M55 FS Steel Control Questions

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JimmyJ

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Hi,

I have had my stove a couple of weeks and have been running it on Premium fuel since day one. I am noticing a lot of dark ash on the left and right of the burn pot. There is a pile on each side. I have been dumping this out every evening when I shut the stove off for about an hour. I also notice some pellets getting dropped into the ash pan which are not burned.

I tried to switch to Multi Fuel to see if there was a difference. There wasnt much difference but I did notice something. I thought the agitator was supposed to turn every 30 minutes in the Multi Fuel mode. In Premium mode it does this but in Multi Fuel I thought the stove whould switch to low and run the agitator. Mine didn't do this....mine in Multi Fuel mode turned with the auger. Every time the stove fed pellets the agitator turned.

I have the feed rate set at 1, and the combustion air at 5. The flame seems better on Premium. I am concerned thought with the ash build up on the left and right of the burn pot. Am I confused with this Multi Fuel setting or would my Control Board be mixed up. I tried unpplugging to get a reset but still the same thing.

Thanks in advance
 
JimmyJ,

I have the same stove, been burning since Nov.. The burn pot does fill up with ash on the outsides/edges, as the agitator
pushes them out. I have only seen an occasional unburned pellet go over, usually after startup when the pot is full of pellets
and agitator is stirring things up. Are we talking a lot of pellets or just a few? IMO a few now and then is normal.

Multi Fuel mode turns the agitator in sync with the auger feeding, then after 30 mins. it will turn for 1 min. to clean
the pot.
 
Thanks for the reply. There would not be a lot of pellets but enough to notice after a day of burning. So the ash on each side of the burn pot is there but as more pellets burn that ash gets pushed off? So there will always be a pile on each side of the burn pot? To me it doesnt look like the ash is moving. I thought the agitator mixes it up and ash falls through the holes in the burn pot....not get pushed to the sides. I have been shutting the stove down every night to dump those piles on each side of the burn pot....is that necessary?

Ok, so the agitator turning in time with the auguer feed is normal. I thought the Mult and Prem were the same......agitator turned every 30 minutes but in Mult fuel mode it puts stove in low mode for the minute.
 
Yes the ash is always present on the sides of the burn pot, as the agitator turns some pellets are pushed to the sides which sends
some ash over the edge. Sometimes hardly any ash falls over, and yes a lot of ash falls thru the bottom of the burn pot. I occasionally
scoop the ash off the ends of the pot if it looks like it is clumping (don't even turn the stove off), but generally just leave it. Been burning
24/7 and shut down only for cleanings weekly, could go longer but its a habit now.
 
JimmyJ said:
So you just scrape some of the ash out when the stove is running??

Yup, I run mine on a stat. When its idling low I open the door slow, and quick scrape the ends. Takes 5 seconds.
 
JJ -

Wach is right on the money.

I would suggest buring your stove the reqular setting - premium may not be required.

Additionally, Check out his thread on tweaking the settings.

https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/forums/viewthread/68505/P0/


It contains great info like

Stirrer Operation Description

Program #1 (premium pellets)
- Startup, start stirrer at 5min then pulse with auger till run mode starts.
- Run Mode, stirrer on for 1min off for 30min
- Shutdown, stir for 5min

Program #2 (regular pellets)
- Startup, start stirrer at 5min then pulse with auger till run mode starts.
- Run Mode, stirrer pulses same as the auger.
- Shutdown, stir for 5min

Program #3 (multi fuel)
- Startup, start stirrer at 5min then pulse with auger till run mode starts.
- Run Mode, stirrer pulses same as the auger.
- Every 30min drop feed to low and run stirrer continuously for 1min
- Shutdown, stir for 5min
 
That is what I dont understand though......with premium it should be burning the best? why would regular be better? Just trying to get a feel for the different settings. I am burning "Eastern Ambers" which is a premium pellet and the only one I have ever burned. We have limited access to different kinds but this is the one the dealers around here all recommend.
 
JimmyJ said:
That is what I dont understand though......with premium it should be burning the best? why would regular be better? Just trying to get a feel for the different settings. I am burning "Eastern Ambers" which is a premium pellet and the only one I have ever burned. We have limited access to different kinds but this is the one the dealers around here all recommend.

Your logic makes sense...but we are talking about labels that have realtive meaning...most pellet companies feel they have a premium product and are more than happy to put it on the bag.

