Leaving the stove burning and other questions

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glocke12

New Member
Nov 26, 2012
9
Hi

Ive had a Napolean NPI40 fireplace insert for the past 4 years and have a few questions:

1) As long as proper maintenance is routinely performed (vaccuming out burn pot, the pellet "chute", and cleaning the accumulated fines from the auger which I do every 2-3 days ) is this safe to leave burning on low/med while I am at work for 8-10 hours? I do leave it burning all night with no fears.


2) This stove really only does a mediocre job of heating. For example, when it is 32 dg F or less out, the warmest it will get in the room it is in is about 60-62 dg. This performance is dismal compared to some free standing pellet stoves I have seen. Would a stronger blower fan help at all? House is insulated fairly well, so thats not the issue.

thanks
 
Hi

Ive had a Napolean NPI40 fireplace insert for the past 4 years and have a few questions:

1) As long as proper maintenance is routinely performed (vaccuming out burn pot, the pellet "chute", and cleaning the accumulated fines from the auger which I do every 2-3 days ) is this safe to leave burning on low/med while I am at work for 8-10 hours? I do leave it burning all night with no fears.


2) This stove really only does a mediocre job of heating. For example, when it is 32 dg F or less out, the warmest it will get in the room it is in is about 60-62 dg. This performance is dismal compared to some free standing pellet stoves I have seen. Would a stronger blower fan help at all? House is insulated fairly well, so thats not the issue.

thanks
Yes, I leave my stoves burning all the time when away for many hours.
 
ours is on 24/7 except when we shut it down for cleaning once a week. It was kind of scary leaving it the first few times but now we are used to it.
 
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With the exception of its weekly cleaning and a few minutes each day for a quick cleaning, it is running all the time.
 
Vacuuming out the fines from your auger every 2-3 days? And I thought I was finicky. :eek:

Keep 'er clean, keep the combustibles at bay, and let 'er run....that's what she was made for. :)

In this household, unless the burn pot is being scraped, or the stove is in "Standby" while in Automatic mode, or maybe even going through its weekly ritual of being cleaned, then she's putting out the BTUs by running. We didn't put a hole in our exterior wall and ceiling just for added household venting! ;)

Also, something doesn't sound right with your lack of temperature increase in your room. How many BTUs is that insert rated for and what size is your room???
 
I don't have one of those stoves, but if it's only getting to 60-62, something is amiss. Unless of course the room is 100' X 100'. Hopefully someone who owns one will chime in. My sister has an Accentra insert with an open floor plan and her house is toasty.
 
I love when this question comes up. My family and friends will ask me. You don't leave that thing running when your out, do you? I tell them I sure do. After all, you leave your oil burner and gas furnaces running when your not there. They forget they can't see the firebox on those units. I tell'em it's the same thing.
 
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It is a little weird at first walking out for the day and leaving it going but that feeling goes away when you come home and the house is still 75. The coldest it has got here is around 20 and the stove keeps the house around 73-75 on a lower setting.
 
What's even better is they think nothing of going out and leaving their clothes dryers running.

My Dryer does worry me more :)

The stove.... Keep it clean and let it run. That room will be much warmer than 62° if its constantly producing BTU's.

Are you running on a higher setting when your home? Crank it up if you want more heat :)
 
It is also possible with an insert to have heat going up the flue around the vent if it isn't properly blocked off and the block off sealed to the chimney.

It is also possible that you are pumping some of your heated air up the stoves vent if you are not using an OAK.

For the final possibility, if the heat exchanger is ash covered or the convection blower and the room air side of the heat exchanger is dirty you aren't getting as much heat out of the stove as it is producing.
 
Leave the stove on 24/7 unless cleaning. Of coarse it is on a set back thermo.
 
not on high though.
 
We leave our stove running all the time, with or without someone home. I was nervous the first couple of times but you'll get over it quick when you come home to a warm house. Just make sure you take all the necessary precautions for a clean safe burning stove and all should be well.

I don't have any experience with your stove but our livingroom where the J2000 is gets to 80 degrees on lowest setting and our familyroom (24x24, cathedral ceilings with windows on three sides) gets so hot we only run the stove a couple of hours at a time or strip down to bare necessities if we want to stay there with the stove running constantly. Of course it hasn't been that could out so I'm sure that will change.
 
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