Pellet Newbie : Ecoteck Installed

Newbie to the Pellet world : trying to fight the high cost of propane heating.
Have been doing lots of reading, this forum is a great source of info : Special thanks to smwilliamson.
Expect stove delivery, this week, of an Ecoteck Elena 48K BTU 85% pellet stove. I had been pondering an Ecoteck or a Quad Edge-60 for more than a year, and recently some really good Ecoteck clearance prices (plus free shipping and no sales tax) pushed me off the fence. I would have preferred the Edge-60, but the price is about $2000 too high. I also liked the Enviro line of stoves, but my wife wouldn't go for the look of the Omega/Maxx.

I will self-install, with proper permits and inspections (of course), but would like some feedback/comments on my flue design. The stove will be in the corner of a one-story sun-room, out the back and then up, with the vent-cap about 3 feet above the edge (gutter) of the "A" frame roof. The 3 inch stove exhaust goes to a 3" to 4" adapter, then 45 elbow, then 90 elbow, 2 ft horizontal thru-the-wall, then T, to an 11 foot vertical rise. (This is all 4" Duravent Pellet Pro). I will install an OAK too.

I appreciate any comments or advice. Thanks.

No, my model is without the venting feature. The one with that feature was another $700....too big a price for that.

I bought 2 tons of C&C Smith "Wood Pellets" (very imaginative product name).......... I hope they are worth the premium I paid for them ($239/ton), versus Home Depot or Lowes stuff at $197/ton.

So, dumb question : Do only the flue seams that are inside the home need silicone seal? or also the ones outside?

Blazeitup : I am doing a self install, I have the dealer Tech manual. In it, it refers to the 4 or 5 levels of combustion blower trim settings availible to compensate for the flue configuration used, but it does not call out any target value for a magnahelic pressure reading. The manual just implies that you choose the blower trim speed setting depending if the flue is described as a free-flowing configuration or not. How do you recommend setting this? See my first post at the top for my flue configuration. Wa the glass etched because the stove was running too "rich", or too "lean"? Thanks

CrowBean : I got the "Elena Steel" (no ceramic on the sides) for $3690, free shipping, and no sales tax. They have various models availible. These are the best prices I have ever seen on these Ecotecks. Certainly not cheap, but there are not alot of choices in the US for a contemporary looking unit.

My Ecoteck was delivered yesterday, ordered my flue pipes today (Dynamitebuys).......now just need to decide what to do for the floor protection......I think my township inspector wants to see at least an inch thick pad....even though Ecoteck just specifies a non-combustible floor protector that is at least 0.02 inches thick ! I don't think I need any, since the floor is ceramic tile over backerboard.....but I understand that the Inspector has the final say.

firestarter : So the "Scarce Draft" recipe setting would be used for a restrictive horizontal vent config, and "High Draft" would be used for a free-flowing vertical flue, with lots of natural drafting? (or do I have the recipe names backwards?) Thanks

Ecoteck Elena install done! First burn yesterday...runs nice and quiet...lots of hot air. Decided to do a horizontal flue...wifey just did not want the big vertical stack...Got 2 tons "Great American Wood Pellets". I will post pics (and pics of the inside stove guts) this evening.

So here she is (Ecoteck Elena Steel). Seems well made and easy to work on, open access when the sides are off. The combustion blower is a Pabst-EBM variable speed motor, with RPM feedback to the control board. It is a 33W 97CFM unit, the same part number used in the Rika Austroflamm Integra stove. The ignitor looks like a standard immersion type of cartridge heater element (I measured it at 250W), and seems easy to replace. The convection fan looks also to be a high quality variable speed motor, Pabst-EBM too. The auger motor looks like a standard Merkle-Korff AC Gear-motor, 2.4 RPM. The welds are neat and clean, with use of high-temp pre-formed silicone gaskets. The control features a built-in room thermostat, with an adjustable "swing", and can operate the stove as a full ON/OFF (re-ignition) mode, or a throttle-back to low burn rate until the thermostat kicks it back to a selectable higher level. The stove has a built-in 7-day programmable thermostat too. The stove comes with an IR remote control, to adjust the thermostat temp, firing level, or turn it ON and OFF. You can also connect an external wired thermostat, a standard "close-a-low-voltage contact" for heat demand. The heat exchanger is stainless steel, with a scraper/cleaning rod. Interestingly, the 68 pound hopper is not sealed, I guess it relies on the volume of pellets to block fresh indoor air from being pulled into the combustion chamber. The fire-pot is stainless steel too. I have an OAK installed, and am venting about 5 feet horizontal with 4 inch Duravent Pellet-Pro pipe. The unit is very quiet. There are user menu controls for fuel-feed trim and combustion blower speed trims. There is also a timer, keeping track of actual stove operating hours. You can also monitor the actual exhaust temperature, and the measured RPM of the combustion blower. I am a happy camper....sorta the Ferrari of pellet stoves, I hope just not as trouble-prone as Italian cars tend to be!!

I followed all the manufacturers install instructions. The vent protrudes 4.5 feet from the side of the house, to meet the minimum 4 foot spacing to an operable window. The pipe is about 10 feet above a concrete patio. A horizontal vent config is allowed by the stove manufacturer, with no specified maximum allowed length. I am just waiting for the horizontal vent cap to finish the install. I'll post a pic of the outside flue when I get the cap on it.