Are castle Serenity really this junk

[Jeremylav]

So our 8 year old Englander died last week and the wife went and bought a Castile. The problem I am having is the temp on the stove says 75 but a thermostat by the stove says 65 the one ten feet away says 60. The house is a 1500@ square , all remodeled with no drafts.this stove no matter what I do will not put out heat.tried playing with all the settings and dampener as the others said.tried five different pellets. The other issue is it is going thru a bag in 6 hours unlike the Englander that went thru it in two days.exhaust is out the back and up 9 feet which is also been replaced with the stove so there is no restrictions.is there any way to get this to work or should I just return for a different stove.

 

[mikkeeh]

Yea...they are finicky. Ive had probably 10 different stoves in the last 25 years, and the serenity has been the most needy.
Do you have outside air supply. I think its a necessity...especially with this particular stove. I have mine in the basement as supplemental heat source.
If i run mine on manual level 1, i can get about 12 hours out of a full hopper. If you figure stated btu output vs btu output of pellets.....you should be able to get closer to 20 hrs. Haven’t got there yet.
The stat temp, i just use as a reference point....not a true temp.
Have you tried running on manual?
And keep in mind the output of the Serenity is significantly lower than that of your Englander
I think the serenity is 30k btu....your Englander was probably 50k or more.....so keep that in mind.
Hope this helps some.

 

[Jeremylav]

Yea...they are finicky. Ive had probably 10 different stoves in the last 25 years, and the serenity has been the most needy.
Do you have outside air supply. I think its a necessity...especially with this particular stove. I have mine in the basement as supplemental heat source.
If i run mine on manual level 1, i can get about 12 hours out of a full hopper. If you figure stated btu output vs btu output of pellets.....you should be able to get closer to 20 hrs. Haven’t got there yet.
The stat temp, i just use as a reference point....not a true temp.
Have you tried running on manual?
And keep in mind the output of the Serenity is significantly lower than that of your Englander
I think the serenity is 30k btu....your Englander was probably 50k or more.....so keep that in mind.
Hope this helps some.

Yes I have an oak set up on it.i had a Harmon then the Englander for around 8-9 years the box finally went out completely so I got rid of it and the wife not me went and got this on sale at ace because it was cute.i would have rather got another brand but am trying to make this work and not cost an arm and leg in pellets.we go threw about 9 tons between the house and the shop. Love the furnace in the shop but no room in the house for one.i will try manual mode when I get back home at lunch , I tuned have just played with the dampener and speeds so far as it has only been a couple days since install. I do know it took four hours to raise the house temp 5 degrees last night from start up ,as I shut it off to clean. I know I am finicky but I clean the stoves every two days and the pipes every 5 plus the monthly I do every two weeks.having had a chimney fire twice when I was younger made me very weary of stoves.the Englander was 45k this one says 35k.i mostly burn platinum pellets made local out of all hard wood,I get them cheap by the trailer load.btu is 9k it says on them.i will try what you said and give it a shot.thank you in advance

 

[mikkeeh]

Yes I have an oak set up on it.i had a Harmon then the Englander for around 8-9 years the box finally went out completely so I got rid of it and the wife not me went and got this on sale at ace because it was cute.i would have rather got another brand but am trying to make this work and not cost an arm and leg in pellets.we go threw about 9 tons between the house and the shop. Love the furnace in the shop but no room in the house for one.i will try manual mode when I get back home at lunch , I tuned have just played with the dampener and speeds so far as it has only been a couple days since install. I do know it took four hours to raise the house temp 5 degrees last night from start up ,as I shut it off to clean. I know I am finicky but I clean the stoves every two days and the pipes every 5 plus the monthly I do every two weeks.having had a chimney fire twice when I was younger made me very weary of stoves.the Englander was 45k this one says 35k.i mostly burn platinum pellets made local out of all hard wood,I get them cheap by the trailer load.btu is 9k it says on them.i will try what you said and give it a shot.thank you in advance

I hear ya. I usually go thru 7 tons between the house and the shop. Still cheaper than propane. My primary is a P43.going on year 7 ...no issues, just regular cleanings.

I did find my serenity will form a clinker in the burn pot, thus restricting the air flow. I can only burn about 12 hours before i have to clean the burn pot. It’s a real pita. My p43 runs non stop....except for cleaning every 2 weeks.
I eventually put a threaded rod on the air shutter on the serenity, so i could adjust it without removing the side panel. Should be in the original design. IMHO.

 

[Jeremylav]

Yea...they are finicky. Ive had probably 10 different stoves in the last 25 years, and the serenity has been the most needy.
Do you have outside air supply. I think its a necessity...especially with this particular stove. I have mine in the basement as supplemental heat source.
If i run mine on manual level 1, i can get about 12 hours out of a full hopper. If you figure stated btu output vs btu output of pellets.....you should be able to get closer to 20 hrs. Haven’t got there yet.
The stat temp, i just use as a reference point....not a true temp.
Have you tried running on manual?
And keep in mind the output of the Serenity is significantly lower than that of your Englander
I think the serenity is 30k btu....your Englander was probably 50k or more.....so keep that in mind.
Hope this helps some.

