St Croix Prescott firepot overflows over 3 setting

[seang1989]

I have a St. Croix Prescott. This is my 4th season. Last year, anytime I turned the stove up over 3 the burnpot overflows and smokes and does not burn correctly. Please keep in mind that the stove burned perfectly for 2 seasons on any setting.

I had service out after cleaning the stove thoroughly. They charged me $300, cleaned the stove again, (got nothing out of it) and told me that there is an inaccessable "U" channel in the exhaust and for $600 I could bring it to the store and they can blow it out with a compressor but it makes a huge mess.

This spring I pulled the stove outside and got every speck of ash out of it, took the fans out, cleaned them, replaced all the gasketing. I've cleaned the pipe, goes into an existing dedicated chimney 6" square that I used to use for my wood stove. I cleaned the chimney.

Last night I hooked up the stove, turned it on, burned on 5 and eureka! It was like it was brand new. This morning it is back to overflowing on 5.

Anyone else have this problem? Any ideas? I'm out of ideas and I'm not paying those dimwits another $300 to clean a clean stove and tell me it's dirty because it's not. If I didn't have 3 tons of pellets in my basement I'd chuck it in the landfill and get a gas stove.

Thanks,
Sean

 

[Xena]

Welcome to Hearth.com!

Are you maybe using a different brand of pellets this year?
Some pellets feed faster than others as I'm sure you know.
I'm no stove tech by any means, but if it were mine doing
this I'd try shutting down and unplugging to reset it.
Then I'd get all the pellets out of the hopper and vac it out,
then get a bag of a completely different brand of pellets
and give them a shot.

edit: I'd also check to see if the versa grate is working.
#5 feeds a lot pellets at once and if the versa grate isn't
working the pot would overfill.

Anyhow, I've never had any problem like that with my Prescott but
according to the manual you shouldn't run it on high (#5) for
any sustained periods of time.

If I set mine anywhere above 3 I get cooked out of my house.
Once in awhile I put it on #4 for approx. 30 minutes just
because the manual says to run it hot occasionally,
but other than that like I said it will bake me right out
of here set at #3 on the coldest of days.

 

[mnkywrnch]

Xena asks a very good question ,what brand of pellets are you burning?The next thing I would check is the buildup in the ash clean outs,I know the stove was cleaned but did they tap on the back wall of the stove next to the burnpot to free up the caked in ash.I can run my stove on any setting with no problems,But your problem is definitely air related,have you tried adjusting the air damper?The holes in your burnpot and grate are they clean?The exhaust blower changes speeds with every level selected if yours isnt this would cause a lack of combustion air.I believe level 5 should have full 120v if it doesnt that could be your problem.
you probably tried all this,just thinking what would I check.

 

[krooser]

Make sure the "shaker" plate (the one with the holes) on the versa-grate is properly sitting on the rod that moves back and forth as the stove burns... be careful when checking this as it gets hot!

Other than that I believe your stove is still plugged... use a leafblower as outlined in many posts and you should have a nice running stove again. the leafblower will suck out all the ash nestled in those tight spots behind the firepot... that's what the stove dealer was going to clean out for $600.00. You can do it with a $30.00 leafblower and $5.00 worth of adaptors.

I have a St. Croix pepin and your problem sounds exactly like what happened to me after my first two tons of pellets went thru the stove... I had run the stove on #1 for quite a feww days and the versa-grate plate was not installed properly cauing a lot of ashh and soot build-up. The leafblower trick fixed all that.

 

[tchdngrnby]

Have you tried the bottle brush trick that is described on this thread? http://www.kwaree.com/blog/2009/01/18/how-to-clean-out-a-st-croix-prescott-exl-pellet-stove/

The problems you describe seem to point to airflow. Please let us know if this works for you.

 

[krooser]

Have you tried the bottle brush trick that is described on this thread? http://www.kwaree.com/blog/2009/01/18/how-to-clean-out-a-st-croix-prescott-exl-pellet-stove/

The problems you describe seem to point to airflow. Please let us know if this works for you.

Anything that gets into those nooks and crannies is good. The neat thing about the leafblower trick is it gets all the ash out in one operation... you still need to do yearly maintenance like lube the motors, clean the fans, etc. but the it will be much easier using the LBT (leafblower trick).

Here's some info from satisfied users...search "leaf blower trick" and there will be plenty more comments.

https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/forums/viewthread/29847/

 

[seang1989]

Thank you for all the replies. I appreciate everyone's input. I will check he versa grate, but I'm fairly confident it's operating properly. I also replaced the firepot again this year, this is the 3rd firepot in 4 years, it keeps burning out around the glow plug.

I like the leaf blower idea. I have a problem since mine is in my basement, I'd have to hook another pipe up to the end and run that outside I guess.

I really don't think it's a matter of the stove being dirty. I spent 6 solid hours with bottle brushes, shop vac, high pressure compressor and anything else I could find to blow out, suck out and get any ash out. When I tell you there is nothing in the stove, there is nothing in the stove. Maybe it's the pellets. This year I bought Northern, but I am finishing off the last few bags from last year.

I can tell you that this is the last St. Croix product I will buy. I've spent more money on this stove in 4 years between replacing fire pots, the cheap brittle fire brick which is now metal and a waste of time service call than I ever spent on my Jamestown which never gave me a minutes trouble for 15 years. I finally got rid of that when I couldn't get parts for it anymore. It used to kill me to have to go to the local dealer for anything he was such a jerk. I wouldn't buy a book of matches from All Basics in Merrimack NH.

 

[krooser]

the cera brick is used by several manufacturers and is pretty much disposable... it's not necessary for the safe operation of the stove. Mine was several years old when I threw it away.

Not sure about the fire pot. Mine is the original for the stove and my St. Croix has been bulletproof.

I had to learn the hard way about proper insertion of the grate. I got it right (by luck) the first dozen times I had it out to clean. then i couldn't get it to seat on the rod... I didn't realize that it moved back and forth. Now I know.

 

[mnkywrnch]

If your sure the stove is absolutely clean then I would assume theres a problem with the exhaust blower.If you have access to DVM (digital volt meter) you could check the voltage to the exhaust blower on all 5 levels if the voltage changes but the fan speed doesnt its the fan if the voltage doesnt change its the control board.
BTW krooser is right about the brick ,Im running my stove without it as we speak.