Castile Insert Producing Fine Dust in Home

Hello All,

I searched the site and found a lot of great info except my issue and the fix. I've been fighting a very fine dust when using the QF Castile Insert during the winter. I vacuum the unit daily and had the yearly service cleaning done.

Lignetics pellets are used as fuel. They've repaired the auger where coarse dust was leaking and being sucked up and blown out with convection air. Hopper and Ash pan area still has insufficient sealing from the rear of hearth/convection blower intake.

The firepot floorplate has been found to have an approx 1/4" gap when closed and a 3/8in tall pile of ash debris behind the ash pan.

So here's where I am;

Is there a Knock Out on the right rear wall of the ash pan for the OAK hook up? Why would the OAK Hole be left open so that ash can be sucked into the convection air intakes?

Anyone else fight that extremely fine dust produced as a by product and blown out by the convestion?

Is the OAK Hole normal and how can I control the production of fine dust.

Thanks everyone

begreen said:

Most of the dust with a pellet stove comes when loading the hopper. The OAK feeds the combustion system only. The combustion system is closed and independent from the convection system.

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Hi Mr. Green,

Understood, and that's why I'm still troubleshooting the unit as other friends' homes do not have this fine dust. It's so bad that I have to cover all electronics to protect them.

If you shine a flashlight in the ashpan area you can see light escaping into the rear of the unit. Same result when the hopper is empty. I also sift my pellets to remove any introduction of dust into the unit.

The concern is that the OAK was not installed and there's an open thru hole approx 2.5" dia on the vertical rear wall that opens from the ash pan area to the rear of the unit where the convection blower intakes are located. Thus somehow introducing fines into the intake during some time of the units' cycle.

reallyte said:

Since it's a negative draft highly unlikely dust would exit the oak hole. It sounds like you have other issues to resolve first for sure to know what cause is.

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What other issues am I missing? I'm at a loss as to the next step.

Unit is just at 11 months old.

Wouldn't the pressure lessen during the cooldown period(just a guess)?

Thanks

kappel15 said:

Even if you are cleaning your pellets, as I do, there will still be dust when loading the hopper. It is easily seen if sun is shining around hopper area when loading. I always use a vac hose sucking air when loading hopper. And where is this 1/4" gap located on pot floor? Only gap should be on backside of plate, and no more then a dimes width. When dumping the firepot or cleanout plates, ash will accumulate behind ashpan. Mine does it also. When dumping and cleaning stove, I always vacuum behind ashpan to stay ahead of it. The more you keep things clean, the less dust will be spread around. kap

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Thanks everyone,

The 1/4" gap on firepot is opposite of the pivoting side.

So when the floorplate closes it appears like it fully closes but falls down, (causing a 1/4" gap/opening). This is a new issue as it wasn't there last season.

For TUG; I have a humidifier in the bedroom. But it doesn't help. I just opened a bedroon drawer and a plastic package had that gray film of fine dust on it, (from about 60 days of Insert operation).

This dust is extremely finer than outside dust, That's why I suspect that the dust is a byproduct of the operation of the insert.

I've left a piece of double sided clear tape out and it captures this fine grey dust. Regular home dust is more course and brown in color.

I think I've narrowed down the mechanism of the distribution of the dust just not the source.

The dust is similar to the fines that I vacuum up every day in the hearth(closed burn area.).

I vacuum and shampoo the carpet regularly. HVAC Ducts sealed and door seals replaced within 1 year. HVAC flow/restriction test OK.

I don't think this unit's working properly. I've seen other people's homes and their insert dust is 80% less that what I'm experiencing. A 20% dust issue was what I was expecting, but nothing like this fine dust from hell.

This unit has been repaired 4 time in 11 months, so I believe I got the one build at 3;45pm on Friday.

I also believe that it's not working properly (as I've seen other Castile users and they don't have this extreme dust problem). Two disc issues, one magnet issues and the last was the leaking/defective auger unit.

I also replaced the Insert door seal just to eliminate it as a problem/source.

Has anyone looked into a type of filter for the intake @ the convection air blowers, (the Castile has side-by-side intakes)?

If I knew that this unit would produce such an extreme dust issue I wouldn't have purchased it.

Thank you for all the replies and have a "Pellet Dust-Free" Merry Christmas.

Mods; Change my name to;

Frosty the Dust Man
j/k

reallyte said:

Since it's a negative draft highly unlikely dust would exit the oak hole. It sounds like you have other issues to resolve first for sure to know what cause is.

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Sorry but I've been dealing with ANOTHER MECHANICAL FAILURE on my Castile insert.

Let me see if I can answer everyone's questions;
1) Humidifier installed after dust problem and uses RO/Distilled water(good catch though on the mineral issues).
2) Shop Vac w/new Hepa Filter.
3) Used 3 different types of high quality pellets, (this year was about 10-20% less dust)
4) The 1/4in gap in floorplate was a failure of the bolt/hinge and I'm trying to get that addressed with QF to replace it as the Tech only wrenched down on it.
5) The House Grey Fine Dust was confirmed to be same composition as the Fines but no 100% solution found yet.

The Tech returned, re-adjusted the auger and replaced a defective ignitor.

This will make 6 different failures on this Castile and still an unresolved dust issue in 11 months since New.

I believe that a) I have a lemon and 2) the installation is faulty.

Anyone like the Mt Vernon System over the Castile System as far as being cleaner and not a dust producer?

Thanks everyone and have a Merry Christmas.

PS If I missed someone's question please repost.

Harvey Schneider said:

Take a deep breath. You are over analyzing your stove and I think that you have jumped to the wrong conclusion.
If the dust is blonde (tan) it isn't combustion products, it is pellet fines. The coarser fines percipitate quickly and are found near the stove. The finer particles remain suspended in the air and disperse throughout the house. They eventually settle out, but that can take hours. An ionizer placed near the stove will help percipitate the dust faster.
Cheap brands of pellets have more fines than better brands. Lignetics is somewhere in the middle of the range. When I was burning them, I thought they were rather dusty. Handling the bags of pellets roughly also increases the amount of fines in the bag.
Last year I was burning LG Granules and found them to be much cleaner than than Lignetics. This year I am burning Cleanfire Pacific. I think they are even cleaner than the LG's.
I believe that you don't have a problem with your stove, I think that you have a problem with your pellets.

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I agree to a point that it's a contributor, but the pellet supply/availability is very thin, having HEATS(which I refuse to use), LIGNETICS and a new cleaner burning brand from UT or ID.