New To Pellets & Quad Castille

[bigblulbz]

Hi guys. Thanks in advance. I still run my Fisher Papa Bear during the weekends but with an 8 month old and a wife needed something easier for her after being out of the house 12hrs. Kills me with 11 cord cut, split & stacked from my property. Ok, off my soap box.

Just finished the install. I direct vented it. Now after reading, not so sure on my decision. Chime in on that if you will. I have a wireless thermostat that was simple to install and appears to be working just fine. My big question is just running. Flame seems to be ok. Roughly 6" of dancing flame. But the flame does not stay constant. It stays strong after initial start up but dwindles to the point of the flames just peeking out of the pot then grows to where it should be. It does this as long as there is demand. I do not know if the feed rate is too low, or too high. I feel like as the fire starts to grow, pellets drop in at the most inopportune time and slow a growing flame.

All input is greatly appreciated.

 

[tjnamtiw]

What you are seeing is exactly how they work. Your flame height on HIGH should peak out at around 6" but it will die down as new pellets drop. Give it time after each feed adjustment to steady out - about 15-20 minutes.

 

[DMKNLD]

Welcome, bigblubz to the pellet side of bio fuel burning ! I still enjoy having my vintage circa 1979 Vermont Castings wood burner, but I got tired of how many times I had to handle even the measly 2 cords I burn per winter, much less 11 cords like you ! The felling / bucking / splitting / hauling process is not only potentially dangerous, but takes a cumulative toll on the back and body ! So for me it is worth it to pay the guys that do firewood for a living. I gather that I am 'preaching to the choir' to you on this as well ! I hear 'ya on the more user friendliness of pellet burning for the wife and your young-en, "Happy wife (and baby) - happy life"

Regarding pellets, I find I have to tinker with fine tuning the feed adjustment whenever I change from my 'shoulder season' pellets to my hotter 'deep winter' pellet brand. Even sometimes within the same pallet of pellets you may find bags that have markedly longer or shorter pellet lengths in them, if the mill changed their sawdust source mid-run or did something different in the extrusion production process.

The longer the avg pellet length the more open you will need to have your feed gate adjustment. If your pellets are consistently longer than 1" they have the potential to easier 'bridge' your auger opening at the bottom of the hopper, or at the top of the auger where they dump into the pellet drop chute. Some Castile folks have taken their feed gate plate out of the hopper and dremel-ed or drilled the slot it slides in to make it longer, to allow for more adjustment of the pellet feed rate, if their pellets are either either extra long or inordinately short.

The better pellet brands seem to be the most consistent in pellet length, burn quality, amt of ash, etc. I quickly grew weary of burning what ended up being 4 tons of 'dirt in a bag' my 1st burn season, when I knew less than nothing about pellet stove operation. So now I go with the cleanest, hottest 100% softwood pellets that my local pellet warehouse is carrying, which I save for late Dec, Jan and early Feb, and burn their 'mid-grade' 100% softy pellet brand in the shoulder seasons of the fall and spring. For me, the added cost of top end pellets is worth it in heat output alone, as I am heating at or above my stove's max heating area capabilities.

As with most all things pellet related, 'YMMV' - your mileage (results) may vary, and really comes down to each pellet consumers individual choices that balance the heat output needs relative to the area you're trying to heat, frequency of stove cleaning you're willing to do, frequency of fuel / air mix fiddling to get the optimum burn versus the cost and sometimes lack of availability of pellet options in your area. Pellet shortages this year still seem to be the norm, particularly in parts of the NE this season. http://www.biofuelsdigest.com/bdige...llet-demand-peaks-heading-into-winter-season/

Curious why you say you may have regretted your direct venting choice on your install ? I've read of more stove air flow and burn efficiency problems when people vent into an existing chimney versus direct venting out a wall, depending on your venting configuration of course. Many folks who vent their pellet stove into existing chimneys have no problems, and others report nothing but problems. It seems with all the possible variables out there in chimney flue design - cinder block vs brick, lined vs un-lined, internal 'warm' chimney layouts vs 'cold' exterior wall locations, etc, that there are less unknowns if you just run PL venting out an exterior wall.

