Magnum Countryside 3500p

[SmokeyTheBear]

Good, now how much crud was in the stove?

As for the horizontal run It is an excessively long run.

Have you disconnected and brushed out that run?

There isn't usually much change in rpms between low end settings, it ramps from 1 to the highest setting in proportion to the change in feed rate, the low end is frequently at least 80% of full speed (depends upon the stove).

 

[Bioburner]

There should be a good increase of rpm of exaust motor speed. Should not be a failure of it this young in life but neglect can catch up to various things. Flap in intake was to keep smoke etc from entering house if power failure were to occur and not enough natural draft. That pipe run is a bit much with the two elbows. Will try and take a couple more pictures tomorrow showing a typical ash hangout and try to clarify holes you are taking about. See if I can find a manual to check pipe run maximums.

 

[Bioburner]

Pics of your three holes? Are just to move air from front of stove if they are the ones you are talking about. Pic with marker pointing to a commonly missed channel that has to be accessed from ash pan area that can be seen from the hole behind the fireboard. Exaust fan for lurkers to see that this fan can suck a good amount of fines etc through the windings and cause failure if not maintained regularly. I could not find this AM a manual to check max exaust runs. I took out a stove a couple years ago that had as much 3 inch without to much problems but most of it was inside and did not have a chill effect to cause condensate. House was being sold and owner needed it gone per realator.

 

[Mark_ms]

Bioburner,
Yes those are the 3 holes I mentioned earlier, they do blow cold air when stove is fired up.
The second pic I see is taken on left hand side, I have looked for those holes from up top have removed the ash pan and looked and felt around but have not found them.Did you have to remove a part of the stove just past the ash slide to access hose holes?? (pic 2)
When I remove the firebrick I did find the 2 inspection ports and that was my access for cleaning the chamber, as I said in previous post the ash was well above the ports I am guessing there was 6-8 inches of ash buildup.

I did see a Technical/informational bulletin from Countryside regarding possible premature failure of combustion motor due to lack of maintenance

 

[Bioburner]

There is slides outside of the stove on both sides of the stove for dropping ash into ash bin and accessing chambers behind main chamber shown pic 1.
Also there is a pair of small slides inside the stove for access to rear chambers shown in picture 2 and 3.

 

[nawie]

I don't post much on this forum, but I have one of these stoves and can maybe help a little.
Those holes that blow cold air are normal at least for me, they have done that since day 1. I honestly don't know what they are for, but I can tell you that on my stove that is normal.
The air normally blows hotter from the center of the heat exchanger tubes. When cleaning the stove did you vacuum the tubes in the top of the firebox? I use a small wire brush and a bottle brush once in a while to get the buildup of ash off them.This can help a little as caked on ash insulates the tubes and reduces efficiency. The built in scraper doesn't do the greatest job keeping them clean, but a regular vacuuming helps alot.
I would also say that it seems normal to me that you don't notice a huge difference in blower speeds on different heat settings. I can barely tell any difference on mine and it has been this way since new as well.
The room air blower should not come on immediately when trying to light the stove. Only the exhaust fan comes on until the proof of fire switch is up to temp, then the room blower kicks on. This can take 5 or 6 mins. Always use setting 3 so the stove gets up to temp quickly and activates to POF switch, then turn it down if you need to.
Check out the website tech section. lots of good documents here if you haven't seen this already.Look in the Magnum Countryside folder.

http://www.americanenergysystems.com/owners-manuals.cfm

Hope this helped some,
Paul

 

[Mark_ms]

Bioburner,
Thanx for pics of "hidden holes" I will check those out when I go back this weekend.

nawie,
I did get the tubes on the top, vacuumed scraped, wire brush etc. I have tried to impress upon my neighbor about how important a clean stove is and that regular maintenance is really a good thing otherwise we run into problems like this.

 

[Bioburner]

Once one gets into the regimen it isn't bad. I used to do it weekly and from time I shut it down, let it cool a bit then cleaned the stove out, and relit was about 45 minutes. Things were warm but not hot. Also , daily turn the stove up to high and pull the draft out for 5-10 minutes helps keep the ash buildup behind the main chamber alot cleaner reducing the weekly chore considerably.

 

[Mark_ms]

Bioburner,
I managed to remove the 2 slides and there was some ash but not a whole lot of ash...
I emailed Countryside and the 17 horizontal run is a bout 12 ft too long, coupled with the fact that an OAK is required. Unfortuanatley due to there being a deck on 3 sides of the house and no way to access through the 24 inch 100 year old foundation, they are dead in the water as far as running one in the basement is concerend. They have a 2 propane inserts in the house I recommended to the to replace at least one of them with a pellet insert.

Guess what I got for all my time??? The last 5 Saturdays working 2-5 hours......One ton of Dry Creeks YES!!

Thank you all for your help..Bio thanx for the pics!!

 

[Bioburner]

A newer generation of pellet stove will make for a happier home owner. An oak is recommended yes but considering the age of the home ehh. I know of several that use stoves in the garage to dry the spaces sucking the air off the floor. One has a nicer garage than most peoples home. So are they going to ask for your help in getting and installing another stove?

 

[Mark_ms]

A newer generation of pellet stove will make for a happier home owner. An oak is recommended yes but considering the age of the home ehh. I know of several that use stoves in the garage to dry the spaces sucking the air off the floor. One has a nicer garage than most peoples home. So are they going to ask for your help in getting and installing another stove?

Basically they put the stove in to warm the Library floor from below and keep the dampness out of basement.They would be better of putting an insert in the Library (there is a propane heater insert there now. I did leave brochures for both Harmon inserts. I get the feeling that The Mrs has had it with the pellet lifestyle, I tried to explain that they did have a bad experience from the get-go with what the bought and paid for (a crappy & improper install). We shall see..but we can't let those Dry Creeks sit around too long can we??

 

[Bioburner]

It's hard to talk pellets in a library if she has to clean. Dust from the ash, dust from the pellets etc,etc.