Help on Enviro Windsor, - have read the stickys :)

[Sazz]

Hello, we have a very old pellet stove in the basement that we bought 2nd hand & it works fabulously, it's noisy, but burns great. Big bright flame with lots of heat coming out of the blowers. We then bought the Enviro Windsor, 2nd hand also. It is only 3 years old & was hardly used (bought it from an elderly lady, she lived in a tiny house, stove was upstairs in her tiny living room, but her basement was damp and freezing, so she had to run her hot water baseboard for that, and only had one zone, so the hot water heat would blast out, therefore she hardly used her stove).
Anyway, problem is, the pellets burn so very fast that there's practically no flame & hardly any heat coming out of the blowers. We have tried opening the damper the full way, to almost closing it completely (no real difference there at all). Have also tried burning poor quality pellets on the 1 & 5 heat setting - good quality pellets on the 1 & 4 setting, - burned both pellets on just the regular setting..... We have to turn it up to Heat Level 4 to even get a bit of a flame, - on heat level 1 & 2, the only time we get a flame is in the first 5 minutes after we start it up (when there is a build up of pellets in the pot burner).
We are beginning to think now that this stove doesn't produce 'big bright flame', and is designed more to the cast iron heating up & heat just radiating from that (like an oven) I'm hoping this isn't true.
We have also opened & shut the ash pan a few times, (while the stove is working), - we are pretty sure it's closed tight. Right now, damper is open two thirds of the way
Any other suggestions? Was thinking of getting a Technician in - but he'll probably just do everything we've already done.....

 

[nailed_nailer]

Sazz,

I have an older Enviro EF-2 Freestanding (2000).

This past summer I really cleaned out my stove for the first time. I mean really cleaned it. I removed everything and cleaned them. Blowers, flanges, fake firebrick, etc.

The first thing I noticed was that my slide damper was improperly installed. The exhaust flange that bolts to the rear of the firebox in front of the combustion blower was too tight and had no gasketing. This caused the slide damper to not slide in all the way. The result was that I burned all last year with the damper 100% open. It worked but not efficently.

The other thing that could be causing your problem is an air leak. Check the gasket around the ash pan and the door seals.

On my EF-2 I can just about smother the fire now by closing the damper or blow the unburned pellets out of the fire box liner with it open all the way.

Good Luck,
---Nailer---

 

[Sazz]

Thanks for replying. I'll get my husband to read what you said re the damper when he gets home. Only he can adjust it, it's not easy & he uses a wrench or some such tool.

As for the gasket - there was none along the top of the door, husband put one on and flame got worse (fire went out), he then removed it.

As for the ash pan - there is NO gasket on there at all. Took photos this morning, - trying to upload.....

Thanks for the response - I just *know* it's not burning as efficintley as it should

 

[SKIN052]

I have owned the same stove in the past "Enviro Windsor" it worked very well and is difinatly not just a radiant heating system. You should have strong blowing heat out of the stove. Sounds like a draft problem somewhere, checking out the dampener as suggested is a good call. I would also check the gasket around the glass. The stove I had also had no gasket at the top of the glass or around the ash pan or hopper lid for that matter so it is not just your stove.