Tomorrow is the day

What hardwoods are giving you trouble and what are the issues?

Even the softies can vary. The longer I go with the 802's the less I am liking them while the more I am liking LaCrete over them. The 802's dont do low burns well in my P68-very dirty and soots up the fire box big time-yes the stove and piping is clean. Last night I turned the dials to nuclear for 30 minutes just to clean off the all black fire bricks and walls of the box. The 802s funnel and leave far too many pellets in the hopper while letting the fire go out. Also the carbon buildup has now made it to the auger and I am getting the Harman squeal no matter how much I try and clean the edge of the auger tube-it come right back. I may have to pull the auger in the off season and give it a good cleaning.

LaCrete, Crabbe, FSU, MWP, Corinth-none of these gave me any of these issues. They just burned well and gave me heat.

What I am saying is that as in all stoves brands of any kind of pellet will work differently. For me, 802 (cant get these anyway) and most likely Vermont are out. I tried Vermont years ago and didnt like them for similar issues.

 

I have tried Hamers, AWF hardwoods and Ironstones and they all dirty up the glass and firebox with a redish brown coating within 1 hr. Those same pellets all burned in the Francesca for 2 days before the glass would start to get dirty and left no redish brown coating.

 

I'm sure you guys know this better than I - Pine likes to burn hot, so mixing those w/ an Oak or Maple hardwood pellet may help prevent that carbon from building up..

Rich - how's the OAK doing? Can you try disconnecting from outside / running it inside a few feet away from the back of the stove to test? That's what I would do, if here.

Target O2 content on the Ravelli / Ecoteck stoves is much higher vs. the Harman stoves w/ ESP - I imagine that's going to take some getting used to. ( It's like the difference between a high revving 4 cyl. motor vs. a torqued-out v8. )

Maybe tuning the feed rate down at a given setting would help ? Just a thought.

 

That's great news TT - same here, planning an getting a 3rd unit for office next sale.

 

Disconnect your OAK for a few burns and see if the behavior changes.

 

Per our neighbor, Yes - it will.

Edit: On an older (Circa 2009) Harman XXV stove.

 

Mine takes a day or so before the glass gets dirty and its not the whole window , and yes there is a reddish brown coating . Bottom line for me is the house is nice and warm She's happy and that's a good thing .

The softies burn cleaner less ash ... and I've been spoiled by them sure hope I can find some at a decent price to restock this spring .

 

I'm gonna have to wait to mess with anything until I burn up the 3/4 hopper of softwoods which burn fine with out coating anything. It's not that the hardwoods don't burn fine either it's just that redish brown ash coating it's putting on everything .

 

Ok Will maybe what's going on is normal then, It's not my entire glass dirtying up either, it starts at the sides and builds across the center but top and bottom stay pretty clean.

 

Wow, your stove really doesn't like those pine pellets, does it G? So strange because you and I have the same stove, right down to the same model year I think, and the 802s burned very well here. The Vermonts especially provide the best burning experience of any pellet I have put through this stove, and I've burned just about everything that can be found around here.

 

I did back the feed rate down slightly from default but didn't seem to mean much so I may have to adjust it down some more.

 

The buildup on the glass is a funny thing. For me, some pellets will get the glass dirty sooner than others, and the rate at which you are burning (low and slow vs. inferno) makes a difference too. I also see a difference between the build-up time on the P68 vs. the P43. It seems to me that in general, the P68 will get build-up on the glass sooner than the P43 will, in fact I rarely ever have to clean the glass on the P43. Granted, the P68 gets worked a lot harder, but still - I do think there is something about the P43 that simply makes it burn noticeably cleaner and more efficiently overall than the P68. Most likely enhancements made over the years (2014 vs. 2008). The buildup you are seeing in an hour is odd to me, seems like that should not be happening so quickly, but you are the only one here with that stove, so you maybe finding what's normal for it? Time will tell.

 

It is , for me and the feed rate just leave it at 4 it's not like the feed rate on any other stove it's an upper limiter basically .
Hormones are some of the easiest stoves to run , not a lot of F'N with , it does it for you

 

Maybe increase the speed of your combustion fan via the secret menu.

 

I experience the exact same thing and not sure what causes it, i was thinking the P43 does a much better job with the glass wash or whatever the heck you call it. For myself I don't think the 43 is burning more efficient but I could be wrong . With Northern Max its at least three days before I see anything on the glass(P68) but as mentioned it really depends on what mode and how hard you are running your stove. I find with the ramping up and down that happens in room temp mode the glass gets dirtier much quicker than if I run it constant even at a low setting. Other hardwoods definitely bugger up the glass faster than a premium softy but not as prevalent with the Northern Max. The P43 which I always run in constant temp mode only gets one tiny spot up in the top right hand corner ever as I can not wash the glass for 2-3 weeks and it never changes, except when i burned those dreadful Cornith junk.

One of the reasons is that the hardwood ash is heavier and builds that dreaded Harman Mustachio quicker and more drastic, this at least in my experience reduces the burn area and pushes the flame forward towards the glass and that is when the glass gets dirty . If I am home and keep the mustachio cleaned or remove it once or twice a day I get Zero buildup on my glass. The softwoods create a lighter ash which does not dam up like most hardwoods but to a lesser extent with the Northern Max's, especially the Vermont's just blew my mind on how little, light ash they created. The best out of any pellet I have burned even the Doug Fir I tried .

 

I have the same experience with the glass in my stoves. My P43, regardless of what I burn in it stays pretty clean. The P61a gets dirty much quicker and with a brown-reddish ash. Here are pics after 2 weeks since the last cleaning. Granted, the P61a is burning worse pellets, but the P43 isn't by any means fed a top pellet either. Also, the P61a runs more than the P43. The P61a will get a lot dirtier sooner, but the pattern, once established, stays pretty much the same until I clean it.

P43 glass after 2 weeks


P61a glass after 2 weeks