Flames going up the pellet shoot

[kserr]

I have a St Croix XP stove that's on its 5th season. I have done my yearly cleaning and I mean everything combustion fan, room fan, new door gasket cleaned and oiled everything. My problem which I think happens every year is the flames want to go up the shoot. Could this be air problem or could it be a vacuum problem or neither? Please help bc its driving me nuts.

 

[Bioburner]

Only on initial start? You say you have oil things up as in rust prevention in burn chamber?

 

[kserr]

No during the whole time but on high it happens the most. No I did not grease anything in chamber I meant fan and such. I was told that the flames should pull forward so it will heat the shield on the top where the tubes are. My flame wants to pull backwards not all of it but enough where I'm not comfortable afraid it will catch hopper on fire. I might add that I'm vented up through my roof about 15 feet, I don't know if that puts some kind of draw on it or what, but I also have to open my air quite a bit.

 

[Bioburner]

Ever have a draft check? How many feet of vertical exhaust pipe?

 

[smwilliamson]

you have the st croix blues....she's still dirty me man.

 

[kserr]

Ever have a draft check? How many feet of vertical exhaust pipe?

15 or 16 feet you would think that would be great. No I never had a draft check, how you go about that? It must be some kind of meter you stick in your stove?

 

[kserr]

Ever have a draft check? How many feet of vertical exhaust pipe?

No I haven't but how do you go about that? and I'm drafted about 15 or 16 feet up and I do have OAK maybe its too much draft? What is the draft suppose to be when I do check it?

 

[kserr]

you have the st croix blues....she's still dirty me man.

Hahahah ur probably right bc the design of the St Croix sucks as far as cleaning goes. I swear I cleaned everything I could get at, where do you think it could still be dirty? Maybe some spot I don't know of. I'm sooo sorry I didn't wait for the Harman :{ St Croix will only burn the Lignetics for me so I'm stuck with that too.

 

[Bioburner]

Manometer. Various forms of one. Some stoves have a port to check while its running. If I remember my basement dwelling stove with about 9 ft of rise is on the high side of the recommended draft while running and have lowered its fan speed as far as I can. Don't have to worry much about smoke if we have a power outage.

 

[kserr]

Unfortunately the St Croix fan speed is only adjustable on low, another bad feature.

 

[johnny1720]

Try this

-light the stove and get it into full burn observe the flame
-turn on every bath fan, clothes dryer and stove exhaust fan.
-confirm all windows and doors are shut in the house
-now turn on any natural gas or oil fires appliance
-watch the fire and see if it seems closer to the drop shoot
-now open the nearest window to the stove and observe the flame

Report back

 

[stoveguy2esw]

find a way to seal the feed system but for the drop chute opening. make sure the hopper is as sealed as possible and if the drop chute is "slid into" the stove instead of being welded (i don't know the stove itself) find anywhere air can get into the chute and seal it with high temp RTV.

top feed pellet stoves will do this if you have air coming down the chute (weird but it happens) in the low ranges do you see air pushing the fire away from the chute?

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

The St. Croix's have a very hard to clean spot midway between the two clean out plugs behind all of the metal.

The newer units added a third clean out plug to allow access to this spot.

You can go in from the combustion blower toward the stove's firebox.

You can use a flexible snake and go in from the clean out plugs and be less than gentle with it.

You can use an air compressor going in from the clean out ports.

You can attach a heavy duty leaf vacuum to the venting and let it run while torturing the stoves exhaust channels.

You can use a heavy duty shop vacuum with a fine particle filter and attach that via the combustion blower chamber while torturing the stoves exhaust channels.

 

[heat seeker]

My Afton Bay is pretty easy to keep clean, even though I don't have the third cleanout. I was considering creating one, but the Leaf Blower Trick does the job just fine. There is a mod where you can drill a couple of small holes on either side of the chute, and run a flex cable in there attached to a drill to knock the ash out. The holes can be plugged with small knockout plugs. It does require removing the "brick", though.

I take a piece of bent threaded rod (⅜") and put it down behind the heat exchanger tubes and move it around by hand, then put it up each cleanout and do the same. It knocks the ash down quite well, and once you get the hang of it, takes just a minute or two. i've looked in there with a mirror, and the area is quite clean.

I do the LBT maybe three times during the season, since my vent is really easy to get to.

All together now:

A CLEAN STOVE IS A HAPPY STOVE!

 

[kserr]

The St. Croix's have a very hard to clean spot midway between the two clean out plugs behind all of the metal.

The newer units added a third clean out plug to allow access to this spot.

You can go in from the combustion blower toward the stove's firebox.

You can use a flexible snake and go in from the clean out plugs and be less than gentle with it.

You can use an air compressor going in from the clean out ports.

You can attach a heavy duty leaf vacuum to the venting and let it run while torturing the stoves exhaust channels.

You can use a heavy duty shop vacuum with a fine particle filter and attach that via the combustion blower chamber while torturing the stoves exhaust channels.

Will do but not today we r in a heat wave here its in the 90's but I will report back , thanks

 

[kserr]

find a way to seal the feed system but for the drop chute opening. make sure the hopper is as sealed as possible and if the drop chute is "slid into" the stove instead of being welded (i don't know the stove itself) find anywhere air can get into the chute and seal it with high temp RTV.

top feed pellet stoves will do this if you have air coming down the chute (weird but it happens) in the low ranges do you see air pushing the fire away from the chute?

That's sounds like an idea I will take a closer look, thanks

 

[heat seeker]

I don't know about the XP, but my Afton Bay has no gasket or seal on the hopper door. The only time the flame heads for the chute is shortly after startup, for a short while. Normal running, the flame goes pretty much straight up towards the heat exchanger.