Castile efficiency

[B-Mod]

I am running on straight pellets for the first time ever, in a large volume, I usually only use them in the warm spring time temps. Here is what I am finding.
Stove set on low, control box set on +10%
Convection fan set on high, springs in 6 of my 8 heat exchanger tubes
Adjustable snap disk to turn convection fan on soon, and keep it on longer at shut down.
Door sealed at top, and sides, was bottom and sides.
40# bag of fleet farm pellets in 24hrs
This has kept a 15 year old 1600 sq.ft. house about 63 to 68 degrees, with outside temps of -15 to +5.
I think I am doing pretty good with this setup? What do you guys think?

 

[PoolGuyinCT]

If you are describing mods.. Please describe the mods...

I think I'm missing your drift?

 

[B-Mod]

I modded the stove so the convection fan is on high no matter the setting on the stove. I added an adjustable snap switch to turn on the convection fan sooner, and stay on longer. I added springs to the inside of the heat exchanger. Also changed the door glass wash. There is a thread on here all about these mods. I will try to find it.

 

[B-Mod]

https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/quadrafire-castile-experiment.58216/

Mod thread, 8 pages of fun for you.

 

[B-Mod]

Here is another...
https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/my-quadrafire-1200-re-anaysis.75329/

 

[PoolGuyinCT]

Thanks... And yes I'm sick enough to consider it fun!

 

[Countryboymo]

I still need to do the convection mod. I did add a piece of rope gasket on the left side behind the middle plate and tucked the bottom end under the chute so a little air can flow down and under the chute behind the plate and to the fan. I ran the gasket up almost to the top of the middle plate. This makes the majority of exhaust flow stay up by the exchanger tubes. I can't say how much temp difference I have in my tubes because it made more of them more even temperatures and increased the air temps coming out of all of the tubes.

I did notice a 15 degree drop on my exhaust vent checking it from @4' off the floor with hardwood and close to 20 with good softwood pellets.

 

[tjnamtiw]

You know, BMod, I've always wondered how you could heat so well on low but I think it finally sank in that by having the stove on LOW but feeding pellets at a higher rate makes sense! With the exhaust blower on LOW, you are not blowing as much heat up the stack but you obviously have fine tuned the stove to burn efficiently with the given air flow and pellet mass. Now you've given me another thing to play with, darn you! With the mods we've done, my exhaust temp right at the top of the blower is 160 degrees when running on Med, according to the old records. Do you have a way to measure temp there like with a surface pyrometer? I've learned that IR detectors just aren't worth crap.
I have to get in there and measure again because I kind of remember that I got it down to 140 degrees. I guess I'll have to sort through those old posts too.

 

[B-Mod]

I still need to do the convection mod. I did add a piece of rope gasket on the left side behind the middle plate and tucked the bottom end under the chute so a little air can flow down and under the chute behind the plate and to the fan. I ran the gasket up almost to the top of the middle plate. This makes the majority of exhaust flow stay up by the exchanger tubes. I can't say how much temp difference I have in my tubes because it made more of them more even temperatures and increased the air temps coming out of all of the tubes.

I did notice a 15 degree drop on my exhaust vent checking it from @4' off the floor with hardwood and close to 20 with good softwood pellets.

I never played with this, but might have to now, lol.

 

[B-Mod]

You know, BMod, I've always wondered how you could heat so well on low but I think it finally sank in that by having the stove on LOW but feeding pellets at a higher rate makes sense! With the exhaust blower on LOW, you are not blowing as much heat up the stack but you obviously have fine tuned the stove to burn efficiently with the given air flow and pellet mass. Now you've given me another thing to play with, darn you! With the mods we've done, my exhaust temp right at the top of the blower is 160 degrees when running on Med, according to the old records. Do you have a way to measure temp there like with a surface pyrometer? I've learned that IR detectors just aren't worth crap.
I have to get in there and measure again because I kind of remember that I got it down to 140 degrees. I guess I'll have to sort through those old posts too.

No surface pyro, only temp probes, and ir sensors. I am pretty happy with it burning on pellets, I might try turning the box back to stock setting. Funny thing is I have my feed rod modded so it shuts off the max it can, I cut a bigger slot in it. I find after running 24 hrs or more, there is just about nothing in the burn pot to clean, all the ash is around the burn pot, is this normal for hard wood pellets? I am use to hard 1" thick or more corn clinkers, and hardly any ash outside the pot.

 

[SwineFlue]

Funny thing is I have my feed rod modded so it shuts off the max it can, I cut a bigger slot in it. I find after running 24 hrs or more, there is just about nothing in the burn pot to clean, all the ash is around the burn pot, is this normal for hard wood pellets? I am use to hard 1" thick or more corn clinkers, and hardly any ash outside the pot.

It's normal for good hardwood pellets as long as the tiny holes at the bottom of the burnpot are clear. I use a 2" paintbrush to sweep ash from the firebox and the burnpot. If I run it on High for more than 24 hours or so, I may get a crumbly buildup in the burnpot. It breaks up when I push it through. The only other tool I use is a small allen wrench to clean out ash from the tiny holes.

btw, thanks for the linked threads up above. I'll read thru them when I get time.

