M55 question

[jrogers999]

So recently I've had an issue with black smoke from exhaust. Cleaned it thoroughly in an out a couple of times. Also my burnpot was a little more clogged than normal and pellets over feeding. So I decided to come out of premium mode and do regular mode. After 3 days my ash pan was full normally it would go 7 days. I mean this thing was overflowed. Ash in the firebox was far less and my ash was grey opposed to darker or black. In the ash pan were small black chips with the grey ash. Is that bad? Maybe I should try multi mode? Can anyone give me some advice?

 

[jtakeman]

Depends on the pellets. Black ash with chips/bits could be unburned fuel. You might need a bit more air to help burn them more before the ash gets pushed out with the agitator. More air will burn them faster and the ash should be a lighter shade of gray.

The draw back to the agitator is it does tend to have darker color ash than a non agitator stove. But there is also no fear of the burnpot backing up due to clogs. They definitely take a bit more patience to tune to get the ash as clean as possible. Very few pellets have been whitish/tan ash. Most are on the gray side. I don't have premium mode. My stove only has regular and multi.

You could try multi for a dirty pellet. But every hour or so the stove will go to clean mode(stove goes to lowest setting to help burn off some excess fuel build up). I personally have only need this for straight corn/grains and leaf pellets. These fuels need a longer period to burn unlike wood pellets which burn rather quickly.

 

[jrogers999]

I opened the damper more and turned the air trim to 5. I guess it's all trial and error. The stove inside was a lot cleaner in regular mode with light grey ash. Im burning spruce pointe softwoods right now.

I've always burned in premium except for the very beginning when I got the stove. Since then I've gotten the turbo blower which is louder which you cannot even hear the agitator turning anymore. I'm gonna leave it in regular.

 

[jtakeman]

I was thinking the black bits where unburned fuel. Could be lil clinkers forming, Running the agitator more will break them up and burn the fuel better. This could be why the ash turned lighter gray when going to regular fuel mode. Only difference between Premium and regular mode is the agitator runs longer in regular mode. There is a chart posted in one of the M55 threads.

If you need a link, I'll go find it for ya for some FYI.

 

[jrogers999]

I got it. Thanks for help

 

[whlago]

Is the agitator turning? I had realized after a couple days recently I hadn't set the agitator all the way in after a cleaning and my burnpot was filling up, getting a lazy burn, etc.

 

[Eatonpcat]

Is the agitator turning? I had realized after a couple days recently I hadn't set the agitator all the way in after a cleaning and my burnpot was filling up, getting a lazy burn, etc.

Surprised that didn't make a bunch of noise, when my agitator wasn't set properly (By the installer), it made a horrible racket!

 

[whlago]

Surprised that didn't make a bunch of noise, when my agitator wasn't set properly (By the installer), it made a horrible racket!

I must have missed the gear completely

 

[jrogers999]

I like regular mode better. Also those spruce pointes are small sizes pellets so it's feeding a lot of pellets. Maybe I'll adjust that plate in the hopper seeing I have 4 tons left.