sticking closed? Are you getting any "blink" error codes on the status light? In another post you mentioned a noisy feed motor....maybe call them out for that, and remind them to bring a draft meter this time?
I agree. Thanks. All the piping is new. Only a few months old. No error codes. I really believe it's a draft issue. The only thing he did was take a lighter and checked it that way for draft.
wow....how scientific....a lighter.......so, if the flame goes toward the pipe, its good, right? Geez. That's NOT checking draft! It might show theres draft in the chimney, but the draft in a stove is checked in the stove at the draft port....cant do that with a lighter......
Give the burnpot a scrape or two every few hours.It will help with the lazy flame problem.I've noticed with hardwood pellets the ash is heavier than softwood and requires more scraping.
agreed that hardwood ash seems heavier, but, while its great to scrape your burnpot, I recommend doing it once a day....if you scrape a lot, you'll force more fines into the igniter changer.....which is fine, but you'll need to clean it more than you normally would, as your igniter will more quickly get clogged with ash