There's also a frequent saying on this forum, bigblubz, "if no pictures, it didn't happen', so post some pics of your pellet stove set-up !

Regards, and happy burning !

 

[kappel15]

What he said. Plus, different brand fuels will burn differently but the stove should keep fire maintained for the most part. You can do a little "tweeking" with the fuel adjusting rod, but don't waste fuel. As long as flame is where it should be for the most part, and it is producing good heat, it should be fine. kap

 

[bigblulbz]

Great guys. Thank you. When I say direct vent maybe I don't understand the term well. I have it plumbed through the wall with no vertical run. It goes through the wall then sticks out the other side 2' and then I have a 22.5 degree termination cap. Right now I have 2 bags of Lignetics just to get me going. I have the stove switch on the back set to medium and for the most part the flame is only about a few inches above the burn pot. Is the flame typically higher when the switch is on high or is that just blower speed? I am taken aback by the soft pellets. Coming from burning logs I always burn hard wood. I "Assumed" that hard wood pellets would be good as well.

 

[kappel15]

The low-medium-high switch runs all three motors at the same time. Exhaust fan, convection fan, and auger motor. The flame height you describe is good for medium. On high the flame should be about 4 to 6" above the pot. Stay warm. kap

 

[DMKNLD]

You're welcome ! Here's the best article on hard vs softwood pellet burning, tons of discussion on this that you can use the search engine in the upper right hand link. (broken link removed to http://allaboutwoodpellets.com/hardwood_softwood.php)

You should set your feed rate on the high setting - 4 -6" flame lap over the burn pot, then the medium and low flame settings will be correct also for your fuel / air ratio. The control box ramps up the combustion blower speed to match the increased pellet feed (auger turns more often) at the medium and high settings.

I had the same vent config as you when I first set mine up (before I 'got religion' and found this forum). We have lots of power brown-outs and black outs on our power grid, and I was getting smoke back drafting into the house each time the power went out because of the loss of the combustion blowers ability to clear the firebox of smoke. So I just added a 90 degree clean-out T where the vent termination cap originally was, and added 5' of vertical vent above that and then my termination cap, which gave me the natural convection draft to clear the stove of smoke from the last of the pellet burn off. Most of the time at least.

Last year I added a UPS - uninterrupted power source - tons of past forum posts on that topic also that you can read up on. A UPS both surge protects your stove and its control board, which is very sensitive to power surges / brown-outs, and in the event of a power failure it allows the stove to run for mins to a couple hours on the UPS battery back-up, depending on its capacity (and cost).

I found that the most likely conditions I lost power in were in Nor'easter storms, which happens to be the side of the house and direction that my termination vent faces, so I was still getting some back drafting into the house (though much less than before), when the wind force overcame the vertical pipes convective force capability, if you follow me on that. So knowing what I know now, hindsight always being 20 / 20, I could have avoided the vertical pipe section and just added a UPS, which you could certainly do as well.

Pellet stove ownership is a work, and always a learning curve, 'in progress'. You're well on your way coming into this forum community !

Happy burning !

 

[bigblulbz]

Good stuff guys. I like the idea of a UPS. Not a fan of the 3" flue. I know. Form over function.

 

[tjnamtiw]

I too took my feed gate out and elongated the slot when I was running Carolina Wood Pellets that were up to 3" long It's right to expect to adjust the feed gate if you switch brands or see a SIGNIFICANT change in pellet length in the same brand. Otherwise, set and forget.

3" vent is fine. I have 3" flex going up both of my chimneys 17' with no problems what so ever. The only problem with the straight out set up is you won't get any draft in case of a power outage, which could put some smoke into your house but nothing other than aggravation will result.

And I burn nothing but 100% hardwoods with no problems. This subject has been beaten to death and really doesn't mean a hill of beans. What's important is the amount of ash and clinkers. They are all rated in the 8000 btu to 8700 btu range. It depends on the manufacturer. For me, I buy the ONLY brand available down here so I don't have a choice, which is kind of ironic since there are many, many pellet manufacturers using up all our pine trees (softwood!) for 100% export to Europe.