Slow night. Just wondering if anyone else does this or similar. My stove changes blower speeds with each heat range, but those speeds are not adjustable. Those of you with fully adjustable fan speeds and isolated motor switches probably already do this.
Basically it started with trying to burn Kirtland pellets on 1. The flame would blow out occassionally while still being starved for air (as the pot would fill up in a day or two). What helped a lot was to wire up an exhaust bypass switch. So I'd manually force the exhaust blower on full speed. Then damper it down. And when I'd walk up to change the heat range, I'd take a few seconds and move the damper accordingly, through its range from 1 to 5 was pretty ideal.
The Pro Pellets do burn fine on the stock blower settings. But they still burn better with the bypass switch and manually adjusting the damper. So that's what I do. I just give them 1 notch more air than I would have with the Kirtlands and it's about perfect.
Supposedly there is no difference between varying fan speed and dampering it down (aside from costs, etc). But I think in this application there is. My intake is a straight pipe with the damper, and the end of the pipe comes out right under the burn pot, offset. This would create swirling of the air under the pot, which probably explains the twist of the fire I see sometimes. And by keeping the fan on full, while restricting the air, I'm increasing the air velocity in that short run to the burn pot. Similar to when I burned wood, starting a fire, if the door was wide open to get all the air it needs, nothing would happen. Close that door most of the way and the velocity increases to where it's "blowing" on the fire and it really takes off. And I'm also maintaining a static pressure on the intake, so it's less affected by changes in wind at the OAK.
That switch makes it really nice to clean. Just run the fan on full with the damper wide open. Cools the stove way faster, especially the burnpot. Pull the burnpot and scrape it while the door glass cools. Keeps billowing ash sucked out instead of going into the house. Also when cleaning the horizontal part of pipe, chucks the ash out as I loosen it with the brush. That lukewarm air feels good on your hands when it's -20F outside too.
Been doing this for probably 1 1/2 to 2 seasons, been working great.
Basically it started with trying to burn Kirtland pellets on 1. The flame would blow out occassionally while still being starved for air (as the pot would fill up in a day or two). What helped a lot was to wire up an exhaust bypass switch. So I'd manually force the exhaust blower on full speed. Then damper it down. And when I'd walk up to change the heat range, I'd take a few seconds and move the damper accordingly, through its range from 1 to 5 was pretty ideal.
The Pro Pellets do burn fine on the stock blower settings. But they still burn better with the bypass switch and manually adjusting the damper. So that's what I do. I just give them 1 notch more air than I would have with the Kirtlands and it's about perfect.
Supposedly there is no difference between varying fan speed and dampering it down (aside from costs, etc). But I think in this application there is. My intake is a straight pipe with the damper, and the end of the pipe comes out right under the burn pot, offset. This would create swirling of the air under the pot, which probably explains the twist of the fire I see sometimes. And by keeping the fan on full, while restricting the air, I'm increasing the air velocity in that short run to the burn pot. Similar to when I burned wood, starting a fire, if the door was wide open to get all the air it needs, nothing would happen. Close that door most of the way and the velocity increases to where it's "blowing" on the fire and it really takes off. And I'm also maintaining a static pressure on the intake, so it's less affected by changes in wind at the OAK.
That switch makes it really nice to clean. Just run the fan on full with the damper wide open. Cools the stove way faster, especially the burnpot. Pull the burnpot and scrape it while the door glass cools. Keeps billowing ash sucked out instead of going into the house. Also when cleaning the horizontal part of pipe, chucks the ash out as I loosen it with the brush. That lukewarm air feels good on your hands when it's -20F outside too.
Been doing this for probably 1 1/2 to 2 seasons, been working great.
