Pellet Temperature

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knightjohannes

New Member
Dec 31, 2008
8
Maine
As I've mentioned before, I'm a new stove owner (Magnum Baby) and just been running it at night when I get home until I trust it a little more. Last night and today and tonight was supposed to be the 36 hour test. But last night, it wouldn't burn right. LED 2 blinked, which the manual tells me is that the air pressure switch has opened.

I checked everything, cleaned the tubes, cleaned the pot, checked the damper (OAK inlet), checked the exhaust from inside and out. I restarted it several times, went to bed and woke up colder. Grrr.

This morning, I cleaned again, double checked my damper that it was operating as I expect and started it. It's been running all day thus far at various settings, providing heat well enough, but it's a cold one today, only 16 out right now, so it's been pushing hard to keep things up.

Here's my wondering... the manual says that I could have a pellet problem if the Air Pressure switch is repeatedly tripped. I have decent pellets, AFAIK, they worked fine all week. BUT, I brought in a fresh bag from the garage last night. Perhaps the stove gets cranky about burning cold pellets?

Anyone have this experience?

I've read a bunch of the sticky posts, but not every single one, apologies in advance if this is a FAQ that's already answered. I also tried using the forum search.

Thanks!

[edit: I've already brought in 2 bags from the garage to acclimate for the day/evening ahead]
 
Pellet temp might be an issue...I try to keep 10 bags in the house at a clip...from the garage...they might be picking up a bit of moisture....I.M.O.
 
You'll get more help if your titles are more specific and you include the make and model of stove you own. Include this in your signature and you won't have to think about it again. Does it help if I mention that temperature inversions will cause condensation?
 
I burn pellets right from cold garage gets down low 50's in the garage no problem burning.
Burned 46 bags so far this winter.
I have a castile using penington pellets from last year.

How long has your pellets been in your garage could be damp.
 
knightjohannes said:
As I've mentioned before, I'm a new stove owner (Magnum Baby) and just been running it at night when I get home until I trust it a little more. Last night and today and tonight was supposed to be the 36 hour test. But last night, it wouldn't burn right. LED 2 blinked, which the manual tells me is that the air pressure switch has opened.

I checked everything, cleaned the tubes, cleaned the pot, checked the damper (OAK inlet), checked the exhaust from inside and out. I restarted it several times, went to bed and woke up colder. Grrr.

This morning, I cleaned again, double checked my damper that it was operating as I expect and started it. It's been running all day thus far at various settings, providing heat well enough, but it's a cold one today, only 16 out right now, so it's been pushing hard to keep things up.

Here's my wondering... the manual says that I could have a pellet problem if the Air Pressure switch is repeatedly tripped. I have decent pellets, AFAIK, they worked fine all week. BUT, I brought in a fresh bag from the garage last night. Perhaps the stove gets cranky about burning cold pellets?

Anyone have this experience?

I've read a bunch of the sticky posts, but not every single one, apologies in advance if this is a FAQ that's already answered. I also tried using the forum search.

Thanks!

[edit: I've already brought in 2 bags from the garage to acclimate for the day/evening ahead]
Click to expand...

What does your exhaust consist of and the diameter.

Eric
 
kinsman stoves said:
What does your exhaust consist of and the diameter.

Eric
Click to expand...

Okay, you can start the criticism with my direct venting. :)

I run out the adapter into a 4" double wall (intake and exhaust) adapter, Metalbestos 45, then metalbestos straight piece which is capped with a straight cap outside to the North Wall.

The north wall gets pretty windy most of the time, but it buffeted by arborvitae that have been growing there for over a decade. The shrubs are well clear of the exhaust though.

The run of pipe is short, I don't think it could be any shorter and not meet my minimum clearances.

When I checked the pipe, it was mostly clear, a little bit of black, but mostly just a color layer, nothing deep.

To clarify, this is a Magnum Baby Countryside - although I'm not sure a Magnum Baby comes in any other flavor.

HTH, thanks.

j
 
knightjohannes said:
kinsman stoves said:
What does your exhaust consist of and the diameter.

Eric
Click to expand...

Okay, you can start the criticism with my direct venting. :)

I run out the adapter into a 4" double wall (intake and exhaust) adapter, Metalbestos 45, then metalbestos straight piece which is capped with a straight cap outside to the North Wall.

The north wall gets pretty windy most of the time, but it buffeted by arborvitae that have been growing there for over a decade. The shrubs are well clear of the exhaust though.

The run of pipe is short, I don't think it could be any shorter and not meet my minimum clearances.

When I checked the pipe, it was mostly clear, a little bit of black, but mostly just a color layer, nothing deep.

To clarify, this is a Magnum Baby Countryside - although I'm not sure a Magnum Baby comes in any other flavor.

HTH, thanks.

j
Click to expand...

Kinda stumped here with out looking at the stove. I would check to make sure you have a good seal on the door and ashpan.

Eric
 
My pellets live in the garage, unheated. The past few days it's been single digits down there.
Sounds more to my like you don't have a real good seal, perhaps the door, or as was mentioned, the ash pan.


Jim
 
kinsman stoves said:
Kinda stumped here with out looking at the stove. I would check to make sure you have a good seal on the door and ashpan.

Eric
Click to expand...

Thanks. Both the door and the ashpan doors were sealed up nicely. The ashpan door is a no-brainer - you either turn both the knobs all the way or not. if there's a problem, it's easy to tell. The front door, well, I didn't look closely at any of the seal stuff on the door to see if any of it was loose or out of order, but I will do so on the next fire.

It's been running since New Years morning now, I shut it down before my shower this morning, cleaned it up, fired it before I left for work and just came home to it, working fine, just pushing out BTUs. It's only 71 in here, I'd expect more, but... not sure. It was a lot warmer when I was testing. It's only dropped to this super low temp in the past couple days.

*shrug*

Thanks for the suggestions though. Still learning.
 
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