New P43 question regarding creosote buildup

[Whitenuckler]

Thanks, appreciate it. Our flame has always been about 1 inch taller than yours. Now its all the way up to the top of the burn chamber.

Being tall is not what you want. You want it to dance and have a yellow flame that does not turn dark. Usually mine is not that big a flame. Most of the time maybe 4 inches high. Take a video of yours. Just make it short.

 

[Ahoragi]

Being tall is not what you want. You want it to dance and have a yellow flame that does not turn dark. Usually mine is not that big a flame. Most of the time maybe 4 inches high. Take a video of yours. Just make it short.

 

[Ahoragi]

My wife took video of the flame with her Iphone 16 and sent it to me (android). The video greys out and does not allow me to select it to attach. Hmm

 

[Ahoragi]

My wife took video of the flame with her Iphone 16 and sent it to me (android). The video greys out and does not allow me to select it to attach. Hmm

Thats a still image of the video.

 

[Whitenuckler]

Thats a still image of the video.

No that it not good. The P43 burns pellets like a furnace. What you have is a campfire flame. Can you get OAK? Turn that POT up right away.

 

[Ahoragi]

No that it not good. The P43 burns pellets like a furnace. What you have is a campfire flame. Can you get OAK? Turn that POT up right away.

Yeah not good. Everything was peachy before so I am not sure what caused it. The wife did not adjust anything as I am the one who messes with it.

I had plans to put in an OAK a few months ago but it slid down the priority list once the wife picked up 16 chicks and I had to build a coop and run then garden season started. I can run some flex hose to the window next to it for testing purposes and will adjust the POT when I get home.

 

[johneh]

Just open the window a little and see if the flame improves

 

[Whitenuckler]

Just open the window a little and see if the flame improves

That's a good idea. Also if you really want to check the draft out, I can help you go through the measurement of the vacuum (as explained in your manual). I did this myself when I first got the stove (that's why I know about the POT)

 

[Ahoragi]

Morning. I wasn't able to fiddle around with it last night but did first thing this morning. The POT was fully turned clockwise so no adjustment could be made there. I went outside to inspect the chimney cap and this is where I am at fault. When I originally looked at it, I looked from the porch and could see the grate and through it, which is at an angle so I assumed it was fine. I took a flash light to it this morning and it was plugged up about 85% with ash. I did not see it from the angle I looked at it originally. My main mistake was misjudging the different type of chimney cap this one had compared to the one my Castle stove had. The castle had a wide mouth rectangular grated cap that bent down. The p43 cap that was supplied to us is just a bullet type cap with a 3" grate, a much smaller area. I did not take this into consideration with the cleaning schedule that it would plug up faster than the old exhaust cap we had and that is what happened. Despite the exhaust looking ok from inside the stove, it was a complete different story outside. One thing I also noticed was there were gobs of solid creosote on the tip of the exhaust cap. I am guessing this buildup is from the stove not running long/hot enough during it's room temp setting.

So this is pretty much my fault at not cleaning it enough. It needs done more than the Castle stove. Being as busy as I have been the past 6 weeks I could not find the time needed to service the stove.

The flame is now burning half of what it used to but I am running it full blast to burn off the creosote as suggested so I expect a higher than usual flame at this time.

I appreciate everyone's input and assistance on this.

 

[Whitenuckler]

Morning. I wasn't able to fiddle around with it last night but did first thing this morning. The POT was fully turned clockwise so no adjustment could be made there. I went outside to inspect the chimney cap and this is where I am at fault. When I originally looked at it, I looked from the porch and could see the grate and through it, which is at an angle so I assumed it was fine. I took a flash light to it this morning and it was plugged up about 85% with ash. I did not see it from the angle I looked at it originally. My main mistake was misjudging the different type of chimney cap this one had compared to the one my Castle stove had. The castle had a wide mouth rectangular grated cap that bent down. The p43 cap that was supplied to us is just a bullet type cap with a 3" grate, a much smaller area. I did not take this into consideration with the cleaning schedule that it would plug up faster than the old exhaust cap we had and that is what happened. Despite the exhaust looking ok from inside the stove, it was a complete different story outside. One thing I also noticed was there were gobs of solid creosote on the tip of the exhaust cap. I am guessing this buildup is from the stove not running long/hot enough during it's room temp setting.

