Enviro EF 1 problems and trouble ash build up and overflowing Pellets

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countryboy88

New Member
Jan 5, 2019
6
Maryland
Totally stumped at whats going on



Background :

Stove has been cleaned after every shut down max of 3 days
Exhaust blower was cleaned 3-6-19 for what could be the only time its been done
Pellets are stored inside 4 or so feet away from the stove and are dry
Pellets are lignetics bought from the local Ace Hardware ( been used before without problems )


I have no idea what could be happening with my stove, for the past 2 and a half weeks I have been having burning problems. On startup the stoves operates normally. Once a couple of hours pass the flame becomes very lazy and the burn pot is full of various stages of new fresh pellets, burning, glowing hard pellets, and ash shells. After this happens the stove continues to feed pellets which causes an overflow of the above mentioned pellets to fall into the ash tray and catch fire, along with what I can best describe as acetylene like ash tat covers the inside of the stove and on the heat tubes ( very fine and delicate ).After the glowing pellets start to form is when the problems begin, I have to open the stove door and manually use a poker tool to break it up but that only buys me a couple of hours of more burn time before the process has to be repeated or the stove turned off so I can sleep without having to worry about burning the house down.

The ash that is leftover once it has cooled down is not like the normal ash but is clumpy and hard to remove sometimes. I have also seen the pellet grate and burn pot have seen creosote build up on the bottom of the grate were the pellets sit and on the sides of the burn pot were the grate slides in.

Yesterday I removed the exhaust/combustion fan and gave a through cleaning which it needed years ago ( Stove was bought used only have owned for 3 1/2 months ). The fire box was vacuumed out, along with under the little tray that covers the bottom of the stove under were the ash pan is, misc nooks and crannies were also cleaned of fine light tan colored ash that had built up.

Before these problems the stove has worked perfectly without as much as a hiccup, at this point I'm dumbfounded as to what could be the problem. Can anyone help pin point the problem or experienced problems like this before. Sorry for the long post but I tried to give as much information as I can.


Thanks in advance,

John
 
Have you taken the inside of the stove apart ?
removed the steel brick panel and the one behind it ?
there are ash passage ways back there that get plugged
with ash and need to be cleaned once a year
Here is a manual see page 37 parts 31 and 16 for
what I am talking about above
https://enviro.com/custom_content/docs/manuals/C-12132 Instruction EF2 Domestic Owners Manual.pdf
Your stove is suffering from lack of combustion air .
Also check the damper rod and adjust for best flame
after CLEANING see pictures in manual
 
See page six of manual
Slider/Damper Setting:
 
Looked at pg. 6 and I know it says that the stove has a damper, but I do not have a rod to adjust no hole nothing.

I went to take the top off, but was unable to remove it ( I found the 2 screws on the front but no other screws holding it on ).

Took the pipe off outside to see it clogged up with ash and other dust from cleaning the motors out. Removed and cleaned the pipe as best I could until the morning.

Pipe cleaning and intake fan cleaned did make a marginal difference, up to 6 hours before the pellets over flow.

Stove will be pulled out of the house on Sunday since it will be close to 70 degrees out and give it a very good cleaning with a blow gun and a leaf blower.
 
What year is your stove ?
 
A 30 year old stove sorry the stove is before my pellet stove time
2002 But from your description of the problem it is a plugged exhaust
passage behind the fire box where the exhaust travails to the combustion blower
From the oldest manual I can find
EXHAUST PASSAGES (season) For bi-weekly clean out, ash may be removed from behind the steel plates by rotating the circular covers located behind the right and left side panels. Loosen the screw on the disks and open, this will allow vacuuming behind the firebox liner’s plates. Removal of the firebox backing for bi-annual cleaning: • Remove the top baffle. • Lubricate and then remove the seven (7) screws that hold the brick liner in place. Tilt the top of the brick panel towards the firebox opening and remove from the firebox • Remove the top rod by first removing the screw that holds it in place, then slide the rod sideways • Pull the side panels into the center of the firebox, then out • Pull the center panel out. • Clean and vacuum all passages thoroughly.
 
Not sure but the stove in the manual that was posted by johneh looks similar on the inside of my old EF-5. Can't remember now if mine had the hole for the rod for the air damper on the side or i drilled a hole. I do know that i used a long threaded bold with nuts on the inside and outside of end of bolt to make a rod for it to control the air from outside of the side panel like it shows on bottom of page 26. Doesn't look factory by no means but does the job.

Also when cleaning it i have to actually pull the exhaust blower off the stove to be able to get in and clean that small passage way in the back of the stove, only 4 screws.