Big-E Hi-Low & Pellet Bounce

solock · Oct 26, 2008

Running a Big-E for the first time this year and have an issue or two, one may be nature of the beast and one may be a true problem.

A: After several weeks of running I notice at cleaning time that there are quite a few pellets in the ash area. Maybe 20-30 partially burnt pellets in the ashes. Ive adjusted the damper to reduce this and that has helped from what was 3 times this amount to now, but there are still pellets in the ashes. My experience with a quadrafire castille insert over the last 4 yearsis that there is zero pellets in the ashes, but a clinker in the firepot weekly that needs cleaning. THe Big e has a spotless firepot but some pellets in the ashes. It isnt a big problem, but was wondering if other Big E owners have this issue. The firepot is cast, and doesnt have a lip or add on device that others have mentioned. This Big-E is the in between model, no removeable ash tray, but has the full glass door. (Rural King variety?) so I dont know if this variant even can have the lip thing added.

B: Hi-Low mode functions exactly as the ON-Off mode. It doesnt drop pellets when the thermostat is satisfied, it just goes into shutdown. The pellets dont drop at all. I thought it was an issue of adjusting the #1 rate up and that it wasnt dropping enough, but it doesnt drop any pellets on "lo" mode. I assume that this is a control board issue as the on off and manual mode work correctly. I intended to do Hi-Low mode when the room was occupied to reduce the temp fluctuations and the constant cycling.

Any suggestions? I intend to call the dealer Monday for assistance, but wondered what others experience has been.

Otherwise I love the stove, and the HiLow isnt a deal breaker...

Steve

flamegrabber · Oct 26, 2008

I have new Big E too, my first pellet stove.

I've been running in Hi-Lo mode too and know that the stove shouldn't shut down.

Mine works as advertised, when the thermostat calls for heat it switches to your hi level set-point. When it reaches temp it switches to level #1.

Sounds like your control board could be the problem. Or the switch contact itself isn't making contact with the hi-lo position.

Try moving the switch back and forth a few times.

Also, don't forget that you can only switch modes while the stove is off.

It will only run in the mode that the switch was set to "when it was turned on".

Good luck.

FG.

solock said:
Running a Big-E for the first time this year and have an issue or two, one may be nature of the beast and one may be a true problem.

A: After several weeks of running I notice at cleaning time that there are quite a few pellets in the ash area. Maybe 20-30 partially burnt pellets in the ashes. Ive adjusted the damper to reduce this and that has helped from what was 3 times this amount to now, but there are still pellets in the ashes. My experience with a quadrafire castille insert over the last 4 yearsis that there is zero pellets in the ashes, but a clinker in the firepot weekly that needs cleaning. THe Big e has a spotless firepot but some pellets in the ashes. It isnt a big problem, but was wondering if other Big E owners have this issue. The firepot is cast, and doesnt have a lip or add on device that others have mentioned. This Big-E is the in between model, no removeable ash tray, but has the full glass door. (Rural King variety?) so I dont know if this variant even can have the lip thing added.

B: Hi-Low mode functions exactly as the ON-Off mode. It doesnt drop pellets when the thermostat is satisfied, it just goes into shutdown. The pellets dont drop at all. I thought it was an issue of adjusting the #1 rate up and that it wasnt dropping enough, but it doesnt drop any pellets on "lo" mode. I assume that this is a control board issue as the on off and manual mode work correctly. I intended to do Hi-Low mode when the room was occupied to reduce the temp fluctuations and the constant cycling.

Any suggestions? I intend to call the dealer Monday for assistance, but wondered what others experience has been.

Otherwise I love the stove, and the HiLow isnt a deal breaker...

Steve

kinsmanstoves · Oct 26, 2008

Call you dealer, Rural King, and ask them for the burn pot shroud. It should have been sent one with the stove. If not call the factory and ask for one, cost is around $28.98. That will save your pellets.

Play with the toggle switch on the board. You might have a bad switch. If you had a dealer your should stock boards and switch you one, but you saved money and got a bad product.

Eric

solock · Oct 26, 2008

Thanks for the insight.

Didnt know that the Big-E only runs in the mode it was set to at power up... That may be the issue, as I was definitely turning it to hi-low after it was on on-off mode already.

Will be in touch with rural-king to see for the firepot deflector.

Wish I had a dealer that understood support, but my quadrafire dealer was completely lacking in support, didnt stock parts or piping, and this year went "pellets only for new stove purchasers" if you didnt buy the pellets before June. AS for breckwell dealers, they either had none when rural king did, or were substantially more expensive (almost 100% more than rural king).(also in June-July). So if I need to buy the part, still well ahead of the game.

Thanks for the help.

flamegrabber · Oct 26, 2008

I bought my stove from Rural King too and did the install myself so I"m on my own for repairs, etc.

But I've called Breckwell Tech Support a few times and they've been very helpful.

I'm going to look into getting one of those burnpot shrouds.

The stove doesn't need to be unplugged for a mode switch, it just needs to have completed a shutdown cycle and restarted for the mode switch to take ( obviousley you can throw the switch at anytime but it won't take unless the stove is shutdown and turned back on ).

The *only* time the control board reads the mode switch selector/position is when you press the "ON" button. Then it operates in that mode and doesn't continue to read the switch position while it's running/burning.

FG.

solock said:
Thanks for the insight.

