? on Mt Vernon stove, manual vs automatic mode

Gweeper64 said:

mainegeek said:

I've had my Mt. Vernon AE for three seasons now and I always run it on manual / medium-high with a 1.5 degree swing... that seems to work well. I also found auto ran longer and never really got to the set temperature.

Keep in my mind using Auto mode will lead to "dirtier" burns

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Aren't you restarting frequently though? How many ignitors have you replaced?

I tend to leave mine in auto mode with a 2 to 2.5 degree differential. Temp is usually set somewhere around 74 keeps the family room around 70 and the bedrooms about 67+/- . When it is really cold out (teens and below), I put it in manual mode on medium/low or medium.

mainegeek is right about "dirtier" burns in manual mode though. It isn't so much the fact that it is manual, it is that it runs on "low" which makes it "dirtier".

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No you misunderstood.... you get a dirtier burn in Auto. Auto will cycle through low/low-med/med/med-low/etc/etc. If you leave it on manual with a setting of medium-high to high you will get a cleaner burn

As far as restarting frequently.... it depends. When it is cold outside the stove runs nearly constantly. And still on original ignitor

mainegeek said:

A low burn is always a dirtier one

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Correct, but that has nothing to do with manual vs. automatic.

Sure it does. The AE's in automatic always do a lower burn.

mainegeek said:

Sure it does. The AE's in automatic always do a lower burn.

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Lower than what?

rona said:

. The dealers should be able to reprogram it with different software much like the Bixby owners can do.

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Rona, I found my literature which say QF offers an option called the "diagnostic kit" that according to the literature "allows the changing of additional parameters, updating of the languages and fuel tables, error log downloads, advanced diagnostics, and wall control function upgrades."

Maybe this will do what you want.

It also says:

Included in kit: USB cord, Service wall control, CD and instructions
Tools required: laptop (Windows 2000 or XP)
Kit part number USBCORD-AE

I have no idea how to get it, so ask your dealer. Good luck!

I was told that there was a web page available for dealers only and that only included fuel table changes. That was last winter so maybe things changed.

I believe this kit is only available to dealers, you need to log in to get the fuel table downloads. Ifthis has changed, please let us know, it would be nice to be able to diagnose these things ourselves like the Bixby.

mainegeek said:

No you misunderstood.... you get a dirtier burn in Auto. Auto will cycle through low/low-med/med/med-low/etc/etc. If you leave it on manual with a setting of medium-high to high you will get a cleaner burn

As far as restarting frequently.... it depends. When it is cold outside the stove runs nearly constantly. And still on original ignitor

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Yea, what I was thinking and what I wrote didn't come out the same. Corrected my reply for others reading this later.

ernest99 said:

mainegeek said:

Sure it does. The AE's in automatic always do a lower burn.

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Lower than what?

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When in auto mode, when it gets within 2 degrees of the "set" temperature, it will burn on the "low" setting. Many times, the burn is a bit dirtier than higher settings but it can also depend on your fuel too. YMMV.

First time poster.....great thread and board!

I have a Mt. Vernon Insert - this is my 3rd winter with it.

I've had quite an adventure with it - replaced the circuit board (very primitive; this unit could run so much more reliably on a PLC), firepot TC, ignitor, comb blower and heat exchanger baffle (cracked)....yikes! Just this AM I was up adjusting the comb blower nuts (that hold it onto the bell housing) b/c the fan blades were clanking against the backside of the bell housing - if anyone has a good way to set that spacing, I'm all ears b/c the gasket seems to be a bit too thin honestly (funny, they changed the gasket up in both material and size between comb blowers as well)!

It's been a LOT of work. I think they are remedying design flaws on the fly, but at least owning up to them (the firepot TC, new comb blower and baffle were all out of waranty but they still covered them and when I got the new ones they were definitely different).

But, I'm still a believer in it. When it works, it works fantastically and keeps my heating bills way down (being in NC, most homes are heated by heat pumps that are terribly inefficient below 40°F and my home has large windows and an 18' vaulted ceiling to top it off). I've had to learn how to be my own maintenance guy pretty quickly as these aren't populare down here, so local support is minimal. I've been pleased with Quadrafire's phone support tho, very knowledgable.

To the thread topic, I run manual only. No scientific data, but I'm convinced I use more fuel in auto mode. I started in auto, with the impression that it takes more fuel to start and stop the unit than it does to keep it running consistently. I just felt I was adding to the hopper 3-4 times a day that way. But, I changed to manual, high mode, zero flame height and 1.5° offset and I use about a 40# bag a day in the coldest months, 3-4 bags a week on average. I just changed my ignitor last week, so it lasted two seasons - I'm OK with that as I figured it to be a PM item and they are only $50.

I agree with the statement that QF holds this thing back a bit too conservatively. I think the stove is fairly hearty in design (structurally, other than the baffle bowing and cracking, no issues at all) but they are slowly working the kinks out of the mechanical side. PLC's aren't expensive anymore; change the programming logic and I think we'll all be better for it if for nothing else that the physical electrical connections are just a ton more robust (had to replace my circuit board b/c of the half-a$$ed connector to the TC's, they just hang off it basically and the receptical snapped off). The new TC I got is much sturdier than the original, 16 gauge wire; now it's a nice big beefy cal-rod type.

