Breckwell P23I Installed and Question

[timalabim]

Just got my P23I installed this weekend. Seems excellent so far.
My question is regarding combustion air. From the picture you can see the flame
swirled toward the front. Watching the flame it seems that there is air coming from
somewhere (the pellet feed shoot?) which blows the flame forward. Is this normal or
should the flame shoot up straight?

 

[kinsmanstoves]

Dear God man, open the damper and give the fire some air. From what I see in the pic you have the damper closed all the way. If you are running at level 1 have it almost closed but fire needs air.

Where is your dealer? Have you spoke to him/her (PC).

Eric

 

[ken3698]

We bought this exact stove last year.... Love it.. We never have had a issue, We use a programable thermostat to control it 100% of the time. Just fill it once a day and it turns on/off by itself. (We use a 3 degree swing on the thermostat, I found it to be the best)
I've played around with the air setting using a high temperature thermocouple to monitor the fire over time. So far we found that - Yes your picture look's like it needs more air. I found a sweet spot that I marked on my stove -you want the flame to burn kinda straight up, More air = more heat. But you don't want to much air to the point where your blowing the pellets out of the pot. Our stove has great air flow, so you don't need to open it more than 1/2 inch.
If your using the Hi/Low option - You need to shut the air down pretty low. If I'm burning poor pellets,(Home depots) the flame will blow itself out.
Best thing to do is have fun and find the setting you like.

FYI - Best pellets I have found are at Tractor supply/Lowes made by Somerset. Worst are Home Depots Fireside ultra and stove chow (Don't waste your money on these).

 

[timalabim]

Thanks Ken,

I have been playing with the damper to find the "sweet spot" as you say, but haven't quite got it yet. I can see what you mean where you can get to a point where the pellets will blow out of the pot. Would you say that the correct setting is slightly less that that point or a lot less than that point?
1/2" does seem to blow out the fire when on low feed setting. I am trying to find the best compromise for using the HI/LOW Thermostat mode.

Tim

 

[kinsmanstoves]

Thanks Ken,

I have been playing with the damper to find the "sweet spot" as you say, but haven't quite got it yet. I can see what you mean where you can get to a point where the pellets will blow out of the pot. Would you say that the correct setting is slightly less that that point or a lot less than that point?
1/2" does seem to blow out the fire when on low feed setting. I am trying to find the best compromise for using the HI/LOW Thermostat mode.

Tim

Do you have a millivolt thermostat hook up?

Eric

 

[timalabim]

Do you have a millivolt thermostat hook up?

Eric

I do have the thermostat:

http://www.acehardware.com/product/...0927&pg=2&parentPage=family&parentPage=family


but don't have it hooked up yet.

I wanted to make sure I got the damper setting correct before I let it cycle automatically. I've been switching between level 1 and 3 to get the best compromise between good flame on setting 3 and not going out on the low feed 1 setting.

I've got it running much better than in my pics which were taken on the first day I had the stove. Hopfully I'll hook up the thermostat when I get some time after Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday.

 

[kinsmanstoves]

Do you have a millivolt thermostat hook up?

Eric

I do have the thermostat:

http://www.acehardware.com/product/...0927&pg=2&parentPage=family&parentPage=family


but don't have it hooked up yet.

I wanted to make sure I got the damper setting correct before I let it cycle automatically. I've been switching between level 1 and 3 to get the best compromise between good flame on setting 3 and not going out on the low feed 1 setting.

I've got it running much better than in my pics which were taken on the first day I had the stove. Hopfully I'll hook up the thermostat when I get some time after Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday.

It will take you longer to carve the bird than to hook up that thermostat. Run on manual unless there is a tstat hooked up. REMEMBER to unplug the unit when you remove the control board or you will see sparks.

Eric

 

[timalabim]

It will take you longer to carve the bird than to hook up that thermostat. Run on manual unless there is a tstat hooked up. REMEMBER to unplug the unit when you remove the control board or you will see sparks.

Eric

Thanks, no need for sparks. I'm running manual now.

 

[ken3698]

If your running on the high/ Low setting, I found that you have two options. Adjust the low setting so it feeds at the highest rate(reset trim button) or close the air valve back and leave it.. I've tried numerous times to leave the airflow up high on the lowest seting and it has blown out the flame.

To answer your question, When the flame is burning straight up on setting 3, I cut the airflow back about 1/4 inch and then leave it alone. Try doing this using your high/low option and have the reset trim button on the highest setting (1&4;I think) ... This should work.....-----keep me posted.

 

[timalabim]

Sweet success

I hooked up the tstat and was able to get the damper set so that I have a good flame on the high cycle and the fire just keeps lit on the low cycle.
I marked each 1/4 inch on the frame next to the damper so that I could get a better feel for where I was. Before I was just kind of shooting in the dark, but with the markings, it was much easier to zero in on the sweet spot. I'm just over 1/2 inch out. Beautiful flame on 3 and just a small fire on the low cycle at a 1 (normal) feed. Sometimes the flame looks like it is about to go out but never does. Just over 24 hours running with the tstat, and am loving it.

I put the tstat right near the furnace tstat and have them running the same program of warm/cool cycles. I set the stove tstat 2 degrees higher than the furnace tstat to compensate for the single source vs distributed radiators. I start the warm cycles on the stove 15 min earlier than the furnace. I figure if the stove can't keep up, or I run out of pellets or whatever, the furnace can kick in if it needs to.

Ok Mother Nature, bring on the winter !