Burnpot Full of Ash after 8-9 hours?? HELP!!

Did I read your comment correct. Did you say there are no holes in the bottom of your burn pot liner, if so, that's your problem......there should be multiple holes (ie....30 or mores) in the bottom of that liner.....that should be replaced under your warranty.........can you post a picture of the inside of that liner?

scas said:

OK so now I am thoroughly confused. I am almost certain that my stove did not come with the high ash liner (will confirm when I get home). The pellets I burned last night were Geneva which I thought were pretty high quality but I could be mistaken. I will do some calling around today and see what else is available in my area (I know I can get Logik-e). As far as the damper goes, I am not really sure what to do. I figured leaving it full open would improve things (which I think it did). This morning the burnpot was noticeably less full than the previous burns. I guess I will start with getting the high ash burnpot and experimenting with the damper at different levels? I don't have access to a magnehelic gauge. I can also leave the door to the garage open in the room to see if that helps. If it does, I can install an OAK.

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Google, ebay, and amazon are your friends as is any true HVAC shop and a decent pellet stove dealership.

These stoves need a proper setup and regular cleaning, they will be just fine provided you pay attention to those two things.

Cleaning is all ash level related and will vary according to the pellets burned and how well your stove was setup.

Once you get ash build up in the pot it is also time to look for ash build up in other places, because it will be there.

Ash build up destroys air flow and air flow is critical to a pellet eater more so to a top feeder than a pusher or auto cleaner.

This is the reason for krooser's bolded 80% line in his signature and me placing the tired old a clean stove is a happy, safe, and warm stove in a number of postings at the end of some threads.

We can also go looking for air leaks as they impact the air flow through the burn pot, that was why corkman hit you with the test all of the gaskets response.

You can go from a nice fire to a smoldering mess in just a couple of hours without even trying if you get on the wrong side of all of the ash creation causers. I know I've been there, it wasn't a fun time.

scas said:

I don't think there are holes in the bottom. Will check as soon as I get home

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Those holes if they are there (I can't imagine there not being any at all ) must be cleaned out when you do your regular weekly shutdown, it only takes a small buildup to have a large impact on the air flow through them.

Some folks soak their liners prior to reaming the holes out with various poking devices (a gun cleaning kit brass brush of the correct caliber works really well for this).

My pot has slots and I can run a sharp putty knife along on the sides after soaking or use a small brass brush.

The video is marked private.

SmokeyTheBear said:

The video is marked private.

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Its one of those sexy stove vids You know the ones us old farts would get all excited over and prolly have a heart sputter over!

The flame looks fine but what does that Mag say?

What I don't see is ash ejecting.

A top feed stove removes ash from the burn pot as the fire burns it does this with the air flow through the burn pot. The ash is actually sucked out of the burn pot and falls down over the edges into the ash pan or the area around the burn pot. Aka a sparks show.

Magnehelic (Mag)(Dwyer differential pressure gage) a gage used to properly set the damper on your stove following the directions in the installation manual.

I've seen those pictures, first the stove must be setup correctly for it to burn correctly and to set it up correctly requires that it be totally clean and for you to have the proper equipment.

If after totally cleaning your system you wish to set the damper by eye, you are looking for a bright yellow to white flame with blue showing just above the pellets in the pot, a good spark show, and wiggling pellets.

Please note:

This will only properly setup the stove if the stove and venting is clean and you otherwise follow the instructions in the manual. Patience pays off in this operation.

Does the fire die down after the initial "big fire" during start-up? I'd like to see a video of it burning "normally".
Can we see pics of the burn pot liner w/o the ash in it?....just curious as to the location & size of the air holes.

A loose door, means a bad seal, which results in a Large bypass.

Lots of air was being robbed from the pot.

That may have very well been your problem.