Mt. Vernon AE Burning Issue or Concern

[LJ4174]

Hello...

So this is my 3rd year burning my Mt. Vernon, so far, so good... I have a few goofy issues or concerns right now though... When standing in front and looking at the stove, the flame is pulling to the right, I mean pulling... At one point yesterday it looked like it was just about horizontal. Also the right side of the glass is much, much dirtier then the rest of the glass. In fact the left side of the glass seems like it has little or no ash on it at all... On Sunday, 3-4 days ago I did a thorogh cleaning, like I do weekly thinking it would resolve the issue, not so much... Any thoughts on this???

I also just read the post about Hamer pellets... I've burned them in the past and love them... I've only burned a few bags this year as I have been trying to run through my stock of Ligs and O Malley's... Anyway, I put a bag of Hamers in the other night and my flame was ridiculously high I mean, I bet it was touching the top of the stove on the inside... The stove was erroring out with a fault, it said: "Max drop tube temp" or something along those lines. I turned my flame down to -5, after that it didn't error out, but the flame still seemed really high... Elevation is set at normal. Running it on medium - manual. Any thoughts on this one?

Thanks...

LJ

 

[kinsmanstoves]

Sounds like a heck of a draft issue. Call your dealer and have him hook up the netbook to your unit and see whats going on.

Eric

 

[gblaue]

Did you check to see if the left exhaust port is clear open to the right side? If you remove the baffle and look down in the lower left. check and make sure it is not plugged. I always take the small pvc tube attachment and clean it out. You should be able to push it through to the right side opening. It sounds like this is plugged. Just my guess. I, too have had problems with tall flames using Blazers. I have gone back to Lignetics, and back to normal.

 

[LJ4174]

Sounds like a heck of a draft issue. Call your dealer and have him hook up the netbook to your unit and see whats going on.

Eric

Yeah, my buddy/neighbor is the tech for the dealer I bought this from and he was going to check this out for me... He's been busy though so I was trying not to bug him... I may have too...

Did you check to see if the left exhaust port is clear open to the right side? If you remove the baffle and look down in the lower left. check and make sure it is not plugged. I always take the small pvc tube attachment and clean it out. You should be able to push it through to the right side opening. It sounds like this is plugged. Just my guess. I, too have had problems with tall flames using Blazers. I have gone back to Lignetics, and back to normal.

Yeah, I know exactly what you mean about the exhaust port. I cleaned them both out really good this past weekend, however I can't say I knew it was open between them, that was my initial thought as well, that something was clogging that up. I will double check that... Thanks...

I HATE Lignetics The Hamers heat my house way better, they are "HOT", meaning they seem to burn hotter, but from what I can tell they are cleaner as well. I have 3 tons of them so I'm hoping I don't have a problem. I burned 2 tons of them before with no issues. The O'Maley's I think are between the Lignetics and the Hamers as far as heat and dust, so I would use those next I guess, but again... Hopefully the Hamers are OK, perhaps the flame is acting goofy for "IF" that exhaust port is clogged...

Thanks...

 

[Gweeper64]

I have had the "flame to the right" issue too, but not to the extreme you say. One thing you might do is when you clean behind the baffle plate, make sure you center it well when you put it back? If it isn't centered, I could imagine some air leaking through a side edge maybe causing the flame to go to one side. That is just a working theory of mine at this point. Can't hurt to try though.

 

[FordMastertech]

