New serenity castle pellet stove

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Has anyone in this thread figued out how to slow down the auger speed below the factory's lowest setting? I have a small house and do not need to be going through a bag and a half a day of pellet. Any thoughts?
 
That doesn't sound right. A bag and a half per day on low setting is too much. We would go through 1 bag a day on medium with the 1220i. Never even tried low, but I would expect it to be half of what your stove is burning through.
 
A bag and half a day is about right as I get 16 - 18 hours on a bag . I have not tried turning the auger speed down to slow the feed but I think it would be easier to make a plate to partially block the pellets being taken in by the auger, several stove brands have a feed adjustment gate in the hopper.
 
Wherenexactly ois it located? I need a picture or something/

The gate is adjusted by taking the right side panel off and a phillips screwdriver to loosen the gate holding screw. To see where the gate is located, when the stove is off and cool, remove your burn pot and you can see what should still be a silver colored metal gate half closing a round hole. That is the combustion air gate.
The exhaust fan voltage is adjusted in the control panel. These are covered in the operators manual. If you do not have one, you can download one at the castle stove site. Once you have the manual, see if you can figure it out. If not, come back and ask for more details.
 
Here is a photo of it, the silver piece that the rod is connected too is the airgate, yours won't have that rod just the slide gate
IMG_20150111_134058_zpsrecez8f5.jpg
 
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I have a Serenity question for those that have one of these stoves. When the demand is on for heat on cold nights, as the pellets drop into the burn pot quite a bit of sparking occurs. Many of these sparks are coming out my straight out the wall piping system. It appears to be more of a design issue with the ash pan not deflecting the sparks IMO. It's bad enough so the neighbors have called concerned when it's running on high at night. We have tried all kinds of air adjustments which help some, but still not good enough. Is my only solution to put a different piping system in, i.e. a snorkel on outside of home to eliminate sparks vs the straight through existing? Thanks for any help.
 
I have a Serenity question for those that have one of these stoves. When the demand is on for heat on cold nights, as the pellets drop into the burn pot quite a bit of sparking occurs. Many of these sparks are coming out my straight out the wall piping system. It appears to be more of a design issue with the ash pan not deflecting the sparks IMO. It's bad enough so the neighbors have called concerned when it's running on high at night. We have tried all kinds of air adjustments which help some, but still not good enough. Is my only solution to put a different piping system in, i.e. a snorkel on outside of home to eliminate sparks vs the straight through existing? Thanks for any help.

I think I know the issue you are concerned about. Yes, it is in the design of the electronics. At startup, the combustion fan is on high until the circulation fan is called up to run. I dont know why they programmed it that way, but likely a cost cutting measure to keep the price point as low as they do.

I position the ash pan to the left as you face the stove. The ash pan has some tolerance to it's positioning, and if not slid over to the left a bit, there is a gap between the drop down flap and the ash pan. The sparks can then get right down to the exhaust directly and exit the short piping you have.

The amount of sparks is somewhat, but not greatly, caused by the pellet quality. Some pellets seem to spark more than others when they are burning and new pellets enter the pot.

I cant tell you what to do as I am not any sort of expert or licensed consultant. However, if it were my stove, (i have 2 of them) I would consider improvising a deflector of some kind on the left side of the ash pan, that does NOT impede the flow of ash or sparks, but does deflect the glowing spark to hit the side wall or direct it to hit the stove floor before it enters the exhaust opening. As it is, the spark can pass around the ash pan and before it stops glowing, enter the exhaust outlet, without making much contact at all with the surrounding metal surfaces. If the spark comes against a few more obsticles, it may give it that extra 2 seconds of time to burn out before entering the exhaust opening.
That's just my opinion, nothing more.
 
I have a Serenity question for those that have one of these stoves. When the demand is on for heat on cold nights, as the pellets drop into the burn pot quite a bit of sparking occurs. Many of these sparks are coming out my straight out the wall piping system. It appears to be more of a design issue with the ash pan not deflecting the sparks IMO. It's bad enough so the neighbors have called concerned when it's running on high at night. We have tried all kinds of air adjustments which help some, but still not good enough. Is my only solution to put a different piping system in, i.e. a snorkel on outside of home to eliminate sparks vs the straight through existing? Thanks for any help.
What air adjustments have you tried,airgate,blower voltage.sounds like your still getting too much air
 
I have a Serenity question for those that have one of these stoves. When the demand is on for heat on cold nights, as the pellets drop into the burn pot quite a bit of sparking occurs. Many of these sparks are coming out my straight out the wall piping system. It appears to be more of a design issue with the ash pan not deflecting the sparks IMO. It's bad enough so the neighbors have called concerned when it's running on high at night. We have tried all kinds of air adjustments which help some, but still not good enough. Is my only solution to put a different piping system in, i.e. a snorkel on outside of home to eliminate sparks vs the straight through existing? Thanks for any help.

