Harman Accentra Burning questions

[forya]

I am having an issue with my accentra insert burning Hamer Pellets. The Pellets burn very slow, and the ash solidifies at the edge of the burnpot, making a dam holding back the burning pellets and eventually they start to overflow. This causes the holes in the burnpot to get blocked and the flame to get lazy. I have turned the feed rate down to almost 1 and this still happens. I have been running at Room temp. Is there a way to manually add more combustion air? The Feed rate adjustment doesn't seem to be slowing down the amount of pellets with the lower settings, Do I need to run on Stove temp?
It runs fine when the temp isn't so low, but it has been getting into the teens every night.

 

[fadippides]

If I understand the feed rate in Room Temp only effects how many times it looks for pellets. So instead of checking to add 3 or 4 times a minute it now checks 1 time a minute and probably dumps a bunch of pellets to get back up to temp (I can be wrong as I dont totally understand this yet).

You can always knock that stuff off with a tool though but you dont want to have to do that constantly.

 

[forya]

That's just it, I have to constantly knock that wall of ash off, and it takes some half-burned pellets with it, thereby loosing some efficiency by pulling some not fully burned pellets into the ashpan

 

[fadippides]

Does burning at a higher number like 9 make a difference (better/worse)?

 

[forya]

A Higher feed rate? The Feed rate goes to 6 and the temp rate goes to 7. A higher temp will just send more pellets in, as would a higher feed. I had the feed up to 4 and it seemed to be the same. I have the temp rate at 4(stove temp), or 72 (temp rate), and the feed at 1.5 right now

 

[Czosie]

The darker/bridging ash at the front of the pot is from bad combustion.. as you probably know.. As studies show the best possible setting for your stove is around 4 on the feed rate, it raises the stoves tempature up at a good rate and maintains it. What are your draft settings from when the dealer installed the stove? Do you have a muffler system built into the hopper? if not, are you sure your getting a tight seal around the hopper lid? When was the last time you cleaned the flue pipe exiting the home? Just some quick questions so I can give you a fast/reliable answer.

How old and what are you burning for pellets as well?

Look forward to your reply,

Ryan

The Kitchen and Bath shop

 

[forya]

I did the 4 in chimney brush with a drill in November along with a full cleaning(combustion fan and all), and clean out the front, heat exchangers, bottom tubes and everything once a week. I also let it burn out once a day and scrape out the burnpot. When it was installed in Jan of 2010 the dealer recorded the draft reading in the book at .48 in W.C. in High draft, but he didn't record the Low draft reading.
Is there a way to adjust the draft setting? there is a screw for the low adjustment, but it doesn't seem to do anything, maybe because I am not running in low draft mode now

 

[forya]

The ash does seem dark leading me to believe that it is burning rich. The hopper lid has a good seal, and I changed the door seal this summer as well.
It would seem like I need more combustion air, but I can't find a way to adjust it. Are people modifying their stoves to get more air? It burned great last year with the Hardwood lignetics.

 

[Czosie]

No you don't need to modify the cold air intake on your stove, your chimney should supply plenty of cold air.. The little white dial is your adjustment for the high draft, the low draft does not have an adjustment but if you place the feed rate into test mode and give the stove a minute to go from HIGH dist fan to quiet/LOW dist fan it cycles the different drafts and should have been tested on install.

Is your chimney caped? If not something to consider is an obstruction in the chimney such as a bird.. I'm assuming your stove is only stubbed up the mason chimney 6" and not lined completely to the top?

Thanks,

Ryan

The Kitchen and Bath Shop

 

[forya]

It is lined completely up inside of a steel chimney, there is a good cap on it, It (the original fireplace) was installed in 2003.
So would turning the high draft screw clockwise increase the combustion fan when running on high? If so this might solve the problem.
I also switched to stove temp, and it seems like the feed rate is lower at the same setting it was when on Room temp. Maybe on Room temp it overrides the feed rate?

 

[Czosie]

Stove temp and Room temp feed completely different.. 70 on room temp does not = the same feed times as it does on stove your going to have to adjust that knob to get the desired heat you want. Yes turning that little white screw clock wise will increase the draft and very well could solve your problem. If I was at your house doing a call the first thing I would do is turn that up and see if you get more complete combustion.. You have a new chimney with a 4" flew running to the top of the stove with a tight seal... So the air intake is going to pull from the front of the stove and when its unable to suck in enough air its going to start pulling in from the exhaust hose to try to balance out the air. Turn the knob first worry about freeing up some breathing room in the chimney second.

 

[forya]

I wish you were my dealer. mine said this was only the 2nd Accentra he has ever installed, and the 1st one was in the owner of the stove shops'.

 

[tsmith]

I had the same problem with Hamer pellets in my Quad Mt. Vernon AE. I contacted Hamer and they told me their pellets need alot of air as they are very dense. I switched my stove from hardwood pellet setting to sunflower setting and the high elevation setting, both of which provided much more airflow to the burn pot and the problem was solved for me. I am now getting a very bright fast active flame, very hot. I can actually set the stove on low to heat the house now. Saving alot of pellets. I know you have the harman, not sure how you go about adding airflow on that but it would probably solve your problem. Good Luck.

 

[The Radiator]

I have an Enviro stove and the Hamers pellet size and density does make a difference compared to other pellets I have burnt. They need more air, with the shorter pellets the auger seems to put more fuel into the burn pot. More fuel needs more air. I was able to lower the stove setting a notch and add a touch more air and they burn great. I know its not the same stove but maybe the info might help.

 

[Lousyweather]

could also be an elevated chloride content in that batch of pellets....causes silica fusion and clinkering of the ash.......