My thoughts on ash

[ironpony]

Well this last ton I am burning Starlite pellets, low ash great heat.
My observation is this;
When burning AWP pellets and others there was a lot of ash in the pan and the chambers in the stove were very clean between cleanings with even heat distribution between cleanings.
Now with the Starlite, similar to the Somersets I burned for years, the ash pan is clean and the stove passages are very full. I have come to see a pattern here, when the stove appears to be burning "clean" the ash is being sucked into the heat passages, which coats them and acts as an insulator reducing heat output. This in turn raises exhaust temp, because the heat is not being drawn off, and the ESP reduces pellet feed accordingly, further reducing heat output.

Conclusion; Ash in the pan is better than ash in the heat exchangers. My stove has much better heat output with the ashy pellets.

Thoughts?

 

[Harmanizer]

Well this last ton I am burning Starlite pellets, low ash great heat.
My observation is this;
When burning AWP pellets and others there was a lot of ash in the pan and the chambers in the stove were very clean between cleanings with even heat distribution between cleanings.
Now with the Starlite, similar to the Somersets I burned for years, the ash pan is clean and the stove passages are very full. I have come to see a pattern here, when the stove appears to be burning "clean" the ash is being sucked into the heat passages, which coats them and acts as an insulator reducing heat output. This in turn raises exhaust temp, because the heat is not being drawn off, and the ESP reduces pellet feed accordingly, further reducing heat output.

Conclusion; Ash in the pan is better than ash in the heat exchangers. My stove has much better heat output with the ashy pellets.

Thoughts?

Iv'e seen the same effect with Somersetts.Very little ash in the burnpot but fine white ash coating everything else in the stove.After a few days I would shut down the stove and clean the hell out of it and the heat would return.burning FSU right now and I like those better.More ash stays in the burnpot which is easy to scrape out.

 

[Harvey Schneider]

Well this last ton I am burning Starlite pellets, low ash great heat.
My observation is this;
When burning AWP pellets and others there was a lot of ash in the pan and the chambers in the stove were very clean between cleanings with even heat distribution between cleanings.
Now with the Starlite, similar to the Somersets I burned for years, the ash pan is clean and the stove passages are very full. I have come to see a pattern here, when the stove appears to be burning "clean" the ash is being sucked into the heat passages, which coats them and acts as an insulator reducing heat output. This in turn raises exhaust temp, because the heat is not being drawn off, and the ESP reduces pellet feed accordingly, further reducing heat output.

Conclusion; Ash in the pan is better than ash in the heat exchangers. My stove has much better heat output with the ashy pellets.

Thoughts?

Interesting observation. I suspect that it is dependent on the stove design. Top feeders and bottom feeder probably have somewhat different behavior when it comes to the type of ash.
I know my PDVC is fussier than my MVAE when it comes to pellet properties.

 

[ironpony]

This year with the ashy brands I have been going two weeks between cleanings with no noticeable heat loss. I then switched to Starlites and tried the same schedule, noticed about 3 days into the second week heat loss. Normally I clean every week so it was never noticeable.

 

[kofkorn]

I noticed the same effect when burning some Potomac softwoods a few years ago. They burned great, with very little ash in the pot, but at the same time, they clogged up my venting much faster than any other pellet I've burned and required a full brush of the vent pipe and combustion blower in the middle of my ton which I've never needed.

I guess the ash has to go somewhere, so it becomes a question of scraping the pot more often or doing a significant deep cleaning more often. Pick your poison.

 

[Bioburner]

Lets see, 15 seconds to scrape the pot or shut down and clean everything about 15 minutes not counting cool down time. Only been getting a day or two of normal outside temps every two weeks since Novemberrrr.

 

[St_Earl]

i've noticed the exact same thing.

mwp softies are clean in the pot, but a real mess in the venting and heat passages.
with the crabbe the stove stays much cleaner, but i have to stir the pot a few times a day.


luckily i have fewer than 20 bags of the mwp "get rid of".

 

[pell it]

Lets see, 15 seconds to scrape the pot or shut down and clean everything about 15 minutes not counting cool down time. Only been getting a day or two of normal outside temps every two weeks since Novemberrrr.

Looks like you will be in shorts and a t-shirt on Sunday!!

 

[Bioburner]

Looks like you will be in shorts and a t-shirt on Sunday!!

Bath day