Avalon Newport Burn Questions / Problems

I have an Avalon Newport Pellet stove I purchased end of last year for this heating season. It is a freestanding unit and I have it direct vented to the outside via one 5' section of the 3" pellet vent. I purchased a harman wall thimble kit (with the integrated fresh air intake) to go through the wall. I have a piece of flex line from the harman wall thimble air intake (2" I think) to the stove ... but the intake on the avalon stove is smaller, like 1" I think. So I have the flex line centered around the intake on the stove. I tried to put a hose clamp on it for a tighter seal, but it just crushed the flex line, so I left it the way it is.

I also downloaded the manual from avalon website and cleaned the stove per their instructions before I installed the stove, and the vent pipe was brand new, so I know that was clean. I also have checked the door seal and ashpan seal with a dollar bill (as shown in owners manual) and both passed - meaning I could not remove the dollar bill. So I assume the seals are good.

I have burned about a ton of Dry Creek brand pellets (Arcade, NY) so far and everything seemed to be working fine. I would clean out the firepot once or twice per day - some clinkers form. I have the air set WIDE open, but could not have the heat setting up to the highest setting because the pellets would build up inside in the firepot. It blows ashes out of the firepot, but does not blow burning pellets out. So I left the heat setting at like Medium/High and we have gotten by with that. I did not think the air should have to be WIDE open and not be able to have heat setting on max, but it was working ok, so I left it.

However, this past weekend I bought 25 bags of ACP (Appling County) brand pellets and started using them. First night I loaded up the hopper, woke up the next morning to find the firepot overflowing with some burned and mostly unburned pellets. There were some smoldering pellets laying on the bottom of the ashpan. The settings on the stove were the same. So that morning I cleaned out the stove completely, left the air wide open, and adjusted the heat setting to medium. Seemed fine through most of the day. But woke up this morning and the stove had stopped feeding pellets because the pellets were piled up in the firepot and overflowed into ashpan floor. I am perplexed ... the air is wide open, the stove has been cleaned, but with the heat setting on medium, the pellets build up and do not get burned.

I thought I understood the basics of pellet stoves, but now I am wondering if I am missing something ? I have cleaned the stove many times as shown in the owners manual, so I am fairly confident that ash buildup is not the problem. I am wondering if I should put duct tape around the fresh air intake at the back of the stove to make up for the 2" flex line, 1" flange on the stove ? Perhaps it is not sucking in enough air ?

Any help would be appreciated ... I am going home tonight to clean the stove again and see if I am missing anything.

macman said:

Slingshot,

You mentioned that you cleaned the stove before installing it....is it a used stove?

The OAK isn't the problem....and the fresh air inlet tube is 1 3/4".....you can buy a tail pipe reducer at the local auto parts/muffler shop that will adapt your vent pipe to the stove.

BTW, there is NO reason to have the air control rod pulled out all the way.....if the stove is as clean as you said, it should be at about 1-2 on medium heat setting.

Click to expand...

Yes, I bought it used. I cleaned the stove again last night. I found a decent build up of ashes in the horizontal exhaust duct around the exhaust fan. So I thought maybe that was the problem ... not being able to move enough air. So I finished the cleaning, put it all back together, ran it for about 1/2 hour on high and had the air intake rod 1/2 open. That seemed to be fine, I believe the flame pattern was as it should be. I realized last night that when the air control rod is pushed all the way in, it only restricts the air intake chamber to 1/2 way. When it is pulled all the way out, there is no restriction in the air intake chamber. I think that is how it should be ?

However, woke up this morning to find the firepot full and smoldering pellets on the floor of the burn chamber !! I am not sure what is going on. I thought I had the problem figured out when I saw the build up around the exhaust fan. So after I cleaned out the smoldering mess in the stove this morning, I emptied out the hopper of the ACP pellets and put the dry creek pellets back in. We will see what it looks like when I get home from work today.