Ash Cake in the Fire Pot every 24 hours and I have to clear it out.

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Yes, except that you and half of the known universe seem to forget is that, that, isn't the only place that the combustion blower is drawing its air from.

Ever hear of air washes, bad seals in the feed system when the feed system is exposed to ambient air, under powered combustion blowers, oxygen depleted air, crud in the works, and one of my all time favorites negative room air pressure.

It is a delicate balance, if one wishes to burn and not have to deal with cleaning a burn pot all the time you have at least make sure everything that should be sealed is and that all gaskets are truly functioning.

Otherwise you have to go to low ash pellets or a high ash burn pot and even then it might not make the situation all that much better.

The situation in other disguises just waiting to strike is in threads all over this forum.
 
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LordmetalZ28 said:
So say air Is wide open the only other thing restricting you air once your gasket is 100% sealed is your burn pot holes assuming your oak is not clogged
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You are not looking at where the item is that is moving the air.

When the combustion blower sucks its air into the firebox and there is any possibility of obtaining its air from any source on the firebox side of that burn pot it will draw as much of its air from there in preference to what it can get through the burn pot.
 
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SmokeyTheBear said:
You are not looking at were the item is that is moving the air.

When the combustion blower sucks its air into the firebox and there is any possibility of obtaining its air from any source on the firebox side of that burn pot it will draw as much of its air from there in preference to what it can get through the burn pot.
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Im going to keep this in mind and check stuff out also maybe plug off this air wash and enlarge these burn pot holes. Id imagine if there where leaks you where speaking of id have a problem pulling enough vaccum to satisfy my pressure switch
 
LordmetalZ28 said:
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Im going to keep this in mind and check stuff out also maybe plug off this air wash and enlarge these burn pot holes. Id imagine if there where leaks you where speaking of id have a problem pulling enough vaccum to satisfy my pressure switch
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Do not play with the holes in the pot.

What do you have for a stove?
 
LordmetalZ28 said:
Its something worth digging into. I honestly feel it is not the green supremes alone causing these giant clinker blocks
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On the ash side those pellets rate as high ash end of premium, if that stove is rated to burn standard grade pellets it should have no trouble, if it is only rated to burn premium grade pellets you'll have to be certain the stove is properly sealed such that as much air as possible comes through the burn pot and you will have to pay a lot of attention to properly cleaning it.

I've seen pictures of ash traps that were well filled after burning a moderate amount of those.

Please add stove model information to your signature so we don't have to ask.
 
SmokeyTheBear said:
On the ash side those pellets rate as high ash end of premium, if that stove is rated to burn standard grade pellets it should have no trouble, if it is only rated to burn premium grade pellets you'll have to be certain the stove is properly sealed such that as much air as possible comes through the burn pot and you will have to pay a lot of attention to properly cleaning it.

I've seen pictures of ash traps that were well filled after burning a moderate amount of those.

Please add stove model information to your signature so we don't have to ask.
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Here you go guys & girls ..... from the manual about pellets that can be used in this stove etc......


US Stove 5660_Ashley AP5660L_Pellets_P & S Grade.JPG
 
BTW, this is the newer stove that has the basic control board, there are no extra settings like trim and so forth as with the older 5660.
 

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I have last years 5660 stove with the stainless pot and side mounted controls. These bricks I am making were of no issue until 3 weeks ago but I switched to a different supplier of pellets, even though they were still Easy Heats Supremes, and I think they were out door stored of last years making. SideCarFlip's suggested I just quit screwing around and get known good pellets such as Somersets, so i chased them down today and found them by the bag and pallet so I am sampling them tonight and tomorrow and I am already getting record hot heat, I am getting a peak of 300 on my stove top in my same hottest spot I always check and the previous record was 225 on Easy's and 248 on some generic new TSC pellets I was trying last night and now the Somersets are giving 300 !! The flame is more yellow and less orange. I like the hot part and we will see if I still get the buildup. As far as air leaks I still consistently get the same .22 on my Dwyer Magnehelic when running hot on high and it may be closer to .21 on these somersets as hot and high settings give lower vacuum #'s

I am really amazed by the burn and heat of these somersets !! I now understand what you guys mean by switching to my "cold weather" pellets, I have never had good pellets until now. It would be nice if I don't get bricks now.
 
