In search of the perfect flame...Help please with damper adjustment

[jim5b]

I closed the damper a little and the flame seems higher. Is there such thing as too high. I am getting some brown soot on my glass and wipe most of it off daily, scrub the window weekly. My friend burns the same pellets (a different stove) and only has to clean his glass weekly. If the flame is not brown on the tips should I continue to close the damper more. (I should add it is an insert in a 35 ft chimney.)

 

[abbdog]

Damper adjustment learning is a pain.I usually go by how fast the pellets burn.If the burner pot fills up too fast i open the damper lil by lil till the pellets burn evenly with the auger output which is 1/2" out.What stove do you have.

 

[krooser]

My dealer sez to set the damper with a regular pencil... shut the damper so the pencil just slides easily in and out and you're set. I haven't touched it since last year.

 

[hearthtools]

see this tread
The search tool is cool
https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/forums/viewthread/13904/#153197

 

[relxn88]

My unscientific way of setting the damper was to put a meat thermometer in the heat outlet and when I got the highest temperature of heat output, that is what I set the damper at. I open it up just a little more for the high setting, but it seems to work ok where it is now for settings #1 -#3. I didn't care what the flame looked like, I just wanted the most heat possible. Just my 2cents.

 

[mnoack]

As you push in the damper you will get a taller, more orange & cooler flame. A tall flame is not necessarily a hotter flame. I find that a bit more draft, with a bit shorter flame makes the air blowing out of the stove noticeably hotter but you don't want to see sparks blowing out of the burn pot. A taller lazier flame will give you more soot on the glass.