Didnt know that the Big-E only runs in the mode it was set to at power up... That may be the issue, as I was definitely turning it to hi-low after it was on on-off mode already.

Will be in touch with rural-king to see for the firepot deflector.

Wish I had a dealer that understood support, but my quadrafire dealer was completely lacking in support, didnt stock parts or piping, and this year went "pellets only for new stove purchasers" if you didnt buy the pellets before June. AS for breckwell dealers, they either had none when rural king did, or were substantially more expensive (almost 100% more than rural king).(also in June-July). So if I need to buy the part, still well ahead of the game.

Thanks for the help.

flamegrabber · Oct 26, 2008

Solock,

How was your stove when you received it from Rural King?

Mine had a few scratches, one on the lower side and a few in the top/hopper lid. Also had a bit of painted over rust on the hopper lid.

I'm going to sand and repaint that next summer.

Thanks,

FG.

solock said:
Thanks for the insight.

Didnt know that the Big-E only runs in the mode it was set to at power up... That may be the issue, as I was definitely turning it to hi-low after it was on on-off mode already.

Will be in touch with rural-king to see for the firepot deflector.

Wish I had a dealer that understood support, but my quadrafire dealer was completely lacking in support, didnt stock parts or piping, and this year went "pellets only for new stove purchasers" if you didnt buy the pellets before June. AS for breckwell dealers, they either had none when rural king did, or were substantially more expensive (almost 100% more than rural king).(also in June-July). So if I need to buy the part, still well ahead of the game.

Thanks for the help.

solock · Oct 26, 2008

Ok, it is the issue of only reading what mode the switch was in when the on/off switch was pressed.

Even a power cycle doesnt necessarily override the mode switch. If it was in on-off mode, powered down, it wil still stay in on-off mode, even with a power cycle (unplugging)

Set to Hi-Low, pressed the power switch and it operates correctly.

When I unplugged the unit in the powered down state , changed to hi-lo, it didnt change mode, still worked in on-off mode. When I reset via the on/off switch the unit responds correctly and
fires up in #1 mode even though the thermostat is satisfied, then when raising the thermostat to call for more heat it kicks up and runs correctly.

Thanks for that bit of info, saves the potential headache of swapping parts.

As for the condition from rural king, there is a single scratch, 1/8" X 1" in the side. Other than that it is perfect. I probably wont even touch it up as its on the removable panel and not a big deal, OTOH the kinsman signature series makes me think of matching the room with a new color...

gw2kpro · Oct 26, 2008

kinsman stoves said:
Call you dealer, Rural King, and ask them for the burn pot shroud. It should have been sent one with the stove. If not call the factory and ask for one, cost is around $28.98. That will save your pellets.

Play with the toggle switch on the board. You might have a bad switch. If you had a dealer your should stock boards and switch you one, but you saved money and got a bad product.

Eric

Eric -- I have a breckwell P2700 and have the same issue, I get some pellets bouncing into the ashpan. Didn't know that there was such a thing as a shroud for the burn pot. Would one work for mine as well?

flamegrabber · Oct 26, 2008

Yeah I may have to look at a different color for my hopper lid. Can't beleive they painted over some rust on it. May not have been obvious to them at the time.

I'm glad to just get a stove. There were none to be had anywhere in New England. I mean NONE.

So I'm happy.

Plus you can't beat the price. $1399.00. I could sell this after 2 winters and make money on it.

Maybe by then the run on pellet stoves will have ended and I will sell it and buy an Enviro Omega, which is what I ordered and waited 3 months for before I finally gave up and cacncelled it.

Plus, from now on pellet stove technology will get better at a much faster rate due to the stronger demand.

FG.

solock said:
Ok, it is the issue of only reading what mode the switch was in when the on/off switch was pressed.

Even a power cycle doesnt necessarily override the mode switch. If it was in on-off mode, powered down, it wil still stay in on-off mode, even with a power cycle (unplugging)

Set to Hi-Low, pressed the power switch and it operates correctly.

When I unplugged the unit in the powered down state , changed to hi-lo, it didnt change mode, still worked in on-off mode. When I reset via the on/off switch the unit responds correctly and
fires up in #1 mode even though the thermostat is satisfied, then when raising the thermostat to call for more heat it kicks up and runs correctly.

Thanks for that bit of info, saves the potential headache of swapping parts.

As for the condition from rural king, there is a single scratch, 1/8" X 1" in the side. Other than that it is perfect. I probably wont even touch it up as its on the removable panel and not a big deal, OTOH the kinsman signature series makes me think of matching the room with a new color...

johnnywarm · Oct 26, 2008

flamegrabber said:
Plus, from now on pellet stove technology will get better at a much faster rate due to the stronger demand.

FG.

quote]

Without enough pellets to go around and the price of them more expensive then oil,they will fade into the dark of night.

solock · Oct 27, 2008

If you paid 1399, you missed at least two lower prices, I paid 1199, and a co-worker paid 1099 from rural king. Locally they were selling for 1999 at a swimming pool dealer who sidelines in the stove business and 2199 at another at a "pre season" savings! Rural king answered my questions, no BS, shipped exactly when they said, and had the best price by far. Dont trust a swimming pool dealer, and the other guy danced around the code issues too much to instill confidence... It pays to be informed and this community helps so much.

Thanks to all for your help.

Steve

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