Napoleon NPI40 Daily Pot Cleanout

[GARY24NASCAR]

I purchased a Napoleon I40 (insert) this past summer. I have an issue where I need to clean the pot daily. Regardless of pellet type, and I have tried 3 different pellet brands, within 24 hours I have a full pot and need to empty it. I was under the impression that this should not occur this frequent. There are settings up to 6 for the burn rate or whatever...I usually run 3-4.5.

Although it isn't the end of the world...it would be nice to be able to run it atleast 2 or 3 days straight without doing anything other than add pellets. When I start the stove up, I start it on 1 until it gets going and then turn it up. I do not turn the blower on until after it gets going either and I DO hear a fan kick on immediately when I start the thing up. So there is some sort of airflow in there. But maybe there is a 2nd fan which is not working. I thought air should push the ash out to the sides...it doesn't...

Any help? I plan to call the dealer anyways but figured check with the fine folks here before doing so.

Thanks!

 

[j00fek]

i have to do mine every 2-3days, give it more air

 

[dbjc364]

We don't have the Napolean insert- we have the stove. They are both very similiar- if not almost identical in operation. I believe if you start out with the pellet feed on at least 3- a handful in the pot to start out,then increase to 4. Leaving the air fan off till it heats up. You'll get a good fire- heat, and less ash. They are a nice quality stove.

 

[j00fek]

i clean the pot with a wire brush, nice for this. after ill put a handful in the pot, over the lighter hole. start er up and leave the auger off till i get a good flame then ill tone it out. i wont turn it up to 4-4.5 till the whole pot has caught fire.

mine could be different because i dont have an outside air kit. next yr ill be installing the stove in another part of the house so ill hook it up.

 

[Revig]

I had the freestanding unit in my basement and although it worked good , I had to run it with the damper all the way open and then it seemed to do just fine at whatever setting I chose, we were burning Bear Mountain pellets (Oregon).

 

[EJW1]

I also have the stove, not the insert. I do have the outside air kit. I leave the draft rod on 2 all the time and the auger speed at 3-4.5 depending on outside temp.
I vac and clean mine once a week and it runs 24/7. I think the real problem is your user name, you should change the 24 to 88 and your problems would go away.
Merry Christmas

 

[GARY24NASCAR]

So I assume that the stove takes air from inside the room it is in...and the surrounding fireplace it is in right? Just wondering really how I could give it more air...

Thanks for the responses so far.

 

[save$]

More air, open the draft up to at least 4 and leave it there. I have the stove. Never change the draft setting now. Run the pellet feed rate at 3-4-4 1/2. Never bother putting in the handful of pellets to start. That ignition is on for a set time each time you start the stove. I found that I had to give the pot a good cleaning. Make sure the holes are all clear. Lift it out and clean around the base. Put it back in, turn it on and leave it alone. In less than 5 min. it is up and running with the flame settled down. This will run good about 2-3 days. then back to cleaning. As long as the pellets are jumping around, you should be getting a good burn.

 

[GARY24NASCAR]

So I've tried just about everything suggested and nothing has changed. Cleaning daily to keep the pile of ash from getting to close/high to the hole where the pellets come out of. Even after a thorough cleaning daily, all holes open on the pot, the ash just keeps building.

I'll have to see my dealer and /or call the manufacturer.

Thanks!

 

[j00fek]

what kind of pellets are you burning?

 

[littlesmokey]

Don't have a Nappy, never did like the French, except the Canadians, but I have a generic suggestion.

Ash and clinker build up are from mostly one source, incomplete combustion. Your air fuel mix is off. I would say you are not getting enough combustion air, for the pellet feed rate. You can either cut the feed rate or increase the air. Two of my stoves are no where near the factory recommended setting, I've tinkered with them to get a better burn. Try this first, open the damper, let it burn a few minutes and see if the flames are more active and "yellow"-er, you should not have a lazy orange flame. Second, crack a window, see if makes a difference. If you do not have an AOK, you have to draw that air from somewhere. It doesn't mysteriously appear. If this makes a difference, you have a very tight home and need to use the AOK. Or you can do the "Dan-Cheapy", my friend got out his beam auger and bored a few holes through the outside wall near the intake (I don't recommend this method).

