Burning an Englander on very low setting successfully.........

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Whirlyduck said:
.......I currently have the issue where I have a dirty burn on low heats. The flame will go out then about 20 to 30 seconds later the new pellets arrive and re ignite. my low heat settings on heat 1 are 5, 1, 1 just to keep it lit. I want to be able to turn her down even lower but have way to much air moving through the burn pot.....

IMO, your settings for that stove are way off for a good low burn.

If the stove is REALLY clean, then settings like 4-5-1, or 4-6-1 should work well. On your present setting, 5-1-1, you have a lot of pellets going in, but hardly any air to burn them.....that would be the cause of your dirty burn. But then you said that you have "way to much air"......something doesn't add up there. Too much air wouldn't allow a dirty burn to happen.
 
If I turn the air up, the flame goes out even quicker. I have only had this stove for a month. Built in June of 01. Totally cleaned everything while I was waiting on the hearth to dry. I have played extensively with thees settings leaving it to burn for about 30 mins to an hour before making slight adjustments. Heat 1, lba at 1, pellets dance slowly once they are half burnt. If I turn the lff down to 4 she will go out within 30 to 45 mins. i was going to call them to see if there was a way to get into the settings and turn down the cumb fan from the board. this might be a way the though.
 
Just to add... Those settings mentioned give me a burn time of 26 hours per 40lbs. Also, is my terminology off? dirty burn being when the flame goes out then has to reignite? the pot is completely burnt. imagine the pellets being delivered in 10 pellet bunches. they flare up, burn down then have just enough snuff to ignite the next batch.
 
I'm confused.

In your first post, you stated you had a "dirty burn" on low burn. That means that you have too many pellets, lazy orange flames w/ blackish tips, and pot starts filling up.

Then you say you have "too much air" (lean burn), it would result in very short, yellow-white flames, and pellets burning too fast and stove going out eventually.

From what you describe above, "If I turn the lff down to 4 she will go out within 30 to 45 mins.", so there's my confusion.....is it a dirty burn, or lean burn??

I'm tending to think that a call Monday to Englander tech support, (or maybe Mike will chime in here), is in order.
 
flame description. huge roaring flame that lasts no more than min and half then the pot smolders until the next batch is delivered then process is repeated. flame is equal to a higher heat setting just smaller in base diameter. i still haven't got the lingo down so please excuse me for using terms incorrectly! i have off the next 5 days and was planning on calling anyways.
 
Whirlyduck said:
flame description. huge roaring flame that lasts no more than min and half then the pot smolders until the next batch is delivered then process is repeated. flame is equal to a higher heat setting just smaller in base diameter. i still haven't got the lingo down so please excuse me for using terms incorrectly! i have off the next 5 days and was planning on calling anyways.

Your saying that you don't see pellets coming into the burn pot more often than every 1 1/2 minutes? Something isn't right there..... pellets should be getting pushed into the burnpot every 10-15 seconds, from what I know of your stove.
 
I agree. My brother and his neighbor have Englanders and neither one of them does this. I have read on here somewhere however that they have the tendency to do this. Being an older model, I don’t know what the former owner might have had done to it. Inside the hopper, directly above the top auger, there is an added piece. it is no more than a piece of tubing that was laser cut and welded on to another piece of tubing the same dia as the auger tube. when I got the stove home, the plate was loose so I cleaned the area and re- hi temp silicone it back where it was. about a week ago now, I removed said plate to see what effect it had..... used 40 lbs in 7 hrs. needless to say I re-installed the plate. I was hoping this would even out my feed, instead it allowed twice the pellets down the gullet. I have yet to pull augers and look for issues, however I don’t feel as if this is the issue.

Since I have the times for the top auger cycle, I am prob going to call and see if they are correct. currently the auger runs on a 16 sec cycle. it ranges from 1 sec on 15 sec off, to 4 sec on 12 sec off. the later being heat setting 9. the bottom auger runs at 40 sec/ rev throughout the heat settings. each heat setting adds roughly .5 sec to the top auger rotating time and removes .5 sec from the dwell time. when on low heat, the cycle time changes .25 sec per level.

Not knowing the ratio of the top auger gear box, I cannot figure out the rev/ cycle but it seems like it needs to be better timed with the lower auger in order to achieve a better feed consistency. I am not trying to re engineer this stove, heck, I love it so far. I am just trying to tune it up so it burns the way I feel it should.
 
Whirlyduck said:
....... Being an older model, I don’t know what the former owner might have had done to it.......
I think it's time for you to call Englander tech help line, and get one of Mike Holtons guys to go through checking the settings on the stove, and also find out about that piece in the hopper.

Make sure you have the model and serial # handy when you call. Their great people to work with and I'm sure that eventually you'll get it straightened out.
 
The rep said that the a,b,c,d setting has to do with the model stove you have. It allows englander to use the same control board on multiple stoves. (thanks stoveguy2esw)

Macman, the problem I am still having is regardless of setting, I am getting a roaring hot bonfire type flame. (often as wide as burnpot and above door glass)

He mentioned something about possibly needing to clean the heat exchanger area, so I will try that and see what happens...

Thanks to everyone for all the help.
 
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