Help for Enviro Empress Pellet Stove Insert

[Enviroburner]

I'm a new owner of the Empress and having a few problems. I've had the stove for about 3 weeks now. I've read a lot of this forum and its been so helpful.

My glass was turning black within the first 24 hours. I read to give it more air. I have but continues to still turn gray towards the top of the glass in the center in a ball formation. I gave it a little more air and the pattern has changed to a foggy look all over the glass. I've even tried the damper all the way to the right but doesnt seem to change.

The more air I seem to give the less powerful the flame becomes. It is a short flame staying close to the burn pot. The ash seems blacker this week then my first 2 weeks. The ash pan is containing partial pellets like they did not burn completely.

Lastly, I read that some stoves do not burn well on a low setting. I turned it up to the 2nd setting and have tried it on the 3rd setting too.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated by this newbie! Thank you!

 

[jtakeman]

Welcome newbie100,

One thing is don't over kill the dampar adjustment. Too much damper kills the heat output of the stove. You will be blowing wasted heat up the vent pipe. Adjust the damper according to the manual. I am not certain if the Empress has an airwash system to help clean the glass. If it does mke sure it hasn't clogged with ash!

One other thing is pellet quality. All the adjustment in the world and they still burn dirty. What brand of pellets are you burning?

 

[Enviroburner]

Thanks for your response. I don't think I have an airwash, boy I wish I did!

The pellets are 1% Premium. I buy them from the place I bought the stove and they have thier logo on it??

 

[Tyranid]

The Empress, as advertised, does have an airwash.

With that said, I've been an Empress owner for about a week and I have a similar problem.

The cloud forms after about 24 hours. If I use Greenway pellets, its fairly light. If I use Lignetics, its fairly dark.

So I would say the airwash isn't that great on it, but choice of pellets does have a distinct impact.

 

[The Radiator]

The Empress glass will soot up some. Usually a few days after a cleaning though. Pellets do make a difference. The worst so far for the glass were Dry Creek. They made this orange stain that was a bear to get off. I usually vac out the stove on Saturdays and thats when the glass gets done. Cleaning the glass is sometimes more of a pain than vacuuming the stove. Make sure you push the pellets back in the hopper when loading, kind of a pain but you can get in quite a bit more pellets. If you are getting pellet pieces in the ash you probably have the air too high. The combustion air is pulled right thru the burn pot, so if the setting is too high you could blow half or quarter burnt pellets out of the pot. Newbie good luck with your empress, hopefully you will like it!

 

[Enviroburner]

Thanks, Im very much enjoying the stove!

I didn't see anything in the manual about an airwash?

Regarding the pellets, the place where I bought my stove sells them. The first set I bought just had their name on it. Labled 1% Premium. Yesterday I picked up some more and they were a little different but still no brand name like you guys talk about. What are your opinions on these....

Here is what the bag says
Marketing and Manufacturing
Premium Wood Pellets
from Sawnsea, MA
PFI Cerfified, harwood Blend
Low Ash, High Heat
Avg 8200-8400 BTU

Any thoughts?

 

[Enviroburner]

Just wanted to bump this up -

Anyone know anything about this type of pellet that I listed in the above post?

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

Those are not made at Marketing and Manufacturing.

I have no idea what is in that bag these days, give them a call and ask.

You want to know who made them and when they were made.

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

Now about that glass getting crudded up.

The air to fuel ratio will determine several things including the color and amount of the crud on the glass.

You should follow the air adjustment procedure outlined in your stove manual.

The manual should tell you at which heat setting to perform this adjustment at.

You must pay attention to amount of time required before making the adjustment and any time required after making an adjustment before further adjustments are made.

The goal is to get a flame that burns yellow/orange with a hint of blue just above the pellets, no black flame tips, a bit of pellet movement in the burn pot, and pellets that fall into the pot should eject burning embers that are pretty close to being nothing but ash.

Take your time, too fierce a fire (short blowtorch effect) will send a lot of heat up the flue and too large and loopy a fire will crud up your glass (not that it will ever stay perfectly clean anyway).

Locate the air wash (usually it is just a space along the bottom or top of the glass that has no glass gasket) and make certain it isn't filled with ash.

 

[jtakeman]

Marketing & Manufacturing and Quality One are rumoured to be rebagged MaineWoods. I don't know this for certain. Maybe a pellet insider can assist?

There not custom bagged for any dealer per say. I was able to get them for a pellet house. I also have seen them here and there in my travels. You just need to have the contact and anyone could sell them. Some stove dealers think if they say custom bagged just for them, Well there something special about the pellet. We see rebagged stuff al the time. Not much custom to it really.