Asking Help On Issue With My Bixby Corn Stove

[o2b]

Hi,

I have a Bixby corn stove. I don't know the model number, but its serial number is 6178 and it was built in March, 2006 (unsure at the moment where my documentation is).

This is my fourth or fifth year of use and outside of my first year (learning process and overlooked the maintenance step to remove fines from the rotating wheel), this year has been by far my most difficult year getting the settings optimum for a satisfactory burn. I would guess around 9 times I have had to start from scratch in my pursuit of optimum settings.

Yesterday, I just did a full maintenance procedure and I am once again in that place. But, there is a further fly in the ointment.

The stove keeps performing an ash dump within an hour of my shutting it off and turning it on again. (I did pull the plug to force a reset, by the way.) I know that many of the dumps were performed within 10-15 minutes of a shutdown/restart which is really irritating since I was advised by the very helpful person who sold me my stove that one ought give a burn about 30 minutes so it can stabilize before qualifying settings.

I am at the point where I would accept a burn even if the unit fails following an ash dump. I mean...at least it is running.

Why in the world would my stove "think" to want to do an ash dump so soon after being turned off and restarted? And is there any way to tell it to not perform a dump so soon?


Thanks in advance for any help!

Tony

 

[guatamican eye fake]

Im guessing its dumping because the stove is not reaching operating temps. I have experienced in the past with my bixby that a lean burn would cause this. For what its worth I do a 50/50 mix or straight pellets with feed rate at max setting and air at 0 to plus 3 depending on temps, runs flawlessly. Good luck

 

[o2b]

Hey Thanks!

At least you give me something tangible to work with (Bixby wanting to dump if burn is lean). I'll tweak that fuel rate up to try to minimize this occurrence.

My optimum settings are feed rate at 11 (sometimes closer to 12) and feed rate around 2-3. Another aspect of the challenge is that I often run into scenarios where there seems very little latitude in settings that are workable. Like you have to get it almost spot on (sometimes).

Oh, I generally run anywhere from 100% corn to maybe 25% pellets, 75% corn.


Thanks again!


Tony

 

[cozmik]

Hey Thanks!

At least you give me something tangible to work with (Bixby wanting to dump if burn is lean). I'll tweak that fuel rate up to try to minimize this occurrence.

My optimum settings are feed rate at 11 (sometimes closer to 12) and feed rate around 2-3. Another aspect of the challenge is that I often run into scenarios where there seems very little latitude in settings that are workable. Like you have to get it almost spot on (sometimes).

Oh, I generally run anywhere from 100% corn to maybe 25% pellets, 75% corn.


Thanks again!


Tony

 

[cozmik]

I own a bixby maxfire 115 and had it for close to 10 or more years.This past summer I gave her a good cleaning inside and out.I pretty much did a lot of repair work on her.W hen I started her up today she ran good for about 10 minutes then shut down.I checked the thermocouple wire and it was connected.my qwestion is could it be a bad wire or some other issue?Thank you.