Hi All,
I would like to get some general feedback on my setup and from owners of the same stove, as this is the first pellet stove I ever had and I am not sure what is considered normal, typical, or acceptable.
Quick overview: Purchased the stove at Lowe's "fire sale" a couple weeks back so I am quite please at the price I paid... (but lol, vent pipe cost me almost as much as the stove)... ease of installation, and performance. It seems to work well and heats our home quite well.
My setup is in the basement, 3" vent pipe, out the back a T, to 6 one foot vertical sections, a 90, to 1' horizontal through the wall, then another 90 to go up, 3' section up (to get above the ground), then another 90 to point away from the house, and on the end of that I have the vent cap... the one that came in the kit and looks like a dryer vent. 3" fresh air. And connected to a thermostat upstairs.
I hope this is enough info for some feedback as I have some concerns and being a newbie I'm not sure what to expect.
So with this said, here is my limited experience and concerns. But I guess the questions are, Should I be worried?
The stove seems to burn rich, black on glass. But from what I have read here this is typical on a low, 1 setting. I did call tech support and was guided through the settings and was able to reduce the burn rate down to a bag or less a day, current setting 4-7-1. And was told my vent pipe setup was OK.. But I am thinking of increasing the size to 4", thinking I need maybe just a little better draft?
I am also getting a build-up of hard suet, black stuff (not sure what to call it), in the auger tube for about an 1 1/2" in. I did have an noise and found my answer here... auger tube build up. And now I include scraping that on my daily list. But would this be normal for a weeks work of burning on low to have the noise? One thing I noticed on the hopper lid is I can see marks from where it is contacting the gasket except for about a 10" area across the middle in the front. So maybe the gasket should be replaced or the latches adjusted? but it does seem to close tight. Not sure how to check this.
OK on to the paint pealing, what I noticed the other day. By the front door... where it opens on the left side on the top to about 3" down and about an 1" wide the paint is flaking off. And today I noticed that where the door gasket contacts the stove, the paint is flaking there also. I did the flame test with a lighter with the stove just being turned on and the lighter flame was not sucked in, so I am guessing that the gasket is OK, but the pealing must be from the stove not being quite clean enough when the paint was applied? I did mentioned the top area to the support person I was talking to and he seemed to agree with me and suggest a can of high temp paint. So has anyone had a similar problem? Or maybe what I am thinking is the paint possibly never cured because the stove was a display unit and it should have had a burn in sooner?
Now the big question... I know that with anything metal there is expansion and noise when heated, temp changes. But this thing make me jump out of my skin.... when I am near it... lol.... When starting from a cold start as the flames get going in the stove, it make a noise almost like a gun shot, or if someone hit the side of it with a sledge hammer. And each time that this has happened when I am in the basement about 30' away working on stuff I stop an look to see if anything broke. I tell you it makes me jump, it hasn't done this the first week, maybe a weld cracked? Or is this typical?
Now what I found on pellet temps... I tried three different brands that I are local to me. What I did was start cold after cleaning and burned a bag of each all at the same settings. Chose a medium setting of 4 for heat and 6 for the fan. Places a magnetic thermostat on the stove, didn't move it, and recorded the temps 4 hours later. The one brand I thought would have the best heat, didn't. But I guess this varies a bit too...
From Lowes, @ $4.78 a bag, Summerset = 470*
From Home Depot, @ $4.30 a bag / $199.00 per ton, Stove Chow = 430*
From a stove place, @ $4.38 a bag, Energex = 430*
Even though the Energex was only at 430 at med burn it was also 20* hotter on low burn... hmmm and another thing when I did my "test" this was my second batch of Energex which came from a different pallet. As when I first tried the Energex pellets I could have swore they burned hotter then the others, but then I did not have a thermostat at the time. So I suspect even the same brand name has a bit of variations too.
Ok... way to much typing here.... Thoughts, Ideas ?
