I have never liked the way my PelPro has run. It never generated nearly as much heat as I expected. It claims to heat 2000 sq ft, but it struggles to barely warm 600 sq ft. However I tuned it and played with it and got it to a barely tolerable state, and that's what I've had for 5 years.
Last year a squeak in the auger had me pulling it apart and putting it back together multiple times. The last time I made a stupid mistake and shorted out the Accutron II control board. This year I bit the bullet and bought a new one (Accutron IV). After installing it and starting the stove I noticed some differences.
1) The pellet feed rate during startup is *way* higher than the old board. It was failing to start because too many pellets would get built up in the grate and restrict the air flow to the point where it wouldn't get started fast enough.
2) Once started, the pellet feed rate on high (#4) is lower, so that my pellets last much longer, but I get even less heat out of it.
I wrote to the board manufacturer and told them of my issues. The engineer who wrote back sounded knowledgeable and said my problems make no sense. It sounds more like an issue with the airflow. So I'm looking into that.
I keep my airflow mostly closed. It's only open 1/8"-1/4". Anymore and I have pellets jumping out of the grate. Even with it set there, you can still see quite a few unburned pellets among the ashes. (I can't shut it further without causing it to fail starting up).
Now we get to my question. I unhooked the stove to check the pipe, air inlet and cleanout. I decided to press the start button while the pipes were unhooked, so that I could feel the airflow. From the exhaust pipe, after a few seconds, the fan really kicks in and there is quite the wind tunnel coming out. On the inlet side, there is hardly any flow going in. I am surprised by this, since it was my understanding that the fresh air inlet was supposed to supply most of the combustible oxygen to the pellet stove, so you aren't pulling it from inside the room. Also, you can pull in cold air through the inlet and that way you aren't sucking the warm air from the room. Right now it feels like this stove is sucking lots of air from the room, and very little through the inlet.
I checked the seal on the door, it seemed good, but I tightened it some more (re-checked and no change). I know some air comes in over the glass for the fresh air wash down the inside, but I wasn't expecting that to be a lot. Some air also gets pulled through the auger, again, with all the pellets in the way I wasn't expecting this to be a lot.
So what am I missing?
Brokk...
Last year a squeak in the auger had me pulling it apart and putting it back together multiple times. The last time I made a stupid mistake and shorted out the Accutron II control board. This year I bit the bullet and bought a new one (Accutron IV). After installing it and starting the stove I noticed some differences.
1) The pellet feed rate during startup is *way* higher than the old board. It was failing to start because too many pellets would get built up in the grate and restrict the air flow to the point where it wouldn't get started fast enough.
2) Once started, the pellet feed rate on high (#4) is lower, so that my pellets last much longer, but I get even less heat out of it.
I wrote to the board manufacturer and told them of my issues. The engineer who wrote back sounded knowledgeable and said my problems make no sense. It sounds more like an issue with the airflow. So I'm looking into that.
I keep my airflow mostly closed. It's only open 1/8"-1/4". Anymore and I have pellets jumping out of the grate. Even with it set there, you can still see quite a few unburned pellets among the ashes. (I can't shut it further without causing it to fail starting up).
Now we get to my question. I unhooked the stove to check the pipe, air inlet and cleanout. I decided to press the start button while the pipes were unhooked, so that I could feel the airflow. From the exhaust pipe, after a few seconds, the fan really kicks in and there is quite the wind tunnel coming out. On the inlet side, there is hardly any flow going in. I am surprised by this, since it was my understanding that the fresh air inlet was supposed to supply most of the combustible oxygen to the pellet stove, so you aren't pulling it from inside the room. Also, you can pull in cold air through the inlet and that way you aren't sucking the warm air from the room. Right now it feels like this stove is sucking lots of air from the room, and very little through the inlet.
I checked the seal on the door, it seemed good, but I tightened it some more (re-checked and no change). I know some air comes in over the glass for the fresh air wash down the inside, but I wasn't expecting that to be a lot. Some air also gets pulled through the auger, again, with all the pellets in the way I wasn't expecting this to be a lot.
So what am I missing?
Brokk...
