Disable Versa Grate system on St. Croix?

[ylomnstr]

I've been running it like this for about 2 days now without scraping the pot or doing anything different than I did before I disconnected it and I see no difference. Hoping I don't have to worry about it. But I'm going to call the dealer anyway and if they'll actually make a free trip out here to check it out, I may as well let them look at it since it's still under warranty. I know they're going to give me crap about coming out and they'll tell me to call St. Croix support, but then when I talk to St. Croix support, they say I'm supposed to go through the dealer. It just never ends. lol.

 

[Xena]

Excellent news! I always scrape the pot clear in the morning and before bed
whether it needs it or not.

Brother just came home and noticed the quietness right away.
Man what a difference!

 

[mkmh]

I'll be closely following this thread and may join the experiment soon.
I just went in and listened down where the versa grate is on my stove and I really don't think it is very noticeable on my stove. Seems like the fans are louder than anything else. Having said that, it can be tough to tell...so I may join the Versa Grate freedom experiment tomorrow.

 

[ylomnstr]

Definately try it. If the fan is louder than the versa grate system, then your motor on the versa must be almost silent. I'm very curious to see if you notice a big difference.

 

[imacman]

...so I may join the Versa Grate freedom experiment tomorrow.

:lol:

 

[mkmh]

All right...I am a huge pellet geek. I just pulled the purple wire
From a noise perspective it is not a big improvement for me. I'm a "sport" though so i'm going to roll with this configuration for a bit.
It is one less noise though for sure...but as I said before, my room air blower is the biggest noise source on my stove.

If there are any St Croix egg-heads out there please chime in if we are doing something unsafe or unethical ;-)

 

[woodsman23]

As soon as i unplugged mine i could hear my wife so i hooked it back up and now one less noise........

 

[Xena]

3 hours later the only difference I notice with the
stove is there is one less noise. Flame looks
the same, nothing built up in the burn pot...
Just gave it a scrape and raked the ash down
like I always do this time every night.
Going to leave it burning overnight on low and if there
is still no difference I'm leaving that purple wire
unplugged.

 

[mkmh]

Did not work out for me. Here are my results.

On low (1). Burned for about 1 hour - seemed fine, flame was a little higher then without the grate, but no issues
I went to setting 2 for about 3 hours and this seemed ok as well. Again, flame seemed very high for setting 2, but it seemed to be burning ok.
Then I woke up at 3:00 AM and turned it up to (3). 4 hours later there are pellets overflowing the burnpot, backing up in a bad way. I set the stove back down to 1 to see if it would catch up...but i'll be plugging it back in shortly.

Worth a try, but my results would seem to indicate that the versa grate is playing an important role

 

[ylomnstr]

Did not work out for me. Here are my results.

On low (1). Burned for about 1 hour - seemed fine, flame was a little higher then without the grate, but no issues
I went to setting 2 for about 3 hours and this seemed ok as well. Again, flame seemed very high for setting 2, but it seemed to be burning ok.
Then I woke up at 3:00 AM and turned it up to (3). 4 hours later there are pellets overflowing the burnpot, backing up in a bad way. I set the stove back down to 1 to see if it would catch up...but i'll be plugging it back in shortly.

Worth a try, but my results would seem to indicate that the versa grate is playing an important role

That's interesting. I wonder if different types of pellets will burn differently. But I will be calling the dealer today to have them check the motor. I'm sure they'll say there's nothing wrong if/when they get out to check it. I'll keep you posted.

 

[Xena]

Burned overnight on #1, no differences noted.
at 8:15 this morning house was at 70F and I
want it a little warmer so kicked her up to #3
and it seems fine there so far.
Should be fine for me since I have never been
able to burn on #3 for more than a couple hours
or my house gets way too hot even on cold days..
I'm talking like over 80F in here so #3 is a setting
I never use for very long.
Will post with updates later.

 

[ylomnstr]

The highest I burn on is #3, then in smartstat mode it drops down to 1 after it reaches temp. I've burned on #3 for a few hours with the motor disabled and it's been fine so far.

 

[Xena]

I would be willing to bet that pellet quality is
a deciding factor on whether or not they build
up quickly in the burnpot.