Anyway, long winded post but wanted to let y'all know who I am and what I got....will be checking back more frequently.

welcome to the funny farm, mjb. ;-)

Hi All first timer so go easy. This is my third season with a MT Vernon and last winter I burned it on manual all winter. As perviosuly stated I found when burnging on auto on low, low med, or med that I got a real durty burn. So, now I set 'call for temp" to 74 and run it on manual- Med High. When its warm out, above 40, it will reach 74 and come on an off, but also when its warm I set the room differently at 3.5 so it says off for awhile to cut down on the restarts. When its colder out it will not reach 74 no matter if I run it on med-high or high. This is mainly because of the auto-clean function-the room temp will drop about a decree to a decree and half each time it auto cleans so this stops it from ever reaching 74, in fact when its real cold out the stove never is able to make up the lose from when it auto-cleans, thus the room temp keeps dropping. Its one of the most fustrating things I find with this stove, I wish it did not have the auto-clean. I am buring hardwood pellets, on hardwood with a -1 flame hight. Happy Burning.

This is my 3rd season with my Mt. Vernon insert and although I've experimented with the auto mode I prefer manual. The stove is in my living room and the thermostat is one room away in the kitchen. I adjust the heat output setting based on the temperature of the living room where the stove resides. I'm trying to maintain a home at 70°F but if the heat output is set too high the living room will swing too warm while heating the house. Basically I don't want the living room warmer than 76°F. If it goes any higher than that it indicates that I'm not circulating the warm air quick enough, wasting heat, so I turn the heat output down. This seems to correlate well with outside temperatures.

50°F - Low
40°F - Medium-Low
30°F - Medium
20°F - Medium-High
10°F - High

I should also add that the fans in the living room which push the warm air out of the room are thermostatically cycled on any time the room reaches 72°F. This circulation method doesn't cycle on and off when the stove is in the automatic mode.

LMPS said:

Hi All first timer so go easy. This is my third season with a MT Vernon and last winter I burned it on manual all winter. As perviosuly stated I found when burnging on auto on low, low med, or med that I got a real durty burn. So, now I set 'call for temp" to 74 and run it on manual- Med High. When its warm out, above 40, it will reach 74 and come on an off, but also when its warm I set the room differently at 3.5 so it says off for awhile to cut down on the restarts. When its colder out it will not reach 74 no matter if I run it on med-high or high. This is mainly because of the auto-clean function-the room temp will drop about a decree to a decree and half each time it auto cleans so this stops it from ever reaching 74, in fact when its real cold out the stove never is able to make up the lose from when it auto-cleans, thus the room temp keeps dropping. Its one of the most fustrating things I find with this stove, I wish it did not have the auto-clean. I am buring hardwood pellets, on hardwood with a -1 flame hight. Happy Burning.

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Welcome LMPS. What brand pellets are you burning? Have you always burned the same brand? Myth busted: not all pellets are the same.

Thank you, I love this forum, I have learned more about my stove from this forum then from the dealer.
Burning Cubex this year. Last year burned LG and the first year some real bad pellet I have put out of my mind.
By the way I just found the thread I think you posted in about buring on sunflower seeds, and made the switch today.
OMG what a difference I have to reduce the heat output to low-medium Amazing. LMPS (Love My Pellet Stove)!!

LMPS said:

Thank you, I love this forum, I have learned more about my stove from this forum then from the dealer.
Burning Cubex this year. Last year burned LG and the first year some real bad pellet I have put out of my mind.
By the way I just found the thread I think you posted in about buring on sunflower seeds, and made the switch today.
OMG what a difference I have to reduce the heat output to low-medium Amazing. LMPS (Love My Pellet Stove)!!

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Ya, I just put my first bag of Cubex ever in mine early this morning. Definitely runs better on sunflower than hardwood with these too. I have my flame height adjustment around -2 or -3. I think j-takeman is onto something with his density theory for some of these "top shelf" brands. I want to futz with the "high elevation" setting a bit too and see what effect that has.

Stove just cycled off.... time to go give it a quick cleaning....

I think so too!! I have mine a -5 and it is working great so far. Happy Burning

Gweeper64 said:

LMPS said:

Thank you, I love this forum, I have learned more about my stove from this forum then from the dealer.
Burning Cubex this year. Last year burned LG and the first year some real bad pellet I have put out of my mind.
By the way I just found the thread I think you posted in about buring on sunflower seeds, and made the switch today.
OMG what a difference I have to reduce the heat output to low-medium Amazing. LMPS (Love My Pellet Stove)!!

Click to expand...

Ya, I just put my first bag of Cubex ever in mine early this morning. Definitely runs better on sunflower than hardwood with these too. I have my flame height adjustment around -2 or -3. I think j-takeman is onto something with his density theory for some of these "top shelf" brands. I want to futz with the "high elevation" setting a bit too and see what effect that has.

Stove just cycled off.... time to go give it a quick cleaning....

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If you ever score Hamer, Winter Warm(rebagged Hamers for HomeDepot) or Hardwood Heat(rebagged Hamers for TSC). With size also being a factor on how much the auger feeds to the burnpot. Hamer's are shorter in overall length so the will feed some more volume in. You might need to adjust the flame hight down for those. Just like the small dense softwoods you were burning. I would say -5 would be a good start fot the Hamers.

(My theory) Why I think they clinker forms is the ones in the burnpot haven't finished burning completly, There still a solid mass. The next feed smothers them and also cook's them once the newly dropped pellets get burning. Its just a hunch I have with these dense brands. I was pretty possitive that it wasn't the fiber with the Hamers Just like the some of other brands(Cubex, Okies to name a few). All bets are off if you happen upon a brand that has crap for fiber. This may help them but there clinkers are formed by other factors. Crap fiber with garbage in it will still be difficult to handle!

Now we just need to figure out what to adjust on some of the other stoves that have a clinker issue with these Hamers and other dense brands! Hope I explained my theory to where its understandable?

Compeletly Undestandable J!! Thank you for all you do to help the rest of us!! I was getting compeletly fustrated with the cubex heat output, until I read yours and others posts on switching to sunflower setting on the MT. Vernon. I just had to shut the stove down because my wife said it was too hot That is a first!! Thanks, Happy Burning.