The soot on the glass is mostly grey with some brown where the spots are heavy. No black soot at all on the glass. I have it set at a feed of 4 and a combustion fan of 2 because that is what the factory defaults are. I left it there and then adjusted the air damper with the manometer to get it to the range that the technical manual was calling for. I am planning on upping the air and will post on how that goes.
Why is my Enviro Empress Insert producing so much ash?
- Thread starter persistentmotion
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That's a great post. I would try the trick of "halves". Move the draft adjuster half the distance, then half of that, etc. That's the quickest way to zero in on the correct amount.
Thanks for taking the time to post with your feedback. Always helpful having somebody who owns the stove give their two cents. I have just opened the slide damper about an 1.5" to the right to give the stove more air. I put the manometer back on it and now the pressure is reading -0.19 to -0.20, considerably higher than what the technical manual calls for at -0.12 to -0.13 while running at heat setting 5. I left the feed trim at 4 and the combustion blower at 2. I'm going to shut the stove down, clean it out and clean the glass and I'll let everybody know the effect of this tomorrow night after it has been 24 hours.
I did pick up some higher quality pellets from Agway today. Unlike the Green Supremes, the Agway brand pellets state they meet or exceed the PFI standards. I have decided for now to keep burning the Green Supremes while I make air adjustments so I will only be changing one variable at a time. I'll keep you posted.
steamguy
Member
The manometer is a great starting point but it has no allowance for the quality of your pellet fuel. It's kind of like trying to drive in the dark without lights and just by the map squiggle on your GPS.
When we installed the stove, I made a mark on the firebox as to where the "optimum" point was per the manometer, but have rarely had the damper set back down to that point. I always start there at that known good starting point after a full servicing of the stove, and usually end up running somewhere above that point for the rest of the period between cleanings. As with all things, your mileage varies, but here in my part of the country, we have mostly softwood pellets, and they burn cooler and dirtier.
There are a lot, an awful lot, of variables when burning; everything from ambient air intake for the stove, wind pressure on the house, stack pressure or wind vacuum on the exhaust, pellet quality, pellet density, number of contaminants and noncombustible materials in the pellets; they all relate to how hot and how cleanly the fire burns. The damper is the way that Enviro chooses to deal with all of these variables at once, and it works pretty well. You just have to acquire a feel for how it works for your particular house with your particular fuel.
I'm suggesting that you should look at how the fire is burning versus trusting to manometer readings. It's right there in the book, notice the lack of reference to a manometer:
Virtually all pellets now meet the PFI premium standard. I'm sure the Green Supremes meet it. If you really want to reduce fines and ash, try a "super premium" PFI pellet. That std has half the fines and ash of the "premium" std.
Hey persistent- good choice of stove. The ash you have mentioned is def the pellets. After installing many Empresses and M55's, an OAK is a good thing, but not an absolute necessary thing. The Empress insert does not lend itself well to OAKs and your installer price is really high. My Empress is 6 seasons old, have never had to do a thing to it but upgraded the exh blower to the new EF161A blower and the new Mother/Daughter boards (2088s). I've found the factory settings are fine to use, the key is the best fuel you can get. Hamers hot ones, Spruce Pointe. Vermont pellets, Country boy just to name a few. I have burned Green supreme from Lowe's, they are a medium quality pellet, good heat, but ashy. For the air damper, optimum is about all the way left, then move to the right about 1/2 inch. 1.5 inches to the right is too much, it might run a bit cleaner for the glass, but on heat levels 1 or 2, it prob wouldn't have much heat output (more being lost up the chimney). The Empress Ins is a pretty, efficient, quiet heater if given good fuel. The EF3 I have downstairs is a heat beast, it doesn't care what pellets you give it, but I still prefer Spruce pointe or Okanagans, both great quality softwood blends. Good luck with your Empress.
IHATEPROPANE
Minister of Fire
Stevekng
Feeling the Heat
I have two stoves in my house in Maine. One has an OAK, the other doesn't. The VF100 doesn't have one and produces enough heat to start the convection fan in one third the time that my Castile does. I know the two stoves are different, but my thought is that the colder intake air takes longer to produce enough heat to start the convection fan. That add up to wasted pellets IMO. Pre-heated air would seem like a bonus to me, if I wanted a fire box to get up to temperature.Get an OAK
So here is an update. I opened up the air damper on Tuesday night and by Wednesday night the stove had burned noticeably cleaner but there was still some build up in the liner of the burn pot. The soot on the glass was not as bas as before. I shut it down on Wednesday night, cleaned it again and opened up the air damper about another inch and let it rip. I got home tonight and shut it down and cleaned it out again. The glass situation didn't improve much more but I did notice that there was virtually no build up in the burn pot. Looks like it is really needed more air. I opened the damper about one more inch and I'm going to let it go one more day and see what the glass and liner situation is tomorrow.
Here is my question. How should I determine that enough is enough for the air? Should I be shooting for somewhat clean glass after 24 hours or is that just a pipe dream with this insert and the Green Supreme pellets I'm burning? Should I be happy with dirty glass but a clean liner in the burn pot? Do I need to run it on a lower setting and see if I'm not getting very much heat because I have too much air? Is it a mixture of all of these things? What are your thoughts? Thanks again.
Here is my question. How should I determine that enough is enough for the air? Should I be shooting for somewhat clean glass after 24 hours or is that just a pipe dream with this insert and the Green Supreme pellets I'm burning? Should I be happy with dirty glass but a clean liner in the burn pot? Do I need to run it on a lower setting and see if I'm not getting very much heat because I have too much air? Is it a mixture of all of these things? What are your thoughts? Thanks again.
It's not so much about clean glass, but the color of it. If it's gray ash covering the glass, that's fine. If it's brownish or blackish then it could be the pellets or lack of air.
Clean pot is far more important than a dusty window.
Clean pot is far more important than a dusty window.
You are correct, its a compromise. You want clean burn (light tan to light gray ash, depends on pellets you are burning.) The glass will never stay perfectly clear. When you clean out the ash and the burn pot, you are vacuuming the upper and lower set of holes in the door frame, right?? Those are the airwash holes, they will help the glass stay clear. My Empress (with hot Spruce Pointe pellets) lasts a couple of days at best clear, then buildup starts in the center of the glass (where air wash is prob the weakest). Regardless, having the damper way open is not the answer. About half an inch from far left is about right for that stove.
P38X2
Minister of Fire
Glad you're making some progress getting your burn straightened out.
If the pellets you bought are Agway branded pellets, there's a very strong likelihood they came from NEWP.
Stovelark,
This is a great tip! The airwash holes are not mentioned anywhere in either the owners manual or the technical manual. I don't know why. After a closer inspection, i realized that they were somewhat dirty on my stove. I put my ash vac up to the holes and sucked out as much as possible. I never realized when cleaning the glass that if you smear the build up on the glass along the top and bottom edges there is a small gap between the glass and metal door frame that allows air in that can clog, thus making the airwash not work. It looks like the previous owner of the stove, and probably myself, would smear that around and it was packed in between the glass and the piece of metal at the top. This would explain why the top of my glass would get so dirty so quick. I happen to keep a set of dental picks in my toolbox and used one to get clear out that gap in between the glass and door frame. I'm hoping that will make a big difference in how clean my glass stays.
Just for anybody who is unfarmiliar with the holes in the door that we are talking about, check out the picture I'm posting. There are 18 square holes in the top and another 18 square holes in the bottom of the door frame. If you look about an inch below the top line of square holes you will see some white build up in the photo. That is where a bunch of crud had filled in that I had to scrape out to open up the airwash again. I hope this helps somebody else keep their glass clean a little longer.
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