Low Burn Air settings

[Trapper]

I have read through the forum about the settings on different stoves, and still can't come to a solid conclusion.

I have the 25-PDVC and Englader said to set it at 4.

Now from what I understand is that the LBA is the air being blown into the burning pot.
So why would you want it on 4 as opposed to 9?
The more air the better it is going to burn and produce more heat and less clinkers right, or am I wrong?

They also said to have the pellet feed rate at 6! this is way to much for my setup as I tried it last night and just about went through a hole bag.
I will try 4 today and I think I am going to stay at 2 -3 when it is all said and done as I get a lot of heat on the lower settings.

But what would be the problem if I am running the LBA at 9?

Thanks
Trapper

 

[rap69ri]

My current setup is 3-8-1. This is a good balance for me to keep the flame just going when at idle. If I go up to 9 on LBA it will literally blow the fire out.

 

[crausch]

Too much air is not always a good thing. You may end up needlessly burning more pellets at a faster rate than what is required for the amount of heat you need. Also, it's a coincidence you mention about clinkers as I just posted on another thread about them. The air to fuel ratio is not really the cause of clinkers although it does aid in their formation. Clinkers are caused by melting minerals and silica within the wood fiber of your pellets. The minerals do not melt unless your burn pot reaches higher tempatures (which is usually when you have a higher burn and air ratio). Depending on your pellets, you may see very few clinker formations.

 

[Trapper]

You may end up needlessly burning more pellets at a faster rate than what is required for the amount of heat you need.

I don't understand how I would burn up more pellets by adding more air?
I have already reduced the amount of pellets going into the pot, I am just burning them hotter.
I have my feed rate at 2 -3 and there is a constant burn in the pot and I have my baffle plate closed as far as it will go.

Also I am mixing a small amount of corn in with my pellets (oked by Englander for my stove) about 1 coffee can per 40lbs of pellets, and yes I know corn will cause more clinkers but the heat gain is worth the extra cleaning.

So the extra heat is melting the ash causing clinkers also, good to know.

 

[crausch]

I might be a little off on the "burning more pellets" as I am thinking in terms of full automation. I am not an expert on this but these are my thoughts: If you run more (excessive) air through your pellets you are causing the pellets to burn hotter which will burn them up quicker.

With the feed set at 2-3 and your combustion set at 4, I guess you are seeing a steady fire. My thoughts are that at the same feed rate, and air set to 9, you will see more fly ash, and the pellets would burn up faster than they are being fed. You would need to increase the feed rate to keep up with the burn, thus using more pellets. On my stove, I think the automation would automatically increase the feed rate causing the use of more pellets. Again, maybe some experts can dispute my claim. 8-|

 

[rap69ri]

In my case a lower air settings means more soot and clinkers. By increasing the LBA to 8 I have made it so the stove is burning cleaner, which means cleaning it less often.

 

[Trapper]

I might be a little off on the "burning more pellets" as I am thinking in terms of full automation. I am not an expert on this but these are my thoughts: If you run more (excessive) air through your pellets you are causing the pellets to burn hotter which will burn them up quicker.

With the feed set at 2-3 and your combustion set at 4, I guess you are seeing a steady fire. My thoughts are that at the same feed rate, and air set to 9, you will see more fly ash, and the pellets would burn up faster than they are being fed. You would need to increase the feed rate to keep up with the burn, thus using more pellets. On my stove, I think the automation would automatically increase the feed rate causing the use of more pellets. Again, maybe some experts can dispute my claim. 8-|

That makes sense with the stove you might be using, mine is a simple 25-PDVC which doesn't have any automation.
But since I don't have a time when my fire goes out I think the settings fit my stove and everyone has to play with their setting according to what their stove does.

I think in a perfect situation the stove would sense the lack of flame and add more pellets, in my case I have done this through trial and error which I am sure would vary between brands of pellets.
I am just trying to get the most burn for my $$

 

[crausch]

Absolutely!

You have to go with what works best for you.

 

[MCPO]

I find it strange that some stoves employ a seemingly complicated system of multiple manual pushbutton pads to control the aspects of combustion when my simple little Harman P38 uses a combustion sensor that contols it all based on a single knob manually set by the user.
Not inferring Harman is superior but it appears to me to be a simple solution that works very well indeed with far fewer user problems.

