Embers

[jpmartinj]

I just installed my quadra fire stove today. I was burning it tonight to test it out and noticed that when I went outside the exterior vent was discharging ash from the pipe. Some of this ash was actually smalled sized hot embers glowing as the exaust discharged. Is this normal?

Thanks for the help!

 

[begreen]

What was used to start the fire? By any chance lots of newpaper?

 

[jtp10181]

Is this a pellet stove or a wood stove?

 

[stoveguy13]

That is normal for a castile not something to worry about if you have keept the right cleareances to the cap.

 

[Corie]

I've seen the Castile do this too, but I wonder if that's the stove he has?????

 

[Shane]

Generally the idea is that anything that makes it through the spark arrestor should extinguish before it's able to light anything on fire. I have seen pellet stoves spew sparks and even had one horizontally terminated that lit a yard full of weeds on fire. It was put in to the letter of code.

 

[begreen]

If a pellet stove, I've seen this too, mostly on startup, but also occasionally when a fresh batch of pellets hit the burnpot.

 

[GVA]

If a pellet stove, I've seen this too, mostly on startup, but also occasionally when a fresh batch of pellets hit the burnpot.

And pellets with lots of fines too, usually you see them flying around the inside of the stove before exiting.
Is it a horizontal termination??

 

[jpmartinj]

Thanks for the replies...Its a castile pellet stove I had professionally installed the other day. It is a direct horizontal vent that's all up to manufacturers requirements/code. I shut down the stove after a test run of burning for about 1 hour...I went outside to see the amount of smoke the stove put out as it extinguished and noticed small hot embers blowing out of the exhaust pipe. I was wondering if this is ok....from your responses I assume its all good.

Thanks-

 

[elkimmeg]

Horizontal installation, though approved , is not the best setup. The pellet gurus will be along and expound why a length of verticle run is better.

In this case sparks /embers get more time in the vent to extinguish before exiting. Should power go out,that verticle rise will enhance the remaining smoke to exit
easier and naturally

 

[stoveguy13]

Horizontal installation, though approved , is not the best setup. The pellet gurus will be along and expound why a length of verticle run is better.

In this case sparks /embers get more time in the vent to extinguish before exiting. Should power go out,that verticle rise will enhance the remaining smoke to exit
easier and naturally

Elk wouold be right the quad recomends a 60 inch up for exactly what he just stated in the case of power outage it will give you some natural draft.

 

[begreen]

Agreed, power outages do happen and you want the stove to be able to exhaust smoke at this time.

As to the embers, GVA is correct. Try to burn the best quality pellets with low fine count. They will have less fines (sawdust and grit) and will spark less when the auger is feeding. What brands are available to you?

 

[GVA]

Just a question..
If My stove is vented at the bottom and smoke rises how much will a vertical rise in pipe aid in drafting smoke out of the stove?
I have the horizontal term also and have lost power and have not had smoke back in the house just wondering if anyone else has....

 

[jtp10181]

I have worked on a Quadrafire SantaFe and being one of my first times working on a Pellet stove I wasn't thinking about everything going on. Anyway.... I had the stat set high and I finally got the thing to work. The fire lit up but I didn't want it to get too hot so I could work inside it still. So I yanked the plug out of the wall. Bad Idea Thing was like a giant smoke bomb, filled up the guys whole basement. The install went up about 3' or so, but also prob had around 2' of horizontal.

In the Quad manuals they recommend 5' of vertical rise to prevent smoke spillage during a power outage.

It also depends on the type of stove you have, some of them have a (+) pressure firebox and vent that is totally sealed up, and the combustion fan pressurizes the box forcing the exhaust out. All the Quadrafire units have a (-) pressure firebox and a (+) vent, the exhaust parses through the combustion blower and is forced thought the vent. I would image with the more sealed firebox you have less chance of smoke spillage.