Uneven heat distribution from Accentra Insert

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bookpile

Member
Mar 27, 2010
90
Southeastern PA
I bought a used Accentra insert (manufactured Oct 2006) this summer and installed it into my home. Before I installed I disassembled everything I could and blew it out with compressed air in the garage.

Since it has been installed the right hand side seems to get hotter then the left. I was just wondering if this is normal. If you place your hands on top on either side of the pellet hopper door, the right hand side is hot while the left is just barely warm. Also the left hand "circle" in the grill decoration is putting out luke warm air and at a low volume. However the right hand circle is putting out a lot of air and much hotter. It seems like maybe something is dirty or blocked somewhere. Note: I did clean the heat exchanger tubes again last weekend, maybe not well enough?

I am also a little disappointed with how warm this is keeping house. The house is a 1948 cape cod with block walls, stucco exterior, drywall just on furring strips. I put all new pella windows in the house this summer. We are only trying to heat the downstairs area and at that we have one of the bedrooms closed off. Running at full blast it's 69 in the living room, 62 on the thermostat going back the hallway. I know the uninsulated walls are the real problem, I wasn't expecting to be walking around in shorts and a tshirt, I just thought it would do a little better then this.
 
yup on all counts. right is warmer then left and I was a little disappointed in the output also. I was expecting heat like the old wood stove.
 
Had the same problem with mine when I first got it.

Sounds like some ash may be compacted in the 2" sq. tubing between the left and right side exhaust.
Take the 2" brush that came with the stove and push it past the bend on the left side. Push it till it comes just past where the tube connects the right side.
Take a rubber hose and connect it to a shopvac and vacume remaining ash in the tubes.
 
I have an 08 accentra insert. Never had that problem. I can tell you this when its very cold below 20 and in the teens that stove cant go more than 4 -5 days withought cleaning. I go from 265 degree output on the day stove is cleaned to barely 200 on day 4-5. I think your left duct is clogged.Make sure that brush goes in all the way to your finger tips on the left side. A friend of mine had a dead mouse on that side one year lol.
 
Glad to know I'm not the only one with this problem. I got a chance to do a good cleaning yesterday and I wasn't getting the brush as far back as I should have been on the left hand side.

I was surprised to find wet ash all the way back on the left hand side. It was thick like a paste. I don't think water could be getting down the cap and it hasn't rained in quite a while here. Any ideas?

This didn't really changed the heat output on the stove, the left side is still cooler than the right. If I pull the stove out can I get to the area that I am pushing ash to on the left hand side? There has to be more wet ash back there if I'm pushing the brush into that side.
 
you can take the shop vac hose (the 1 1/4 In one ) and push it through the square tube. you have to pull the plastic connector off the end first. when you push it through the left side keep working it untill u look in to the right side and see the hose end sticking through in the back corner. your tube is clogged. If you cant get hose to come all the way through it is clogged. hose will go through that tube pretty easy if it is not clogged. If this dont work pull stove out and pull trap door off on right side and you can get to the end of the tube in the back corner
 
rickwa said:
you can take the shop vac hose (the 1 1/4 In one ) and push it through the square tube. you have to pull the plastic connector off the end first. when you push it through the left side keep working it untill u look in to the right side and see the hose end sticking through in the back corner. your tube is clogged. If you cant get hose to come all the way through it is clogged. hose will go through that tube pretty easy if it is not clogged. If this dont work pull stove out and pull trap door off on right side and you can get to the end of the tube in the back corner

Thank you very much for the tip on that trap door. I bought the stove used this summer and although I have tried inserting the brush to what I thought was all the way before, that tube was clogged. No matter what I tried I couldn't get the brush to come out so I could see it. I finally had to use a drain snake to get through the 'clog'. After quite a while with the snake and the brush I finally was able to get the brush through. I still feel like it's pretty dirty back there and none of my shop vac hoses were able to make it through. Does anyone else have ideas on how to clean that back tube?

The stove has only been running a few hours now, but it has so much more air flow coming out of the left side, and it is hot instead of luke warm. I'm hoping this is going to make a difference on if it can keep up with the house or not.
 
Just a note .The left side on my stove from day 1 has always been a little cooler than the other. My right side runs around 235-240 the left 215. But like I said in my earlier post when running 24/7 when its cold that 4 th day cleaning becomes very important. Just a thought if you bought stove used and it was in storage that could explain the moisture.If the last owner never cleaned that left vent properly if was probably gooky clogged mess,and from sitting in storage for a while didnt help.
 
the moisture is from the pellets never gets a good burn and collects on the ash. run it and brush it about 3 times over the next week. Then do it every time you clean behind the plates.
 
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