East Central VT, slightly used Sabrina, Cheetah II ash vac, and EM151 manometer, burned wood since 1982 with oil for hot water and to keep pipes in basement from freezing also would kick in before morning when fire died down. Older 2 story, 8 room farm type house, replacement windows and beefed up attic insulation, I still have oil but replaced the Vigilant wood stove with Sabrina, piped to 7" tile lined inside brick chimney. Closed in woodshed, bought 3 ton mixed Energex, 1 ton softwood Energex, 1 ton Fireside Ultra.
Temp is cool enough to run stove most days now, have it set in "energy saving mode" heat setting P-3, I set stove thermostat at 61 deg. F night and 65-67deg. F during the day and evening. Stove modulates between the P-3 and P-1 feed rate and smoke fan rpm but always shows the P-3 on display. On cooler days the stove will hold a constant temp with in + or - 1 deg. F. and run most of the time on low fire. On warmer days it will shut down at the +2 deg. and restart at -2 deg. F from the set point.
One 15 deg. day I set it on P-5 and monitored the readings, results as follow:
P-5 heat setting, 7.8 feed rate, 2530 fan rpm, 285 deg. F smoke probe, 248 deg. F in front of stove room discharge, -.43 to -.46 In-Wg manometer reading. I don't think there will be a problem heating when the temp drops below 0 !
I do vacuum ash pan and grate at least every other day and also clean glass. I will probably do in depth maintenance every 3-4 weeks now weather is cooler. I have not noticed a great difference in pellets as yet, but am only averaging 1 bag a day. I will be interested to see if the soft wood produce more heat with less ash.
Thanks for the info every one has contributed, sure makes it easier for us 1st timers!
Temp is cool enough to run stove most days now, have it set in "energy saving mode" heat setting P-3, I set stove thermostat at 61 deg. F night and 65-67deg. F during the day and evening. Stove modulates between the P-3 and P-1 feed rate and smoke fan rpm but always shows the P-3 on display. On cooler days the stove will hold a constant temp with in + or - 1 deg. F. and run most of the time on low fire. On warmer days it will shut down at the +2 deg. and restart at -2 deg. F from the set point.
One 15 deg. day I set it on P-5 and monitored the readings, results as follow:
P-5 heat setting, 7.8 feed rate, 2530 fan rpm, 285 deg. F smoke probe, 248 deg. F in front of stove room discharge, -.43 to -.46 In-Wg manometer reading. I don't think there will be a problem heating when the temp drops below 0 !
I do vacuum ash pan and grate at least every other day and also clean glass. I will probably do in depth maintenance every 3-4 weeks now weather is cooler. I have not noticed a great difference in pellets as yet, but am only averaging 1 bag a day. I will be interested to see if the soft wood produce more heat with less ash.
Thanks for the info every one has contributed, sure makes it easier for us 1st timers!
