Burnpot Full of Ash after 8-9 hours?? HELP!!

[StormPanic]

New pellet stove owner, Regency GF55. Don't know if I have too much air or not enough or if I need to adjust the feed trim. After 8-9 hour burn, burnpot is filled with ash and pellets are overflowing out of the burnpot. I am burning Green Supremes and Geneva. Combustion air was set on 4/5 and Feed Trim set at 2/5. Any suggestions would be great!!

 

[StormPanic]

Here's a pic of what it looks like after it cools down:

 

[krooser]

Not enough air or a dirty stove would be my guess. How many pellets have been run thru since it was completely taken down and cleaned?

 

[krooser]

Not enough air or a dirty stove would be my guess. How many pellets have been run thru since it was completely taken down and cleaned?

 

[krooser]

Not enough air or a dirty stove would be my guess. How many pellets have been run thru since it was completely taken down and cleaned?

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

Was your stove properly set up, the damper is supposed to be set by running the stove on high and using a magnehelic (I hope I got that spelled correctly) gage after the burn has stabilized (usually a fairly long period of time).

 

[StormPanic]

Stove is new. Less than 20 bags burned. I did not set the damper with a manga gauge. After it cools down I will open it up and check how I set it up. Didn't want to buy a gauge

 

[hotdawg]

Is the stove new or new to you? If it's a brand new stove, I don't think the dirty stove syndrome would be your case. Does your glass get very dirty? Are there unburned pellets in the ash pan? Did you try the dollar bill test to make sure your door gaskets are good? I would try adjusting your pellet feed to the lowest setting and open up the damper some. Or you can go extreme and put your feed on the lowest setting and open your damper completely. You'll see very quickly if the stove is getting too much air. The pellets in your burn pot should start dancing like crazy and literally jump out of the pot and the flames should be very short, probably doesn't get taller then your burn pot. I had similar issues when I first got my stove installed with incomplete burns. I also ended up having to build a wind shield for my vent. The wind can play havoc on a good burn.

 

[StormPanic]

I don't have an OAK installed. Stove is brand new

 

[StormPanic]

Okay just opened it up and pulled the damper all the way open. Just lit it with feed on 1 and combustion air trim on 5. Will keep you posted

 

[StormPanic]

Any clue on if feed trim 1 or 5 is the slowest setting?

 

[Mike M57]

I have an older gf55 so my board is a little different then yours. Default trim setting is 4 and combustion is 2. I usually run mine on hi/lo with heat level 3. At this setting trim feed every 4 seconds on hi and 9 seconds on low. Damper is about 1/3 open. Make sure evl on your vent pipe is under 15. My pipe evl was well over 15 and I had air flow issues. I had same problem couple of years ago burning Maines choice. They were really ashy and I had to open damper almost all the way. Also, check to see if you have a regular or high ash burn pot liner. High ash one is much better.

 

[corkman]

x2 on the high ash liner.i had a meridian which is the same stove as the gf55 and i had a problem burning the higher ash pellets.i switched to the high ash liner and set the draft with a gauge and was good to go.
x2 on the gasket check also.i changed out my door gasket within a month of buying my stove and the ash pan was warped also.do the dollar bill test on the door and ashpan gasket.dont rule those out just because the stove is new.

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

That is telling it like it is corkman.

 

[StormPanic]

OK bear with me because I am pretty new to this. What is EVL stand for with regard to the vent pipe? Also need someone to explain the dollar bill test. Overnight I ran it on level 3 heat, trim at 1, combustion air at 5.

 

[StormPanic]

OK so here is what it looked like after a 10 hour burn. Feed trim set to 1/5, combustion air trim set to 5/5, heat level 3/5.

Video of the flame this morning after I set the heat level to 5/5

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[jdbell]

I have a GFI55 (2010) model....if they changed any. I believe the feed and trim setting buttons only apply when your stove is running on lowest setting (ie..setting number 1). At every other setting the stove automatically set's the feed and combustion trim for you. The only thing you need to adjust is the damper opening, which in your case appear's not opened enough. Do you use an oak, you may need more air to the stove? Try opening the damper 1/4 inch at a time and give it 15 minutes or so to adjust itself, you want a nice brisk flame burning, not a blow torch and not a lazy flame.
From you pic's it appears you are using a high ash burn pot liner.

 

[StormPanic]

I have the damper open full (pulled all the way out). I am using the burn pot liner that came with the stove. I don't think it is the high ash one (there are no holes in the bottom, just the front and back). Weird that I would have to buy a different burn pot liner than what came with it (can I drill holes in the one I have?). I guess I could install an outside air kit (was hoping not to put another hole in the house).

 

[StormPanic]

The wall to the right of the stove is the garage. Could I install the OAK to the garage? Its not tight at all (plenty of air in/out under the garage door).

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

Read your stove's installation manual, I believe the answer you will find there is no.

 

[StormPanic]

So I assume that I must need more air (i.e. OAK)? Damper is all the way open so it can't be that.

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

If a stove has a high ash pot or liner available by all means get it, pellets are not like oil, ash content varies all over the place.

Remember unlike what the folks tell you at the big boxes all pellets aren't the same by any stretch of the imagination your stove doesn't have an agitator to keep things broken up so the air can get through all of the time to both burn the fuel and eject the ash.

Even the ash produced isn't the same in terms of density, light fluffy stuff is easy for the air to remove, the heavy stuff not so much.

Enough air under the pot and up through the pellet pile does the job in top feed pellet stoves.

You also don't have an automatic pot dumping and relight system (Mt Vernon AE, Fahrenheit) or a feed system that slowly pushes the ash away from the burn area (Harman, ESW bottom feeders).

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

So I assume that I must need more air (i.e. OAK)? Damper is all the way open so it can't be that.

You can create a dirty burn and generate more ash by having the damper open all the way on some installations.

 

[StormPanic]

OK so now I am thoroughly confused. I am almost certain that my stove did not come with the high ash liner (will confirm when I get home). The pellets I burned last night were Geneva which I thought were pretty high quality but I could be mistaken. I will do some calling around today and see what else is available in my area (I know I can get Logik-e). As far as the damper goes, I am not really sure what to do. I figured leaving it full open would improve things (which I think it did). This morning the burnpot was noticeably less full than the previous burns. I guess I will start with getting the high ash burnpot and experimenting with the damper at different levels? I don't have access to a magnehelic gauge. I can also leave the door to the garage open in the room to see if that helps. If it does, I can install an OAK.

 

[jtakeman]

High ash liner is not a stock supplied item. So, I'm sure you will need to be order it.

Even with a high ash liner, You'll still need to give the pot a stir every so often. Minimum is once a day. If your not doing this with the standard pot give it a try.