Breckwell P24i - Burn Pot - Pellets burning too fast

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bchapaz

Member
Sep 29, 2011
26
Western NY
Hello All!

I recent installed a used Breckwell P24i, that has a differnt burn pot. The "air flow" holes on the back of the burn pot are in the proper place but the area for pellets is the entire pot, unlike all the pictures I see online (sperate steel burn pot insert). The fires I'm getting are not hot enough due to the pellets burning out too fast. Even if the damper is closed, the pellets burn out so I can't get a lot of heat out of the unit. The timings on the auger motor are according to spec and pellets are dropping. Could it really be that by having a burn pot being to large is the source of my propblem?
 
Is the damper control linkage actually connected to the damper?

Can you post a picture of the burn pot setup?
 
Here is a pic of the current burn pot.
 

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Would you please send a PM to kinsman stoves and ask Eric if he'd please take a look at your thread, be certain to include a link to the thread.

If the other burn pot causes less air to be available to the actual burning pellets (a designed air bypass) then it could be that there is too much air for the burn pot. I'd expect that to normally result in the fire going out because of the air flow causing the pellets to prematurely exit the burn pot.

I haven't got any pictures to go by at the moment. I guess that means it is time for me to place my manuals back on the computer. I did a bit of house cleaning this summer.
 
Thanks Smokey. Here is the "real" burn pot. I will PM Eric with the URL.
 

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I seem to remember the P24 having leaks. When you clean the stove look for empty bolt holes on the bottom. These will allow air to enter the stove and make the damper less effective. Plug them to see if it helps. I used hi heat tape, But there are many ways to plug them up.

Edit:
You have the original burnpot that came with the older stoves. As long as its not cracked they work just fine.
 
The two burnpot pics do not match. Could this be a homemade burnpot? I would also check for air leaks around the door. I have seen the door frame warp on a lot of Breckwell units. hold a metal straight edge to different areas around the door. if the metal is warped you have an issue.

Eric
 
Thanks for the reply. I'll pull the thing out (AGAIN!!!) and look. I didn't notice any holes previoiusly, but I wasn't really looking either. Maybe the upper auger assembly has something jammed that causing not enough pellets to feed?

Once again everyone, thanks for you help. I'll post an update when I get my head outta the fireplace!!
 
Eric,

I just checked (albeit briefly) and the door frame is straight. One thing I noticed is the rope gasket around the door doesn't have a lot give (not flexible) so I might try and replace that. If that causes enought air leakage, that could be the issue.

Again, thanks everyone!!
 
bchapaz said:
Here is a pic of the current burn pot.
your burn pot looks funny .like eric says it does looks homemade
 
I have an older Breckwell P24I and the burn pot looks like the picture he posted.

Stove runs great and I get a beautiful flame though. I'll post photos when I get home (~4 hours).
 
MrOletta said:
I have an older Breckwell P24I and the burn pot looks like the picture he posted.

Stove runs great and I get a beautiful flame though. I'll post photos when I get home (~4 hours).

I was hoping an older breckwell owner chimed in! Just so the others didn't think I was nuts! Please post the pictures for proof and Thanks!
 
j-takeman said:
MrOletta said:
I have an older Breckwell P24I and the burn pot looks like the picture he posted.

Stove runs great and I get a beautiful flame though. I'll post photos when I get home (~4 hours).

I was hoping an older breckwell owner chimed in! Just so the others didn't think I was nuts! Please post the pictures for proof and Thanks!
hey its gonna take alot more than a picture to make me think your not nuts. .......lol
 
You say they are burning to fast, but maybe they burnt to slow with your old burn pot?

What color was your ash before? The ash pictured in that stovr is a "good burn" in my opinion. If it were to much air and to little fuel, it would be whiter. A slower (low air) burn is a darker color ash, almost brown or black.. Hard to judge it all based on color, but this is a combustion process. And just like a car, these stoves need a proper air/fuel ratio... That color is about what it looks like.. Some of this depends on fuel quality also.

By quick, do you mean the Fire extinguish's itself?
 
