Flame color

[Lee Batchelor]

Hi everyone,

Thanks to you fine folks, I now have my Vermont Castings fireplace (stove) up and running. I have two stoves in my home. The one in the basement is much larger. My question is about flame color. There seems to be many mixed opinions.

The stove in the basement has predominantly an orange flame. The one in the kitchen is predominantly blue. Neither has triggered the CO detectors and both give off lots of heat. There doesn't seem to be any chimney issues. The stove with the orange flame (basement stove) has a vertical chimney run of 5 feet, an elbow, and then a horizontal run of about 6 feet, which exits out the north side of my house where the prevailing winds are. The kitchen stove has a straight vertical run that exists out to the roof. The length is approximately 14 feet. These are the only differences other than BTU output. I have never adjusted the burner air/fuel mixture inside the stoves.

I'm wondering if the blue flame stove, which has the straight vertical chimney run, is receiving a richer O2 supply, hence the blue flame.

Any advice? Many thanks.

- Lee

 

[DAKSY]

You are correct. The Air-to-Fuel (ATF) mix is off.The air shutter needs to be closed down a bit. Generally, the manual will give you a setting to start at. It can then be tweaked open or closed to get he flame appearance you prefer. Blue is too much air. Orange with black tips is too little air. Ideally, the flames will be blue at the burner with yellow tips. If the downstairs is unit with the orange flames isn't causing the innards to get sooty, it may be fine, but I think I'd tweak it.

 

[Lee Batchelor]

Okay, many thanks Bob! The ATF is real easy to adjust on the kitchen stove. While installing the new thermopile, I did notice the air intakes were wide open. The burner assembly comes out real easy. I'm on it.

Thanks again.