 

[tjnamtiw]

No surface pyro, only temp probes, and ir sensors. I am pretty happy with it burning on pellets, I might try turning the box back to stock setting. Funny thing is I have my feed rod modded so it shuts off the max it can, I cut a bigger slot in it. I find after running 24 hrs or more, there is just about nothing in the burn pot to clean, all the ash is around the burn pot, is this normal for hard wood pellets? I am use to hard 1" thick or more corn clinkers, and hardly any ash outside the pot.

I'm burning 100% oak pellets and always have. There is almost no ash at all in the bottom of the burn pot. It all gets blown out.

 

[Countryboymo]

B-mod I was just looking at the normal possible air flow of the stove especially since when I got it used the center section was packed full of ash blocking a good portion of the center plate and only the right side plate had a corner rope gasket. After really cleaning the stove out I noticed I seemed to have lost heat out the tubes. I gained some by adding a rope gasket on the left plate and thought... that if the air was forced to circulate across the tubes more that light ash might stay blown out rather than just being pulled down and across the back into the fan and out.

 

[smalltown]

My Castile originally had rope gasket only on the far left and far right hand corners behind the brick panels.
Last season after reading a similar post I thought I was missing the rope gasket on either side of the center brick panel. So I added two pieces.
This season I thought the better of it after realizing I was blocking the exhaust flow that normally goes behind the center brick panel. I removed mine and noticed an immediate positive difference, with a more rigorous burning, and less ash buildup.

Mine was manufactured Oct 2008

 

[tjnamtiw]

Both of my stoves have the rope around the center section from the factory and both burn very well.

 

[B-Mod]

Can anyone take a picture of the factory rope around the center section? Mine only has it on the far right, and far left, but my stove is a very early model.

 

[tjnamtiw]

Curously, my Castile has the rope around the center section but NO rope at either side! These are 2007 models.

 

[smalltown]

I edited my previous post to say mine was manufactured in Oct. 2008.

It's probably one of those things that are periodically changed such as the tadpole gasket on the glass.

Apparently earlier models had no gasket on top, and closed on the bottom, while later models are open on the bottom, and closed on the top.

Maybe that's why mine acted so poorly when I added gasket to the center.
Maybe it's a case of one or the other not both?

 

[B-Mod]

Interesting that they keep making these changes.

 

[tjnamtiw]

I edited my previous post to say mine was manufactured in Oct. 2008.

It's probably one of those things that are periodically changed such as the tadpole gasket on the glass.

Apparently earlier models had no gasket on top, and closed on the bottom, while later models are open on the bottom, and closed on the top.

Maybe that's why mine acted so poorly when I added gasket to the center.
Maybe it's a case of one or the other not both?

Yea, mine has no gasket on the top yet my Sante Fe, made at the same time has the gasket on the top but not the bottom BUT it has the rope around the center of the doors like my Castile! I guess the Chinese couldn't read their own assemble manuals written in Chenglish

 

[SwineFlue]

Yea, mine has no gasket on the top yet my Sante Fe, made at the same time has the gasket on the top but not the bottom BUT it has the rope around the center of the doors like my Castile! I guess the Chinese couldn't read their own assemble manuals written in Chenglish

Or some of the workers didn't realize that English goes from left to right

Mine is a top-airwash (gasket on bottom) door with corner-rope only (none in the center).

What's the point of the left rear plate if it is blocked off by rope at the center? It looks like the rope would restrict airflow into the combustion blower. I just re-read your springs thread... wondering now if you'd transfer more heat into those left tubes by removing the center ropes.

Here's another difference: my rods clean all 8 tubes, and all the way around them:

 

[tjnamtiw]

Or some of the workers didn't realize that English goes from left to right

Mine is a top-airwash (gasket on bottom) door with corner-rope only (none in the center).

What's the point of the left rear plate if it is blocked off by rope at the center? It looks like the rope would restrict airflow into the combustion blower. I just re-read your springs thread... wondering now if you'd transfer more heat into those left tubes by removing the center ropes.

Here's another difference: my rods clean all 8 tubes, and all the way around them:
View attachment 121398

I have tried to figure out just how the airflow was intended to go along those tubes ever since I got the stoves! It makes little sense to me.
I sure like your 'tube wipers' better than mine!

 

[SwineFlue]

I have tried to figure out just how the airflow was intended to go along those tubes ever since I got the stoves!

My best guess has always been... combustion gases up from the burnpot, then up & forward along the underside of the top baffle and in front of the baffle to get above it. As they are cooled by the heat exchanger the gases flow down the slope of the baffle toward the back, then behind the rear plates (both???) to the blower.

 

[SwineFlue]

Interesting that they keep making these changes.

Yeah... and are the engineers improving efficiency or are the beancounters "improving" the manufacturing process?

 

[tjnamtiw]

Yeah... and are the engineers improving efficiency or are the beancounters "improving" the manufacturing process?

My vote, having come from manufacturing, is on the second choice WITHOUT A DOUBT!