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Doug Doty said:
I have the same 5660 stove as the other two. These bricks I am making were of no issue until 3 weeks ago but I switched to a different supplier of pellets, even though they were still Easy Heats Supreams, and I think they were out door stored of last years making. SideCarFlip's suggested I just quit screwing around and get known good pellets such as Summersets, so i chased them down today and found them by the bag and pallet so I am sampling them tonight and tomorrow and I am already getting record hot heat, I am getting a peak of 300 on my stove top in my same hottest spot I always check and the previous record was 225 on Easy's and 248 on some generic new TSC pellets I was trying last night and now the Summersets are giving 300 !! The flame is more yellow and less orange. I like the hot part and we will see if I still get the buildup. As far as air leaks I still consistently get the same .22 on my Dwyer Magnehelic when running hot on high and it may be closer to .21 on these summersets as hot and high settings give lower vacuum #'s

I am amazed by the burn and heat of these summersets !! I now understand what you guys mean by switching to my "cold weather" pellets, I had never had good pellets until now. I'll use easy heat ash brick makers when I don't hardly need any heat and till they are gone forever and nothing but these Summersets from now on. It would be nice if I don't get bricks.
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I have 3 tons of junk myself. Like you I plan on only buying the good stuff from now on. I believe the junk pellets are enough to get me thru next winter also so im gonna be very picky about my pellets next year
 
I am so amazed at these Somerset pellets I have to change that embarrassing avatar Picture !!!
 
I asked the local farm store to return my easyheat's yesterday and they obliged so I only kept the partial pallet of 25 bags to use while I was in search of new. Now I am don searching and I still have 24 bags. I may need the lousy pellets as these somersets are smothering us !! For the first time ever the wife said TURN IT DOWN. Find your hottest spot on top with an IR gun if you have one. They are not perfect but if used consistently mine seems to give very consistent readings. I have said it before I often measure in 2 places for reference. One is in the front center, 1" back onto the flat area, the other is about 2" more left and 3" further back and is about always the same as my hottest spot. It is all meaningless other than hotter is hotter and is 1 point of sorting pellets. This pic was my hot spot just before the wife piped up :) This is 100 degrees hotter than lousy pellets on a bad day. 200 to 215 was not uncommon before these pellets.

410679265.jpg
 
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my 5660 had a major bypass at the ash pan gasket. I added self stick flat gasket around the opening to tighten things up. Now it passes the dollar bill test!!!
I also recently replaced my door and window gaskets. That made a huge improvement in airflow as well.
 
Is your fire pot the steel or stainless steel one ??
 
Stove is on heat setting 4, burning my crappy pellets. Stove has been running about an hour on this setting.

The two pics with the IR gun show my readings with the IR gun pointed at the stove in the center top of the door, I use this as my ref point. You will see the red dot from the IR gun. This is about 100 - 150F lower than my hot burning pellets.

This is the temp in the next room over on my wall clock.

My other ref point is with the IR gun pointed into the stove just above the drop chute for the pellets, I've had readings of 600 - 620F burning my hot pellets on heat setting 5.
 

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We are back down on #1 setting cooling off our room, family couldn't handle #5, the heat these SS pellets put out is over the top. I'll take some comparable #'s to yours if we can get back on high.
 
My ask Cake factory is shut down !! When I switched to the Somerset pellets The ash accumulation I was getting in less than 24 hours was resolved. In fact I burned a 50/50 blend and appears I can get by like that as well. I'm at 40 hours now and the pellets are burning out of the bottom of the pot so all is good in river city after the switch to somerset pellets. I mentioned it else ware but they are burning almost 100 degrees hotter then the old Easy Heats as measured as stove top surface temperature.
 
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Doug Doty said:
My ask Cake factory is shut down !! When I switched to the Somerset pellets The ash accumulation I was getting in less than 24 hours was resolved. In fact I burned a 50/50 blend and appears I can get by like that as well. I'm at 40 hours now and the pellets are burning out of the bottom of the pot so all is good in river city after the switch to somerset pellets. I mentioned it else ware but they are burning almost 100 degrees hotter then the old Easy Heats as measured as stove top surface temperature.
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Problem solved Its not the 5660 its the garbage pellets. Hey I still have 5 bags of easy heat you intrested lol
 
If there is free shipping sure, I can return em for 15 bucks
 
Contrary to what some say in other threads, and in keeping with what you folks have found, pellet brand makes a world of difference. I burn a decent quality "shoulder" pellet with Presto's (1% ash) but for cold weather switch to Hamer's Ultra Premium (1/2%) largely because off the greatly reduced ash and the fine quality of that ash. I get a bit more heat, but the primary reason is that doing so alows me to maintain my regular clealning schedule of tearing down just a part of my two stoves once per month (basically baffle / firebrick removal but not pulling motors) rather than having to do so more often despite much greater use of stove. Some of the pellet brands mentioned above (generally those sold by "super discount" box stores) create so many headaches for me in terms of ash, ash cakes and grime in my stoves that I won't take them if you give them to me. My time is worth to much to make burning that junk worthwhile! Like clothes, tools and cars - avoid the glitz, but spend a little more for quality and you'll be much haappier in the long run.
 
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