New to burning pellets!

[turbulator]

Glad I found this forum.... I am new to burning pellets - I will explain later on how it came about...there is a bit of a story to it

A month ago I installed a St. Croix SCF-050 in my basement next to my heat pump.... Last year our electric bills topped mid to high $400 range....enough of that!!

First few runs of the furnace were on Lowes pellets. The furnace seemed to run very lean on those pellets, and I had to have the draft about 1/2 open.

Fast forward to today. I am now running a different brand of hardwood pellets.... They seem to burn "longer" than the lowes brand. Also - I am running with the draft full open.... I can't seem to run the furnace on its highest heat level - it fills the burn pot and overflows, sooting the window up and makes lazy flames...

I decided to try plumbing outside air into the intake.....it helped a bit, but still this furnace seems to run most efficient at heat level 3, draft full open.

I checked to make sure doors are tightly latched, swept out the inside of the burn area w/ shop vac, keep the ash pan clean.... I may go in and make sure my exhaust is clear....


I also seem to have an issue with air flow. My duct work has quite a lot of static pressure.....from what I have read the air handler on this unit is pretty weak... I am considering putting one in at around 1200 or so scfm to help spread some air around....


Last - I am picking up a brand new Tarm 4.0 pellet boiler tomorrow actually....picked it up at a good price from some folks who never ended up installing it......going to be purchasing an old farm house set up with the old school cast radiators....thats going to be a fun project....going to set it up w/ zones, and also in line with a wood boiler and electric boiler backup.....

Glad I found this place!

 

[MZR800]

I too am new here and in just a few weeks i have learned a lot! I have been burning pellets upstairs in my house for ten years now and after years of heating the basement with a wood stove then a coal stove i decided to go with all pellets this year. What was i thinking?? So i picked up my Austroflamm from a lady who just wasnt home enough to maintain a pellet stove and now i have a renewed interest!

My advice to anybody just starting with a pellet stove is keep a clean stove,burning consistent premium pellets is a must and dont be afraid to experiment with your stoves air and fuel settings seems like they all have that "sweet spot" where they like to run

Good luck and enjoy burning pellets

 

[turbulator]

Thanks for the reply! I looked into the air/fuel settings a bit more - found a setting that I didn't see when I read the manual... I can bump the exhaust trim level up....so I went down and gave it a shot....exactly what I needed.... I can now back off on the draft on heat level 5 and dial it in....w/o bumping up the setting I was maxed out on air flow at level 3.... Awesome!

Thanks again.

 

[DexterDay]

My furnace has a Draft and Auger trim also. The Draft is good for Heat settings 1 and 2. The auger trim is only good for Heat setting 1 (1-5 settings). Its a Fahrenheit Endurance furnace.

There are 2 other members that have the same model you do and 1 other member (that I know of) that has the Revolution. You are in good company.

Welcome. They take some tinkering, but when you find that "Sweet Spot" like MZR800 stated above, they work like magic.

Do you have any pics of your set-up? I would love to get some more ideas. I just ducted mine in tonight. Its prob not gonna work the way I have it. To many things to list. Just not happy with what happened. I know I can do better. Took short-cuts and it showed.

Looking forward to your feedback on that unit. We need more furnace owners here.

 

[turbulator]

Sure here are a few pics..... I put it right next to my heat pump... I ended up venting through the wall rather than going into the chimney (there was an old wood burner down here years ago).... Guy at local furnace store said its typically not a good idea to vent out a chimney....instructions said it was ok, but I trusted his opinion...

I ended up hooking my outside air inlet into the old chimney plug....I just used 3" PVC to allow for some flow w/o restriction...I used a tee transition from horizontal to vertical so that I can put a thred-in plug in the bottom....I can run it with the plug in or out....not sure why I did that yet other than that I am a geek....

The room the furnace is in is very small....we just remodeled our basement making 2 bedrooms and a full bath down there....so the furnace/utility room is in the back of our walkin closet.... Definitely had to pipe outside air in.

 

[DexterDay]

If that Outside air is made of PVC, I would definitely look into changing it. If you lost Power, the air may go through the OAK to find a way out (if the furnace doesn't have a flapper) and end up melting the PVC.

A few members have done it this way and changed it. There is a pic of a PVC system somewhere that is melted and mangled.

The other thing is a surge protector. These stoves have very sensitive electronics on them. Protect your investment with a $20-$30 protector. Tripp Lite makes some good models. Do a search here and you will get plenty of results.

And Backdraft dampers on the existing furnace and on your pellet furnace. They may be there. Just wondering? Cant tell as some dont look like anything hut regular duct work. Looks awesome.

Other that that, looks great. Keep us posted.

 

[John97]

That's a nice setup. I also have a heat pump system and am fed up with the electric bills. I went with an insert instead of a furnace. Time will tell if I made a good choice...

However, I do have the capability to do a furnace later as I have a similar layout and could put a furnace right next to my air handler and there is an unused chimney flue I could utilize (from an oil burner that was removed to make way for the heat pump).

 

[turbulator]

If that Outside air is made of PVC, I would definitely look into changing it. If you lost Power, the air may go through the OAK to find a way out (if the furnace doesn't have a flapper) and end up melting the PVC.

A few members have done it this way and changed it. There is a pic of a PVC system somewhere that is melted and mangled.

The other thing is a surge protector. These stoves have very sensitive electronics on them. Protect your investment with a $20-$30 protector. Tripp Lite makes some good models. Do a search here and you will get plenty of results.

And Backdraft dampers on the existing furnace and on your pellet furnace. They may be there. Just wondering? Cant tell as some dont look like anything hut regular duct work. Looks awesome.

Other that that, looks great. Keep us posted.

Ahhh thanks for that info!! Would have never thought of that....I will have to get the actual kit from the local furnace store..... I was going to use aluminum dryer hose but it was flimsy...
Also will definitely get a surge protector right away...I have a few laying around....

Yes - have backdraft dampers in the duct work...its pushed up so its hard to see....and on the back side I have a slide for the cold air...

Thanks again!

 

[turbulator]

That's a nice setup. I also have a heat pump system and am fed up with the electric bills. I went with an insert instead of a furnace. Time will tell if I made a good choice...

However, I do have the capability to do a furnace later as I have a similar layout and could put a furnace right next to my air handler and there is an unused chimney flue I could utilize (from an oil burner that was removed to make way for the heat pump).

I thought about doing an insert as well...but was afraid it wouldn't distribute throughout the house.... Our house is non traditional - master bedroom and one of the kids rooms are in the remodeled basement....and another kids room is upstairs.....an insert wouldnt have worked for us unfortunately....would have been nice though - I have 2 fireplaces

I wanted to use my old flue for exhaust - but for some reason it was recommended I dont - probably because of the horizontal distance between the furnace and the flue....I didn't have room to put the furnace right under the flue because of our remodel (walk in closet sucked up a lot of floor space...thanks wife... So I just went straight up and out....