Best/Ideal flame color?

canuck_22 said:

On my P61A using Cubex pellets I get a flame with darker orange at the base, using the Granulco(messy and smelly)pellets the base was blue. What should it be? or is it based on the type of pellet ie. soft vs mixed vs hard?

Thanks

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my flame has always been little blue at the base and bright yellow flames. like a Acetylyn torch.. same Harman stove here.
sounds like your messy Granulco we're burning better.
never read anything about softwood or hardwood burning different but I never burned Softwood.
others here will Chime in on this..

Can't speak specifically of pellets because I don't burn them, but wood flame in general - ideally anything translucent is good. If you haven an 'opaque' yellow/orange flame (think candle flame) that is typically carbon soot particles which are heated to glowing orange/yellow hot, but not being fully burned. Carbon which is heated, but not burned means energy (and soot) going up the flue.

When the flame turns translucent blue/purple (think flame of a gas burner) or sometimes almost translucent white, that is a sign the flame is hot enough to burn / oxidize the carbon - first to carbon monoxide - CO, then the CO burns with a blue flame to CO2. Once you hit CO2, you have completely burned the carbon and extracted all energy. Sometimes various salts present in the wood can tint the flame color...potassium tends to give purple, sodium can give that 'streetlight' orange, copper (more rare) can give greenish tint.

canuck_22 said:

On my P61A using Cubex pellets I get a flame with darker orange at the base, using the Granulco(messy and smelly)pellets the base was blue. What should it be? or is it based on the type of pellet ie. soft vs mixed vs hard?

Thanks

Click to expand...

The hardwoods in my experience tend to run with the blue base to the flame. Some softwoods can actually have a lemon yellow base mixed in with yellow orange etc. I think in either case you get more heat when there is a kind of clarity to the flame up to 3 or even 4 inches off the burn pot. When you have dirty and not so hot pellets the flame is not so clear looking near the base, again in my experience. You will see different color flames between brands and sometimes even between bags within a brand. In general though, hardwood blue base, softwood some kind of yellow base. You may see various crosses of this, it's not a rule or etched in stone !! The good news ? P61's burn about any pellet going.

Tonyray said:

Granulco

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The good news ? P61's burn about any pellet going.
That;s a Big 10/4....
Pretty much anything from Home Depot and up should burn fine in the stove..
Main difference in pellets is little ash to lot of ash....
Some "Magic pellets' burn very very hot & Command a high price but many of those are small and since more of them come out of the pellet shoot due to size, may naturally give more heat. but, lot of disagreements on that theory here.
I don't think there are any air adjustments on the Harman P series...
Three things I have seen that gives lazy yellow flame is too much Ash in the rear of the burnpot , too low of a feed rate. .# 4 is supposed to be optimal but I run on #3 and flames are fine.
, and of course, Crappy pellets..If it looks like crumbling dog food, walk away..

canuck_22 said:

On my P61A using Cubex pellets I get a flame with darker orange at the base, using the Granulco(messy and smelly)pellets the base was blue. What should it be? or is it based on the type of pellet ie. soft vs mixed vs hard?

Thanks

Click to expand...

I am 60 years old so my recollection of High School science is but a dim memory. Having said that, I seem to recall a chemistry experiment involving a Bunsen burner, a pair of forceps and various materials placed into the flame. The point was to show different colors produced by heating/burning different materials. Damned if I can remember the explanation (probably had something to do with molecular structure), but the colors ranged from blue to green to purple to various oranges, yellows and reds.

My guess is that the content of the pellet, no doubt along with other factors like available oxygen, heat, etc, accounts for the different colored flames.

Hey, I wonder if that experiment is the reason I like to grill and smoke and generally barbeque???

Slight blue at the base is good.
Yellow flame that's lively is proper too.

Orange and lazy flame is not good.

Alot of us have pictures of our stoves running as our avatars. Just look and see what the rest of us have for flames.

Snowy Rivers said:

Slight blue at the base is good.
Yellow flame that's lively is proper too.

Orange and lazy flame is not good.

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A little purple doesn't hurt either.

I've only tried 3 brands of pellets; so far all burn yellow but the Okie Platinums burn with an outgassing flame - primarily above the fuel.

Cheers,
- Jeff