Bill...
I would like to get some general feedback on my setup and from owners of the same stove, as this is the first pellet stove I ever had and I am not sure what is considered normal, typical, or acceptable.
Quick overview: Purchased the stove at Lowe's "fire sale" a couple weeks back so I am quite please at the price I paid... (but lol, vent pipe cost me almost as much as the stove)... ease of installation, and performance. It seems to work well and heats our home quite well.
My setup is in the basement, 3" vent pipe, out the back a T, to 6 one foot vertical sections, a 90, to 1' horizontal through the wall, then another 90 to go up, 3' section up (to get above the ground), then another 90 to point away from the house, and on the end of that I have the vent cap... the one that came in the kit and looks like a dryer vent. 3" fresh air. And connected to a thermostat upstairs.
I hope this is enough info for some feedback as I have some concerns and being a newbie I'm not sure what to expect.
So with this said, here is my limited experience and concerns. But I guess the questions are, Should I be worried?
The stove seems to burn rich, black on glass. But from what I have read here this is typical on a low, 1 setting. I did call tech support and was guided through the settings and was able to reduce the burn rate down to a bag or less a day, current setting 4-7-1. And was told my vent pipe setup was OK.. But I am thinking of increasing the size to 4", thinking I need maybe just a little better draft?
I am also getting a build-up of hard suet, black stuff (not sure what to call it), in the auger tube for about an 1 1/2" in. I did have an noise and found my answer here... auger tube build up. And now I include scraping that on my daily list. But would this be normal for a weeks work of burning on low to have the noise? One thing I noticed on the hopper lid is I can see marks from where it is contacting the gasket except for about a 10" area across the middle in the front. So maybe the gasket should be replaced or the latches adjusted? but it does seem to close tight. Not sure how to check this.
OK on to the paint pealing, what I noticed the other day. By the front door... where it opens on the left side on the top to about 3" down and about an 1" wide the paint is flaking off. And today I noticed that where the door gasket contacts the stove, the paint is flaking there also. I did the flame test with a lighter with the stove just being turned on and the lighter flame was not sucked in, so I am guessing that the gasket is OK, but the pealing must be from the stove not being quite clean enough when the paint was applied? I did mentioned the top area to the support person I was talking to and he seemed to agree with me and suggest a can of high temp paint. So has anyone had a similar problem? Or maybe what I am thinking is the paint possibly never cured because the stove was a display unit and it should have had a burn in sooner?
Now the big question... I know that with anything metal there is expansion and noise when heated, temp changes. But this thing make me jump out of my skin.... when I am near it... lol.... When starting from a cold start as the flames get going in the stove, it make a noise almost like a gun shot, or if someone hit the side of it with a sledge hammer. And each time that this has happened when I am in the basement about 30' away working on stuff I stop an look to see if anything broke. I tell you it makes me jump, it hasn't done this the first week, maybe a weld cracked? Or is this typical?
Now what I found on pellet temps... I tried three different brands that I are local to me. What I did was start cold after cleaning and burned a bag of each all at the same settings. Chose a medium setting of 4 for heat and 6 for the fan. Places a magnetic thermostat on the stove, didn't move it, and recorded the temps 4 hours later. The one brand I thought would have the best heat, didn't. But I guess this varies a bit too...
From Lowes, @ $4.78 a bag, Summerset = 470*
From Home Depot, @ $4.30 a bag / $199.00 per ton, Stove Chow = 430*
From a stove place, @ $4.38 a bag, Energex = 430*
Even though the Energex was only at 430 at med burn it was also 20* hotter on low burn... hmmm and another thing when I did my "test" this was my second batch of Energex which came from a different pallet. As when I first tried the Energex pellets I could have swore they burned hotter then the others, but then I did not have a thermostat at the time. So I suspect even the same brand name has a bit of variations too.
Ok... way to much typing here.... Thoughts, Ideas ?
Bill...
