I need some advice on the empress and a good pellet to use. Doesn't seem to be putting off good heat.
empress enviro insert
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how many bags do you burn in a day? I use about two. Do you use it to heat your home. Just does not seem to heat the area that well......any suggestions?
I find that Barefoots, Comfort Hardwoods, and New England pellets put out consistent high heat with little ash.
With Barefoots almost 2 bags per day. I have mine in the great room with 18 ft ceilings. Most of the time the stove is on setting 3. Sometimes when its real cold out, it goes to 4. Heats my house very well.
do you have a fresh air intake? barefoots seem the way to go. how often do you clean the stove? is there a way to adjust the feed i seem to be getting a build up in the burn pot?
jezbo33 said:
I'm burning Comfy Cozys right now, but I've had good luck with Pennington's as well. Energex also heat the house well but build up quickly in the burn pot. I'm heating a 1900 sq ft house almost exclusively with an empress FS. I'm burning 1.4 bags a day. I have a fresh air intake, & I find that I need to adjust the draft to get best effect from different brands of pellets.
I burned Somerset pellets from Kentucky this year and they put out a decent amount of heat. I haven't had a problem with unburned pellets in the firepot liner, but the ashes do build up over a period of two to three days. I thought the ash would go thru the many holes in the botom of the liner, but it doesn't. The burn pot itself never has more than a teaspoon of ashes when I clean the stove. I followed Rod's instruction for setting the air slider damper to get the correct amount of combustion air. (If I remember correctly he said to run it on high for 15 minutes then push the slider all the way in. You'll have a tall lazy flame. Then slowly pull the damper out until the flame stops getting shorter.)
My father uses New England pellets, I tried a bag, and they didn't burn hot for me. If you can't get Barefoots in your area, try Fireside Ultras, I have bought them at Home Depot in Oxford MA. They burn hot, but they leave a lot of ash.
Also, I have tried LG Granules and Eastern Embers, they burnt hotter then the New Englands, but not as hot as Barefoots or Firesides.
Also, I have tried LG Granules and Eastern Embers, they burnt hotter then the New Englands, but not as hot as Barefoots or Firesides.
jezbo33 said:
How much pellets are you bunring?
do you have the feed rate turned up?
Sorry to ask dumb questions but you dont know how many time I get customers tell me the stove will not heat
I go out and they are running the stove on setting 2 and never higher.
or they have the thermostat Mode sellected to Hi LOW and DO NOT HAVE A THERMOSTAT CONNECTED!
Do you have it on thermostat?
If so what mode ?
On and OFF
or
Hi Low?
The Empress Inserts has the Mode selection as jumpers on the MOTHER BOARD behind the control panel
If you are NOT using a thermostat you must make sure the jumpers are set for Manual mode.
hearthtools said:
Have the stove on high, manual mode. Burning about 2 bags a day. Is there a way to adjust the feed? What are the 2 buttons on the mother board for the trim button and feed button? Could I be loosing heat out of the venting? Dealer told me beacuse i have a 26ft chiminey that I needed a 4 inch vent pipe. Sorry so many questions. My dealer was not to helpful.
If the Empress insert uses the same control board as the free standing Empress, there is no way to control the pellet feed rate independant of the heat level setting. You also can't adjust the room air blower separately. Both fans should increase in speed as you increase the heat level from 1 to 5. You press and hold the auger feed button to make the auger turn. The trim button is only for the lowest heat setting. I call it heat level 1- and 1+. On the 1- setting the auger only runs for 2 seconds and on the 1+ the auger runs for 4 seconds. I usually run on 1+ or heat level 2 and I use more than a bag of pellets a day so if you are running on high and using two bags a day that sounds about right to me. If the pellets are buring completely then the stove is working properly.
Thanks for the info.Getting a build up in the burn pot. Not a hard clinker ash but it is not light like the fly ash I think it is the pellets. I know this is probably normal but seemed to get worse with a change in pellets from barefoots to NEWP.Philip said:
Philip said:
NO THEY DO NOT USE THE SAME BOARD
they have two control boards.
the insert has a mother board and and Daughter board on the panel
There is no Manual auger feed on the insert control panel
where the free standing has just a control board on the panel.
The tech manual explains the jumpers and settings
I dont have them with me right now.
jezbo33 said:
Do you have 4" pipe? if you do that is a good thing.
If you are using 2 bags of pellets and not getting the heat you fell then you may be getting a lot of heat loss in the home.
Do you have cold draft coming from a lower floor?
You can have a larger stove and have the same problem.
I have an Empress FS stove that burns 1-2 bags per day on #3 heat setting and keeps the house at 68-70 even on cold days. House is 2 story saltbox,well insulated new windows, doors,vinyl siding,etc. I have found that my Enviro stove seems to run cleaner and hotter on a hardwood pellet. The softwood pellets I have tried do not put out alot of heat and fill the burn pot quickly.
It probably is the house. I have stove on high right now air wide open and the stove is cranking out heat. This is obviously just a learning curve for me. thanks for the tipshearthtools said:
Getting down to my last few bags of NEWP's. Already tried the Barefoots. In this being the last full month of the season I am thinking of buy a few bags of some different brands to compare. Any suggetions?
LG Granules, Quality (Eagle Valley), Eastern Embers and Fireside Ultras have worked for me in the past.
i am going to try the firesides, and what ever the local hardware store sells. Havent really shoped around. I hate to pay delivery fees when I own a pick up to do it myself
didn't find any firesides. bought 4 bags of Natures Own from Lowes and Lignetics from a local shop I wiil see how they work.
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