I have the same issue...the fire marshall came for a visit because the neighbors called "concerned". I closed the damper to probably a little more than half way closed and that has helped some. It is the ash pan that sits off a little cock eyed that allows the sparks to bounce right behind the deflector and out the vent. I have sat and watched them just blip blip blip right behind the deflector. I have tried making sure the ash pan is tight against the left side of the stove, but it still does it....I have a 7 foot stove pipe inside and then out through my existing chimney with it terminating "snorkle" and I have the issue. It only does it when its on 4 or 5.....3 or below I don't see the issue. I also noticed if the stove is in need of cleaning it does it as well....I am pretty fanatical about cleaning...probably every 2 days.
 
I think I know the issue you are concerned about. Yes, it is in the design of the electronics. At startup, the combustion fan is on high until the circulation fan is called up to run. I dont know why they programmed it that way, but likely a cost cutting measure to keep the price point as low as they do.

I position the ash pan to the left as you face the stove. The ash pan has some tolerance to it's positioning, and if not slid over to the left a bit, there is a gap between the drop down flap and the ash pan. The sparks can then get right down to the exhaust directly and exit the short piping you have.

The amount of sparks is somewhat, but not greatly, caused by the pellet quality. Some pellets seem to spark more than others when they are burning and new pellets enter the pot.

I cant tell you what to do as I am not any sort of expert or licensed consultant. However, if it were my stove, (i have 2 of them) I would consider improvising a deflector of some kind on the left side of the ash pan, that does NOT impede the flow of ash or sparks, but does deflect the glowing spark to hit the side wall or direct it to hit the stove floor before it enters the exhaust opening. As it is, the spark can pass around the ash pan and before it stops glowing, enter the exhaust outlet, without making much contact at all with the surrounding metal surfaces. If the spark comes against a few more obsticles, it may give it that extra 2 seconds of time to burn out before entering the exhaust opening.
That's just my opinion, nothing more.


I was actually thinking about putting in some sort of deflector over the deflector so it can do a better job at deflecting...:p

So I am with you on this....just have to figure out what I can use in there...
 
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What air adjustments have you tried,airgate,blower voltage.sounds like your still getting too much air
Air gate is nearly closed now, have not made any changes from factory settings on blower. Should that be tried next? If that doesn't work, I guess the next step is to try and manufacture another deflector of some sort like others have suggested.
 
I would open the airgate a bit then adjust the blower down a setting at a time keeping watch for a good flame and try that.
 
Air gate is nearly closed now, have not made any changes from factory settings on blower. Should that be tried next? If that doesn't work, I guess the next step is to try and manufacture another deflector of some sort like others have suggested.

I played with the deflector yesterday...and you can move it around so it does a better job...it fought me some but I finally got it to stay up against the back of the firebox...maybe try that as well?
 
Any more ideas to the sparking issue? Didn't know if a high heat tape in there as a deflector might be worth trying? I know welding some pieces on would be the ultimate solution but don't want to do this until I can experiment with how much tape and where as a guide? We are expecting some cold temps by weekend and fan will be running high, thus sparking out the pipe. Would like to improve this...
 
If you find a pic of a Serenity when it first came out you would see it had vermiculite panels inside which would have filled that void between the deflectors and the back wall of the stove, why they done away with the panels I don't understand because that would also relieve the back panel of some heat and reflect more heat out the front of the stove.
 
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OK found my original brochure showing the panels inside
IMG_20160213_213644_zpsevmzkqcv.jpg
IMG_20160213_213709_zps02a4xq9d.jpg
 
Any more ideas to the sparking issue? Didn't know if a high heat tape in there as a deflector might be worth trying? I know welding some pieces on would be the ultimate solution but don't want to do this until I can experiment with how much tape and where as a guide? We are expecting some cold temps by weekend and fan will be running high, thus sparking out the pipe. Would like to improve this...

Open the air gate and slow the exhaust fan. You just have to be pulling lit pellets out of the burn pot with too much air velocity. Try slowing the velocity ad increasing the volume.
 
emailed Don at eastcoast and he does have the panels, also emailed Ardisam to find out why the Serenity no longer comes with the panels inside
 
Here is the response I got as to why the panels no longer come in the stoves.


I believe the reason is they are no longer needed as a heat shield and were actually more of a nuisance
 
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The panels are or were probably brittle and fragile and damaged taking them out for cleaning possibly so they likely did away with that issue only to create another one with leaving some quick and dirty welds exposed and prone to popping. The Aussie guy said the stoves he sells all have the panels and wouldn't sell them without them.

There was a local guy that had a Serenity for sale here on CL and I wanted to see one in real life but it was sold before I could look at it or have a shot at buying it. Now I am on the fence about one but it would likely be the ideal smaller BTU stove I would want and would fit the bill perfectly. Clearance issues, size, output, price, and all. DANG!
 
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