Third choice, to me, is to reduce the feed rate. I tweaked the low and high feed rate on my Jamestown. Upped the low end and cut back the high end. I get a better sustained low burn overnight with clean glass and no burn pot build up. The high end was giving me tall flame (18 inches), and lots of ash, but not the equivalent heat, Cutting it back some and manually adjusting the damper I can only run it on high to take the morning chill off, before cutting it back. An eight second dump with a three second pause filled the burn pot and gobbled pellets.

My house is loosey-goosey. I get day light through the eves sometimes, so I don't have an AOK, The shop would be tight, if I fully blocked the Spray booth vent and the dust collector, but then I would gas myself. If you are well insulated and have tight doors, and run a dryer or bath fan, you may have a negative air situation, This will dramatically affect the stove.

Inspite of my lack of respect for those who wear barrets, the Napolean is a fine stove, and deserves my respect, but the ultimate efficiency comes from you the user.

 

[GARY24NASCAR]

I'll try a few more experiments with the air.

Normally, I run the stove and either have a couple ceiling fans on (flowing the air upwards off the ceiling pushing the hot air down) or run a stand fan in the living room to push the air to the other end of the house...OR both. My house is not air tight or well sealed so negative air should not really be an issue. What I will try for a day is point a small fan at the side of the stove where there are slots for air to circulate more air back there and see if it helps. I have no damper at all in my fireplace. Actually, my fireplace has (on both sides) vents on the top and bottom to suck in air, etc. So you would think the air in the fireplace for the insert is suffucient...we'll see.

Pellets are Lignetics and Hard Wood Heat (from Tractor Supply, distr in Nashville). Tried both with no major difference,

Thanks!

 

[jsvo]

i have a new nps40 that i have same problem with burn pot filling up,only burned 8 bags so far,tried 2 different brands of pellets.i am now trying stove on 4 on feed with air on 6. very little flame left but ill try it.i do have outside air.i feel i should be able to popcorn pellets out of burn pot but it wont.keep trying then gonna call napoleon.must empty pot twice a day

 

[GARY24NASCAR]

Yup...nothing is working here....

 

[jsvo]

talked to dealer today and he told me to drill out igniter hole to 3/16 inch and it will give me more air with less buildup in pot.hole was factory at 1/4 and i drilled to 5/16 before installing stove so i guess i will try it.says this stoves is very tricky to hit the sweet spot because of so many different qualities of pellets. pellets they sold last year are of poor quality this year.i will let you shortly if this works.

 

[Saltair]

I dont see how drilling out the ignitor hole is going to chage your ash build up. I too had to open mine up to get the stove to light. I have tried eight different types ofpellets and with three or four of them I have to pull the clinker out of the burn pot every 8 - 12 hours. I dont shutdown the stove for this I just open the door and pull it out with that goffy little tool that come with the stove.

Anybody who owns one fo these stoves should search for the NPI exhaust fan thread. There have been a lot of troubles with this years Napoleon product. As I am writing this I am on hold with the factory, 20 minutes and counting, becasue they stopped paying a local dealer to do warranty work on my stove. Or at least thats what the dealer claims. I have spoken with the factory before and in general they will not talk to the retail customer.

 

[GARY24NASCAR]

Yeah, I can't see how making a hole a little bigger would help but what do I know. I believe the pot has plenty of holes to do the job.

I have always suspected maybe a crappy fan.

Let us know...thanks!

 

[jprussell]

The variable really is the pellets. Some loads go through "clean" with less clean out. Others require a pot dump every 24 hours. In general, crank the air up for less ash.