Yes I have an oak set up on it.i had a Harmon then the Englander for around 8-9 years the box finally went out completely so I got rid of it and the wife not me went and got this on sale at ace because it was cute.i would have rather got another brand but am trying to make this work and not cost an arm and leg in pellets.we go threw about 9 tons between the house and the shop. Love the furnace in the shop but no room in the house for one.i will try manual mode when I get back home at lunch , I tuned have just played with the dampener and speeds so far as it has only been a couple days since install. I do know it took four hours to raise the house temp 5 degrees last night from start up ,as I shut it off to clean. I know I am finicky but I clean the stoves every two days and the pipes every 5 plus the monthly I do every two weeks.having had a chimney fire twice when I was younger made me very weary of stoves.the Englander was 45k this one says 35k.i mostly burn platinum pellets made local out of all hard wood,I get them cheap by the trailer load.btu is

 

[Jeremylav]

Thank you for the input.i will try to play with it some more.i here you on propane ,as that Is what is in for furnace.cant change it to oil unfortunately,which is why I choose pellets.

 

[Deezl Smoke]

To some people I guess they are. To me and several others, they seem a great stove for the money and the application. Good thing about the serenity is, if you do sell it as it does not work out for you, you are not out thousands like you would be for any other stove. You should have got the serenity for less than a thousand, and if you hit a sale, less than 900.
To the thermometer, yes, location with regards to the stove, will make a difference. If you stand next to the stove, it will be warmer than 20' away. Naturally the thermometers will read likewise.
If you are going through that many pellets and not getting heat, it will be the pellet, not the stove 90% of the time. I run 100% soft wood, "douglas fir" in mine and set the stove according to the pellets. Then use the same pellets all the time.
If it does'nt work for you, sorry to hear it. Craigslist will dispose of it in short order.

 

[Jeremylav]

She paid 715.00 out the door for it which seemed a little cheap to me.she got it from a ace that a family member owns ,so she got the sale price of ? Plus my normal discount.

 

[Deezl Smoke]

She paid 715.00 out the door for it which seemed a little cheap to me.she got it from a ace that a family member owns ,so she got the sale price of ? Plus my normal discount.

Ace is where I bought all 3 of mine. You got a better deal, but I'm happy I got mine for less than 900.

 

[Jeremylav]

Ok just had a second to play around with this some more pot was half full from burning from 7.15pm to 8am when shut down. Got it in manual one and went up with room blower 5 volts dampener is 1/2 open. Still not really getting any good heat out of it.i threw a bag of green supreme soft wood in for the heck of it to see if it changed. What am I doing wrong, it is bugging the crap out of me as I am not a novice with pellets just this brand stove.
Sorry for the stupidity in advance I just do not want to have to pay a propane bill this year.

 

[mikkeeh]

I’m wondering if you’re expecting too much from this little stove. At manual 1...your btu output is likely around 9k.
That’s not a lot. I re read your first post. 1500 sqft is a lot to ask if this is primary heat source. I comfortably heat my 1600 ranch with serenity in the basement, and p43 upstairs.

 

[Deezl Smoke]

Ok just had a second to play around with this some more pot was half full from burning from 7.15pm to 8am when shut down. Got it in manual one and went up with room blower 5 volts dampener is 1/2 open. Still not really getting any good heat out of it.i threw a bag of green supreme soft wood in for the heck of it to see if it changed. What am I doing wrong, it is bugging the crap out of me as I am not a novice with pellets just this brand stove.
Sorry for the stupidity in advance I just do not want to have to pay a propane bill this year.

Ok, manual 1, great place to start. What is your exhaust blower voltage?
With your chimney, which is great to have that vertical btw, I would say you should be at 90 or 95 volts exhaust blower.
Try heat 2, then 3 and as you go up with heat numbers, go up with exhaust blower voltage. On 4 or 5 you may be at the highest voltage which is what? 105?
Basically, your inlet gate and exhaust voltage are what effect the heat output. The room blower does have to be high enough to get the heat away from the stove to prevent over temp, but it does not effect the burn on manual.
High exhaust blower voltage and closed gate settings with cause high velocity air to the burn pot. Open gate and lower exhaust voltage with slow the air down, but flow higher volume of air to the burn pot. Chimney length and design will effect these setting to the extent of air restriction. Your altitude will also effect the burn, and of course burn settings.

 

[dtaylor628]

So our 8 year old Englander died last week and the wife went and bought a Castile. The problem I am having is the temp on the stove says 75 but a thermostat by the stove says 65 the one ten feet away says 60. The house is a 1500@ square , all remodeled with no drafts.this stove no matter what I do will not put out heat.tried playing with all the settings and dampener as the others said.tried five different pellets. The other issue is it is going thru a bag in 6 hours unlike the Englander that went thru it in two days.exhaust is out the back and up 9 feet which is also been replaced with the stove so there is no restrictions.is there any way to get this to work or should I just return for a different stove.

Here is what I did to mine. Way too much heat output.

(broken link removed to https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.com%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F163374074447)

 

[mikkeeh]

Here is what I did to mine. Way too much heat output.

(broken link removed to https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.com%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F163374074447)

Looks rea;;y good. Might have to try it. How long has it been on the market?