Sunflower seed mode

Well, since we have real winter weather again I decided to give it a shot.

Running in auto mode, sunflower seed, flame height set to -5.

It's definitely putting out more heat.

And sunflower seeds cost how much?

No idea, I'm still burning pellets.

Plenty, far more than pellets.

Do you feel like your sending more heat out the vent?

Hows the fuel consumption?

What kind of pellets may I ask? I've heard this "sunflower" mode mentioned a few times in this forum. If it produces more heat why wouldn't I run it all the time. More ash? more difficult to clean? Can anyone tell me what is different in sunflower mode. I only ask because I am impatiently awaiting the arrival/installation of my mt vernon and have learned more here over the past 2 weeks then I ever though was possible on pellet related topics. I can't wait to ask the dealer if my mt vernon comes with re-engineered burn pot? Does it have the latest ignitor? Will it have the newest fuel tables (version 030 I think) and if not why? when will you be loading them because I don't want to replace the ignitor twice a year. etc etc etc. Anyway, not get off topic....why not sunflower mode all the time?

I have not run Sunflower seeds, but run Hazelnut shells on a full time basis.

The shells produce more heat, although twice the ash, but at a cost of about $1 a day to heat the house in the cold weather and 50 Cents a day during the shoulder seasons.

It figures out to about 2 cents a pound for the stuff.

I can deal with a lot of anoyance for that little dibble of $$$$$

The shells are a total waste product, where as the seeds are probably not so much so.


Good luck with the seed burner.

Snowy

Apparently sunflower mode maintains more fuel in the burnpot, creating more heat. Thus, uses more pellets. But, it's not burning them as fast as I thought. I want to clean the fines out of the hopper so I am trying to let it run out of fuel. It's taking longer than I expected.

My Mt. Vernon purchased in November, installed in December has the 030 tables, and of course the upgraded burnpot. Yours should too.

As far as the other questions about sunflower mode. I am noticing more heat coming out of the vent.

Here's the deal. I typically run my stove in auto mode with the thermostat set to 78. Because the stove runs on low once it gets close to the set temperature in combination with the heat loss from the room to the rest of the house, I find that causes it to basically maintain a temperature of 74-75 in my living room with the rest of the house at 70-72. Since it's cold, today I found that it was maintaining a temperature of 72-73 in the living room and the rest of the house was 68-70.

After switching to sunflower mode, it's 76 in my living room and 73 here upstairs.

FOR CLARIFICATION: I AM NOT BURNING SUNFLOWER SEEDS. I AM BURNING PELLETS WITH THE MT. VERNON AE SET TO SUNFLOWER SEED MODE ON THE THERMOSTAT CONTROL.

I'm wondering if you think theres more heat going out the exhaust vent?

More fuel=more air thru the pot.

Good question...

It actually just hit the 78 on the thermostat and shut down. Hasn't run out of pellets yet.

Doesn't have to be that way.

In this instance, I believe it does.

I am curious on burning hazelnut shells.

How did you know your stoves could burn them?

are they crushed small?

Where do you buy them?

Hi John97, I've been running in Sunflower seed mode for over 2 months now and like you said the heat difference is incredible.
I am running with a -5 feed rate and the flame height is around the top of the flame symbol on back plate.
I'm still using the same amount of Turmans pellets in 24 hours - 1 bag or less.
To me it looks like more combustion air in the burn pot causing the extra heat output.
Regards, Jon

YAYYYYYYYY John about damn time! TOLD you so ;-P wish you would of tried it with the green supremes

I also set my flame to -5 because I think I saw one of your previous posts. I am seeing the same thing, pretty high flame and the significant difference in heat output.

I too am burning Turmans, and I have been using corn mode on high elevation to control the flame height. I just switched to sunflower to try it, but I have to think it will use much more fuel, because sunflower mode feeds the most fuel, and corn mode the least.
Flame height at -5 and flames are going out the top baffle. Are you using normal elevation or high elevation?

I been folowing what your doing. Why sunflower and then drop the feed with the flame high. Wouldn't utility or hardwood and a raised flame high do the about same thing? What does sunflower do to the combustion blower speeds?

I have never seen the schedules for the programs. Nor do I own a MT V. But feed rates and this tinkering is something that I enjoy trying to figure out. Sorry to poke my nose in!

Suppose to be 17 again tonight I'm gonna use Sunflower, manual, on high heat output 5 set to 74 and see what the outcome is in the morning

i been wondering the same if their was some literature on what exactly each setting does. i just heard about sunflower from smokethis and tried it and boom mega heat

Me too Jay... I subscribe to all these AE threads. Trying to better understand the programs and flame heights.

My furnace's fuel selections (10) just make the cleaning cycle happen faster. No change in combustion blower speed.

Sorry. Now back to your regular scheduled programming.

Its been awhile since I tried it.

This is what I remember.

The stove seemed quite a bit louder.(in TV room). Thinkin the comb blower is turning faster.

I also thought with the fire burning so mucher hotter that alot more heat was going out the exhaust.

I was also concerned about ignitor life with more frequent AC cycles.

I bet the pot would overflow, or you'd over-fire with out the feed rate bottomed out.

Mt V is intriguing, no?

It is definatelly putting out more heat, so much so that you can actually smell the heat kinda like an electric heater. The flame height is way high though. It dumps fuel in pretty often, there is not much time between auger turns that is what keeps the flame so high and hot. It will use more fuel. I also believe that with the flames hitting the top of the baffle, a lotof heat has to be going out the exhaust. I am changing back to hardwood or corn setting.

Lots of play options. But without hands on I am clue less. Did they ever post a spread sheet on the cycle rates?

You would think just bumping up the flame height in hardwood would do about the same thing. adding more to the pot like sunflower. Seeing your already on the bottom with sunflower(-5) you can't go lower and if its still feeding slightly too much you don't have wiggle room. What does sunflower do to the autoclean?

I like to play in the middle of the zone. So you can tweak up or down some. But thats just me!