 

[save$]

Check for air leaks. Are all the latches closed tightly. In a cold stove put a sheet of paper between the door and latch it. try to move the paper. Try all around the door. I didn't close one latch on the ash pan on one side and I was nearly driven mad while trying to find my problem.

 

[sailbird]

We purchased a Napoleon free standing last year and had great difficulty getting the pellets to burn completely. We are still having problems with the stove. Twice a day it builds up with black pellets and we have to clean the burn pot. Had a stove technician out yesterday, and he said the draft is the problem. He checked it, set it and it burned fine for about 6 hours then back to black pellets. Somehow the chamber's draft changes as the day goes on. We have 4 " pipe leading to the outside with an elbow. Correct rise and installed to manufacturer's specs. If I crack the ash door, we get a better burn. but only do this when trying to burn up the pellets in the pot. We increased the size of the holes in the burn pot very slightly, to give it more air, but that has only helped a little. The stove is well maintained. Every brand of pellets does the same thing.Tried outside air, no change. Does anyone have any more ideas before we get rid of this stove?

 

[jsvo]

i drilled the igniter hole bigger,didnt help air or anything but ignites real quick.my stove only burns well when above 4 and likes lots of air.the only pellet i have used so far that doesnt plug up burn pot and clinkers is the rocky mountain pellets,a little more ash than i like but stays running with good heat.

 

[GARY24NASCAR]

I haven't had a technician come out yet. The daily cleaning gets old. Even if the stove is bad, ordering another for the rest of this season will be difficult. Would have to wait until a couple months from now or spring. Disturbing...

 

[GARY24NASCAR]

So I finally have someone coming tomorrow to look at this. The person said it will be an air flow issue most likely and maybe the pipe going up the chimney was done incorrecty. Or he mentioned about a manual damper that might need to be loosened or adjusted. He also has to check my pilot light which does not work anymore (under warranty anyways). So hopefully I'll get some answers. My wife is about to kill me after the winter and all the black soot/ash the stove emitted when I cleaned it often...it gets in the air and on everything. We are about to redo our bedroom and took some stuff off the walls and they were nasty...

 

[sailbird]

I took apart the stove myself after much frustration and discovered a few things: When I puuled the exhaust fan off, the chamber just behind it was caked with soot and solid ash. The bottom of the chamber that holds the fan blades was also filled with big clumps of soot. I am beginning to suspect that our problem is the exhaust fan itself and that it is not pulling enough air out of the stove to create a draft. I emailed Zooblers and they were less than helpful. They gave me the name of the technician that had already been out. After 3 emails back and forth they finally gave me the part number for the fan and the gasket. We are going to try and replace these before we throw the stove in the dump!! Will keep you all posted. ( we are not getting the high pitched sound that some others have reported)

 

[GARY24NASCAR]

So the guy came buy today and fixed what was a real stupid thing on my part (not afraid to admit it).

When the original people installed the stove they did mostly the duct work and chimney stuff and attached it to the stove and left. I hooked up the plate for around the stove to make it look nice in the fireplace. There is an Air Control Rod which controls the air flow into the stove on the right bottom. I did not notice it or stick it thru the metal plate for use. It was shut all the way. I had no idea what it was and the manual for the stove really doesn't elaborate on it when installing the stove for the 1st time. Once we opened that just half way you can notice a huge difference. Air flow is good now and pellets are burning properly and not building up. Knob is thru the whole on the bottom of the metal plate as it should be for easy control of use. He said I should not have to clean it right away and would be more like every 3 days or more for cleaning the pot.

He said many people out there just come to install and dont even turn the stove on to see if it operates properly. It was nice to have someone with a clue go thru everything with me. Also, he cleaned the whole stove and showed me how to take care of that as well.

On another note...my ignitor died - ordered another but I am installing it myself which is very easy.

Now my wife won't kill me anymore for black soot the stove was previously making from the bad burn rate....LOL