Need help with EcoTeck Elena please!

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CPGorman

New Member
Nov 5, 2012
3
We purchased our EcoTeck Elena from Northland Distributors in 2011....(and we all know how that turned out.) We didn't install until summer 2012 and just started using it in October. Our stove works fine, but we feel that the pellets are dropping and burning too quickly. Temp set for 72 degrees yet we are going through almost 1 bag of pellets per day. Using Lignetics pellets with green label. We've noticed that the auger setting is password protected. Is there any help that anyone can provide??

We are new to the pellet stove world, so even some suggested settings for the EcoTeck would help or maybe change the pellets? We have a 1959 ranch house and have the stove on our lower level...
Thanks in advance!
 
I have the same stove, also bought from Northland during their clearance sale. I am now on my second season with it, burned 2 tons last year. With the thermostat set to 72, does the stove run in the "Work" mode the whole day, or does it throttle-back to the low burn rate mode (forgot the mode name that shows on the LCD display) when the room temperature reaches the thermostat setpoint of 72? Also, what fire rate ("Power") are you running the stove at (1 thru 5)? In power state=5, when running in the work mode, this stove will consume about 5.5 lbs of pellets per hour, so a 40 lb bag of pellets will only last 7.5 hours. Check your "conversation" feature of this forum for a private message from me.

See my original install post :
https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/pellet-newbie-ecoteck-installed.72279/
 
It seems as though we are pretty consistently in Work Modulation mode - and our power state is = 1. Maybe it doesn't like 72 degrees? We have tried 0 pellet and negative pellet settings and we still seem to go through a lot. We also are getting a lot of odor / not smoke / but odor which is annoying as well.
 
As for the odor, sounds like your flue-pipes are leaking a little, need to seal them with high temp RTV (Permatex Red High Temp RTV Gasket goop, get at an autoparts store). Make sure that BOTH seams of the stove adapter pipe (the first pipe that connects into the stove) are RTV sealed. You may have to take the left side panel off the stove to access the adapter seam where it connects to the combustion blower outlet, recessed a bit inside the stove cabinet.

Describe your flue config (shape and lengths) : is it straight-out-the wall, then vertical....?

Do you have the OAK (Outside Air) inlet duct connected to an outside air inlet?

Is your flame "lazy", sooty, and leaving significant black soot on the cumbustion chamber walls?

The pellet feed and combustion blower air settings availible on the control panel are just "trim" adjustment (+/- 5% or so) : they are not meant to adjust a grossly overfeeding condition.

Maybe the stove installer did not set the "Recipe" correctly for your flue configuration. This adjustment is the +/-25% kind of changes for the fuel feed rates and combustion blower speed, that is dictated by how restrictive your flue configuration is. You need an access code to get into these settings of the "Service Menu". See my private message for more info.
 
Well, since the stove installer was my husband...that recipe probably was not set properly (!!). All we had was the owner's manual to go by for installation. Thank you for your input.

The stove is a direct vent out of our lower level, so we have the "elbow" and then 3 feet of vertical pipe to the exterior vent.

Our flame is definitely not "lazy" in fact it is very strong and very high. I would say we don't even get an intense amount of ash. We are just hoping to "slow it down" a little - if that is at all possible. Alot of "sparks" as well, but I don't think that is a big issue.

Thank you again for your input!
 
I have this same problem with our Elena! Can you tell me how you fixed it?
My husband installed our stove a few days ago and the flame stays high and we are going through alot of pellets...can't seem to get it to turn down even though we have the room temp set to 50 it usually stays at 75 degrees!
 
When the room temp reaches the setpoint of the thermostat, the stove throttles back to the lowest burn-rate (Power = 1), and the flame will settle to a low (maybe the flame tip is 2 to 4 inches above the burnpot top edge. The LCD display on top will say "Modulate" in the lowest burn-rate. If your house is well insulated, and/or it is not that cold outside, your room temperature may continue to rise as the stove is putting out more heat (BTUs) than your home is "losing". If it is colder outside, then this won't happen, and the stove will kick-back up to the select flame "Power" level when the room temperature falls below the setpoint of the thermostat. Even when running at the lowest burn rate, the stove will consume about 1 pound of pellets per hour. If it is getting too warm in your house, the only way to avoid this is to run the stove in the "Eco Stop" mode of the thermostat, which will fully shut-down the stove (flame out), and save pellets, when the room temp exceeds the thermostat setpoint, and re-ignite it when the room temp drops below the setpoint. The downside of the Eco Stop mode is a reduction in the life of the ignitor heating element, as it will be activate more often during the day, when the stove restarts.
 
We have been going through a 40lb. bag of pellets in about 15 hrs. with the stove set to Power 1 and 60 room temp and the display reads "modulation work". The flame is usually very high (6+inches). I set it to -5 pellet, but that doesen't seem to change much. Anything else I can try? Our venting is 3' up (so we didn't have to cut into our wayne's coating) and then elbowed and straight out the house with 3" DuraVent pipe.
 
My Elena can go thru a 40lb bag in 15 hours...It did this today...sounds normal, but my flame height in Modulate Work mode is maybe 2 to 5 inches stoves above the burnpot top edge. You should hear your auger pellet-feed motor run briefly every 7 seconds.

Lets check your stoves operating info :
1) Press and hold button #4 tile the display says "Menu 1 Set Clock"
2) Press and release button #4 four more times, display should say "State Stove"
3) Press and release button #6, display shows the operating info : Top line is the RPM of the exhaust/combustion blower (mine is at 2330 RPM during Modulate Work), 2nd line down is the exhaust temperature (mines at 313F during modulate work).
4) To exit this display mode : press and release button #2 twice.

