New Enviro M55 owner

[jbfrost912]

This is my first post on Hearth.com but I have been reading posts almost every day and have gotten great information from it. Thank you very much.
This is our first pellet stove and it has been installed for about a month now. Stove is installed on the first floor of a colonial style house with an addition on one end.
Stove is heating the house fairly well on heat setting #2 when temps are between 25-35 deg. F. (First floor-74, Second floor-69, Addition-68)
We are burning Maine's Choice and LG pellets.
(Dealer assisted in the install.)

Here are my questions with the stove:
I have a magnehelic set up and cannot get close to the .14-.17 differential presssure range as the book suggests. My dial will remain around .21, no matter what heat setting I am using. I also checked this with a digital meter and had the same results. The only way I can get to this range is to close the slider/damper all the way in and force the small "trap" door on my air intake open. (I do not run the stove with this set-up, I was just trying to get to the suggested differential pressure range.) The combustion fan and the convection fan both have proper voltage as manual suggests. How important is this differential pressure setting?

I have been running the stove on manual (plan on installing a thermostat for the 2011-2012 season) and I have a fluctuation in temperature from bag to bag or sometimes within 20 minutes. On setting #2: 170-205 deg. F. Is it normal for the heat to change this much? I can get a digital thermometer to test on setting #5.

I am running the stove on premium setting, because they seem to burn better with less ash than on regular setting.

Thank you in advance

for any information.

 

[CJ-SR4ever]

Congrats on the new M55! Amazing machine, you will be happy with the performance for sure. Would love to see some pictures of the install. Hope the stove meets all of your heating needs! Happy Burning! :cheese:

 

[flynfrfun]

Just to make sure...did you put it at heat level 5 for 30mins-1hr and then take the magnahelic reading? That is how the manual says to do it. Are you taking the reading thru the screw hole in the upper right corner above the door?

You shouldn't have to open the air intake door. My damper is open about 3/4 of the way and I'm at about .16 on the magnahelic. Mine is just the opposite of yours...it tends to be on the low side.

Do you have a lot of vertical pipe on the exhaust? If so maybe it is creating a lot of draft and pulling too much air out of the stove. Or the wind is sucking the air out of the exhaust depending on how it is configured. Just a guess though.

It's normal for the stove to vary in temp. Each shot of pellets tends to be of differing amounts. Sometimes it doesn't drop any pellets. Sometimes it will drop more than normal. This will cause the flame to rise and fall and the temp to do the same.

You didn't say what square footage your home is? But, heating a whole house in those temps at heat level 2 is pretty darn good. Most M55 owners seem to prefer nothing less than heat level 3 including myself.

I also like the premium setting. The agitator only comes on every 30mins for 1 minute. Sometimes you will notice the fire getting a little low just before the agitator kicks in. Then when it's done, the fire gets nice and big again. I can see why guys with other stoves that don't have an agitator have to clean the burn pot every day or so. It's nice to let the agitator do it and just clean the stove once a week.
Flynfrfun

 

[jtakeman]

Welcome frosty,

With any new member and a new stove install. We always ask for some pictures so we can see your nice new toy!

Enjoy!
PS, you wont be frosty anymore! hehe

 

[jbfrost912]

Thanks for writing back.

We are heating about 2,300 sf.

Yes, the dealer and myself ran stove on high for 30 minutes and checked the differential pressure with both a digital and an analog. The lowest reading we had was .19 and then it would climb back up to around .21-.24.

Here is what we are running for pipe:
4" black ICC stove pipe
Inside: stove adapter; 45 degree; cleanout Tee; 4' vertical section; 90 degree; 1' horizontal section out wall.
Outside: 1' horizontal section; exhaust cap

We ran the pipe on the inside because this is the driveway side of the house and thought it would look cleaner inside. Stove is installed in a corner.
Also, any good ideas on how to take the white stickers off of the pipe? I removed a couple pretty easily with a hairdryer but, I have one that just will not come off unless I take off the powdercoat too.

Thanks again.

 

[jbfrost912]

I take the magnehelic reading from the 1/8" hole at the top of the ashpan.

 

[CJ-SR4ever]

ICC is a good pipe brand. Thats what I used. Its more user freindly than the twist lock brands, and looks cleaner also.

 

[heat seeker]

Sometimes WD40 will work, and I've read that mayonnaise can work. I've had pretty good results getting adhesives off with Goo-Gone, but once the stickers get hot, nothing may work. I wouldn't use anything on a hot pipe, especially WD40, which is basically kerosene in disguise.

 

[imacman]

Congrats on the install Frosty. (We need to see PICS, or it really didn't happen! :lol: )

As for the magnehelic reading, try it at the hole above the door, as was mentioned above.

And when the stove is off & completely cool, try the GooGone mentioned above. I also have had very good luck with lighter fluid to get the labels off too.

 

[skinanbones]

We find when we set up M55 we try to get closer to .20 so that the stove can idle on low easier with a poor quality pellet. As for your installation if you have a jet cap on the end of the ICC pellet vent that could be part of whats causing some of the higher readings. The jet cap was designed to create a higher draft or velocity than the other styles of caps. In testing the jet cap would actually push exhaust past the 4' square hood used to vent stoves out of the lab.