Enviro windsor possible hot ember leak

[steevo]

My stove is a Enviro windsor, has had its problems over the years but seemed to have got them worked out.

Last night, running it normal, I swear me and my wife saw a rogue red hot ash ember fly out of the stove. sat there trying to figure out where it could have come from. shut stove down and let cool. Did a good cleaning, had a few clinkers in the pot. fired back up since and running fine, no leaks ect ( have a smoke detector and co2 detector right above it).

1- possible the pellet ash/ember got out through the fire glass door ( the model only uses a gasket on the sides and bottom, top is an air wash? or something) ?

2- maybe the pellet ash/ember got out through the very tiny hole where the heat exchanger cleaning pull rod is? if dark, you can see the flickering flame color through the hole where the pull rod is. didnt seem as if the heat exchanger is broken or rotted, never noticed the flame color through the hole before but never looked that close either.

other than that, no leaks detected, door and seal is snug, I am at a loss here......

thanks iin advance,
steve

 

[Ssyko]

Only way i see anything escaping the fire box is out the cleaning rod hole or there Is a breach in one of the exchanger tubes. I would clean out the firebox and check every tube.

 

[steevo]

Fully cleaned and inspected the heat exchangers, no leaks or damage.

Weird the scraper rod hole is open to the fire .

 

[Ssyko]

all mine are too its common. but i've never seen a hot ember come out of it.

 

[steevo]

Hell, maybe it was an optical illusion LOL

 

[Ssyko]

kinda makes me want to put a screen up over it and see if it catches anything

 

[steevo]

Happened again tonight.... only place it can be getting out of is the top of the glass where there is no gasket ( air wash or whatever its called)

 

[steevo]

so took stove apart, noticed quite a bit of rust/paint flaking inside the heat exchanger tubes. sanded them down and will vacuum them out tomorrow. I guess its possible that the rust got hot and blew into air out of the tube, or pellet dust or dog hair????

went stove shopping today, not much available at all. Found a lopi deerfield in stock and a quadrafire trekker in stock. but both cant be delivered for 2-3 weeks at least ( normal guys are making better money on covid unemployment). seems nobody in Connecticut wants to work right now.......

If any stove dealers in Connecticut want to sell and deliver a stove asap...let me know....ready to buy........ LOL

 

[SidecarFlip]

Interesting. The much touted (but basically bullsnot) air wash is from the bottom, not the top. Maybe you have a rust (corrosion) hole in one of the tubes. (flashlight time).

 

[steevo]

Actually the top of the glass on the windsor does not have a gasket,.

Did the flashlight and no light coming through them. Can't find a hole or any kind of leak

 

[SidecarFlip]

I have no ideal as I don't have one but.... In my opinion, anywhere a thermal glass sheet contacts a steel or cast steel door frame, there should be a rope type thermal gasket to take up any surface irregularities and provide a soft cushion the 2 hard and thermally opposite surfaces. The smooth surface of the thermal glass and the rougher surface of the door frame will always leak air on a negative draft unit and the thermal shock can cause the glass to shatter.

 

[gfreek]

so took stove apart, noticed quite a bit of rust/paint flaking inside the heat exchanger tubes. sanded them down and will vacuum them out tomorrow. I guess its possible that the rust got hot and blew into air out of the tube, or pellet dust or dog hair????

went stove shopping today, not much available at all. Found a lopi deerfield in stock and a quadrafire trekker in stock. but both cant be delivered for 2-3 weeks at least ( normal guys are making better money on covid unemployment). seems nobody in Connecticut wants to work right now.......

If any stove dealers in Connecticut want to sell and deliver a stove asap...let me know....ready to buy........ LOL

My local stove shop is only open 2 1/2 days a week. I'm sure as been posted on this forum many have asked for service and been told weeks for an appointment...
As for the unemployment thing ......

 

[SidecarFlip]

I don't consider shopping for any stove to be a tire kicking adventure, least not for me. When I bought new many years ago, I knew exactly what I wanted, read all the specs online, read the reviews there were and bought what I felt was needed. No tire kicking at all and no price shopping either because the 'best' deal usually means the poorest after sale service if needed and anyone who has a stove knows that at some point you will require service for parts or cleaning if you for some reason want a turn key experience. I don't.

 

[MalcolmH]

The Windsor has air wash at the top of the glass as mentioned, mine is 2004 all original never had a problem with broken glass as thats how it is designed, never saw embers either as nothing can get out of the burn box under negative pressure, I tried blocking off the airwash and the only change was the glass got dirty really quick. I put a increased RPM combustion motor in mine from Enviro #EF-161A and works pretty good with the draft wide open. Keep the Windsor and clean it externally and behind the cabinets, I'm guessing your getting debris blown through the system from the room fan/convection blower and burning in the heat exchanger. You will have trouble finding a stove that lasts as long as these older Pellet stoves, mind you the Windsor is a bag a day stove easy, but aren't they all when they put out heat like these do.