 

[Trapper]

I find it strange that some stoves employ a seemingly complicated system of multiple manual pushbutton pads to control the aspects of combustion when my simple little Harman P38 uses a combustion sensor that contols it all based on a single knob manually set by the user.
Not inferring Harman is superior but it appears to me to be a simple solution that works very well indeed with far fewer user problems.

I have had my stove for 4 years, paid $575 on clearance. I never really put much thought into it the years before because I was paying $150 a ton, even last year.
Now it seems that pellets have went crazy on price but I was still able to get mine for $175/ton.
So, I have put more time into how the stove works, how I can get it to burn more efficient to save $$ and less up keep with it burning better.

It isn't really that complicated at all. But when one person says this then another one says that and then the manufacture say another thing it can be a little discouraging.
But now it is now all good, I understand the function of each control and how to manipulate them to best suit my needs.

I have never even seen a Harmon in action so I can't really comment on them but I don't know if I would want one knowing what I know now.
I would want more control over my unit other than just a one knob option...

 

[stoveguy2esw]

the settings we give at ESW are "baseline" settings , not all pellets are the same in as far as size and weight. there are subtle differences. the trim buttons on the bottom allow some measure of "dialing in" you low burn by adjusting the air and fuel ratios. essentially the low fuel feed controls the fuel feed on the lowest heat ranges (1 and 2 ) and the low burn air controls the speed of the combustion blower at the same low ranges. so in essence the low fuel feed determines how many pellets per "dose" are fed. and the low burn air determines how fast each dose of pellets is consumed. usually a more dramatic change is seen with the low fuel feed, so most times we advise adjusting this setting more so than the low burn air. however in a situation such as an odd hookup or high altitude installation adjustments to the low burn air are helpful in triming the stove for a good clean low burn.

 

[MCPO]

I find it strange that some stoves employ a seemingly complicated system of multiple manual pushbutton pads to control the aspects of combustion when my simple little Harman P38 uses a combustion sensor that contols it all based on a single knob manually set by the user.
Not inferring Harman is superior but it appears to me to be a simple solution that works very well indeed with far fewer user problems.

So, I have put more time into how the stove works, how I can get it to burn more efficient to save $$ and less up keep with it burning better.

It isn't really that complicated at all. But when one person says this then another one says that and then the manufacture say another thing it can be a little discouraging.
But now it is now all good, I understand the function of each control and how to manipulate them to best suit my needs.

..

My point exactly. After 4 yrs you admit that you finally understand the functions of each control and how to manipulate them.
Apparently it does indeed require more time to learn how to get a stove to burn at it`s best when a user is confronted with adjusting multiple knobs or touch pads.. This should not have to be the case and isn`t with the exhaust sensor probe and computerized control board on my Harman.

 

[Trapper]

My point exactly. After 4 yrs you admit that you finally understand the functions of each control and how to manipulate them.
Apparently it does indeed require more time to learn how to get a stove to burn at it`s best when a user is confronted with adjusting multiple knobs or touch pads.. This should not have to be the case and isn`t with the exhaust sensor probe and computerized control board on my Harman.

I am not sure if you are try to argue a point or something I am just stating that I never gave two thoughts to it and it ran great the last 3 seasons.
This year I am at home for the whole winter laid off and I wanted to tinker with it to see if I could get more out of what I already had.
There wasn't a 3 year learning curve LOL

On another note, how much was your stove? Did it pay for itself in one season? How many expensive parts/sensors will you have to replace down the road?
I have 3 solid seasons with this stove and I have looked at cost for replacement parts and they are minimal, and no problems with it.
I have cut my heating cost by 75% in the last three years.
These stoves are great and would recommend them to anyone on a budget that wants to heat or supplement their heating to get one.
I have a 100+ year old two story home (around 1230sf) and I think I used my furnace once last year because we went away for the weekend.
The only thing I don't care for is the fact that my basement is about 50deg lol. It's an old Michigan basement and only used for storage, but I hear about it when the wife has to get things from down there