The pellet amount cannot support the fire, even with the damper closed. On high, the flame is maintained for a little while but the damper is closed all the way and it will eventually burn itself out without a manual feed. On any of the lower settings it burns out by burning at a rate too fast for the auger rate to keep up. Called Breckwell and my 4 RPM feed timing is good (14 second cycle).

I checked for holes and the door frame looks good. Waiting for the door gasket cement to dry as I changed that incase there is too much air.

Thanks!
 
I see you checked the timing, But did you check the actual movement of the motor? You should see about 1 output shaft revolution at 14 seconds under actual load. These auger motors stahled easily and could be some if not all of the issue.
 
In addition to possible stalls it is also possible that you have a loose coupling connecting the auger motor to auger. There is another feed issue but it is rare, this is where the auger is tunneling through the pellets and not actually moving many of them.
 
I had the auger motor out to check it and it's well connected to the shaft. Secondly what's (and how would you solve) if the auger is chewing the pellets and not just moving them? I don't see that happening but I will keep my eye out.
 
Here are photos of the burn pot from my (I think) '95 breckwell insert. It's not in the greatest condition, but it works well. On medium settings I'll get a nice strong 5" flame, and on high settings I'll have a 8"+ strong flame.

Are you sure it's dying from too much air? How long have you had the stove? How has the cleaning gone in the air path channels?

I ask because this past season was the first time I had the stove, and an issue I had was a dying combustion blower, but also I missed some key parts in cleaning that inhibited airflow.

Though I guess mine would just overfill the burn pot because it wouldn't burn hot enough hmm.


IMG_3095.jpg


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I don't think there are enough pellets getting into the burn pot. I'm attaching a picture of the "C" setting after 10 minutes of starting. Not much. Again, the auger motor is turing according to feed rates provided for the 4 RPM motor and my control board. I did notice that on more that one cycle, very few pellets (or just pieces) fell into the burn pot. I did replace the door gasket, hoping that would be it but...

So it seems the motor is turning (auger turning with it), but there are not enough pellets going in. Any ideas?

Thanks!
 

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10 minutes after mine starting up on C (the setting I normally use), I don't have many pellets on their either.

I wish there was someway I could measure the amount of pellets that come out per turn on the C setting hmmm.
 
Empty the hopper, remove the auger flight cover and see what is in the flight also check for a pellet bridge (pellets sideways in the auger flight, frequently near the top of the flight), or a fines block at the bottom of the hopper (fines can sit there the auger has no trouble turning but pellets have trouble getting into the flight).
 
Smokey.. Already emptied the hopper and cleared everything out with a shop vac (while running the auger manually from the control panel). With the insert, I'm wonder if there is something at the top of the assembly (covered) that is inhibiting pellets form going all the way? If I clear pellets from the auger, the auger seems "full" of pellets wanting to go up. You had mentioned the rare case of pellets not getting into the auger, how would that be fixed? Secondly, about how many pellets should be fed during the cycle? I know it's not consistent, but I'm seeing anywhwere from 2 to 7 drop down. The amount is extremely inconsistent.
 
bchapaz said:
Smokey.. Already emptied the hopper and cleared everything out with a shop vac (while running the auger manually from the control panel). With the insert, I'm wonder if there is something at the top of the assembly (covered) that is inhibiting pellets form going all the way? If I clear pellets from the auger, the auger seems "full" of pellets wanting to go up. You had mentioned the rare case of pellets not getting into the auger, how would that be fixed? Secondly, about how many pellets should be fed during the cycle? I know it's not consistent, but I'm seeing anywhwere from 2 to 7 drop down. The amount is extremely inconsistent.

The flight cover over the auger should be removable or the auger can be removed at the back end of the flight, this exposes the entire length of the auger flight and allows you to remove anything that is sitting in the flight, if a pellet is jammed across the flight you should be able to pull it out, the same is true for anything at the top of the flight on its way to the drop tube, it is also possible for a pellet to wedge across the drop tube if thats the case a bent coat hanger can be used to snag it by going up the drop tube. The fines blocks (one cause of an tunneling auger) can also be cleaned out with the flight cover removed. The other cause of a tunneling auger is if the auger is to far above the floor of the auger flight (out of alignment) the fitting near the drop tube being loose can cause this as can the auger being too high above the flight floor at the bottom of the flight.
 
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