My 2006 MT Vernon AE Insert has always had the slight burn to the right/dirty right side glass. I think it is because the air intake is off to the left side of the stove and the air coming from that direction is pushing the flames to the right. It did this both before and after the air baffle upgrade was installed. I would not call it horizontal but it definitely favors the right side of the stove. I am burning the Hammers at this time and not completely impressed with them. Kind of dirty and seem to go through the stove pretty, fast 1.5 to 2 bags a day. They have great heat but just dirtier than pellets I have used in the past. The Hammer pellet size is somewhat smaller in diameter and length than the pellets I have used in the past so maybe this is why it uses more of them. The worst pellet I used, last year, were Lake Region, they had huge hockey puck type clinkers and burned real dirty but they really didn't effect or shut down this stove and a bag lasted the whole day, heat was ok if stove was clean. It took a lot of messing with the settings to get them to burn somewhat ok. I personally like the soft wood pellets better and have a ton+ of Spruce Points in the basement when the real weather starts. The floor of the burn area where the burn pot fasteners has always leaked a little around the sides where it meets the side walls, you can see where the floor ash has been moved by the air coming in. I have to seal this up at some time but not sure what I will use to seal it. I have it running in manual mode 4 high elevation - 5 flame height hardwood and it has helped with the real high flames, but shouldn't have to use this setting at the elevations in CT. I mainly use the hard wood soft wood settings and flame height is always on the - side of the settings. It has all the latest upgrades minus the new burn pot. Someone mentioned using the sunflower setting but I haven't tried that yet. I have it set up with the OAK running the pipes to the top of the chimney in the same fireplace flue so I think the intake air gets warmed slightly before it gets to the stove.
In the few years of pellet burning I have found out that pellets that burned great last year may not do the same the next year so buy a few bags and try them before you get a ton of them.

 

[Gweeper64]

FordMastertech... you bring up an important point about the "high elevation" setting. I forgot it had that. I'll have to experiment with that setting too. I imagine it is another way of increasing the the air intake since air at higher elevations would have less oxygen. Did you get your Hamers recently? Have you had any clinker problems with them at all?

Wow, 2006.. that is an old AE you have there. Has the software ever been updated since you got it? (The software revision is in the service info screen on the wall control).

 

[FordMastertech]

FordMastertech... Did you get your Hamers recently? Have you had any clinker problems with them at all?

I got the Hammer's pellets, Elkins plant, this year from BT Enterprises in Bristol CT. I do get some small clinker build up that sticks to the bottom side of the burn pot and some times it will not drop when the pot floor opens durn the auto clean cycle. The pellets have good heat just dirtier than reports I have read earlier. The biggest thing I have a problem with is the amount of Hammer's pellets this stove uses and I think it is because the Hammer pellets are the smallest pellet I have ever used.

Sometime get some of the better quality soft wood pellets, My stove loves them, real hot, long burn time and clean burning.

I have had several updates done to this stove all required board and thermostat replacements. All in all I think it is a great stove both in looks and operation. I do think Quad can do a lot more with this unit now that it has been out for awhile.

 

[Gweeper64]

Sometime get some of the better quality soft wood pellets, My stove loves them, real hot, long burn time and clean burning.

I burned 3.9 tons of Oakies last season. And I have recently burned 9 bags of Vermonts with two bags of Blazers (douglas fir) in the middle. I totally agree (especially using the sunflower setting which makes a huge difference in the flame strength and heat output). I am starting to think this stove prefers high quality softwoods.

 

[jtakeman]

FordMastertech... Did you get your Hamers recently? Have you had any clinker problems with them at all?

I got the Hammer's pellets, Elkins plant, this year from BT Enterprises in Bristol CT. I do get some small clinker build up that sticks to the bottom side of the burn pot and some times it will not drop when the pot floor opens durn the auto clean cycle. The pellets have good heat just dirtier than reports I have read earlier. The biggest thing I have a problem with is the amount of Hammer's pellets this stove uses and I think it is because the Hammer pellets are the smallest pellet I have ever used.

Sometime get some of the better quality soft wood pellets, My stove loves them, real hot, long burn time and clean burning.

I have had several updates done to this stove all required board and thermostat replacements. All in all I think it is a great stove both in looks and operation. I do think Quad can do a lot more with this unit now that it has been out for awhile.

I have read many posts with people reporting clinkers. There are 2 things that get the Hamers. On is the size you mentioned and the second is there high density. They seem to over power the stoves and clog them up. I have found with reduced feed and some tinkering with the stoves controls. You can get good burns and extend the run time on them. I also bought a ton of Hamers this season. Before I started playing around I felt they might be something with them. Trial and error I got mine to burn sweet! I jacked up the air and trimmed out the fuel charge. Same as I do for the dense softwoods. I am saving these Hamers for the biter cold and when it comes I know where I need to set the stove to burn them. I have shared this with gweeper64 and a few others. It seemed to also work for them as well.

Nice to see another North West CT member here. Happy burning!