Harman xxv ash and pellet cakes.

[Bigjim1983]

Greetings, I had a pellet stove installed last week, and the stove company brought one ton of Turman pellets with them. I burned said pellets only to discover that after 4-6 hours I had a cake of pellets riding on top of a thick layer of glassy ash. I had to scrape the pot about 4-6 time per day to keep the stove running. I was instructed by the dealer to try a few bags of other brands to see if was the pellets to blame. I tried the other brands, treecycle, hamers, lignetics and tractor supply. These pellets did not leave a big cake of smoldering pellets, but did leave a large ring of ash, that does not seem to move. After the ash builds up enough, the flame will slightly lick the glass, and leave a white ash residue. I have attached a few pictures of the ash ring and was wondering if anyone could tell me if this is normal. These pictures were taken 4 hours after a cold cleaning. The stove is vented horizontally with a clean out tee, a 90 degree piece and a 2 foot straight piece with a rain cap. No OAK is installed. The stove is running in stove temp mode, with a feed rate of 3, any higher and a huge rolling fire will occur. Thank you for your much needed help.

 

[Hiker05]

My XXV did the same thing burning Bear Mountain pellets. I would wake up in the morning to a cold house and burning pellets spilling into the ash pan. I would find a big glassy clinker covering the front burn holes and pellets sliding over it. I switched to Eagle Valley and saved 80$ per ton and they burn just as hot with no problems. My stove will lick the glass once the ash builds up but doesn't affect my heat output. as soon as I scrap it the flame pulls back but after a couple of hours is licking the glass again. The ash in your pictures looks just like mine. I can still burn about a ton before emptying the ash pan.

 

[LIpelletpig]

It's normal. Don't sweat it.

 

[john193]

I've got an XXV and the ash in the burnpot is normal. As the fire burns and the auger pushes fresh pellets in there, it will eventually push the ash out of the way. The ash shouldn't suffocate your flame. The amount of ash formed is proportional to the quality of the pellets, and if the ash is building up faster then it's being removed, your flame could die out. This could be an issue with the pellets. I find that after 2-3 days of 24 hours operation the ash builds up enough to occasionally cause the flame to kiss the glass, you could simply just remove the ash at this point. I get clinkers with the pellets i burn (o'malleys), but, it's never to the point that it kills the fire.

 

[newf lover]

I have a P68, and except for your experience with the Turman's, I've had some similiar issues. If I don't touch my stove all day while burning NEWPs, the stove has snuffed itself out. Not every time, but it has happened. If I turn my feed rate up any higher than 3, 3 1/2, the flame is too strong, gets rolling a bit, and I get some smoke coming out of my outside vent. If I leave the stove alone, the flames will lick the glass because of the ash build up. Burning Turman's I don't have that issue at all, almost no ash, but I do have to keep the feed rate at 3. I'm not hijacking the thread, but do see a lot of similarities. Did Harman change something with these newer stoves? It seems odd to me that we can't turn our feed rates up higher than 3, which would probably help with the ash just sitting there. Many people say, turn the feed rate to 4 and leave it. I would love to, and I bet Bigjim1983 would too, as it might psuh some of the ash over the edge, but it doesn't work out so well.

 

[Trickyrick]

Yea I get the same experience with winter warmpth. I cu them 30% with another pellet becuase they are hot but leave that ash cake that the the fire builds over. I have 3 bags left and no more problem. All the other pellets are fine wih ash some hotter some cooler.

 

[tinkabranc]

... I had to scrape the pot about 4-6 time per day to keep the stove running....

Buildup of ash in the pot is normal, it will get pushed out eventually on it's own.
However, scraping the pot 4-6 times a day is excessive-once a day should be sufficient.

Some pellets do create more ash than others but they should not make your stove shut down.

 

[Trickyrick]

Tink. This is a situation where basically all the ash cakes up together and forms one big cake. Usually abotu 1/2 inch thick and then the new pellets end up on top of the cake. They everntually do not get air from the holes in the pot only from the two top holes at 2 and 10 around the auger.

If you just break it up it will flow out like normal but if you let is go 8 hours it screws up the burn abd eventually unburnted pellets end up in the ash pan.

Freaked me out the first 2 bags but I have tried 15 differnt brands and this only happens with one brand.

 

[tinkabranc]

Thanks for the explanation Trickyrick. I have burned some pretty crappy pellets at times and
even some mixed with corn. Makes a mess, but never had a problem with ash backing
up enough to cause an overflow of pellets or shut the stove down.
On the 4th winter with my XXV.