I have been using my PDVC for about three months now and wanted to write done some of my observations.
Installation - 3" pipe - 4 ft vertical with 90 deg then 2 ft horizontal and cap. OAK - few feet long with intake at roughly same level as the OAK connection on the stove.
House Primary Heat - Wood stove and oil boiler using hot water baseboard. Pellet stove for family room.
Heating Area - 450-500 sq ft with overflow into kitchen - I am using the stove to heat a family room connected to the kitchen through a mud room. The room is newer construction and very well insulated and sealed tight. I have two fans moving air. One fan is near the floor pushing cool air into the room and a fan in the corner of the door is pushing hot air into the kitchen.
Stove Settings -
Most of the time the stove is running on the lowest settings (1-1 or 2-2) and I have adjusted two of the three magic buttons to help control pellet usage.
The default 6-4-1 worked well but was using more pellets than I wanted and putting out more heat then I needed for my application. I found that by adjusting the things to 5-4-1, 4-3-1 or 3-2-1 depending on weather I was able to fine tune the heat output and get lower pellet consumption. In my installation the stove seems to run fine in any of those settings. At these settings I am using roughly a bag of pellets a day. At some point I may try hooking the stove up to a thermostat which could help reduce the manual adjustments I have been making. On a night when temperatures went down to -14 degrees I ran a 2-2 with a 6-4-1 setting and the room was 68 degrees in the morning.
Stove Cleaning -
I have been doing a basic ash/burn pot cleaning twice a day using a 3" putty knife and then I refill the hopper. At that time I use a flashlight to check around the auger/feeder tube for carbon buildup and scrap as needed. So far a small harbor freight pry bar has worked really well to remove the carbon (http://www.harborfreight.com/4-piece-heavy-duty-pry-bar-set-1654.html ). The ash cleaning and carbon scraping takes just a couple minutes and the stove is back up and running. After 3 days or so I vacuum out the ash and clean the stove. It seems that keeping the stove clean helps keep the heat output constant.
Pellet Brands -
I have tried multiple brands and really have not seen large differences. Maybe I am expecting a dramatic differences. Yes, some produce slightly more ash and some have a little more heat. Are they worth the extra $? I am not sure but I have only been at this for a few months.
Heating -
Running the pellet stove has helped smooth out the temperature fluctuations in other areas of the house. For example the kitchen is warmer in the morning, even with the wood stove almost out. The heat from the pellets stove helps keep the kitchen warm. Hopefully the pellet stove will also reduce my limited oil usage by my boiler. Warmer house means wife doesn't turn up the thermostats on the oil boiler.
Power outage -
I have experienced two power outages with the stove running. In both situations the stove seems to have enough natural draft to get the smoke out the vent. Little smoke smell in the room.
Electric usage -
I have gotten two electric bills since starting to run the stove. For the most part my electric consumption hasn't really changed. Maybe $5 more a month with the stove running.
Good Points -
Lots of control over the stove.
Reasonable pellet usage.
Just seems to work.
Price was right - Factory second from AMFM
Clean takes few minutes a day - Less than wood stove
Minor problems -
Igniters adjustment - Either during shipping or my cleaning the igniter somehow shifted to one side. I found that a slight adjustment improved the startup. After adjustment pellets start burning within 5-7 minutes.
E2 Error - When I first installed the stove I would often shut it down for the day. When I start the stove backup it would take 5-7 minutes for the pellets to start burning but the stove would still give an E2 error. I suspect it has something to do with the cold temperature of the stove when I started it. Since I have been running the stove 24/7 it does not have this problem.
Hopper size - I wish the hopper was bigger. I can't seem to ever get a full bag into the hopper which is why I have started to top off the hopper twice a day.
Vent Pipe - I had lots of problems sealing the vent pipes but that is what I get for buying the cheapest approved pipe.
Installation - 3" pipe - 4 ft vertical with 90 deg then 2 ft horizontal and cap. OAK - few feet long with intake at roughly same level as the OAK connection on the stove.
House Primary Heat - Wood stove and oil boiler using hot water baseboard. Pellet stove for family room.
Heating Area - 450-500 sq ft with overflow into kitchen - I am using the stove to heat a family room connected to the kitchen through a mud room. The room is newer construction and very well insulated and sealed tight. I have two fans moving air. One fan is near the floor pushing cool air into the room and a fan in the corner of the door is pushing hot air into the kitchen.
Stove Settings -
Most of the time the stove is running on the lowest settings (1-1 or 2-2) and I have adjusted two of the three magic buttons to help control pellet usage.
The default 6-4-1 worked well but was using more pellets than I wanted and putting out more heat then I needed for my application. I found that by adjusting the things to 5-4-1, 4-3-1 or 3-2-1 depending on weather I was able to fine tune the heat output and get lower pellet consumption. In my installation the stove seems to run fine in any of those settings. At these settings I am using roughly a bag of pellets a day. At some point I may try hooking the stove up to a thermostat which could help reduce the manual adjustments I have been making. On a night when temperatures went down to -14 degrees I ran a 2-2 with a 6-4-1 setting and the room was 68 degrees in the morning.
Stove Cleaning -
I have been doing a basic ash/burn pot cleaning twice a day using a 3" putty knife and then I refill the hopper. At that time I use a flashlight to check around the auger/feeder tube for carbon buildup and scrap as needed. So far a small harbor freight pry bar has worked really well to remove the carbon (http://www.harborfreight.com/4-piece-heavy-duty-pry-bar-set-1654.html ). The ash cleaning and carbon scraping takes just a couple minutes and the stove is back up and running. After 3 days or so I vacuum out the ash and clean the stove. It seems that keeping the stove clean helps keep the heat output constant.
Pellet Brands -
I have tried multiple brands and really have not seen large differences. Maybe I am expecting a dramatic differences. Yes, some produce slightly more ash and some have a little more heat. Are they worth the extra $? I am not sure but I have only been at this for a few months.
Heating -
Running the pellet stove has helped smooth out the temperature fluctuations in other areas of the house. For example the kitchen is warmer in the morning, even with the wood stove almost out. The heat from the pellets stove helps keep the kitchen warm. Hopefully the pellet stove will also reduce my limited oil usage by my boiler. Warmer house means wife doesn't turn up the thermostats on the oil boiler.
Power outage -
I have experienced two power outages with the stove running. In both situations the stove seems to have enough natural draft to get the smoke out the vent. Little smoke smell in the room.
Electric usage -
I have gotten two electric bills since starting to run the stove. For the most part my electric consumption hasn't really changed. Maybe $5 more a month with the stove running.
Good Points -
Lots of control over the stove.
Reasonable pellet usage.
Just seems to work.
Price was right - Factory second from AMFM
Clean takes few minutes a day - Less than wood stove
Minor problems -
Igniters adjustment - Either during shipping or my cleaning the igniter somehow shifted to one side. I found that a slight adjustment improved the startup. After adjustment pellets start burning within 5-7 minutes.
E2 Error - When I first installed the stove I would often shut it down for the day. When I start the stove backup it would take 5-7 minutes for the pellets to start burning but the stove would still give an E2 error. I suspect it has something to do with the cold temperature of the stove when I started it. Since I have been running the stove 24/7 it does not have this problem.
Hopper size - I wish the hopper was bigger. I can't seem to ever get a full bag into the hopper which is why I have started to top off the hopper twice a day.
Vent Pipe - I had lots of problems sealing the vent pipes but that is what I get for buying the cheapest approved pipe.