Mt Vernon Operation Questions Not AE

[Bkins]

Fired up my new (used) stove today. I seem to be having a hard time getting a good sized flame. I have the feed adjustment wide open after 4 tries to get the stove to run.

What would cause me not to get a big flame? The highest I've seen it is a couple of inches over the top of the firepot. It almost wasn't enough to get the blower fan to turn on. Is there something that needs to be cleaned? The firepot was very clean when I started the stove up and the exhaust port seems to be clean from looking into it. Are there any probes that need to be looked at? It almost seems like it is not getting enough pellets. Maybe this is as high as it gets?

Heard the whistle thats been talked about. I'll have to do some reading on how to fix that.

Bkins

 

[Baston8005]

Did you remove the cast iron plates and clean the tubes? Make sure you do Only time I get large flames is on 3 or 4 feedrate/blower.

 

[shisits]

You can control the flame height on a non ae by opening up or closing down the fuel adjustment rod in the pellet hopper.

 

[Bkins]

Did you remove the cast iron plates and clean the tubes? Make sure you do Only time I get large flames is on 3 or 4 feedrate/blower.

I know about the top plate. Do both sides and rear plates have to be taken off also?

The pellet feed rate is wide open.

Bkins

 

[freeburn]

If everything is cleaned out of the exhaust and especially behind both cast iron baffles especially the one on the right, then check for this...

Is the flame large at the beginning when it first fills up the pot and does it die down when the pellets start feeding like it can't keep up?

Check the control box setting. There's a number on the side of the control box and can be turned with a screwdriver. It's under the Left panel of the stove. I'll have to check what the correct setting is for the Mt Vernon. That may have been adjusted if the previous owner was burning corn or never set right to begin with. For some reason I thought i was supposed to be 1, but I'll check.

UPDATE: Yes, the feed rate is supposed to be 1.

 

[Bkins]

Have not checked the control box setting. It will have to wait until the morning. My knees are killing me. Have all the plates off. Loaded with "STUFF" as in other then the top one they have never been cleaned. The manual doesn't say, or show that they need to be. A little tech secret I guess. I'll bet that once the stove gets put back together it will be a different beast.

Do you know what the control box is set at from the factory?

Thanks for the replys.

Bkins

 

[freeburn]

That's probably your problem is that it's loaded with ash and no air can get through. Cleaning behind the plates is routine maintenance or something that the stove dealer will do for you, but easy enough to do on your own save some $$$. Once or twice (max) a year to keep your stove running at peak efficiency you'll want to at least check it. It will be something that you grow to enjoy doing if you like the pellet stove idea in your house. The easiest way is to shop vac it when the ashes are no longer warm. Make sure you check the exhaust blower fins too, you can see them if you look behind where the right panel installs. Take a flashlight if you need to, either use a paint brush to clean them, or a vacuum wand with the brush end.

The control box is your last resort, and if you are that clogged up, it's probably not an issue. The control board should be set at "1". It probably is. Most people don't know or mess with that setting anyway.

 

[Bkins]

That's probably your problem is that it's loaded with ash and no air can get through. Cleaning behind the plates is routine maintenance or something that the stove dealer will do for you, but easy enough to do on your own save some $$$. Once or twice (max) a year to keep your stove running at peak efficiency you'll want to at least check it. It will be something that you grow to enjoy doing if you like the pellet stove idea in your house. The easiest way is to shop vac it when the ashes are no longer warm. Make sure you check the exhaust blower fins too, you can see them if you look behind where the right panel installs. Take a flashlight if you need to, either use a paint brush to clean them, or a vacuum wand with the brush end.

The control box is your last resort, and if you are that clogged up, it's probably not an issue. The control board should be set at "1". It probably is. Most people don't know or mess with that setting anyway.

jburner,

Thanks for your help. The previous owner burned this for 2 years and I'll bet that the sides and back were never cleaned judging from what I've seen. I'll have to try and locate the flat gasket that goes on top of the back panel tomorrow. Don't know how big a problem that will be. It fell apart into 3 pieces.

Bkins

 

[freeburn]

Which gasket are you talking about? You must have really torn that thing apart! Oh wait, is it the rope gasket that goes above the cast iron panels that you pull out? You may be able to easily replace that with some rope gasket from Farm Fleet or your local hardware store. If I remember right that gasket is kind awkwardly squished into place. Keep us updated on how things turn out! Hope you got a decent deal on that stove too.

 

[MountainStoveGuy]

please unplug the unit from the wall before you take the control board out. The flame should be pretty darn large on the number 4 (quad) setting.

 

[freeburn]

Yes, agreed anytime you do anything with the electronics UNPLUG!

 

[Baston8005]

If everything is cleaned out of the exhaust and especially behind both cast iron baffles especially the one on the right, then check for this...

Is the flame large at the beginning when it first fills up the pot and does it die down when the pellets start feeding like it can't keep up?

Check the control box setting. There's a number on the side of the control box and can be turned with a screwdriver. It's under the Left panel of the stove. I'll have to check what the correct setting is for the Mt Vernon. That may have been adjusted if the previous owner was burning corn or never set right to begin with. For some reason I thought i was supposed to be 1, but I'll check.

