Clinkers

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verge32

New Member
Hearth Supporter
Oct 25, 2008
10
RI
Are clinkers normal? I found a good sized clinker today when cleaning the burnpot. Havent seen one that big since I got the stove.
 
It depends on the pellets and airflow. You could try increasing the airflow to the burnpot, or slowing down the pellet feed rate. It may also be that your stove needs a good cleaning.

What stove do you have?
 
I have a quad classic bay 1200 insert. The only control is the pellet feedrate (besides low med hi).
 
verge32 said:
I have a quad classic bay 1200 insert. The only control is the pellet feedrate (besides low med hi).

There's no draft seetings on your stove?
 
rap69ri said:
It depends on the pellets and airflow. You could try increasing the airflow to the burnpot, or slowing down the pellet feed rate. It may also be that your stove needs a good cleaning.

What stove do you have?

hey Rick, do you know if this also applies to the 25-PDV, I know you have the 25-PDVC but wondering if these 2 are pretty much the same as far as settings go.

I've seen also lots of clinkers on my stove but changed the settings to 4-6-1 and will see if that improves or not.
I usually start it up at 3-5 (heat range-blower speed) and then after a couple hours I decrease it to 2-3 or 1-1 if not too cold. Wondering also if low settings affect this as well.

..
 
rap69ri said:
verge32 said:
I have a quad classic bay 1200 insert. The only control is the pellet feedrate (besides low med hi).

There's no draft seetings on your stove?

Not that I know of, it mentions nothing in the manual. There are some settings on the control board that is not mentioned in the users manual, it might be in there.
 
Only got clinkers on burn in, 2.5 hr on high, never on medium, which I only burn on now. No air adjustment on Quad, one less thing to fool with.
Anyways I dump my burn pot anytime I'm around and it is shut down, 4-5 times a day.
 
verge32 said:
I have a quad classic bay 1200 insert. The only control is the pellet feedrate (besides low med hi).
I think it's the pellets.

I'm using Maeder Bros pellets and I get a "cake" of pumice-like substance at the bottom of the pot that needs to be emptied morning and evening. These pellets are so far the only that will do this.

For me, it's not airflow because as big as that cake can get it will still have airholes formed in the cake....and the flame keeps burning.

I too, have a CB1200i and it's a great stove!
 
Ductape said:
Does a clinker resemble a turd?

No more than a Baby Ruth in a swimming pool does
 
Pardon my ignorence of this subject as I am new to the pellet stove world, but what is a clinker?
 
Here is a blurb right off the Alleganey Pellet site:

A clinker is a hard ash formation that is occasionally created when the ash that is present in the burn pot actually begins to melt. Many of today's highly efficient pellet stoves operate near the combustion temperatures that are required to melt ash. Once the ash begins to melt it may obstruct the air holes of the incoming air and affect the proper mix of air and fuel. Incorrect adjustment of the air to fuel ratio can greatly increase the likelihoods of clinker formation. This is due to the stoves inability to adequately burn the excess fuel and remove the excess ash that is building up in the burn pot.
 
Shooter said:
verge32 said:
I have a quad classic bay 1200 insert. The only control is the pellet feedrate (besides low med hi).
I think it's the pellets.

I'm using Maeder Bros pellets and I get a "cake" of pumice-like substance at the bottom of the pot that needs to be emptied morning and evening. These pellets are so far the only that will do this.

For me, it's not airflow because as big as that cake can get it will still have airholes formed in the cake....and the flame keeps burning.

I too, have a CB1200i and it's a great stove!

Interesting. I have burned for three previous seasons and had no idea what a clinker was. I always had very fine light colored ash, very light weight. This season I'm getting the "pumice-like substance" (good description by the way) with two different brands of pellets. My air holes are not getting clogged and it is easy to scoop out.
 
Only certain wood pellets will form a clinker (as my previous post) with the CB1200i. I've been told it's a large amount of sand and or silica in processing.

Corn also will form clinkers.
 
geek said:
rap69ri said:
It depends on the pellets and airflow. You could try increasing the airflow to the burnpot, or slowing down the pellet feed rate. It may also be that your stove needs a good cleaning.

What stove do you have?

hey Rick, do you know if this also applies to the 25-PDV, I know you have the 25-PDVC but wondering if these 2 are pretty much the same as far as settings go.

I've seen also lots of clinkers on my stove but changed the settings to 4-6-1 and will see if that improves or not.
I usually start it up at 3-5 (heat range-blower speed) and then after a couple hours I decrease it to 2-3 or 1-1 if not too cold. Wondering also if low settings affect this as well.

..

Both stoves use the same control board, so logic tells me that they operate the same way. I have changed my settings more than once to work best with the brand pellet I'm using at that time, and even between tons of the same brand. It's definitely a matter of trial and error.
 
Panhandler said:
Shooter said:
verge32 said:
I have a quad classic bay 1200 insert. The only control is the pellet feedrate (besides low med hi).
I think it's the pellets.

I'm using Maeder Bros pellets and I get a "cake" of pumice-like substance at the bottom of the pot that needs to be emptied morning and evening. These pellets are so far the only that will do this.

For me, it's not airflow because as big as that cake can get it will still have airholes formed in the cake....and the flame keeps burning.

I too, have a CB1200i and it's a great stove!

Interesting. I have burned for three previous seasons and had no idea what a clinker was. I always had very fine light colored ash, very light weight. This season I'm getting the "pumice-like substance" (good description by the way) with two different brands of pellets. My air holes are not getting clogged and it is easy to scoop out.
Bizarre isnt it?? I can burn 4 other brands of pellets and have just a bit of dust, just give a tug on the pot lever and it dumps. That clinker.....I have to reach in and help it out the bottom or open the front door and get things dusty. This must be done 2 times daily for optimum burning.

That thing will grow to gargantuana proportions LOL
 
Quads all use the same burn pot and have fixed airflows. If you clean the burnpot in a Quad once a day then clinkers will never be a problem.

If you maintain any stove on a daily basis then any stove pellet or other will never cause you a problem.
 
4124elad said:
Quads all use the same burn pot and have fixed airflows. If you clean the burnpot in a Quad once a day then clinkers will never be a problem.

If you maintain any stove on a daily basis then any stove pellet or other will never cause you a problem.
If that were the problem with mine than why do other pellets not even begin to form a clinker? Besides, I clean the air holes and check them regularly.

It's the pellets.

If a clinker is a problem then be sure to empty that burn pot every morning and evening. No probs there. I'd be burning other pellets except these were the cheapest in the north country.
 
I have tried 4 different pellet brands in the past year. Two of them formed clinkers with one of them actually forming a hard cement-like clinker which wouldn't even fall down into the drawer as my Mt. Vernon tried to auto clean. I finished those pellets off last year and won't used that brand again. It's all in the pellets if you ask me.
 
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