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Fatherof2

Member
Aug 12, 2014
53
Massachusetts
Hi Gang,

I got my new to me St Croix pellet stove hooked up today.

Start up went smooth, but I do have a few questions.

The exhaust is much hotter than the air coming out of the front of the stove. Any idea why?

Also, when pellets drop into the burn pot, it seems to splash the fire and momentarily reduce the flame. I assume I need to adjust the feed, but I'm not sure how to do that. I found a manual online, but it is not for the exact model I have. I emailed St. Croix, and they emailed me back a manual for a much older model than what I have. Here is a picture of my control board.

Thanks for any input!



 
I turned the stove down to Level 2 and held my hand in front of the stove. It is hot air, but not so hot that I cant leave my hands there as long as I want.

If I go outside and hold my hands right under the exhaust pipe, I cant leave my hands there for too long before it gets too hot.

Is that normal?
 
What you describe seems quite normal to me. You should get a pretty healthy air flow into the room. If the stove is used, you may need to remove and clean the room blower. When I got mine, the squirrel cages were pretty well packed with dust. I have to actually remove them and soak them to soften the accumulation of years of dust. Take the occasion to blow out the motor itself. I was dumbfounded at the amount of dust that blew out of the motor windings.

The exhaust will be pretty hot, since the heat exchanger isn't 100% efficient.

Except for when it's idling, I never run my stove below level 3, just to make sure it gets hot enough to keep it clean.

That's a great stove! Make sure you keep the ash traps cleaned out, and you'll get great service from it!
 
Thanks for the input HS!

I gave the stove a solid cleaning when I got it. Blower seems to be working great! Strong air coming out all across the front of the stove. (Not bad for 480 bucks including the piping.)

Any idea how I use the above Control Panel?

How do I adjust the "Feed Trim" and the "Draft Trim"?

When I push those buttons, nothing seems to happen. Not sure if I am supposed to push them in conjunction with other buttons.
 
That's a great deal considering many pay that much or more for the pipe if the go up any distance.
 
The exhaust is only about 40 cfm where as the room fan is blowing well over 100 cfm so the exhaust will be a bit hotter. You got a good buy on a solid stove. May still have a passage or two to get clean. I think youtube has some video on this stove line as well.
 
Your control board is the same as ours.

We set the switch to smartstat so we can adjust the heat with a thermostat

We also burn on level 3 about 90% of the time, maybe on 4 as needed.

I never need to adjust the feed or trim

Congrats in the good deal! We love our st croix
 
Oops. I meant to say set the switch on T stat.

We only use smartstat for spring or fall to have the stove cycle on and off as needed
 
My Hastings cost about $5k installed brand new.
 
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