Dell Point Europa 75 thrown pellets

[Martharuth]

Have used Dell Point Europa stove for past four years that my husband and I bought six years ago. Haven't sealed it like I should and have no outside air coming in. I live downstairs and my mother lives upstairs. It keeps downstairs about 80 degrees on level one if it is around thirty degrees outside. It is now 72 degrees on level two since temps are in teens. Upstairs is around 66 so she uses natural gas boiler to get it up to 70 upstairs. My husband died after first year of use and I did the maintenance and cleaned augurs this past summer. No problems with fuses or augers yet.... My issue is that when I vacuum it out every three to four weeks, there are so many extra pellets in the door and the area surrounding the pot. Perhaps a pound or more. They fall out when I open the door to clean glass. A couple years ago I thought I had read of a fix for this, some attachment, but I can't find it anywhere. Using somerset. Problem seems worse this year. Sorry if I couldn't find it somewhere already on here. I have looked under many different things.
Martha

 

[Lake Girl]

Are you cleaning the internal exhaust pathways and venting too? I'm not 100% positive but I thought there was discussion on a burn pot modification. Might be best to wait to see if others recall the cure

You do realize these are now manufactured by Paromax from Quebec?

 

[Martharuth]

Are you cleaning the internal exhaust pathways and venting too? I'm not 100% positive but I thought there was discussion on a burn pot modification. Might be best to wait to see if others recall the cure

You do realize these are now manufactured by Paromax from Quebec?

Forgive my ignorance. I vacuum behind the four doors inside and the flywheel and in the pot as well as right inside the stove. Are there any areas I must vacuum from either side/back doors? This summer I cleaned all of the venting pipes from stove to outside, but never took any panels off the back doors for any reason. I also cleaned flywheel as best as could and replaced door and glass ropes and needed to have door re-powder coated. Since powder coat only lasts to a certain temperature, I decided to have a ceramic coating put on, though it tends to make the door hotter. The powder coating had started to flake off.

I know Paromax makes a new, better one with tighter seals, etc. not sure what the other differences may be. It does seem that there was a shield attachment or an actual size change to the burn pot. Was too involved with my husband's illness to actually save the page and now when I can focus, I just can't remember the fix..... Thanks so much for responding. None of my friends have any idea about these stoves. I really love it so far.

 

[Martharuth]

I used to read a lot on Iburncorn.com even though I burned pellets because more folks had the Europa. I may have seen it there but not available.

 

[Lake Girl]

Is this the thread? Restrictor plate?
https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/dell-point-europa-since-11-2006.12905/#post-765624

 

[Martharuth]

Is this the thread? Restrictor plate?
https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/dell-point-europa-since-11-2006.12905/#post-765624

Thanks so much Lake Girl.....
I did read this one but the impression I got was that these plates had something to do with the top ring warping and combustion air. At this point, the top ring doesn't seem to have that problem. In my head I see something either attached to the u-shape at the end of pipe the pellets come out of to aim them straight down into the burn pot or something near the front (obstructing some of the view of the fire) to keep them from bouncing out or forward.

If the top ring is warped, even just a little, perhaps it could cause pellets to hit the warped part of the ring and bounce them out. Interestingly, the pellets are on all sides of the pot, concentrating on the front door rim, thus the problem of them falling out when I open the door to clean the glass. Also have heard that if pellets are very light or air is circulating at a certain "pressure"? that maybe they fly out. It never seemed to happen in the beginning and I am using the same pellets. I know they can change wood, etc so perhaps I should try another. I have two tons of Somerset in the garage.....

 

[Lake Girl]

Somersets are supposed to be a good hardwood pellet. Apparently there are two styles of burn pot ... one for corn, one for pellets. Need to figure out if that is what is going on.

You might try a PM to Fsappo as the company he worked for used to distribute them...

 

[lowcostheat]

Thanks so much Lake Girl.....
I did read this one but the impression I got was that these plates had something to do with the top ring warping and combustion air. At this point, the top ring doesn't seem to have that problem. In my head I see something either attached to the u-shape at the end of pipe the pellets come out of to aim them straight down into the burn pot or something near the front (obstructing some of the view of the fire) to keep them from bouncing out or forward.

If the top ring is warped, even just a little, perhaps it could cause pellets to hit the warped part of the ring and bounce them out. Interestingly, the pellets are on all sides of the pot, concentrating on the front door rim, thus the problem of them falling out when I open the door to clean the glass. Also have heard that if pellets are very light or air is circulating at a certain "pressure"? that maybe they fly out. It never seemed to happen in the beginning and I am using the same pellets. I know they can change wood, etc so perhaps I should try another. I have two tons of Somerset in the garage.....

Good evening, just saw your question. We have been selling or have for sale the FPI Dellpoint as well as the later Paromax and have not addressed or had the occasion to look into what you describe. I could only guess that your air leakage into the ash drawer/pit area is causing excess air to come up and push some of the falling pellets to the outside of the pot or more likely to bounce off the top ring and land "everywhere" as you describe. The first and easy test would be to turn down the exhaust blower. When you start the unit it is in the default feed, exhaust, and ash extraction. The default feed is 3 and 10 for the other two. Turn the exhaust down to as low as 5. If the magnehelic (vacuum gauge) is working it should show the amount of air going through. flame should be active but not like a torch. try this and let us know what happens.
Clair
Lake girl, I remember you from IBC website. When did you get the Ecoteck? we have been selling them for 5 years or so. Got great deals on Elena air units!!

 

[Lake Girl]

Lake girl, I remember you from IBC website. When did you get the Ecoteck

Never was on the IBC website We've had the Elena since 2011...

 

[lowcostheat]

Never was on the IBC website We've had the Elena since 2011...

OOPS!, Must be more "lakegirls" or a faulty memory.
Have you removed all the "clean-outs" on a regular basis on the Elena? or does it run pretty clean.

 

[Lake Girl]

Remove the clean-outs around the 1000 hr mark +/- Longest time has been closer to the 1500 hrs. The only thing that drives me crazy with the stove is the fixed shelf around the exchangers ... can't get around the last exchanger on the outside edges and have to get in there with a putty knife to clean out compacted ash collected by the exchanger rake in the outside corners.

 

[papa bears stove]

Just wondering if you've put a level on top of the stove? I have seen this issue before when the stove is actually low on the front side. The unit just needed to be shimmed a little to lift the front end up. I actually think a bit of a tilt toward the wall helps the stove run better. the tilt actually causes better disruption of the fuel bed allowing for better release of the gas for the gasification process.