Hamers seem to be different this year?

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geek

geek

Minister of Fire
Feb 28, 2008
1,470
Central CT
my friend had purchased a ton from Primo Pellets in Wallingford and we traded a couple bags, i got a bag of his Hamers to try.
Last night i decided to put it in.
Pellets are very different with some long length and hard to break pellets, color is different, lots of ash in my Napoleon and very black soot on top of the glass.
 
I am noticing the same thing with mine. I also am getting large clinkers sticking to my pot. I contacted Hamer by e-mail but have not yet heard anything from them.
 
I bought a ton in early April. Seemed just like the ones I burned last season. geek, I know the fellow your trading with. I see If he willing to trade a couple of bags with me. I don't think he's tried his Hamers yet. Still burning the GreeneTeams last I new.

I know there dense as heck. Probably denser than the Okies. How was the heat from them? geek, can you trim the fuel down to reduce the black stuff?

tsmith, Try yours in sunflower setting. Ask gweeper64 what settings he's been using.
 
I ran the stove on heat 3 last night and then changed to 2 around 8am today, the heavy black soot was there this morning, heat seemed fine I think..
 
j-takeman said:
I bought a ton in early April. Seemed just like the ones I burned last season. geek, I know the fellow your trading with. I see If he willing to trade a couple of bags with me. I don't think he's tried his Hamers yet. Still burning the GreeneTeams last I new.

I know there dense as heck. Probably denser than the Okies. How was the heat from them? geek, can you trim the fuel down to reduce the black stuff?

tsmith, Try yours in sunflower setting. Ask gweeper64 what settings he's been using.
Click to expand...
I just cleaned my pot before I read this so I have just put it on Sunflower setting. What are you thinking this will do for me? Does this give me more air flow through the pot?
 
tsmith said:
j-takeman said:
I bought a ton in early April. Seemed just like the ones I burned last season. geek, I know the fellow your trading with. I see If he willing to trade a couple of bags with me. I don't think he's tried his Hamers yet. Still burning the GreeneTeams last I new.

I know there dense as heck. Probably denser than the Okies. How was the heat from them? geek, can you trim the fuel down to reduce the black stuff?

tsmith, Try yours in sunflower setting. Ask gweeper64 what settings he's been using.
Click to expand...
I just cleaned my pot before I read this so I have just put it on Sunflower setting. What are you thinking this will do for me? Does this give me more air flow through the pot?
Click to expand...

Its a different fuel curve. Reduced the feed slightly and more air to keep it cleaner. I know gweeper64 has been having luck with this and the dense hardwoods. Dense fuels may need there feed reduced but still should give ample heat output. I hope it helps the burn for you.

geek,

You have a similar way to reduce the feed with your fuel trim. I use this all the time with softies in my Omega to get the black(rich burn) to a minimum. Check your manual and drop the trim by 2 from where you are at now. Trust me little buddy it works nice!
 
j-takeman said:
tsmith said:
j-takeman said:
I bought a ton in early April. Seemed just like the ones I burned last season. geek, I know the fellow your trading with. I see If he willing to trade a couple of bags with me. I don't think he's tried his Hamers yet. Still burning the GreeneTeams last I new.

I know there dense as heck. Probably denser than the Okies. How was the heat from them? geek, can you trim the fuel down to reduce the black stuff?

tsmith, Try yours in sunflower setting. Ask gweeper64 what settings he's been using.
Click to expand...
I just cleaned my pot before I read this so I have just put it on Sunflower setting. What are you thinking this will do for me? Does this give me more air flow through the pot?
Click to expand...

Its a different fuel curve. Reduced the feed slightly and more air to keep it cleaner. I know gweeper64 has been having luck with this and the dense hardwoods. Dense fuels may need there feed reduced but still should give ample heat output. I hope it helps the burn for you.

geek,

You have a similar way to reduce the feed with your fuel trim. I use this all the time with softies in my Omega to get the black(rich burn) to a minimum. Check your manual and drop the trim by 2 from where you are at now. Trust me little buddy it works nice!
Click to expand...
Since I have done this, it looks as if the flame is much more active and brighter. I actually turned it down from medium high to medium, it was really putting out the heat, may be able to drop it to medium low yet. Thanks for the advice.
 
tsmith said:
j-takeman said:
tsmith said:
j-takeman said:
I bought a ton in early April. Seemed just like the ones I burned last season. geek, I know the fellow your trading with. I see If he willing to trade a couple of bags with me. I don't think he's tried his Hamers yet. Still burning the GreeneTeams last I new.

