Castle Serenity - lots of ash

[Deezl Smoke]

Not all Serenitys are created equal. You may have one that has a very good exhaust fan and even with the fan slow, there is too much velocity. In that case, leave the fan slow and close the gate opening to try to reduce the air volume. The pellets should only dance when the auger drops a new bunch in, and makes the half burned ones jump a bit, but not out of the pot. If the burning pellets are dancing so much that they jump out of the pot, you have too much inlet air. I would'nt be surprised if you have to nearly close off the inlet gate. Your exhaust fan may just be that powerful. Remember, these stove were made over seas, and though they work very well and seem to have good support, they will have a great variance in assembly tolerances. This can mean one stove will have too much air, and the next stove can have too little. Each stove, especially at this price point will have its own character.

 

[mrbeal]

Not all Serenitys are created equal. You may have one that has a very good exhaust fan and even with the fan slow, there is too much velocity. In that case, leave the fan slow and close the gate opening to try to reduce the air volume. The pellets should only dance when the auger drops a new bunch in, and makes the half burned ones jump a bit, but not out of the pot. If the burning pellets are dancing so much that they jump out of the pot, you have too much inlet air. I would'nt be surprised if you have to nearly close off the inlet gate. Your exhaust fan may just be that powerful. Remember, these stove were made over seas, and though they work very well and seem to have good support, they will have a great variance in assembly tolerances. This can mean one stove will have too much air, and the next stove can have too little. Each stove, especially at this price point will have its own character.

Good point about tolerances and fan power variations. Luckily I don't have red hot pellets bouncing out of the firepot, they just dance around in the bottom of it from being blown by the air movement. And that's only happening intermittently. "If" it gets cold enough tonight/tomorrow I'll play around with the damper opening and exhaust fan speed to see if I can stop these sparks from flying out. In addition to that I'm going to try different pellets to see if there is any variation (since this thread was originally about excess ash).

Any chance a mod can change the title of this thread to Castle Serenity? I think the ash issue has been resolved enough but there's a lot of good info about the stove being thrown around.

 

[Deezl Smoke]

I just thought of another question. When the fan is on low, and then you go to shut down the stove, can you hear the fan run up to high to clear the pot of embers?

 

[mrbeal]

I just thought of another question. When the fan is on low, and then you go to shut down the stove, can you hear the fan run up to high to clear the pot of embers?

Yup... it's also cooling the stove off to disperse the heat ASAP.

 

[mrbeal]

Exhaust fan speed... it's hot in here and I want to turn the stove down a bit - I have little to no sparks outside the vent at the current setting, should I use the current exhaust fan setting at "LOW" heat setting?

 

[Deezl Smoke]

Yes. But what is the fan set at? 80 volts? The heat number scale can be tuned.

 

[Deezl Smoke]

I just took a couple pictures of my settings.

 

[mrbeal]

Maybe I didn't word the question right... I know the current exhaust voltage on my stove on MEDIUM doesn't let sparks out... should I use the same exhaust fan setting on LOW? 80V on MED seems right, would I use the same or LESS on LOW? I'm just trying to figure out where to start my trial and error since I'm still not 100% on what I'm doing with this thing.

 

[Deezl Smoke]

80 is the lowest voltage, unless they changed the controller since mine. So yes, if you are at 80 volts, leave it at 80 since you cant go lower.

 

[alternativeheat]

The more I read about this serenity the better I like it, at least for the money.

Where did you end up setting the damper at or is it still 1/3 open ? It's sounding like you are down to little 1/8th inch damper tweaks now.

If you get some FSU pellets I'll be curious what your take is on them with this stove. or will you now stick with the TSC pellets ?

 

[mrbeal]

The more I read about this serenity the better I like it, at least for the money.

Where did you end up setting the damper at or is it still 1/3 open ? It's sounding like you are down to little 1/8th inch damper tweaks now.

If you get some FSU pellets I'll be curious what your take is on them with this stove. or will you now stick with the TSC pellets ?

I got some FSU pellets today, I'm letting the hopper empty out and then I'll fill with the FSU. I bought 12 bags at HD for about $5.12/bag.
I haven't looked at the damper opening to make note of how open it is... I just cleaned everything out and would have to guess it's somewhere around 1/3 open.
While I was cleaning it out I had to take a HUGE chunk of crap out of the burnpot. It was caked on stuff covering about 2/3 of the bottom and side of the burnpot. What causes that? I cleaned it out last night and had a smaller bunch of crap in it then and all I did was leave the stove on all night)on LOW). Could that just be bad pellets or do I need to look at something else?