 

[steevo]

I don't consider shopping for any stove to be a tire kicking adventure, least not for me. When I bought new many years ago, I knew exactly what I wanted, read all the specs online, read the reviews there were and bought what I felt was needed. No tire kicking at all and no price shopping either because the 'best' deal usually means the poorest after sale service if needed and anyone who has a stove knows that at some point you will require service for parts or cleaning if you for some reason want a turn key experience. I don't.

who said anything about a tire kicking adventure??????? whats your issue? I went to 6 different harman dealers across the state a 2 quadrafire dealers. Never said anything about bet deal....ACTUALLY said looking to get one asap and most stores are 6-8 weeks out due to covid. 1 store had a harman absolute 63 in the brown in stock, actually went to buy it this morning, when I got there he neglected to say the brown ceramic finish had lots of damage to it and the hopper lid was broken...( dealers in my state are all like this, dont care if you buy and zero customer service).

*** the enviro I have has been a problem unfortunately, wire harness had a short in it, and the convection fan just isnt powerful enough and my stove will kick on number 3-4 ( another thread on it ). on 2 it runs great. Stove is perfectly clean, gasket on door is fine, like I stated, could have been dust or debris from inside the exchanger tube. Stove still runs great but i dont want to trust it and have a fire so I figured i would buy a new 1. But as with everything else product wise, out of stock and needs to be ordered. Will probably order 1 for next year LOL

 

[SidecarFlip]

8 dealers sound to me like an exercise in tire kicking but then I don't much care anyway, just expressing my view nothing more. If I were you, I'd wait for spring to spring for one anyway, now is not the time. Sometimes I shake my head at commenters with such thin skins...

 

[steevo]

8 dealers sound to me like an exercise in tire kicking but then I don't much care anyway, just expressing my view nothing more. If I were you, I'd wait for spring to spring for one anyway, now is not the time. Sometimes I shake my head at commenters with such thin skins...

not thin skinned, your posting stuff that hasnt even been said. for the 3rd time, i went to 8 dealers to see IF ANY STOVES WERE IN STOCK TO TAKE AND NOT HAVE TO ORDER. But I guess reading isnt fundamental. again you type in tire kicking..... did you look up to see what that phrase means...LOL i guess not.....

 

[SidecarFlip]

No comment, none needed. You enforced my point on both counts.

 

[steevo]

The Windsor has air wash at the top of the glass as mentioned, mine is 2004 all original never had a problem with broken glass as thats how it is designed, never saw embers either as nothing can get out of the burn box under negative pressure, I tried blocking off the airwash and the only change was the glass got dirty really quick. I put a increased RPM combustion motor in mine from Enviro #EF-161A and works pretty good with the draft wide open. Keep the Windsor and clean it externally and behind the cabinets, I'm guessing your getting debris blown through the system from the room fan/convection blower and burning in the heat exchanger. You will have trouble finding a stove that lasts as long as these older Pellet stoves, mind you the Windsor is a bag a day stove easy, but aren't they all when they put out heat like these do.

So after another full cleaning, I ran the stove with both sides off in back. Noticed after about 10 minutes hit sparks coming out left side twice.

Then noticed that the metal exhaust piece that the exhaust blower attaches to has some crappy welding on it that is leaking. Part is obsolete unfortunately.

The stove was purchased 4 years ago as a demo model from deans stoves and should never have been sold like it was. Going to stop in today and see what they say about it. Darn lucky my house didn't burn down....

 

[Ssyko]

can you show us a pic

 

[steevo]

Here you go

 

[MalcolmH]

This stove has been out of production since 2006 I think, and replaced/updated by the Empress, surprised you could buy a demo. Most stoves have a pretty rudimentary exhaust manifold that end up with a lil extra Hi temp sealant. I'd remove the combustion blower, clean and reseal. Also on my convection fan (Fasco #702110550 -2550 RPM), I actually added a dial in series and dialled it down a little and put on a higher temp snap switch for the factory controlled variable fan system which kicks it on Hi when you hit 160*F, I changed it to 180*F -20* variation. this stove does a great job of radiating heat with all those cast panels, I actually like running the stove with convection fans off but then it kicks on hi every 20-30mins for 10-15 min until the temp drops. The stove works better radiating heat than running the fans on Hi I found in an open concept. Again you will have hard time to finding a stove that looks and works this nice, so you would be best to seal it up and make it through this season. I also ran OAK and added 2" flex exhaust pipe behind the cabinet right to the burn pot intake pipe, this helped in a sealed newer home.

 

[Ssyko]

Here you go

that looks like it could be repaired easily. clean and reseal with rtv or rutland cement.

 

[steevo]

Yeah it can, honestly sick of the stove lol.....

Stuck between ordering a Harman absolute 43 and a quadrafire trekker ( new but a display model)....

 

[SidecarFlip]

Here you go

Pretty nasty back there, time to clean it. A bit of JB weld or some torch work would handle it quite nicely.