I know there dense as heck. Probably denser than the Okies. How was the heat from them? geek, can you trim the fuel down to reduce the black stuff?

tsmith, Try yours in sunflower setting. Ask gweeper64 what settings he's been using.
Click to expand...
I just cleaned my pot before I read this so I have just put it on Sunflower setting. What are you thinking this will do for me? Does this give me more air flow through the pot?
Click to expand...

Its a different fuel curve. Reduced the feed slightly and more air to keep it cleaner. I know gweeper64 has been having luck with this and the dense hardwoods. Dense fuels may need there feed reduced but still should give ample heat output. I hope it helps the burn for you.

geek,

You have a similar way to reduce the feed with your fuel trim. I use this all the time with softies in my Omega to get the black(rich burn) to a minimum. Check your manual and drop the trim by 2 from where you are at now. Trust me little buddy it works nice!
Click to expand...
Since I have done this, it looks as if the flame is much more active and brighter. I actually turned it down from medium high to medium, it was really putting out the heat, may be able to drop it to medium low yet. Thanks for the advice.
Click to expand...

Don't thank me thank gweeper64, I am just passing on what he found with the dense soft woods. I had a hunch its not the woods species so much as the total density of the pellet themselfs. Keep us posted on the results. Hope this keeps things cleaner for you! :)
 
j-takeman said:
tsmith, Try yours in sunflower setting. Ask gweeper64 what settings he's been using.
Click to expand...

Hamers are hardwood, right? As I said in other posts, I have never tried them. I hope to though if I can find some.

I've also never used "sunflower" setting with hardwoods. I have no idea whether they will burn well on that setting or not. It might not even light. But, it works great on the super premium softwoods like Oakies and Vermonts (and probably Blazers too though I didn't try it with those).
 
j-takeman said:
Don't thank me thank gweeper64, I am just passing on what he found with the dense soft woods. I had a hunch its not the woods species so much as the total density of the pellet themselfs. Keep us posted on the results. Hope this keeps things cleaner for you! :)
Click to expand...

Actually, I think it is JoeS you have to thank (from about a year ago maybe). He is the one that suggested I try it with Oakies at the time.
In this old thread.

Good call on the density apparently, Jay. Let's see if it solves his clinker issue too.
 
Gweeper64 said:
j-takeman said:
tsmith, Try yours in sunflower setting. Ask gweeper64 what settings he's been using.
Click to expand...

Hamers are hardwood, right? As I said in other posts, I have never tried them. I hope to though if I can find some.

I've also never used "sunflower" setting with hardwoods. I have no idea whether they will burn well on that setting or not. It might not even light. But, it works great on the super premium softwoods like Oakies and Vermonts (and probably Blazers too though I didn't try it with those).
Click to expand...

I don't think its so much the wood species but more the density of the Hamers. I betting you find the same thing with Cubex and might need to run them on sunflower. Pretty much the same with the Okies. Dense fuel needs less dumped in and more air to over come the fuel charge. Sure hope this works!
 
j-takeman said:
Gweeper64 said:
j-takeman said:
tsmith, Try yours in sunflower setting. Ask gweeper64 what settings he's been using.
Click to expand...

Hamers are hardwood, right? As I said in other posts, I have never tried them. I hope to though if I can find some.

I've also never used "sunflower" setting with hardwoods. I have no idea whether they will burn well on that setting or not. It might not even light. But, it works great on the super premium softwoods like Oakies and Vermonts (and probably Blazers too though I didn't try it with those).
Click to expand...

I don't think its so much the wood species but more the density of the Hamers. I betting you find the same thing with Cubex and might need to run them on sunflower. Pretty much the same with the Okies. Dense fuel needs less dumped in and more air to over come the fuel charge. Sure hope this works!
Click to expand...
So far so good guys, had to turn it down to medium low, my daughter actually told me to turn it off that it is too hot in here, all this after complaining all week that she was too cold in her room. :smirk: I must say though that i switched it to sunflower after it was already running, so I am hoping it will still light when it comes on again I will let ya know. There was no clinker formation this time just some ash that dumped. Thanks again to all who came up with this idea. Great to have so many people willing to help each other out. :)
 
Hamer's suck at least in my stove, huge clinkers all the time no matter what i try and primo pellets is not a company i would recommend they don't even return a call or acknowledge that there is a problem, i will never buy from them again buyer beware, out of all the pellets i have tried these hamer's are the worse.
 
jay, i'm confused a bit when you say to drop the trim by 2 but will check the manual, i remember going through the manual when i got the unit installed but don't recall anything about trimming down the setting, i thought i only have the heat range and fan buttons to go up/down.