Anyway, it's already almost 73F in here so I won't be
leaving it on #3 much longer. No problems noted thus far.

 

[imacman]

As soon as i unplugged mine i could hear my wife so i hooked it back up and now one less noise........

:lol:

 

[Xena]

Heated up to 75F in here so I kicked her back down to #1.
The above procedure is my normal daily routine with the
stove so I'm thinking mine will run just fine without the
versa grate.

 

[tinkabranc]

As soon as i unplugged mine i could hear my wife so i hooked it back up and now one less noise........

Tsk...Tsk... :lol:
Bet she would kick your butt if she saw this comment

 

[mkmh]

The pellets I am using are "Quality" brand, which is a soft/hard wood mix from BC. They've always burned just fine, so there was definitely an impact when I disabled the versa grate. Actually even after I plugged the vg back in, th stove didn't recover on its own. The ashpot was completely full of ash, so I took a cleaning tool and basically stirred teh burnpot, which caused most of the ash to shake down.

Zeta and Ylo - I have to think there is something wrong with your versa grate motors. Just as a "sanity check" I asked my wife if she noticed any difference in sound after I disabled the VG, and she said she did not.

Definitely an interesting experiement though. I am in favor of fewer moving parts, so I was happy to give it a shot. At least now I know what it does (at least for me).
Later this year I may try this again with corinth pellets. Those suckers burn hot and fast, so the stove (sans-vg) may keep up just fine with them.

 

[Xena]

Zeta and Ylo - I have to think there is something wrong with your
versa grate motors. Just as a "sanity check" I asked my wife if she
noticed any difference in sound after I disabled the VG, and she said she did not.

Could be but my stove seems to run perfect
without it so considering that, I'm not going to
spend money on a new motor. One less moving
part inside there sounds great to me.


edit: Just got home. She's been running all day
unattended and everything is just fine. Burn pot
looked the same as it did before I disconnected
the versa grate. If it ain't broke don't fix it is
my motto!

 

[ylomnstr]

Zeta and Ylo - I have to think there is something wrong with your
versa grate motors. Just as a "sanity check" I asked my wife if she
noticed any difference in sound after I disabled the VG, and she said she did not.

Could be but my stove seems to run perfect
without it so considering that, I'm not going to
spend money on a new motor. One less moving
part inside there sounds great to me.


edit: Just got home. She's been running all day
unattended and everything is just fine. Burn pot
looked the same as it did before I disconnected
the versa grate. If it ain't broke don't fix it is
my motto!

Well I left a message with one of the girls at my dealer. One of the owner's is supposed to call me back tomorrow. Will keep you posted.

 

[Xena]

Well I left a message with one of the girls at my dealer.
One of the owner's is supposed to call me back tomorrow.
Will keep you posted.

That's cool. I copied this from the manual:

"The benefit of the versa grate feature is that the stove can
operate for longer periods of time, with most fuels
without having to clean the grate"...

It is directly related to the quality of pellets.
The cleaner they burn, the less the versa grate
feature matters.

 

[Xena]

Thought I'd update for any lurkers following this.

Couple days later, running the stove hard 24/7
and still zero problems resulting from disabling
the versa grate.

 

[Catfishjack]

Many thanks Mate..your experience in this and the knowledge you have shared with us St Croix Owners / and eveyone else for that matter,is much appreciated.

 

[ylomnstr]

I finally talked to my dealer. They are ordering a new motor for me without even coming out to check this one. They asked if I think I'd be able to install it myself. What do you think? I don't see it being that hard to do.

 

[Xena]

Compared to removing the convection and combustion
fans for cleaning, the versa grate motor looks like a piece
of cake to remove/install. Hope it works out the way you want.

 

[ylomnstr]

Let me update this thread. I burned for a few days without the versa grate motor going. Here are the differences I noticed:

When burning on level #1, the flame rarely comes above the burn pot. Still burns, but not as good.
The burn pot fills a lot quicker with ash than it does when the motor is running.

Other than that, the burn and heat seems the same. I actually keep the versa grate motor on now, unless I'm watching a movie or something and want it quiet. Again, I'll update once I get the new motor from the dealer.