Oh yeah, FWIW there was hardly any ash in the ash hole so I am definitely getting a more complete burn now.

 

[alternativeheat]

Try those FSU and see what they do in comparison regarding the pot "Crap".

 

[mrbeal]

Try those FSU and see what they do in comparison regarding the pot "Crap".

Will do... already shut it down (it's still too warm to run it today). I just looked, my damper is around 1/5 - 1/4 open and it burns HOT!

 

[alternativeheat]

Ya. What the heck is an ash hole anyway ?

 

[mrbeal]

Ya. What the heck is an ash hole anyway ?

ROTFL!! It's my way of having fun AND letting you know how much ash the pellets are producing... say it out loud

 

[rich2500]

Ya. What the heck is an ash hole anyway ?

You gotta know what an ash hole is Alternative because there are plenty in the world

 

[rich2500]

Will do... already shut it down (it's still too warm to run it today). I just looked, my damper is around 1/5 - 1/4 open and it burns HOT!

Cool now you are putting your heat into your house instead of out your exhaust vent.That deposit in your burn pot is referred to as a clinker, that's the pellets causing that, if you get yourself a metal scraper you can open the door while the stove is running and break up the clinker and then it can blow out of the burn pot, gotta do it quickly though or the stove will error out for loss of vacuum and shut down.

 

[bags]

View attachment 188240
That's how she has been sitting since I got her. No guru here just offer up my useless 2 cents.

Well hell, The way I see it is that it is now OUT OF THE BOX and should come with a hefty scratch and dent demo type discount. You can keep the extra cardboard. No OEM original packaging, (( Deduct $250 )). I'll be up in the morning....... Can you toss in some good pellets too?

 

[bags]

Call it toys or what ever, I just know that the basement in mid winter is too cold . I had a kerosene heater down there for years, it got old and rusted but I should have kept it. Instead tossed it, to find out that the sales of new ones is now banned in this state.

I bought a new one last year. They are great. KY baby! Go Cats

 

[alternativeheat]

I bought a new one last year. They are great. KY baby! Go Cats

I found a place online that will ship me a 23000btu convection kerosene heater made by Dyna-Glo, ventless and made to be run indoors, in basements and such. I'm thinking on that now and it has more output than my last kerosene heater had.

 

[mudeprived]

I found a place online that will ship me a 23000btu convection kerosene heater made by Dyna-Glo, ventless and made to be run indoors, in basements and such. I'm thinking on that now and it has more output than my last kerosene heater had.

Mind sharing the link? My basement gets down to 40's in the winter and I could use some heat down there. I have the regular kerosene heater that I got at Home Depot last year but it's a chore to have to take it outside to light/extinguish.

 

[alternativeheat]

I can't link to it where I just bought it from because it will take you to my Amazon prime page. I first had seen it at Global International but it was cheaper from Amazon. But the item is a Dyna-Glo RMC-95c6.
I will be using this as intermittent heat just when I want to work in the basement a few times per week. If you want longer term use you might want a different unit.

 

[mudeprived]

I can't link to it where I just bought it from because it will take you to my Amazon prime page. I first had seen it at Global International but it was cheaper from Amazon. But the item is a Dyna-Glo RMC-95c6.
I will be using this as intermittent heat just when I want to work in the basement a few times per week. If you want longer term use you might want a different unit.

Oh doh! That's what I have down there now. Same model, black in color. It's pretty good and keeps my basement warm but starting and stopping it creates black soot. Not alot but enough to darken the ceiling after a while so I do that outside.

 

[alternativeheat]

Oh doh! That's what I have down there now. Same model, black in color. It's pretty good and keeps my basement warm but starting and stopping it creates black soot. Not alot but enough to darken the ceiling after a while so I do that outside.

My old one was like that when I had the wick up too high ( it was a radiant heater with the circular ring wick), but I can just duck into the bulkhead to light it if it turns out to be an issue, and my basement has no ceiling anyway.

Also, I looked for vented kerosene heaters but didn't find anything decent.

 

[alternativeheat]

mrbeal, how are those FSU doing ?