Not burning right - ESW/TR-PAH

[OhioBurner©]

OK so the first few weeks the new stove has been great. Little bit of a learning curve with pellets for me but figured it out quick enough.

Well my wife called Thursday night when I was at work about the stove not being right. To be honest I can't even remember what she said but I had her check a few things (temperature, etc) and it seemed fine so said don't worry about it I'll check it when I get home. When I got home I actually noticed as I was walking across the front porch that I couldn't hear the sucking of the oak (couple feet from door). Went inside and the room blower wasn't on either. The burn pot was full with pellets at the top and a pretty pathetic looking fire. It was eerily quiet except for the auger motor. As I was checking things the room blower kicked back on for a bit, then shut off. I went ahead and shut down the stove.

After the shut down cycle I went to cleaning it out. Black soot on everything. Also there were still pellets burning like hot coals which I'd never seen before. Got it all cleaned out, and checked the exhaust chambers too since I've not done the first monthly maintenance yet. I couldn't see really much accumulation at all in em so I didn't clean em out. Got out the ladder to inspect the chimney thinking maybe somehow it got plugged. Well ended up being g a nice slick layer of frost on the roof so I cancelled that inspection. I could see some ice around the cap but no creosote or anything else. Went ahead and tried to fire the stove back up. I suspected the combustion blower wasn't working too but could hear it faintly. Pulled the access plate off and it did seem to be spinning. After the stove lit off I could see plenty of smoke venting through the cap. And I could here some air noise through the intake of the oak though not nearly as loud as I recalled. As it was starting up the glass did nearly instantly get covered with black soot again.

Anyhow I was tired and it seemed to be running so I went to bed. Got up in the afternoon and checked it. Was going, but didn't seem right. House was cooler than normal though it was also coldest day so far. Went out for a jog, then dinner, was back home around 7pm. Still didn't seem quite right. Flame was more red, and gently rolling like a wood fire, not the brighter quicker blast furnace type flames I normally see. Oak was still quiet, had to listen closely to hear anything. Too dark to check chimney. Was cold out and in so I decided to turn it up a little more, from 4 I think to 6. Then I fell asleep in the chair lol. Have to get turned around to dayshift anyhow.

Woke up about 3am. Big gently rolling orange-red flames, all the way to top and rolling across pretty much side to side. Oak is still quiet though some air flow. Combustion blower seems to be spinning. Glass is black except for small butterfly (or batman?) Symbol in the middle. Glass is hot though, about expected temp. Side of firebox almost normal temp, blower vent closer to a #1 heat setting, and elbow on the duravent/chimney adapter a little cooler than #1 setting (and its set a 6).

So looking for some suggestions. Its dark out still, but I will try to inspect chimney today. Stoves been going good about 3 weeks maybe... Around 30 bags of pellets I figure. Sorry this was long, tia!

 

[Lake Girl]

Any error codes? Damper in the OAK inlet stuck? Manual has a decent troubleshooting section, page 31 ... http://www.englanderstoves.com/manuals/25-PAH.pdf Let us know what you find ...

Hopefully Mike will be along with suggestions...

 

[OhioBurner©]

No codes, and no damper in my OAK. I did check to make sure it didn't get crushed or something too, its about 10' long across the room but I couldn't find anything wrong with it. I built it with a screen over the intake too, so nothing could get in and the screen looked normal. I could also mention my bottom 3 are still at factory setting which was working great. 1-4-1. Since it was working great for the first couple weeks I doubt there is a problem in my basic setup. Folks often want to hear about the venting so I have mine vented into my existing chimney which I lined for a wood stove with 5.5" flex (about 15') a tee that passes through the thimble and then 3" duravent adapter with two 90's and 4' of pelletvent. Going to shut her down here in a bit to clean and then check out the chimney.

Does anyone know are the combustion blowers just on/off or do they vary in output based on the control board? I assume they vary since it should need different amount of air at different burn rates so maybe I can check the power to the combustion blower with a DMM.

 

[Lake Girl]

How much have you burned since install? May have constrictions in exhaust venting - 3" from stove to liner? EVL appears to be over 15 so should be 4".

 

[OhioBurner©]

Stoves been going good about 3 weeks maybe... Around 30 bags of pellets I figure.

