anyone here have one or know anything about them. this is my 1st year running this stove and i have a couple questions. seems that the glass gets dirty quick. i did have a fresh air intake hooked up to it, but just seemed the flame was real lazy. i dissconnected it and it was like night and day. glass still gets pretty black in a day though. is that normal? also, my wife has been complaining about black soot throughout the house. kind of like black cob webs i guess. the unit is installed in our basement. there is 4 feet of vertical 3 inch pipe and then it goes out through the foundation.
napoleon pellet stove
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I dont have a napoliean pellet stove, too expensive for my blood but it sounds to me like you have insufficient outside intake air to the combustion chamber.
How long is the run of the outside air kit. If it is over 3 ft, you should be using 4 inch diameter tubing instead of 2 inch diameter because the longer tube restricts the air flow, which is pulled in by suction, and results in not enough air into the firebox.
My pel-pro 55,000 btu pellet stove has a rod that attaches to a choke plate in the 2 inch cold air intake tub. If I push it all they way in, it closes off 7/8 th of the air & my stove has a lazy,dirty,sooty flame and makes clinkers in the fire pot. if I pull it out,it opens up the cold air supply & I get a hot ,long dancing flame, which gets longer,cleaner , hotter & brighter the further open I pull the air intake conrol rod. Too much cold intake air popcorns the pellets right out of the firepot and onto the steel interior floor of the stove, which be cleaned at keast once a month.
CLINKERS ARE 1/2 way burned pellets all stuck together to themselves and the fire pot screening plate by the tar & creasole created in partial , too rich (not enough air) combustion.
Not enough air can be caused by improper setting of intake air control, ashes in the ash trap under the fire pot, because the ash trap on many models of pellet stove is part of the air path
from the combustion chamber to the exhaust fan blower.
In other words, the ash trap under the fire pot is the suction air intake of the exhaust blower & must be kept clean of too much ashes.
The entire stove works on suction, the exhaust blower only blows out through the exhaust vent pipe that goes through the wall behind the stove.
Anything that cloggs that suction path will cause lazy flames , black window & ashy firebox, maybe some small portion of smoke into the stove room.
Your stove may or may not have a preset air intake adjustment for high & low fires or may have a manuel control as mine does.
So you have to check the suctionpath from the exhaust blower, back through the ash trap and then the fie pot and then through the cold air intake pipe to the back of the stove & then thru the cold air intake pipe to the outside of the house.
Also take the vent hood off & check the interior of the vent pipe for any obstructions,
When you told me the stove ran better when you removed the outside air intake pipe, I know right then you had bad air frow through the conbustion chamber & will find a partial blockage some where, even if it is an improply set intake air adjustment control.
Try reading the owners manuel & back here to see if someone more knowledgeable that me answers your post with specific info of your model stove.
Failing that, ask for a troubleshooter factory rep and ask him what he thinks it is.
Dont let him buffaalo you into a service call unelse you really want one.
They all get quite pushy when they smell money.
I hope this helps you some. too tired to keep eyes open; zombie need coffee!!
How long is the run of the outside air kit. If it is over 3 ft, you should be using 4 inch diameter tubing instead of 2 inch diameter because the longer tube restricts the air flow, which is pulled in by suction, and results in not enough air into the firebox.
My pel-pro 55,000 btu pellet stove has a rod that attaches to a choke plate in the 2 inch cold air intake tub. If I push it all they way in, it closes off 7/8 th of the air & my stove has a lazy,dirty,sooty flame and makes clinkers in the fire pot. if I pull it out,it opens up the cold air supply & I get a hot ,long dancing flame, which gets longer,cleaner , hotter & brighter the further open I pull the air intake conrol rod. Too much cold intake air popcorns the pellets right out of the firepot and onto the steel interior floor of the stove, which be cleaned at keast once a month.
CLINKERS ARE 1/2 way burned pellets all stuck together to themselves and the fire pot screening plate by the tar & creasole created in partial , too rich (not enough air) combustion.
Not enough air can be caused by improper setting of intake air control, ashes in the ash trap under the fire pot, because the ash trap on many models of pellet stove is part of the air path
from the combustion chamber to the exhaust fan blower.
In other words, the ash trap under the fire pot is the suction air intake of the exhaust blower & must be kept clean of too much ashes.
The entire stove works on suction, the exhaust blower only blows out through the exhaust vent pipe that goes through the wall behind the stove.
Anything that cloggs that suction path will cause lazy flames , black window & ashy firebox, maybe some small portion of smoke into the stove room.
Your stove may or may not have a preset air intake adjustment for high & low fires or may have a manuel control as mine does.
