Enviro EF2 Pot liner

[nailed_nailer]

I had the day off work today and I decided to really deep clean my stove.

I have been not getting what I like for a flame no matter what I tried. It seemed that I was getting too many clinkers.

I have been burning New England Wood Pellets brand. Date code on the bag of 1-15-07. These seem like great pellets. Minimal fines and good ash results.

I have been scraping the burn pot using a 5 in 1 tool. I thought I was getting all the buildup. Boy was I wrong. I decided to use a round nose grinding stone this time. Man, what a difference. There was about 1/16"-1/8" buildup on the liner walls. It took a grinder to clean it off. I also noticed some fracture lines between the holes. Time for a new one.

I just ordered a replacement Stainless burn pot liner for my EF 2. While I am waiting for it to ship here I have a couple of questions.

1. On a new burn pot liner is the front top edge bowed in at all or is it straight across? Mine is bowed. I think this is why I am not getting what I would like for a burn.

2. Has anyone tried expeimenting with adding or subtracting holes in the burn pot liner? You know.....to tweak it some.

3. Is there any product/treatment that could be applied to a pot liner to prevent clinkers from really sticking? (anodizing, powder coat, etc)

4. Will replacing what I have with stainless going to help the clinker sticking issue at all? I assume it will.

Thanks,
---Nailer---

 

[nailed_nailer]

I guess I should follow up these questions with this.

My stove is doing a great job of heating our house.

I have followed all the cleaning suggestions in the manual.


This just my obsession to eek as much efficiency out of the stove as possible.

---Nailer---

 

[Philip]

The only question I can answer is the one about the burn pot liner. My stove has never been used - waiting for the wall thimble to be delivered - so I can tell you what a new liner looks like. In cross section the front of the liner leans out toward the front of the stove and at the top of the front there is a bend toward the back of the stove. The bottom and the back of the liner form a right angle and the top of the back leans back towards the opening where the pellets come out. The front is straight across, not bowed.

 

[Shane]

2. I wouldn't recommend drilling new holes in the pot. They're generally engineered for proper fuel/air ratio etc. and shouldn't be adapted. Corie or Mike from ESW could explain this in a little more depth.
3. don't know of any coating to prevent clinkers.
4. As far as I know most burn pots are made of stainless. I don't recall one made from mild steel. Could be wrong. Stainless ones still form clinkers, they all do ceramic ones (not used anymore) and cast iron ones as well.

 

[nailed_nailer]

OK,
So I spent yesterday afternoon really cleaning out my stove. I followed all of the MFG directions. By about 7:00PM the fire was looking sleepy. Really lazy and the burn pot was filling up and not cleaning itself out.

I realized I hadn't checked the clean out on the DuraVent T.

So this morning I shut down the stove and let it cool.

Once cool. I had the vac ready and pulled off the clean out cap. To my surprise there was only a small amout of ash in there. It sorta makes sense as I have only burned about 20 bags of pellets. So with that in mind I vacuum out the stove again and really look at my warped front edge on the burn pot liner. I said to myself....."aw the heck with it" And I brought it down to the workshop. I beat it back into what I think is the right shape. Now the front edge of the liner contacts the front edge of the burn pot. This should force the combustion air to blow up into the pot liner without going around it.

So I relight the stove and I am disappointed. While the flame is better it still isn't great. I resign myself to waiting for the new part.

I start to clean up and notice some ash on the left side of the hearth. I go to hit it with the vacuum and then I see my problem. The ash pan isn't fully closed on the bottom. I play with it and find there is a bit of a groove that it is sitting in. With a little upward lift while sliding it in, it seats properly. All of a sudden the flame leaps and starts to burn bright. Over time I have to turn the feed rate down to about the 1/3 level. Even there the stove is cranking.

I start dancing around the room singing my new happy stove song. The wife and the dog are trying to decide which agency they should call for me.

And the rest of my day was great.

Thanks for letting me vent.
---Nailer---

 

[hearthtools]

OK,
So I spent yesterday afternoon really cleaning out my stove. I followed all of the MFG directions. By about 7:00PM the fire was looking sleepy. Really lazy and the burn pot was filling up and not cleaning itself out.

I realized I hadn't checked the clean out on the DuraVent T.

So this morning I shut down the stove and let it cool.

Once cool. I had the vac ready and pulled off the clean out cap. To my surprise there was only a small amout of ash in there. It sorta makes sense as I have only burned about 20 bags of pellets. So with that in mind I vacuum out the stove again and really look at my warped front edge on the burn pot liner. I said to myself....."aw the heck with it" And I brought it down to the workshop. I beat it back into what I think is the right shape. Now the front edge of the liner contacts the front edge of the burn pot. This should force the combustion air to blow up into the pot liner without going around it.

So I relight the stove and I am disappointed. While the flame is better it still isn't great. I resign myself to waiting for the new part.

I start to clean up and notice some ash on the left side of the hearth. I go to hit it with the vacuum and then I see my problem. The ash pan isn't fully closed on the bottom. I play with it and find there is a bit of a groove that it is sitting in. With a little upward lift while sliding it in, it seats properly. All of a sudden the flame leaps and starts to burn bright. Over time I have to turn the feed rate down to about the 1/3 level. Even there the stove is cranking.

I start dancing around the room singing my new happy stove song. The wife and the dog are trying to decide which agency they should call for me.

And the rest of my day was great.

Thanks for letting me vent.
---Nailer---

As you can see on every post when someone has the some problem
the first few lines are
Make sure your door is sealing and the ash pan door is sealing.


Most of the time there is NOTHING more that USER erro when a pellet stove goes haywire.
but people still order control boards and switches get the part and find out that they had a a dirty T
Or a bad Receptical in the wall outlet.

Most of our calls about enviro is
"my stove wont light"
Is your burn pot in correctly? we say
"They say yes I know how to use my stove"
they call back an hour latter.
" My burn pot was in Backwards Sorry please cancel the service call"



IT WAS A GOOD IDEA to get the burn pot.

 

[thephotohound]

I had that EXACT problem (burnpot in backwards). Nailer - the bent edge should be facing the feeder. I'm glad you figured it out though!