Dont know if its possible but anyway to bypass the autoclean feature on an AE. House cools off too much during shutdown sometimes, especially when extremely cold out. It would be nice to have stove clean when it is convenient for us.
Mt Vernon AE auto clean by-pass
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What opens the bottom of the pot?
Perhaps disconnecting that would stop the dump, I don't know what shape the burn will be in or what the stove will make of it.
Perhaps disconnecting that would stop the dump, I don't know what shape the burn will be in or what the stove will make of it.
I thought about that but I dont think it would work. The stove would still go into shutdown mode since it is electronically controlled. The air would decrease, pellets would stop being dropped and eventually it would relight. I think everything would remain the same with the exception of not dumping the pot. It would be nice to have a switch or button that you could just hit when it was convenient for you say like when leaving for work or before going to bed. Not bad when temps are above 25 and wind not blowing. But with the cold snaps we had this winter house was a little chilly at times, after a shutdown.
One thing you could try is buy the 12volt cable with a marine battery and hook it to the stove and unplug the stove from 110 volts. The stove will burn one step lower then you have it set but will run for 6 hours before it shuts off.
Another thing is if your stove is a older one your dealer may be able to upgrade the software which will help some.
Another thing is if your stove is a older one your dealer may be able to upgrade the software which will help some.
pelletkrzd said:
But by not dumping the pot the stove just might relight a lot faster, something to try who knows where it will go, just be sure to be there to baby sit the first several times.
If the stove doesn't get the feed back from the burn pot ash dump motor sensor it will just shut the stove down and not relight. Running it in in softwood pellet setting will give you the longest amount of burn time before it takes a dump. LOL
Motor rotation which should be burn pot floor movement if everything is working correctly. It is basically just a on off micro switch that rides on a cam on the motors shaft leverSmokeyTheBear said:
FordMastertech said:
If the linkage to the burn pot floor is removed doesn't the motor rotation still happen?
FordMastertech said:
Yes it will shut down. The autoclean is just part of it. The stove cycles itself off and restates after.
I am sure quad could program a future stove to do this but it would mean a new board and control panel.
I read the manuals auto clean section, the stove enters shutdown which burns up some of the remaining fuel in the burn pot by continuing the operation of the combustion blower, the convection blower if needed, but discontinues the pellet feed. It then enters auto clean when it dumps its load (this part wouldn't happen if the linkage was disconnected) the motor would turn as normal to open, no dump (likely hot embers in the pot [not certain]) then the motor would reverse to close, then the stove should enter start up perhaps with a hot ember bed which would help restart the fire when the feed was reestablished.
While this doesn't prevent the cycle it might shorten the fire off time which is part of the problem.
Like I said just tossing something out there.
Given access to the controller programming and the proper equipment I likely could no op out the entire shutdown dump startup portion of the auto clean subroutine.
While this doesn't prevent the cycle it might shorten the fire off time which is part of the problem.
Like I said just tossing something out there.
Given access to the controller programming and the proper equipment I likely could no op out the entire shutdown dump startup portion of the auto clean subroutine.
pelletkrzd said:
The next possible option I can think of is to see exactly what the difference is between the AE controller and the Non AE controller. Maybe a swap out depending upon shoulder/non shoulder season.
Totally different stoves with different operating voltages and types of voltage, old MT Vernon stove is AC new MT Vernon AE stove is DC for just one example except for the AE's igniter, it still uses AC voltage.SmokeyTheBear said:
If the house cools off that much between start up and auto clean cycles it's not the stoves fault it's a house envelope issue.
I owned one for 1 1/2 seasons and sold it to someone with a smaller house. It worked fine for them except for the constant igniter problem.
When I seen it advertised as a 60,000 btu stove I thought just what I needed but I didn't know about the off and on situation and how long it took to get going again. Back then it was a new model and the theory was that heavy cast iron plate would release heat while the stove was dumping and the heat loss wouldn't be noticed.
Prior to this purchase I owned a Harman PC45 and replaced it with a AE figuring the extra BTUs would help keep the place warmer. I actually lost ground because of the constant dumping and relighting.
But as I said before in a smaller home it worked fine burning pellets. Under the right conditions it is a good stove but not for what my needs were.
When I seen it advertised as a 60,000 btu stove I thought just what I needed but I didn't know about the off and on situation and how long it took to get going again. Back then it was a new model and the theory was that heavy cast iron plate would release heat while the stove was dumping and the heat loss wouldn't be noticed.
Prior to this purchase I owned a Harman PC45 and replaced it with a AE figuring the extra BTUs would help keep the place warmer. I actually lost ground because of the constant dumping and relighting.
But as I said before in a smaller home it worked fine burning pellets. Under the right conditions it is a good stove but not for what my needs were.
FordMastertech said:
AC to DC conversion and voltage matching isn't really an obstacle just a minor impediment.
But I do agree on the house envelope as likely being the real issue, but that also isn't a non controllable variable. A little application of permanent pellets can go a long way to correcting that. You can spend your heating $$$ in many ways.
Anything can be done but is it worth it for the little amount you will gain. I find on my AE insert from shut down, dump and to relight takes 10 minutes or so but if you take the amount of time from full heat output before shut down to full heat output after dumping and relighting it's more like 30 minutes. My house will not loose that mush heat in 30 minutes unless it's way below 0 and there are strong winds.SmokeyTheBear said:
I think you guys need to hire a programmer. Have um fix the firmware to extend the dump time.
I need a Mt Vernon owner "close" to contact me!
I need a Mt Vernon owner "close" to contact me!
I think another issue you will have is the burnpot design. The burnpot and the airflow is designed to have a minimal amout of ash/fuel. Some stoves burn fine with a nice layer of ash and fuel, the AE doesn't which is why it dumps so regular. You may find as soon as you extend the autoclean the stove will burn too rich with a lazy flame.
BIH
BIH
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