So this is pretty much my fault at not cleaning it enough. It needs done more than the Castle stove. Being as busy as I have been the past 6 weeks I could not find the time needed to service the stove.

The flame is now burning half of what it used to but I am running it full blast to burn off the creosote as suggested so I expect a higher than usual flame at this time.

I appreciate everyone's input and assistance on this.

That is very unusual on a pellet stove. It must have been burning really bad for a long time. Your original problem may still exist.

 

[Ahoragi]

Current flame:

 

[Whitenuckler]

Current flame:

Great ! That looks really good. Here is a picture of my termination cap. Started burning in Feb and still burning. Never touched.

 

[Ahoragi]

That is very unusual on a pellet stove. It must have been burning really bad for a long time. Your original problem may still exist.

It is unusual but perhaps my settings were incorrect all this time. We will not be able to tell till next burning season as it's warming up now. My theory is what was mentioned here, that the fire wasn't burning long enough in room temp setting.
We had it on feed 4 at 75 degrees and temp probe rolled up and hanging behind the stove. It would get up to temp pretty quick and shut down, all day, everyday. Now I have the temp probe stretched out as far as it can go, feed setting on 2, and at 72 degrees. It is running much longer, in fact it has been running an hour straight and that has not how it has functioned since we got it.

I thought about the wood burner downstairs, how it has the ideal burn temp zone, and if you burn it in that zone then you have little to no creosote buildup in the chimney.

I will try feed setting 2 next season and perhaps everything will be nice and clean.

 

[Washed-Up]

Make sure the holes in the burn pot are clear as well, small drill bit or pic, when they get carbon’d up they restrict airflow

 

[bogieb]

One thing I also noticed was there were gobs of solid creosote on the tip of the exhaust cap. I am guessing this buildup is from the stove not running long/hot enough during it's room temp setting.

So this is pretty much my fault at not cleaning it enough. It needs done more than the Castle stove. Being as busy as I have been the past 6 weeks I could not find the time needed to service the stove.

The flame is now burning half of what it used to but I am running it full blast to burn off the creosote as suggested so I expect a higher than usual flame at this time.

I appreciate everyone's input and assistance on this.

I cannot run softies in my P61a because it won't run long enough for the exhaust to heat up and will cause a mess inside the stove and in the exhaust pipe. I attribute my bad experience with Matras to this - I mean everyone was raving about them, and they wern't too much more expensive than what I normally got. I put them in the P61a after clean and was really sorry - my notes do not do justice to the mess that was made.

Uggh, that was a horrible experience. I haven't had that issue again since I strictly run cheaper blends (which is what I normally buy anyway). I save any "hot" pellets for the P43 as its cycle will run longer and it has a shorter exhaust so everything will get hot enough to keep that from happening.

Before I put in a raised floor over the concrete and insulated over the cinder block walls in the basement, I didn't have that issue and saved all the "good" pellets for that stove. Now I strictly use middling or "bad" pellets in the P61a so it will run long enough to get everything hot. Any good pellets go in the P43 (although it usually gets middling pellets since that is what I mostly buy)

 

[Whitenuckler]

It is unusual but perhaps my settings were incorrect all this time. We will not be able to tell till next burning season as it's warming up now. My theory is what was mentioned here, that the fire wasn't burning long enough in room temp setting.
We had it on feed 4 at 75 degrees and temp probe rolled up and hanging behind the stove. It would get up to temp pretty quick and shut down, all day, everyday. Now I have the temp probe stretched out as far as it can go, feed setting on 2, and at 72 degrees. It is running much longer, in fact it has been running an hour straight and that has not how it has functioned since we got it.

I thought about the wood burner downstairs, how it has the ideal burn temp zone, and if you burn it in that zone then you have little to no creosote buildup in the chimney.

I will try feed setting 2 next season and perhaps everything will be nice and clean.

