Quadrafire Mt Vernon AE- Is it time to replace the Burn Pot?

I'm new to this forum so let me know if I posted this is in the right place. I have a late 2007 Mt Vernon AE Insert which the previous homeowner purchased and had installed. I have experience installing and operating a Quadrafire Castille Insert in another home.

Background: This is my 3rd season using the Mt Vernon AE. As the previous owner performed minimal maintenance, I gave the stove a thorough cleaning before using it in the fall of 2016 including removing and thoroughly cleaning the heat exchanger, the exhaust and convection blowers, and the chimney flue. Based on the amount of soot and ash in the exhaust blower, it was obvious this maintenance had never been performed since the original owner had it installed in the fall of 2007. I follow the maintenance schedule in the owner's manual.

Living in the Sierra Foothills of California, I use about 1.5- 2 tons of pellets per season to heat a 3200 sq.ft. single story home. The alternative heat source are propane furnaces which I avoid due to the high fuel cost. Given the relatively mild weather, relative to where many pellet stove owners live, I predominantly use the Manual-Low setting, unless experiencing temperatures below 40 degrees F, where I may kick it up to Manual-Medium-Low or Manual-Medium. The Mt. Vernon AE is a significant upgrade over the Castille. I use Clean-Burn pellets, http://www.cleanburnfuel.com, which I believe are a softwood pellet as they come from the Pacific NorthWest. They produce little ash relative to many of the brands I have tried over the last 14 years.

Problem: The one issue that I've always noticed is the quick soot build-up on the glass but I've just lived with it. I have also experienced some clinkers that I occasionally needed to scrape off the burn pot. This season I experienced my first burn pot overfill which nearly started a fire in the hopper tube. After this event, I started watching the burn pot more closely and what I learned was that after the auto clean cycle, there was a thin layer of ash on the burn pot bottom. I can easily scrape it off and have been doing so daily the last few days.

So I started researching these issues on this forum and today I decided to bite the bullet and remove and inspect my burn pot. What I found was the the holes facing the front of the stove were partially blocked with hard deposits. I scraped and used my Dremel wire brush on the burn pot and bottom for over an hour. These photos were taken after the cleaning. I installed a new burn pot gasket and put everything back together. The stove seems to behaving tonight, with the Manual-Low setting actually producing a low flame. I have the flame height set at -5 because the flame has always been to high, even on low. I set it per the instruction manual.

Questions:
1) Is it time to replace the burn pot?
2) Is this an original Mt Vernon AE burn pot or the improved version?
3) Should I replace the burn pot bottom?
4) There is no OAK (outside air kit) installed. The home was constructed in 1999 and is relatively tight. What performance improvements should I expect if I were to install an OAK?
5) My home is at an elevation of 1430 ft. Should I try using the high altitude setting? What does it change?

Many Thanks in advance for any advice.

kappel15 said:

Hello and welcome to the forum. I think your burn pot looks fine. Just needed a little cleaning. One thing to make sure of is that the pot floor sits tight against the pot as the springs can wear out after a while, letting the pot floor sag and cause issues. I am trying to remember, but I think the only thing changed on the burn pot to improve it was to open the igniter housing with a couple of holes drilled and a slit made in one corner, to improve air flow and faster starts, to try and save the igniters from burning out. I just modified my old one with a dremmel tool. Installing an oak lets you draw outside air for combustion, instead of inside air that has to be replaced from outside home. Just like newer more efficient furnaces do. The high elevation settings use more air in air to fuel ratio I do believe. I use it sometimes when burning corn that have issues. Hope this helps. Stay warm. kap

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Thanks kap. Since the top of the pot is flaking off and uneven, I thought maybe it was time for a new one. This is my 2nd day using it since I gave it a deep clean, and the stove is running better than it has since I have owned it. Before the deep clean, the flame was much more predominant on the right side of the pot. Now I'm seeing a more uniform flame across the pot. The flame height also seems to behaving a bit better since the deep pot clean. Previously, on Man-Low, Soft Wood pellets, -5 flame height, the flame height was extending above the top point of the diamond on the heat exchanger. Now the top of the flame is closer to the lower point of the diamond on the heat exchanger. I will check the pot floor tightness at my next clean. I will probably install an oak this summer.