Much of this is trial and error.

The big difference between the two settings - on regular the stirrer turns incrementally with the auger, on premium the stirrer turns for one minute for every 30.

So premium may be assuming a much lower ash content. I like the stirrer keeping the burn pot clean.
 
I would only put it in Premium mode with super premium brands. If it has more than 0.4% ash keep the agitator working for you.

I also found not brushing the ash off the edge helps keep the pellets in the burnpot on start ups. Only time I brush it off is on my once a week cleaning. When more gets pushed out it will push whats there over the edge. I don't even open the door for a whole weeks burning. With the exception of fuels that leave a carbon deposit that sticks to the burnpot liner. I may pull the liner here and there when I hear the dreaded grown. Its like someone running there fingers down a chalk board to me!
 
Thanks guys.....


I have it set to regular now. My agitator makes a high pitch squeel when its on so I liked when it wasnt turning. I mentioned before in here it is like a faint dog whistle sound. You def hear it. I have tried the supplied lube that came with it a couple of times but no real difference. I see what you mean though about keeping the pot clean by the agitator moving.

Last night was the first time I burned in regular mode. The agitator did turn with the auger feed but after a while it kept running for like a minute. I thought that was only on Prem and Multi modes? The flame seemed simlar to the Prem mode but better than the Multi mode.

Burning on level 2 leaves my glass pretty black though. I have the feed rate at 1 and the combustion air at 5. My flame seems great at 5 in terms of not being dirty etc.
 
I was watching that....can I do this with this assembled on the stove? So at the 2:15 mark of the video....do I just loosen those 4 screws and loosen the tension of the chain and tighten them back up again without taking it off the stove?

The video is great though.
 
I will try and loosen it tonight when I get home.....do you really think it would be the chain making the noise. The agitator itself seems to move nice with no friction inside the stove.

Thanks again
 
JJ, I made this adjustment to mine, it does help. The chain is set tight from the factory and resonates sound like guitar string, also
IMO the tight chain may put a little more stress on the sprockets & bearings ie. noise.
 
Hello,

I tried to adjusting the chain and it doesnt seem to have helped. The high pitch is still there. No way I could run on either "Multi" or "Reg" as the constant agitator turning with that whistle noise would drive me crazy.I lubed the agitator again and no differnce.

I am at a lose.....stove works great though besides this.
 
There are two likely places to look to fix your noise. Make sure you are lubing the left hand side of the agitator rod right where it rests in the bushing. I put the agitator into the hole, lock it in place and then squirt a touch of the anti-seize in between the agitator rod and the bushing. The other place that can cause this "whine" is the agitator tines are rubbing against a carbon buildup in the burn pot. You have to take the burn pot out and scrape all the carbon off. Also make sure there is no buildup on the tip of the agitator tines. If you do both of these, the noise should stop. My agitator makes no noise whatsoever...except I can hear the motor itself.
Flynfrfun
 
I have tried to lube both sides of the agitator as well as scrapping the burn pot. I take it out each time I clean and do this.....not sure but I am at a loss to how to fix this.
 
JimmyJ said:
I have tried to lube both sides of the agitator as well as scrapping the burn pot. I take it out each time I clean and do this.....not sure but I am at a loss to how to fix this.

Hmmm....is there any chance you are not getting the burnpot to rest all the way down on it's mount? If so, it would be higher which would make the tines rub the bottom of the burnpot liner. The actual burnpot (the part the burnpot liner sits on) has two prongs on the front that should slip into two holes in the frame of the stove. If they were not in the holes, the burnpot would sit too high. Next time you are in there, take a look and see if the tines are rubbing the burnpot liner. I believe mine have about 1/16" gap between the tines and the burnpot liner. If you have the gap, then the problem has to be the agitator rod end...one side or the other, but most likely it's the left side. Clean the agitator rod end with steel wool or even 150 grit sandpaper to make sure you have knocked off any buildup that would interfere with the lube.
Flynfrfun
 
I will try the sandpaper tonight. I do have the burnpot in correctly. I notice if I roll the agitator slowly I can almost hear the same noise....the agitator does turn freely without touching anything in the burnpot.
 
Good news.....I took the agitator out last night and sanded down the end and replaced with lube and it seems to have worked. Every little while you hear a slight whistle so it may need a little more sanding but I think we found the problem.

Thanks for all the help. Really appreciate it.
 
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