Make sure to clean every bit of the stove right past the ESP probe (and clean that too). I would take the combustion blower wheel off and clean everything. I plan to take my blower wheel off also and add some anti seize to the set screw.

 

[Ahoragi]

Well it seems to be running good now. It actually gets hotter, runs longer, and uses less pellets from what I can see. I guess it was a combination of extending out and lowering the temp probe, changing feed from 4 to 2, and leaving a window slightly cracked open. On the plus side, much much less ash and the ash buildup on the lip has drastically been reduced.

 

[Whitenuckler]

Well it seems to be running good now. It actually gets hotter, runs longer, and uses less pellets from what I can see. I guess it was a combination of extending out and lowering the temp probe, changing feed from 4 to 2, and leaving a window slightly cracked open. On the plus side, much much less ash and the ash buildup on the lip has drastically been reduced.

EasyBlaze

www.easypelletproducts.com

Can you get these? They should burn really good like mine.

 

[Ahoragi]

EasyBlaze

www.easypelletproducts.com

Can you get these? They should burn really good like mine.

What do they cost?

I haven't seen any softwood pellets locally. My stove store sells premium pellets but they are hardwood.

My local walmart is selling hardwood pellets for almost $9 a bag which is ridiculous.

 

[Whitenuckler]

What do they cost?

I haven't seen any softwood pellets locally. My stove store sells premium pellets but they are hardwood.

My local walmart is selling hardwood pellets for almost $9 a bag which is ridiculous.

To be honest I have never burned hardwood pellets. I guess in PA the mills are mostly processing hardwoods and softwood pellets are not readily available. I'm in eastern Canada and most of our mills process softwood. I found a link:

Easy Blaze Pellets - The Pellet Guy

Premium softwood pellet from Virginia – very hot and clean burning.

www.papelletguy.com

 

[shtrdave]

Honestly my p43 seems to burn anything I put in it well, only difference is some seem to produce more heat, and some create more ash, I have had some that made clinkers like I would see in coal stoves. I will say I have no way to really measure heat output, just from the feeling.

my favorite pellet is Hamers Hot Ones, I used to be able to get a great deal on them delivered, but lost the ability to get it. The last probably 7 or 8 years I have been using AWP from the local feed store, last year I believe I paid 340 a ton delivered and stacked in my garage.

 

[Ahoragi]

Honestly my p43 seems to burn anything I put in it well, only difference is some seem to produce more heat, and some create more ash, I have had some that made clinkers like I would see in coal stoves. I will say I have no way to really measure heat output, just from the feeling.

my favorite pellet is Hamers Hot Ones, I used to be able to get a great deal on them delivered, but lost the ability to get it. The last probably 7 or 8 years I have been using AWP from the local feed store, last year I believe I paid 340 a ton delivered and stacked in my garage.

Hamer's is what I just found two weeks ago down the road at a small farm store. He wanted $21 for three bags or $340 a ton not delivered. Seems like a good pellet but the price is a bit steep considering what we have gotten to date. I don't think I spent more than $250 a ton since I started burning pellets.

 

[bogieb]

My P43 isn't picky about pellets. The two differences can be the heat output and the amount of ash. I don't care, really, how much ash as I still can go 3 weeks between cleanings at a minimum. I do keep a spreadsheet so it isn't left to memory as to what burns hotter, but my everyday burning is controlled by cost per ton. Mu spreadsheet shows I've tried 39 different brands or brand "flavors (like GS used to have several different types - HW, blends and SW)

Here are the hottest burning (note, that sometimes, depending on year, there can be duds for even the best pellets)

 

[shtrdave]

What part of western pa are you located. i have not gotten pellets for 250 a ton in several years, even minus the delivery charge. Somerset county here.

 

[Ahoragi]

What part of western pa are you located. i have not gotten pellets for 250 a ton in several years, even minus the delivery charge. Somerset county here.

We are in Beaver County. The local TSC sells them for $250ish per ton. Sometimes they have $25 off a ton. They are currently $4.99 a bag. Agway also sells a ton of Appalachian pellets for $255 but its been three years since I been there so I cannot confirm that price.

We are 8 minutes from TSC so we haul them home via a trailer.