We got our first real good cold snap. The high was about 24 yesterday and it got down to 16 last night. I noticed last night that the house was cooling off a bit, so I bumped the furnace up to level 4. Never had to do that last year except when burning the last of my Michigan pellets. Until Friday it hadn't gone higher than 2 this season. Woke up this morning and the house hadn't warmed up any, and had dropped a degree overnight. I also noticed the fire wasn't as large as I'd expect it to be running on 4. Opened the manual, ran through the controller settings and found that the furnace was set to fuel type 1, which is low feed, fast dump, high ash. I know last season it was set to type 3, which is medium feed, slow dump, premium pellet. I changed it and a couple hours later it's keeping the house/wife/kid happy on level 3. I'm not sure if I inadvertently set it this way when I took the burn pot out for cleaning (gotta press a few buttons on the control panel to get into override mode to remove the pot assembly), if it reverted to that setting after being unplugged all summer or if it was a fluke. I made a note in the manual to check that setting early in the season.
There is a never ending learning curve, be it pellet or wood burning. I swear sometimes I ought to make a checklist that I go through so I can avoid those oops. I now carry one of those spiral note pads, and I use the camera on the smart phone. Your story reminds me of a time I went to the hardware store. I came home with a bunch of stuff on sale, but forgot the item I went there for in the first place!
I really would like to see your burn pot and control panel. I have the same furnace, but because of variations in years, they are so different. Glad you found the problem quickly. Mine is purring on level 2 and the wood eater is cranking! ! I normally just use it in manual now. On level 2 it still will shut the blower down for 5 min, run for 5, off for 5, etc. On 3 or above, it's always on and it gets Hot, QUICK!!
