Enviro Mini tall lazy flame after cleaning

[NowhereMan]

We've had an Enviro Mini for about 15 years, and I've disassembled most it at one time or another, and replaced a lot of parts over the years (blower, control board, multiple igniters, etc.). But, the problem I'm having now is something I've never come across before. I did a routine cleaning (dumped the ash, vacuumed out the interior, cleaned the glass). After cleaning, it had a tall, lazy flame, which was not the case before cleaning. Both the blower and the combustion fan seemed to be working, so I then did a more thorough cleaning, but the problem persists, and black soot appears on the glass after a short time. The only things I can figure is that maybe the chimney is partially blocked or the pellets are bad (the hopper was almost empty when I cleaned it, and a new bag of GoldenFire pellets was added--the same brand we always use). I'll try some more cleaning and I might vacuum out the pellets and try a new bag. If anybody has any other suggestions, I'm all ears/eyes...

 

[johneh]

Envrio burns anything if you have a tall lazy flame
then for sure, there is not enough combustion air
Your stove most likely has an ash blockage somewhere
between the air intake and the exhaust termination
You didn't happen to push the damper closed?

 

[NowhereMan]

Thanks for the response.

I've done some additional cleaning, snaked the chimney, except for one 45 degree bend that I can't reach. I will get an extension and get thru the entire chimney tomorrow, but I don't think there is a blockage. I replaced the door gasket, and now the flame looks reasonably OK (i.e., not lazy), but way too big on the higher settings (3 thru 5) that we usually use. So, I think it might be a feed rate issue, as the auger seems to pulse a lot quicker than I recall it doing before. I tried adjusting the feed rate trim, but that didn't seem to have any effect (as I understand it, on our Mini, that only affects the low setting).

I wonder if something could have gone wrong in the circuit board...

 

[johneh]

Watch this it is also useful for the Mini

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[NowhereMan]

Thanks. I had seen that video when searching online.

In any case, we've had the Mini for a long, long time, so I have a pretty good what the flame should look like. There is definitely something out of whack, as I've never seen the flame nearly so large. I'm hoping that I can get this resolved tomorrow with a better chimney cleaning, but I'm starting have my doubts that that's all there is to it...

 

[NowhereMan]

Today, I a ran a drain snake down the chimney, and it seems to be clear. I'll do a proper chimney cleaning in a couple of weeks when my chimney cleaner arrives, but I'm sure there's no serious clogging issue. I also used my shop vac to remove all of the pellets, and put a fresh bag. Neither of those things helped. Tomorrow, I plan to disassemble the combustion fan assembly, as it might be possible that there is some sort of problem with fouling. If that isn't the problem, then I'm stumped...

 

[johneh]

Have you ever taken the firebox panels out(3)
and cleaned behind them?
Number 16 on page 32 of the manual

 

[NowhereMan]

Have you ever taken the firebox panels out(3)
and cleaned behind them?
Number 16 on page 32 of the manual

Thanks for the suggestion. Actually, I have never taken the firebox panel off. I'll do so (in addition to my inspection/cleaning of the combustion fan) and I'll report back...

 

[NowhereMan]

I took it apart, cleaned and cleaned, and cleaned some more, but did not find any buildup of ash or other problem that looked like it would cause an air flow issue. When I had the bottom completely open (i.e., the combustion fan was removed), I put the suction part of a powerful leaf blower over the top of the chimney, turned the blower on full blast, and then repeatedly slapped the chimney near both of the 45-degree bends. When doing so, I could not observe the top to see if loose ash was blown out, but I'm guessing that there was just enough ash buildup in one of those bends to cause a slight air-flow problem. In any case, the air was rushing thru the chimney at hurricane force, so there is certainly no blockage now. Best of all, the Mini it is now working like new (actually, better than new, as it had a weird vibration problem when new that took me quite a while to diagnose).

Thanks for the comments and suggestions.