UPDATE: Yes, the feed rate is supposed to be 1.

Hey Jburner

What does the control box setting do? I've owned my stove for 6 years and first i've heard of this. Does it deal with what type of pellets you burn? I find my Mt Vernon doesn't burn hardwood pellets worth a dam. It loves the softwoods. Hardwood pellets = cleaning stove everyday and clinker galore!!

 

[MountainStoveGuy]

softwood pellets in general burn better then hardwood.

The control box setting controls the feedrate. Its a small setting that is designed to be tweaked by installers if needed.

 

[freeburn]

Yes Mtn StoveGuy is correct. It's mostly for different altitudes or if you are going to be burning corn some people change the feed rate because of the different rate that corn burns at. Nothing to worry about.

 

[Bkins]

The stove still doesn't seem to be operating correctly. Have a hard time getting a good flame. Behind all baffles were cleaned and were dirty. New gasket on the top of the rear baffle plate. Had to push the reset button 4 times after the stove started up to get it to put enough pellets in to keep it going. Took a while for the convection fan to turn on and then it only ran for 10 minutes, if that before it turned off. Pushed the reset button again, more pellets, beller flame and the convection fan came back on. This was on Quad setting. Turned the fan to med and the stove is running. I guess I will have to look at the control box setting for the pellet feed. It seems to me that the stove is not feeding enough pellets. The pellet feed adjustment in the hopper is wide open. The stove seems to be going through all the things it should do except feed enough pellets. Maybe before I look at the control box setting I will put a handful of pellets into the firepot on a fresh startup and see what happens.

Went back into the room and the stove had shut off totally????

Bkins

 

[freeburn]

So it feeds on reset, but does not continue to feed after the fire has started? Am I understanding that correct? It sounded like it continued to keep the fire when you kept hitting the reset button. After a while it should start to feed on its own when the temp gets up there. If this is the case, it sounds like the thermocouple might not be adjusted quite right.

Check that your thermocouple (it's the bullet shaped part) is extending into the firepot far enough. There is a ceramic sleeve (be careful) extending into the firepot. Unscrew the bolt that holds it in and make sure that the wire inside it is pushed almost all the way into it.

It wouldn't hurt to check which number your control box is set on without moving or touching anything else. Another way to do that is to count the number of blue flashes you see on it when you unplug the stove and plug it back in.

 

[MountainStoveGuy]

Like JB said, it could be the thermocouple. If it does not sense heat then it will shut down. Either the feed rate is messed up, or the thermocouple is bad. The cover over the thermocouple could have alot of ash in it as well that would affect the temps that it is reading. Take off the cover and try to start it up. Do not run it for extended times like this, but it will tell you if the cover is causing the problem.

 

[humpin iron]

what size are the pellets? too long won't fit thru the feed auger with enough volume to make a large flame

 

[Bkins]

It will feed pellets but it doesn't seem like enough to get a good fire. After 15 minutes the fire almost seems to be out even though the stove is set on Quad. If I hit the reset and it feeds more pellets the fire gets big again for a while. I am going to look/examine the thermocouple and I think I am also going to see what the control box is set at. I'll post back the results.

The pellets are feeding and they are about 1/2 to 3/4 in length. There are some long ones but they are few and far between.

Bkins

 

[Bkins]

Control box was set on 1. No dirt in thermocouple tube ceramic. Ceramic cover cleaned. I set the control box up to 2. The stove is looking much more alive and the heat blower turned on much earlier.

I guess the question becomes how high does one turn up the control box setting. What should be used as the bench mark. I know I will need to close down the pellet adjustment in the hopper at some point.

What is a normal level of pellets in the firepot? Mine keeps blowing lots of ash out which seems to me not to have been fully burnt. My Harman stoves ash is just that ash. Same pellets. Is there a adjustment on the combustion blower?

The stove still is not starting up by the thermostat. I am guessing that maybe one of the snap disks needs to be reset? First things first.

Bkins

 

[Baston8005]

What pellets you burning?

 

[Bkins]

What pellets you burning?

A local company that uses hardwood flooring sawdust. They are super premium hardwood pellets and work great in the Harman.

 

[Baston8005]

Try a few bags of softwood pellets

 

[humpin iron]

Don't toy with control box settings, different settings are for different stoves. You need to have a yellow label control box: setting 1 is for Mt Vernon. setting 2 is for mt.V with a built in 10% increase, setting 3 is Mt. V with a built in -20%
I think it sounds like the thermo is out of wack and not getting hot enough

 

[Bkins]

Don't toy with control box settings, different settings are for different stoves. You need to have a yellow label control box: setting 1 is for Mt Vernon. setting 2 is for mt.V with a built in 10% increase, setting 3 is Mt. V with a built in -20%
I think it sounds like the thermo is out of wack and not getting hot enough

So far the only way that we can get the stove to run, basically longer then 20 minutes is to turn the control box to the 2 setting. It is the yellow label control box. It seems to be turning on and off and now responds to different heat control settings. I'm not declaring that there is no thermocouple problem but I would think if there was I would see it on the 2 setting also. I have been led to understand that the setting on the control box only changes the pellet feed rate. I don't know why it needs to be on 2 but it seems thats what its going to take. At least at the moment.

Bkins