Castile owners , feed gate ?

[PoolGuyinCT]

Hi all

Having an "energy star" night here in connecticut outside temps at 46 right now.

There has been a lot of castile feed gate talk lately. I have always kept throttled down to the minimum feed position. This the only feed rate I have ever used, to curb consumption.

I'm wondering if I've been penny wise and dollar foolish, with this train of thought.

Do you guys adjust your feed gates? I always have an active "spikes" flame.

Thanks

Ray

 

[PoolGuyinCT]

Yello?

 

[Countryboymo]

I adjust mine as it says in the manual the only thing I do differ on is if I will be running on medium for an extended period I will open it a touch sometimes so medium is a little hotter. If I run somersets I have to run with the gate closed or almost closed but with ozark hardwood pellets that are considerably longer it has to be wide open to get the flame tips to stay out of the pot. I would adjust it per the manual instructions.

 

[PoolGuyinCT]

Give it a shot, though I always have a nice clean "spikey" flame.

Ty

 

[tjnamtiw]

I adjust mine as the manual tells you to. Run on HIGH and adjust for a 4" high flame AVERAGE. Then you should be set. You should not assume the feed rate (lbs/hr) is the same for every batch and every brand of pellets. It's not! Sure the stove may work without touching the feed gate but, holy cow, it's the only thing you have to play with!! It boils down to how many lbs/hr you are dumping into the burnpot which equates to btu's/hour. If the pellets are long and/or less dense, then you get few btu's/hour and you are running lean since your airflow is the same (assuming you don't touch the heat setting). Then you switch to a brand with very dense, small pellets and you say "Wow, these pellets are really ''''HOT'''' compared to the others. Well, no, they aren't! You're just feeding more btu's per hour.

 

[Stevekng]

I adjusted mine when first installed 4 years ago. I had forgotten that the chute adjustment was even there. The stove has been running fine since then. The only thing I have done to try and get an improvement, is to relocate the quad (Lux) thermostat that came with the installation. That worked out good, because my consumption improved by 30%. The themostat had been mounted near a cold air return for my oil fired furnace and there was a slight draft.

 

[St_Earl]

Give it a shot, though I always have a nice clean "spikey" flame.

Ty

a pretty good way to go if you are adjusting without instruments. (probably pretty good then too)
i know you can get less heat with more pellets. i keep it so there is no laziness to the flame at all.
spikey is a great term. not loopy