5 year old Enviro Meridian not keeping house as warm

[WhiteLawn]

Wondering if someone can confirm my suspicions about what's going on.

My Stove: My Enviro Meridian was installed in the fall of 08. Cleaned and maintained on a regular schedule.

My Settings previously: It has 5 heat level settings (1 being the lowest and 5 being the highest). When it's around 30, having it on 1 means 70 degrees in my house. When it dips down into the teens and high single digits I go up to 2. When it's negative temps I sometimes kick it up to 3 - but rarely. I have never needed to put it to 4 or to (an unthinkable) 5.

My Settings this year: When it's between 25 and 30 outside and I have it on 3 to keep it above 70 in the house.

Nothing has changed with my house and still using Spruce Pointe as always.

My Suspicions: I have had issues with the crappy install that was done - using duravent pipe and a direct-vent - no internal rise - and also leaked. I also used to have no air intake connected and it would result in my house filling with smoke when the power would go out. That all changed a few months ago when I paid to have a proper internal rise and air intake installed. The power has gone out recently and no smell or smoke in the house to speak of - amazing what happens when it's installed the way the book says it should be.

However, I'm wondering if the change in heat level adjustment needed is due to the air intake that is now allowing cold air into the stove - and if I'm running at 3 (which uses a lot more pellets) when I used to run at 1…crap.

What do you think?

 

[maineah1214]

Someone will be along to answer your specific question as I know nothing about that, but my first question would be about the pellets.... Bad batch? Different brand?

 

[WhiteLawn]

Oh man, if the pellets are bad I'd be crushed. I've been having a love affair with Spruce Pointes for years. No ash and a hot stove...

 

[IHATEPROPANE]

Perhaps too much draft now and a lot of heat is being sent out the vent

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

Did they reset the damper or move (hit) it (this can happen without noticing it) when they reworked your venting?

I'd get your draft checked.

 

[Nick Sterner]

I unfortunetly dont have a answer but I'm very curious on what others say since I'm getting the same issue. I have a brand new Hampton GC60 which is a Enviro M55. 1600 sq foot home and having to keep it on heat level 4 to maintain 70 at 25-30 degrees outside. Its direct vent with only a 12" rise and is pulling outside air.

 

[DBCOOPER]

Wondering if someone can confirm my suspicions about what's going on.

My Stove: My Enviro Meridian was installed in the fall of 08. Cleaned and maintained on a regular schedule.

My Settings previously: It has 5 heat level settings (1 being the lowest and 5 being the highest). When it's around 30, having it on 1 means 70 degrees in my house. When it dips down into the teens and high single digits I go up to 2. When it's negative temps I sometimes kick it up to 3 - but rarely. I have never needed to put it to 4 or to (an unthinkable) 5.

My Settings this year: When it's between 25 and 30 outside and I have it on 3 to keep it above 70 in the house.

Nothing has changed with my house and still using Spruce Pointe as always.

My Suspicions: I have had issues with the crappy install that was done - using duravent pipe and a direct-vent - no internal rise - and also leaked. I also used to have no air intake connected and it would result in my house filling with smoke when the power would go out. That all changed a few months ago when I paid to have a proper internal rise and air intake installed. The power has gone out recently and no smell or smoke in the house to speak of - amazing what happens when it's installed the way the book says it should be.

However, I'm wondering if the change in heat level adjustment needed is due to the air intake that is now allowing cold air into the stove - and if I'm running at 3 (which uses a lot more pellets) when I used to run at 1…crap.

What do you think?

Since the only change was the internal rise and oak I would look there. A blockage in the rise perhaps?

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

Since the only change was the internal rise and oak I would look there. A blockage in the rise perhaps?

The change actually involves everything in the combustion air path plus possible dislodgement of crud in the inner part of the stove.

 

[CygnusX1]

As a fellow Meridian owner, I would lean towards the draft setting. Since you now have an OAK, you may want to tweak that for better results. My settings changed dramatically after my OAK was installed. What color is the ash on your window? Black means poor air flow.

If my stove has poor performance after a good cleaning, it's almost always the cause. After 10 years, I still tweak mine, depending on what pellets I use. I also bought a locking "O" nut to lock the damper in place. My wife always seems to hit it with the vacuum and mess up the damper settings.

Failing that, it has to be what Smokey suggested. There had to be some ash clogging the air path.
Leaving your stove on "1" will cause your stove to clog up faster, at least on my stove. I would suggest leaving it on "2". I may be hotter, but your stove will stay cleaner.

 

[Woody1911a1]

Cleaned and maintained on a regular schedule.

please explain your idea of "cleaned and maintained" because i'm guessing it's not being done correctly . i have the same stove and up until it went down into the teens the other night it hadn't seen heat level 2 yet this year . heat level 3 is reserved for single digit temps .

opening the door vacuuming out the ash and cleaning the glass isn't adequate .

 

[iceguy4]

please explain your idea of "cleaned and maintained" because i'm guessing it's not being done correctly . i have the same stove and up until it went down into the teens the other night it hadn't seen heat level 2 yet this year . heat level 3 is reserved for single digit temps .

opening the door vacuuming out the ash and cleaning the glass isn't adequate .

X2

 

[Woody1911a1]

that plate at the top of your burn chamber , do you remove it on your weekly cleaning ? if you don't i can promise that you'll be in for a surprise those 2 caps on your firewall , do you flip them open and vac them out ?

 

[WhiteLawn]

I thought this posted - but for some reason I had to type it twice…

Thanks for everyone's input.

OK, based on several responses, I messed with the slider - long story short, I've had been heating the outside air.

I used to have it pulled out a little over halfway (if that makes any sense). I pushed it all the way in just to see what would happen (which used to result in a wicked lazy flame). The flame looked a tiny bit lazy.

I pulled the slider out a little bit - no lazy flame but in A LOT further than before. I'll get a pressure gauge tomorrow and lock the slider on the correct setting.

After a few hours the house was a nice 75 degrees (up from 68) on the first and 72 on second floor. Now that's better! I no longer feel like there is something massively wrong with my stove. I knew it would burn differently, but wasn't prepared for just HOW different that would be.

Cygnus - Can you elaborate your on setting changes once the air intake was installed on your Meridian? I only had the fast-clog on the lowest setting problem when I burned hard wood pellets back when I first got the stove.

Nick - hopefully you've got similar avenues to follow with your Hampton.