EDIT: the only thing i see for the auger is on page 30:
"AUGER
Pressing and holding this button will turn the auger, speeding the feed of pellets into the burn pot. This is convenient when
using the heater for the first time or when you have completely emptied the hopper and need to restart the heater".
 
you mean this:

"FEED TRIM
Both the combustion fan speed and the feed rate have been factory set but may need to be adjusted (trimmed) on site.
Due to the variables (i.e. vent size and length, pellet quality), the factory settings may not be correct for every installation.
To help keep the flame from extinguishing on the minimum heat level, the feed rate can be trimmed when in normal
operation (after start-up cycle). Depress and hold the auger button while you push the heat up or down buttons. This will
slightly increase the amount of fuel being fed into the burn pot. When trimming the feed rate, the LED’s will display the
factory setting (#3 light) with the ability to increase up two levels (#4 and #5 light) or decrease (#2 and #1 light) the length
of time between the auger feed cycle."
 
btw, i have the feeling this trim option doesn't work when the switch is in auto, which is what it is set to right now.....i did hold down the Auger button but didn't see any light change as explained in the manual.....
 
geek,

This board has the same features as my stove.

Depress and hold the auger button while you push the heat up button. This will
slightly increase the amount of fuel being fed into the burn pot. or Depress and hold the auger button while you push the heat down This will
slightly decrease the amount of fuel being fed into the burn pot. When trimming the feed rate, the LED’s will display the
factory setting (#3 light) with the ability to increase up two levels (#4 and #5 light) or decrease (#2 and #1 light) the length
of time between the auger feed cycle.
Click to expand...

Do whats in blue first if that doesn't cleaar things add some trim air as well. Check attachment for more info!
 

Attachments

  • Napoleon trim adjustments.jpg
    Napoleon trim adjustments.jpg
    126.3 KB · Views: 380
changed to 'manual' and then it seemed to make the changes this time....changed feed to 1 and fan to 4 (I think.....).......very long flames at the begining.....let's see after a few minutes.....

EDIT: flame back down, serious good heat with Cubex......stove making tinkering noise i guess due to the heat in the pot area....
 
So your now at heat level 2 with it trimed to 1 and the convection blower moved up to 4? To bad you don't have any more hamers to tinker with. But this may have been needed anyway for the Cubex. Another pretty dense pellet. If the fire looks to be nice and clean, You could move the feed trim up to 2 with the Cubex anyway. Or drop the combustion air trim back to 3. Keep tinkering until you get it were you think its best. If you get in trouble. Just sgut her down and unplug it. It will default back to the factory settings. Then just start over.

Keep us posted! :)
 
no, running stove at heat range 3, trimmed heat to 1 and trimmed fan to 4.........confusing a bit....
 
i just bumped the heat to 4 and it seems like flames are at a right level, remember the flames were really high when using heat 3, but now since i trimmed the heat to 1 it is more leveled.

wonder if i should try trimming the heat to 2 (originally at 3) and then try unit at heat 3 to compare without changing the trim level for the combustion fan......we can talk more via PM.
 
The cubex aren't as dense as the Hamers. You should be OK with heat level 3 and trim level 2. Don't forget you also trimed the combustion air up to 4. That usually lets you run 1 trim level higher on the feed trim. So you might be able to go back to heat level 3-feed trim level 3. Leave the combustion trim at level 4.

You have lots of things to play with. :)
 
j-takeman said:
I don't think its so much the wood species but more the density of the Hamers. I betting you find the same thing with Cubex and might need to run them on sunflower. Pretty much the same with the Okies. Dense fuel needs less dumped in and more air to over come the fuel charge. Sure hope this works!
Click to expand...

I scored 10 bags of Cubex yesterday. I'll hold off on a full report for now since I am only through half a bag, but I'll just say that I think Jay's hypothesis that the issue is related to pellet density seems to be panning out.
 
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