Looking for input from Empress FS owners

[90durham]

Hi: Got caught in the Harmon debacle and decided on going with the Enviro Empress instead, it will be installed as soon as I have the hearth ready and I am interested in any input/review from current owners.
Thanks

 

[au2183]

I have 2 of them. Excellent stoves. Clean every couple days and you should have no trouble. I really like how quiet they are compared to any other stove I've seen. Very nice design too. Which color did you get?

 

[wb2bhc]

This will be my first year with the Empress and I love the way that it looks as does my wife.
I expect that I will clean it weekly ( the burn pot and vacuum .
Monthly I will take out the firebrick and vacuum the whole unit out
You can see our installation in an earlier post.
We got the Chestnut color
Enjoy your toasty winter
Jay

 

[90durham]

My local dealer had an inferno red model on display that he sold to me for the same price as the black, I can now plan on a complete room overhaul to match the stove. I am installing in the front room of a century brick so appearance was important, the output should satisfy my needs and was in stock and can go in ASAP.
Thanks for the replies.

 

[wb2bhc]

I told my wife she could redecorate the livingroom to match the stove(as the oil company was indirectly paying for it)
I used 1100 gallons of oil last yearthis year $5.15 a gallon., now I expect to use 4 tons of pellets..do the math.
I think she did a good job.

 

[90durham]

Good would be an understatement, will post ours in future.
Regards

 

[fletchtb]

This will be my third year with my FS Empress.

It does a great job heating my house. I love its look and ease of use.

I think you will enjoy yours.

 

[benpelletstove]

I just got my Empress FPI installed. Does the flame stay up while the pellets are thrown into the burn pot? Mine seems to die when the pellets are "thrown" in the burn pot. Is this supposed to happen? Thanks for any help.

 

[imacman]

I just got my Empress FPI installed. Does the flame stay up while the pellets are thrown into the burn pot? Mine seems to die when the pellets are "thrown" in the burn pot. Is this supposed to happen? Thanks for any help.

Do you mean the fire goes out completely, or just that the flames die down some, and then come back?

In general, when the pellets fall into the burn pot, there will always be some die down of the flame, but it should come back as soon as the new pellets start burning (maybe 20-25 seconds??).

If you have the heat set to high, there will be a lot of pellets coming into the burn pot.....make sure you have enough air to keep it going.

 

[srjtr7]

Hi,

I had an Empress FS installed in Jan. this year. We bought it because it looked great and is quite compared to others, as well as smaller than the others.

Our finished basement (where it is installed) is 1000 sq. The stove can do 35,000 BTU and up to 1600 sq ft. of heating. If we turn on the fan part of our forced hot air system, it sucks the heat upstairs and sends it out to all the rooms in the house.

On a -20 below day in MA I had the basement 75 and the upstairs 70.....no gas heat running

I have had some problems....but still love it.

The problems I have had are:

1. The stove kept popping fuses 1 month in. The control board shorted as well. This was due to an extra purple wire from the blower moter melting and shorting out off the exhaust blower. This wire does nothing and not sure why it is there...but I would recomend wire tieing it out of the way from the exhaust blower. * see my post https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/15895/

2. When I went to clean it for my first full winter pre cleaning, I had rust. * see my post https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/23850/

As I said....I love it. Push a button and in 15 minutes I start getting toasty warm.

I find myself running it alot on level 5 to start then bumping it down to 3....and if I am still warm I will run it on 1.

The flame will get knocked down when the pellets fall in if you are on settings 3 or lower.

It will burn hard and softwood just fine....I seam to like the softwood though.

Hope you enjoy yours.

 

[benpelletstove]

It is rare to see the flame as pictured in their brochure. Most times I get low flame or just smoldering pellets in the burn pot. I have tried to control the air by moving the slider but does not help.

 

[imacman]

It is rare to see the flame as pictured in their brochure. Most times I get low flame or just smoldering pellets in the burn pot. I have tried to control the air by moving the slider but does not help.

Well, there is obviously something wrong/not adjusted correctly. There should be an active flame most all the time. I don't have your stove, so can't comment on the problem....have you gone through the troubleshooting guide that should have been with your stoves instructions?

 

[benpelletstove]

I will try that. Thanks.

 

[srjtr7]

I can get a big flame....not the best pic...but you can see it.

I do not have a fresh air inlet tube....it just pulls air from the room.

What I do to adjust it is:

Run it on high for 15-20 minutes.

Push the damper rod all the way in, the flame will get big and lazy.

Slowly pull the rod out untill the flames tighten up.

wait 5 minutes, let the flame adjust.

Then I very slowly keep pulling the rod out untill I have the flame the way I want it.

 

[benpelletstove]

Thanks, I will try that. I have the FPI and it has slider with + and - on it for air. I am guessing that in means less air and slowly increase the air and adjust.

 

[imacman]

Thanks, I will try that. I have the FPI and it has slider with + and - on it for air. I am guessing that in means less air and slowly increase the air and adjust.

Don't know if this will help, but here's the air adjustment from my Astoria manual:

Not Enough Air:
If clinkers develop or the flame appears lazy and slow to blow the ash out of the firepot, pull the restrictor outward until the flame
becomes active and the firepot holes remain clean. NOTE: If the restrictor is fully out (“5”), yet the firepot does not remain clean,
the stove needs to be cleaned and checked for air leaks (see “Maintenance” section of this manual).

Too Much Air: If the flames are too active (small, flickering flames) or if burning pellets are expelled from the firepot,
move the restrictor rod inwards until the flame slows down and no burning pellets are expelled. Another symptom of
too much air is the heater “blowing the fire out” – a condition in which the pellets burn faster than they are fed (this
is most common on low).

Hope this helps

 

[benpelletstove]

I will try it and let you know. Thanks for all the suggestions.

 

[au2183]

Check the door seal to make sure it is tight. Take a dollar bill, or a similar piece of paper, and hold it between the door and the face of the fire box, and close the door on it. Then try to pull the paper out away from the firebox. You don't need to pull hard enough to rip the paper. If it pulls out pretty easy, air is leaking by the gasket, and the door needs to be adjusted. Try this in several places around the door. I had to adjust the hinge side on both of my stoves last weekend when I cleaned and checked them. To adjust, I closed the door, loosened the hinges a little, and pushed in on the door and retightened the bolts. Then I checked the seal again, and it was tight. I had noticed my glass getting dirty quicker late last season, which is an indicater that the seal is leaking. Also, if the air adjustment has little effect, it's a good bet that the stove is leaking air somewhere, and the door seal is the most likely candidate.
Hope that helps!

 

[benpelletstove]

I am getting dark yellow streak on both upper corners of the glass. I think it is leaking through the seams in the fiber glass rope seal around the door. It appears that the fiber glass rope seal is not uniform around the door and not sealing it well. The user document does not have any instructions to adjust the door latch. Since it has only been 2 weeks since the install, I will try to get the installer to fix the seal around the door. I am using lignetics pellets and after 2 days my ash pan was full, it appears that if I set the fan speed on 3 the flame stays strong but not on 2 or 1. One other thing that I notice was that the ash pan does not cover the whole of the bottom of the stove so I have to remove the pan and scoop up the remaining ash from the inside of the stove. I may contact the manufacturer to redesign the ash pan to cover the whole bottom of the stove.