Enviro mini problems - help?

[henryb]

I have a mini - this is my 3rd season using it.

1st year -great.

Year 2 - couldn't run it below 3 - flame outs. Chalked it up to poor pellets.

This season - occasional flameouts, I don't trust the stove on low, even with the low setting auger control kicked up a notch.
ALSO - poor lighting - I have to empty the burn pot of petllets 2 or 3 times before it lights. Igniter is pulling ~450 watts. Seems not as hot as it used to be.

BTW, I cleaned my stove and chimney last summer. There was a lot more ash in there than I expected.

Any advice?

Thanks in advance!

 

[LI-Mini-Owner]

Hello Henry - My mini was prone to flame-out on prolonged low setting use. Some pellet brands had the problem more so then others. The end result was stove shut off with a pot full of un-burnt pellets. Is your stove one of the earlier models like mine? If so then the only "trim" was a setting that kicked in on No. 1 heat setting. It allowed you to bump of the feed rate a bit. Even when I used that limited trim adjustment, the pellets would sometimes burn almost completely up, and get smothered by the dumping of fresh pellets.

Closing the damper a bit to slow the combustion down would help, but when the stove was put on No 5 heat, the flame would be lazy, starving for air. Very hard to find a happy setting for the damper that worked acceptably over all heat settings. My observation was that larger pellets were more problematic then smaller ones. With larger pellets, the rate of pellets being dropped into the pot seems to vary quite a bit.

I see you ran across another post that described a recent upgrade I did. It has helped a lot with this problem. https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/forums/viewthread/51337/

Now, the sluggish ignition is a problem I also had. Does your old burn pot liner have welded on semi-circular washer on the back of it? My original one did not. That washer is designed to form a tight seal around the igniter tube, so that air can be drawn over the igniter and onto the pellets.

Another problem with the first Mini's was the igniter tube. Over time it could develop some "play" that would allow it to move backward, creating even a larger gap between the end of the tube and the back of the pot liner. Remove the pot liner and see if you can pull the igniter tube out a bit. You may need to use a needle-nose pliers to get a grip. The root cause of that defect was that the mounting bracket for the igniter tube was crimped the tube. Over time that crimp can get loose, allowing the tube to slide.

I managed to get Enviro to send me the new welded igniter tube (not crimped) and pot liner with the washer under the warrantee. That solved the sluggish ignition problem. So if you have the same tube and pot liner problem, I would get the new welded tube, and the new larger burn pot/liner. (you'll see that described in the above referenced post).

Good luck.

Carl

 

[henryb]

Thanks for the advice, Carl.

My Mini is 3 years old. Burn pot does NOT have the weld you mention. I've seen photos of those. Is the new, larger burn pot compatable with older stoves? It looks very different.

My igniter is back a bit. I'll try pulling it forward as you advise.

Thanks again!

 

[LI-Mini-Owner]

Yes - the new larger burn pot/liner will fit the old stove. Here are the part numbers you will need to order from your local Enviro dealer:
50-1922 - Mini-A Burn Pot - $57
50-1923 - Mini-A Burn Pot Liner $76 (needed to file down a weld-blob on bottom to make it fit - no big deal)

When installing the larger burn pot you need to remove and discard the old “burn pot bottom” (the piece that slides in/out under the burn pot.) This is required so that the new pot liner sits flush on the slotted grate.

Like I said the larger pot/liner worked well for me, but perhaps you want to run it by your Dealer.

Ask your dealer about the "welded" igniter tube. I'm not sure what the part number is for that. If you or someone you know is handy with welding, you can simple tack weld your existing ingniter tube to the bracket so that it sits flush with the back of the pot liner.

Carl