What are your readings?
 
Thank you so much for your help! It reads:
1790
360F
screw 0
state 4

The flame is usually to the top of the window height and very full. There is also alot of ash building up around the burn pot on the firex. Is that normal? The pellets are dropping in about every 3 seconds.
 
Ash deposits on the Firex, just above the burn-pot is normal, only use a soft paintbrush to clean it, do not scrape as the Firex will crumble off. you won't be able to clean it all off, it's OK.

From your exhaust blower RPM readings, your stove is in the Modulate work mode, as it should be. The temps seem fine, higher than mine because your flame is much higher than mine.

Your flame height sounds way too high during Modulate phase mode. Use a stopwatch and accuratly time the auger motor. Put your ear against the stove cabinet, so you can hear the hum of the auger feed motor, to time how long it stays ON. Mine runs every 7 seconds, and is on for 1 or 2 seconds in Modulate Work mode, and an for 3 or 4 seconds when the stove is running full-blast in Work = 5 mode. The 7 second interval between the auger activations is constant, no matter what power mode the stove is running at, just how long the motor is on changes.

Sounds to me like your stove is overfeeding pellets. If your auger is running too long (more than 1 or 2 seconds) during Modulate Work mode, I think there is something wrong with your stove computer/control board. If you turn off the manin power switch (above the cord) of the stove (when cold), and then turn it back on, read and record what the LCD display says. It will indicate the software revision of the computer. Let me know what is says.
 
Sounds like you have the same firmware version as me. Try to accurately measure the auger ON time, and the interval between auger motor activations, with a stopwatch, to verify why your stove is overfeeding pellets when operating in the "Modulate Work" mode. I don't understand why your stove is feeding pellets at twice (every 3 sec) the rate as mine (every 7 sec). To solve this problem, you could operate the stove in the "Comfort Clima" mode, where the stove shuts fully down when the room temp exceeds the thermostat setpoint. You would then not consume excessive pellets, and the room would not get too warm.
 
The auger is running for about 1 1/2 seconds every 6 mins. in modulation work mode. We have always only had the power set to 1 and we've been keeping the room temp at 60 (it gets to 75 in the room). I have no idea what the "recipe" is set to...do you think that could be causing such a large flame? Do you know how to access that with a code? We've just been shutting the stove off for a few hours during the day to save on pellets, but I'm worried about the life of the ingitor to set it to comfort clima mode.
 
In Modulate mode, If your auger is running for 1 1/2 sec every 6 seconds, that sounds correct. I have no idea why your stove is overfeeding pellets. So, is your flame height appear to be the same when the stove is running in Work mode, at P=5 ?

I don't think it is your "Recipe" setting, as its choices can only increase the baseline pellet feed rate. But, in any-case, the access code is "B9".
1) Press and hold button #4 till the display says "Menu 1 Clock Set", then release button #4.
2) Repeat press and release of button #4 till the display says "Menu 10 Select Recipe"
3) Press and release button #6 to enter this menu
4) Use button #5 to change the displayed access code, until it is B9.
5) Press and release button #6 to enter this access code.
6) Then select the desired "Recipe" (there are 5 of them) using (I think button # 5) till the desired Recipe is displayed.
7) Then enter by pressing and reasing button # 6. ( I think)
8) Exit the menu by pressing button #2 twice (I think).

The Recipe choices are "Scarce", "Low". "Off" (nominal default), "Medium", and "High"
Scarce is for the most restrictive horizontal flue with no natural draft.
High is for a vertical, low restriction flue, with lots of natural draft.
 
Could I get your help again?? Somehow I got into the "Bank Data" and changed the temp to Celsius! I tried to undo it but don't know what exactly I did...and now it won't start up. It gets sparks and a small flame, but won't "fire up". It says waiting for flamme, and then the 05 alarm. Any ideas?
 
Try to recall exactly what you did. Did you change the Language selection in the Language Menu? Maybe that changes the temp display to Celsius if a Euro language is selected.

Alarm 05 is "failure to Ignite", which is triggered if the exhaust temperature probe does not see a large enough temperature increase before a timer "runs-out". This timer starts when the ignition mode is started (when the stove is turned-on, and the ignitor is activated).
- Is your hopper full? Did you run out of pellets and not prime the auger after refill?
- Are there enough pellets in the burn-pot during your start-up sequence? My burn-pot gets filled up, pretty much full, during the start-up sequence.
 
I know I was in menu 07 which says "Bank Data"....(I was trying to figure out my high flame). I scrolled down it said a letter and numer, like o4, or something. Then I went to get out of it and it said "Data Loaded"...then it went to Celsius and the sound of the stove changed a bit. I went back in to redo what I thought I did and then it changed to Italian (I changed it back to English through the Language menu).
The hopper is full. The auger puts pellets into the burn pot about half full and it ignites. There is a small flame, but then it goes out and the alarm 05 sounds.
I hope I didn't wreck it! I see there is a defult settings menu, but I'm afraid to try anything. Any help would be much appreciated!
UPDATE: I just tried starting it again (I emptied burn pot of leftover pellets first) and it wouldn't stop feeding pellets. I had a smokey mess and then a huge fire! Help!
 
I will look at my Bank Data settings tonight....maybe I can help get you back to normal. I just don't understand why you first did not have enough pellets during start-up, and then you have too many pellets...did you change anything between the Alarm 05 start-up and the "it wouldn't stop feeding pellets" ??
 
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