As I left my home this afternoon I saw a new family moving into an empty house across the street. Upon return 5 hours later I saw that they were all moved-in but everything was a cluttered mess (the front "wall" is all glass), so I walked over to say hello and they were soon mentioning that the heater wasn't working. So I got involved in trying to find the problem. It seemed there was a wall thermostat that wasn't connected to anything so they were left with no solution to a 50 degree house. Until...behind a big box I noticed a Whitfield Advantage II-t insert in the fireplace. "I can do this", I thought to myself. I'd seen plenty of info on that stove here and in the PDF owner's manual, so I opened it and removed the burn pot and grate. The ash pan was full of ash which I cleaned out after going to my home to get the things need to get the stove going. Upon return, the baby had pushed the start button so I saw it was running. A good sign. I loaded a necessary amount of pellets into the hopper, which was empty, (I had 5 bags in my trunk so I carried on into the house). Then I put some wood chips and little pine cones into the grate, squirted them with some smokeless lamp oil, and Voila!! Excellent flame and it all only took about 10 minutes. They were glad to not have to spent the foreseeable future in the cold and I was glad that I had stopped by to say "hi".
Out back under a old pine tree was a big tank, maybe 600 gallons, for heating oil for a monitor heater, something that was long gone from the house leaving the place only with the pellet stove, which they had no experience in operating. Fortunately, us who do are more than willing to help those who don't, and be helped at times in return.
PS I noticed that the grate of the Advantage II has 4 rows of holes while my Advantage 1 only has 3. Also, the strength of the combustion blower was amazing, what a powerfully wind-blown flame! Like a rocket exhaust. I guess my EVL is too high, or my blower isn't as strong. Or the area of my blower housing that extends into the 90 degree angle of the flue is blocking air flow that shouldn't be blocked. Does anyone think I should invest in an upgraded grate with 4 rows of holes? My flame is very good except when it's burning at maximum. At maximum it still burns clean (seemingly) but the power of the air movement isn't as strong since the flame movement looks well blown, but not powerfully blown. But I don't run it on high very much, though if the flame was like the Advantage II-t, I'd be much more inclined to let it rip more often. Just wondering what the story is with the difference in the flames of the two stoves.
Out back under a old pine tree was a big tank, maybe 600 gallons, for heating oil for a monitor heater, something that was long gone from the house leaving the place only with the pellet stove, which they had no experience in operating. Fortunately, us who do are more than willing to help those who don't, and be helped at times in return.
PS I noticed that the grate of the Advantage II has 4 rows of holes while my Advantage 1 only has 3. Also, the strength of the combustion blower was amazing, what a powerfully wind-blown flame! Like a rocket exhaust. I guess my EVL is too high, or my blower isn't as strong. Or the area of my blower housing that extends into the 90 degree angle of the flue is blocking air flow that shouldn't be blocked. Does anyone think I should invest in an upgraded grate with 4 rows of holes? My flame is very good except when it's burning at maximum. At maximum it still burns clean (seemingly) but the power of the air movement isn't as strong since the flame movement looks well blown, but not powerfully blown. But I don't run it on high very much, though if the flame was like the Advantage II-t, I'd be much more inclined to let it rip more often. Just wondering what the story is with the difference in the flames of the two stoves.