So you have to check the suctionpath from the exhaust blower, back through the ash trap and then the fie pot and then through the cold air intake pipe to the back of the stove & then thru the cold air intake pipe to the outside of the house.
Also take the vent hood off & check the interior of the vent pipe for any obstructions,
When you told me the stove ran better when you removed the outside air intake pipe, I know right then you had bad air frow through the conbustion chamber & will find a partial blockage some where, even if it is an improply set intake air adjustment control.
Try reading the owners manuel & back here to see if someone more knowledgeable that me answers your post with specific info of your model stove.
Failing that, ask for a troubleshooter factory rep and ask him what he thinks it is.
Dont let him buffaalo you into a service call unelse you really want one.
They all get quite pushy when they smell money.
I hope this helps you some. too tired to keep eyes open; zombie need coffee!!
turbot2112 said:
Not an expert, but we'll give it a shot:
Glass getting dirty - is really is a relative thing. You may want to do a search of the forums about it. What is acceptable to one person is "too dirty too fast" for another. The glass will get dirty and require regular cleaning.
Lazy flame - the unit needs more air. If you disconnected your outside air and the flame got brigher/ more lively, then look at the pipe and inlet to ensure that there is no obstruction. Is the inlet pipe big enough for the distance it has to run?
Black soot in the house - this is the biggie. There should be no soot in the house. Is the vent pip properly sealed (no leaks)? With the soot thoughout the house I wonder how it is being distributed. Furnace fan? But then, how is the soot getting into the furnace duct work?
Good luck!
thanks for the response guys. as far as the glass goes i guess i just have to deal with it.i read somewere that that was the biggest complaint with napoleon pellet stoves. for now i think im gonna just leave the cold air intake dissconnected because the flame seems to be just how you described it should be.it wont be easy installing the fresh air vent any lower than it is right now. my stove does have the air control rod so ill play with that some. now for the black soot, my wife keeps ragging on me saying that all the white plastic stuff throughout the house is showing i guess you would call light black marks? now we have steam heat through out the house so there is no venting in the house. i loaded the connections of the flue pipe with high temp silicon so i know for a fact it aint leaking there. i guess i will check the door seal but im sure it aint leaking there either.ive been searching for info on this stove and havent found much on the internet but have heard good things about it from a dealer were i got my pellets from. i got in from zooblers and couldnt pass on the price. it was like 1500 delivered to my door. thanks again jeff
Hey Jeff
I can't think of how any soot could be getting everywhere in your home. If the stove is set up and operating properly, there should be no soot in the house. When you do figure it out, I'd love to hear about it.
About the air intake - are you sure that there are no obstructions in the inlet pipe? The connection thru the wall is open and clear? Any chance of putting a larger diameter pipe in its place (would offer less restriction to the air flow)?
Cheers
Kenny
I can't think of how any soot could be getting everywhere in your home. If the stove is set up and operating properly, there should be no soot in the house. When you do figure it out, I'd love to hear about it.
About the air intake - are you sure that there are no obstructions in the inlet pipe? The connection thru the wall is open and clear? Any chance of putting a larger diameter pipe in its place (would offer less restriction to the air flow)?
Cheers
Kenny
I'm certainly no pellet stove expert but I'm wondering if the source of the black is really soot. You said that you'd used steam heat in the past so I'm assuming that there was no blower of any type, right? If that's the case and you are now running a stove with a blower I suspect that the air circulating through out the house is simply moving dust around to places your wife isn't used to seeing it. Soot is tenacious stuff to clean. Sort of oily and resistant to being removed from most any surface so, do a test on a surface that's showing the black your wife is talking about. Dampen a rag with plain water and try to wipe it off. If it comes off easily with water it's not soot. If it remains in place or sort of smears then it could be soot. I should say not to try this test in the kitchen as everything in a kitchen tends to have a slightly oily residue on it from cooking.
Peggy
Peggy
thanks everybody, this is driving me nuts. it is black soot. its gotta have something to do with the fresh air intake. im gonna have to blast a wholoe through the foundation and run a bigger one. guess i have to go down to loes and see what kind of pipe i can get. i will let you all know how i make out.
allright, i installed a 2 inch cold air intake and moved it closer to the unit. will see what happens now. i think there just aint enough air in the basement for everything. dryer , hot water heater and the furnace and then with the stove it was probablly too much. we will see what happens in a day or 2. the stove definatelly seems to be burning better.
weel, it looks like i fixed the problem. the bigger air intake kit seems like it fixed the problem. still not sure wether the soot was coming from the stove or from the boiler, hot water heater starving for air. i guess bottom line is you definatelly need the fresh air intake when installing a pellet stove in a basement.
maybe a little, but it still gets dirty pretty quick. im gonna try a post a pic later and see what you guys think.
jeff
jeff
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