New pellet stove, new stove owner

[Connecticut Yankee]

We just replaced a troublesome wood stove with a Hudson River Chatham model, which we have been running the past two or three weeks. It does a good job of heating the area where it is (the family room), and a fair amount of heat climbs the stairs to the bedrooms. The house is well-enough insulated that I've been keeping the stove on its lowest setting, and the room temperature is still in the high seventies.

A couple of newbie questions, if you don't mind: First, there is a lot of soot buildup inside. It vacuums off very easily, even off the glass in the door, but I'm wondering if the blower setting and the damper might need tweaking, or if this has to do more with pellet quality (the quantity of soot seems to vary from bag to bag; we are burning Okanagan Douglas fir pellets).The user manual seems to say that soot build-up means the fire needs more air, but even though I've read the manual several times, I'm not really clear how on to tell if the flame is right. The manual calls for "a bright yellow/orange, active flame with no black tips," but as far as I can tell, that's what I'm getting, regardless of the position of the damper. The only noticeable difference is that fire does seem to get taller when the damper is all the way in and shorter when it's pulled out. Should the flames be reaching as high as the top of the firebox, or is that too much? Should I adjust the damper when the stove has been feeding the fire pellets to build it up, or wait until one of the more subdued periods? Since I am running the stove on the lowest temperature setting, I did bump the combustion blower up a notch, as the manual seems to advise.

Second is the the air intake. The installers left the stove drawing air from the room. The house is fairly open-plan, so this does not seem to be a problem, but what do I know? How crucial is it to be drawing outside air? The stove is positioned against a chimney that was apparently designed to accommodate the wood stove when the family room was added on, so apart from getting through the granite facing, it shouldn't be hard to install an OAK (if that's the right acronym).

Lastly, is there any real problem with turning the stove off and on? The dealer said something about burning out the ignitor more quickly if we did that. Now ignitors seem to be fairly expensive if you buy them from Hudson River, but several Web sites offer them for about a third of the price. Is this one of those things where one buys the cheapest, or where one gets what one pays for?

I have to say, I've been exploring this site, and have found a great deal of useful information already. You guys seem to know your stuff!

 

[fmsm]

We just replaced a troublesome wood stove with a Hudson River Chatham model, which we have been running the past two or three weeks. It does a good job of heating the area where it is (the family room), and a fair amount of heat climbs the stairs to the bedrooms. The house is well-enough insulated that I've been keeping the stove on its lowest setting, and the room temperature is still in the high seventies.

A couple of newbie questions, if you don't mind: First, there is a lot of soot buildup inside. It vacuums off very easily, even off the glass in the door, but I'm wondering if the blower setting and the damper might need tweaking, or if this has to do more with pellet quality (the quantity of soot seems to vary from bag to bag; we are burning Okanagan Douglas fir pellets).The user manual seems to say that soot build-up means the fire needs more air, but even though I've read the manual several times, I'm not really clear how on to tell if the flame is right. The manual calls for "a bright yellow/orange, active flame with no black tips," but as far as I can tell, that's what I'm getting, regardless of the position of the damper. The only noticeable difference is that fire does seem to get taller when the damper is all the way in and shorter when it's pulled out. Should the flames be reaching as high as the top of the firebox, or is that too much? Should I adjust the damper when the stove has been feeding the fire pellets to build it up, or wait until one of the more subdued periods? Since I am running the stove on the lowest temperature setting, I did bump the combustion blower up a notch, as the manual seems to advise.

Second is the the air intake. The installers left the stove drawing air from the room. The house is fairly open-plan, so this does not seem to be a problem, but what do I know? How crucial is it to be drawing outside air? The stove is positioned against a chimney that was apparently designed to accommodate the wood stove when the family room was added on, so apart from getting through the granite facing, it shouldn't be hard to install an OAK (if that's the right acronym).

Lastly, is there any real problem with turning the stove off and on? The dealer said something about burning out the ignitor more quickly if we did that. Now ignitors seem to be fairly expensive if you buy them from Hudson River, but several Web sites offer them for about a third of the price. Is this one of those things where one buys the cheapest, or where one gets what one pays for?

I have to say, I've been exploring this site, and have found a great deal of useful information already. You guys seem to know your stuff!

Welcome! You are burning a good pellet with a Douglas Fir, when you say “soot” do you mean a lighter colored coating of ash or a black coating? Black would indicate soot and a problem with your burn, a lighter colored brown or gray is normal. I would install outside air, think of it this way, you are pulling room air that you have already heated into your stove to provide air for your burn that is then blown outside. Your inside air you are burning is being replaced by unheated air from outside that you now have to heat.

 

[mikkeeh]

Think of it this way. Your stove needs air for combustion. It will deposit it outside the house via the combustion/exhaust blower. Right now...its taking air you already paid to heat....and sending it outside. This creates a negative pressure (vacuum) inside the house. The higher pressure air (outside the house) will now seep into every crack and crevice, in order to equalize pressure. So youre not only sending air you already paid to heat, outside....but sucking in cold air to replace it. Outside air kit (OAK) is the logical answer.
If you have soot (black) on the glass it could be a leaking door gasket, or just running a little rich (not enough air)
If you add an OAK, youll probably have to re tweak your air settings.

Hope this helps.

 

[Connecticut Yankee]

Thanks, folks. It is black soot, not just ash, that's building up. I've opened the damper a bit, and that seems to be helping. I'll turn the stove off this afternoon and give it a good clean, and once I start it up again, we'll know better where we stand.

I'll definitely check into an OAK. It would certainly be worthwhile to get it done sooner, rather than later, if we can afford it.

(After years of apartment life, I'd forgotten just how expensive owning a house can get, lol!)

 

[Ssyko]

For reference:

 

[Connecticut Yankee]

Ah, this begins to make sense. The pics in my manual aren't nearly as helpful. Many thanks, Ssyko.

 

[Ssyko]

Yes the wonderful world of Color!!

 

[ThawMyTongue]

For reference:View attachment 233872

Saved. Great pic to use when trying to explain this. A picture is worth a thousand words, right?

 

[Connecticut Yankee]

About 18 hours ago, I experimented with the damper to find a good setting, then turned the stove off and gave it a good vacuuming. She's been burning ever since (just put in another bag of pellets), with no sign of soot buildup. You guys are great! Thanks for all the advice, and have a happy Thanksgiving.


P.S.--As far as the OAK is concerned, do I have to go through both walls of the chimney to the outside, or could I get stove air from the chimney flue? One flue is occupied by the stove exhaust pipe, but I seem to remember that there are at least two separate flues in that chimney. Even if it's not possible to use the occupied flue, I could definitely use an empty one, right?

 

[fmsm]

About 18 hours ago, I experimented with the damper to find a good setting, then turned the stove off and gave it a good vacuuming. She's been burning ever since (just put in another bag of pellets), with no sign of soot buildup. You guys are great! Thanks for all the advice, and have a happy Thanksgiving.


P.S.--As far as the OAK is concerned, do I have to go through both walls of the chimney to the outside, or could I get stove air from the chimney flue? One flue is occupied by the stove exhaust pipe, but I seem to remember that there are at least two separate flues in that chimney. Even if it's not possible to use the occupied flue, I could definitely use an empty one, right?

You can go all the way up the flue to daylight and draw outside air. Myself, I would not draw OA from a chimney/flue.

 

[Connecticut Yankee]

Thanks, fmsm. Straight through the chimney and out it is, then.