 

[ByCo]

The combustion blow varies in speed with the heat setting. Make sure the burn pot is fully seated and the the burn pot cradle is free from ash also. What brand of pellets are you burning?

 

[Chrisnow86]

Ya did you lift up the wear plate and check under the burn pot? And make sure all the holes on the wear plate are clear so the air can get threw

 

[OhioBurner©]

The combustion blow varies in speed with the heat setting. Make sure the burn pot is fully seated and the the burn pot cradle is free from ash also. What brand of pellets are you burning?

Yeah burn pot sits flush and the cradle is clean. I've been burning Cheat River pellets for the last 2 weeks. However I left a partial skid outside, and thats what I've been burning. There is a chance maybe they absorbed some moisture. Prior to the CRs I was burning Somersets and they burned well. Just figured I'd try something else I could get locally and for a little cheaper before the season got really cold. I plan on mainly getting Sets so long as they are available.

Ya did you lift up the wear plate and check under the burn pot? And make sure all the holes on the wear plate are clear so the air can get threw

I take out the burn pot, and clean under it, but not sure what a wear plate is?

Here are some pics...

Black soot around door

Black soot after shutdown

Cleaned out burnpot and cradle

Holes are all clear in burnpot

So I fired up my woodstove (nice to have options!) and shut the PS down for a cleaning. I did a thorough cleaning and while I was at it did the monthly cleaning including opening and vacuuming out the exhaust chambers. From what I could see in the exhaust chambers it appeared less than an inch of ash. But I don't know what all was built up where I couldn’t see, but with the shop vac I think I got most all of it. Pulled the chimney cap off, it was fine, and brushed the chimney. I didn't clean it since year before last, and I don't think I used it last year (I may have fired the stove up for a week or something not sure). There was about a half cup or so of creosote. The duravent between the stove and chimney adapter had very small amount of creosote but not much to worry about (still need to get a brush for it). I also hooked up the shop vac to the duravent and that actually got a lot of the stuff out, reversed it too just to make sure it wasn’t clogged, saw dust all blowing out the front of the stove. Left the hopper lid open and fired up the stove, could feel the combustion blower blowing out the exhaust, shut it down. Cleaned out all the CR pellets from the hopper and refilled with Somerset. Put everything back together. Fired it up. Everything seemed ok, and after a bit it settled out on a 3 setting. Looks like its burning fine now. Not sure if it was the pellets, or perhaps something was clogged up in there I got out with the shop vac. After a hopper full of Sets I may switch back to the Cheats and see if the problems come back. I could hear the OAK sucking air... never paid attention to how loud it actually was, still seems a bit quite too me, but that might be in my head. I can hear it though which is good.

 

[bags]

I have zero issues with the Sets and everyone I've seen raves about them. No idea about you other brand. Keep me posted the next couple of days as to what's going on. Best of Luck!

Your glass is going to get build up period. The dark black might be a low burn, poor pellet, or air issue. Mine is very light gray with only two small thin lines of darker build up but this is on a different stove too. It happens when I go into a low flame constant burn mode. Have not cleaned glass since last weekend either. On schedule for tomorrow.

 

[OhioBurner©]

I have zero issues with the Sets and everyone I've seen raves about them. No idea about you other brand. Keep me posted the next couple of days as to what's going on. Best of Luck!

Your glass is going to get build up period. The dark black might be a low burn, poor pellet, or air issue. Mine is very light gray with only two small thin lines of darker build up but this is on a different stove too. It happens when I go into a low flame constant burn mode. Have not cleaned glass since last weekend either. On schedule for tomorrow.

Yeah I wanted to try some other brands, especially ones a little cheaper, just to see how they compare. Now they did seem fine for several days (other than they are more ashy and lots of fines), but we'll see when I reintroduce them in a few days what happens.

Yeah my glass gets coated in ash but I've not had black soot until this happened. If you see the pic with the door open the grey ash in the middle of the glass is more or less normal for me. The black soot around it is not (its also coating all the steel around the glass, door latch, etc). Since re-lite today no black soot on the glass.

 

[bags]

Sounds like you have cleaned it and solved the problem. Could be good to go now. Like I said I am looking at buying this stove.