New Install - Very slow start....

[Smellsey]

OH! I almost forgot. I have what is probably a very silly question but I can't find anything about it in the manual for out stove.

The metal rod that is coming out of the grate at the top, that I can pull out and push back in....What does that do?

 

[smoke show]

most of the time its the heat exchanger scraper aka tube rake.

funny the manual wouldn't at least mention it.

 

[Smellsey]

most of the time its the heat exchanger scraper aka tube rake.

funny the manual wouldn't at least mention it.

I thought it was weird that there was no mention of it. But I searched for anything talking about it and had no luck. Thanks!

 

[Don2222]

OH! I almost forgot. I have what is probably a very silly question but I can't find anything about it in the manual for out stove.

The metal rod that is coming out of the grate at the top, that I can pull out and push back in....What does that do?

Hello Smellsey
See my rod story with Pics and you will never forget!!
https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/forums/viewthread/80566/

 

[ohbix]

Beautiful job! Be sure to plug the stove into a surge protector in order to protect the board. fyi I've had good success w/ American Wood Fiber pellets.

 

[Smellsey]

We're on the hunt for a surge protector ASAP. Does anyone have a favorite that isn't super expensive?

So far we've burned the stove overnight twice, and we're really enjoying how nice the house feels. It's actually warming my kitchen which used to be the coldest room in the house. We've lucked out and have had no issues with the stove at all. I'm very excited about it. We're on our second bag of pellets and we've burned for well over 36 hours. That second bag is about half way gone. So I think we're doing OK efficiency wise.

The only thing I've noticed is that we all now have sore throats! Is this coincidence and we're sick or should I be running a humidifier?

 

[flynfrfun]

I've got this one...
http://www.amazon.com/Tripp-Lite-UL...1D/ref=sr_1_13?ie=UTF8&qid=1319467030&sr=8-13

 

[smoke show]

We're on the hunt for a surge protector ASAP. Does anyone have a favorite that isn't super expensive?

So far we've burned the stove overnight twice, and we're really enjoying how nice the house feels. It's actually warming my kitchen which used to be the coldest room in the house. We've lucked out and have had no issues with the stove at all. I'm very excited about it. We're on our second bag of pellets and we've burned for well over 36 hours. That second bag is about half way gone. So I think we're doing OK efficiency wise.

The only thing I've noticed is that we all now have sore throats! Is this coincidence and we're sick or should I be running a humidifier?

Makes good sense to invest in a CO detector if you don't already have one.

Keeping humidity around 50% +/- will help also.

My house nevers drops below 35% and hangs around 40% most of the time.
My wife also hangs wet laundy on clothes rack near the stove all winter long.

 

[urkiddin]

most of the time its the heat exchanger scraper aka tube rake.

funny the manual wouldn't at least mention it.

I thought it was weird that there was no mention of it. But I searched for anything talking about it and had no luck. Thanks!

My enviro stove has a exchanger cleaning rod on it too.the manual says use it only when the stove is cold or you can damage the tubes.just thought i'd mention that.

 

[imacman]

You should pull the cleaning rod in and out 2-3 times, about once a day to keep the heat exchanger tubes clean.

As for the surge protector, the TrippLite unit that flynfrfun mentioned above is a good unit and the Amazon price is good too...I have the same one for my stove.

 

[Smellsey]

Thanks for all your help! We've got the CO Detectors installed on all floors of the house now. We never had a need for them before but now that we have the stove, it was a must.

We're running a dehumidifier in the basement of our house (stacked stone foundation, dirt floor) to keep the moisture down. It was rusting our electric panel. I'm wondering if we don't need to run it when the pellet stove is running? We'll have to try that out. Otherwise we have a humidifier running in the 2 bedrooms that are used upstairs to keep the humidity level higher while we're sleeping. That seems to be helping with the sore throats.

I'll be getting a surge protector next week and I have the husband on the hunt for backup power options for when the power inevitably goes out this winter. Do you guys use generators or those UPS backups? Our power always goes out for about 3 days if it snows terribly. We have above ground lines and tend to be last on the restoration list...