P35i Weirdness...

[RKBAGUY]

Woke up this morning to a cold living room, 6-blink status, and no pellets in the auger.

Checked here for a few suggestions and thought it might have been too many fines in the tray because some of the pellets I'm using got wet and after tossing the 'clump' that stuck together, there was still a higher amount of dust than usual. So, I unplugged and pulled the stove (I did not set the panel to 'off' first - I just pulled the plug), vacuumed the fines box out (there were some in there, but not a lot) slid her back in and latched down, plugged the stove in and off she went feeding.

Here's what's odd. The auger starts, feeds pellets, igniter lights and pellets burn, but for some reason the distribution fan doesn't run at the desired speed, it actually us OFF when the pellets are burning and feeding. When I turn the selector to 'off', the distribution fan comes back on.

For now, I turned the dial to 'off' and I'm letting the fire burn down and will unplug again until I get some ideas from you guys on what's happening.

Anyway, I'm not sure what's going on here. Any ideas?

 

[alternativeheat]

If you are running in manual at a fairly low setting ( like below about 5 on your dial) the fan may or may not run according to what the ESP senses. And down under 4 or so the fan may not come on at all. Flip it to Auto if that's the case. Or maybe I should just ask what mode you are running the stove in and we can go from there ?

 

[RKBAGUY]

If you are running in manual at a fairly low setting ( like below about 5 on your dial) the fan may or may not run according to what the ESP senses. And down under 4 or so the fan may not come on at all. Flip it to Auto if that's the case. Or maybe I should just ask what mode you are running the stove in and we can go from there ?

I'm in auto - 'room temperature' mode. Also, a correction - I meant that when I switch to 'off', the CONVECTION (distribution) fan stops. The combustion fan continues to run. I'm going back to my post to correct it.

 

[alternativeheat]

Did you get the cover back on the fines box correctly ? It has that tab and slot at the top that you have to get aligned before tightening down the thumb screw.

 

[RKBAGUY]

Yes, I did. I think the problem is that the pellets I'm using - though they're Hamers - are damp, and the higher moisture content is causing a more lazy burn. I turned the feed up to '6' to keep it going, though the distribution fan is still not running on high. Is it possible that the distribution blower throttles back depending on the temperature of the burn?

 

[Mt Bob]

Yes,you nailed it,if the heat output of the pellets doesn't make the esp temp high enough,the room fan may not go to high.

 

[alternativeheat]

Yes, I did. I think the problem is that the pellets I'm using - though they're Hamers - are damp, and the higher moisture content is causing a more lazy burn. I turned the feed up to '6' to keep it going, though the distribution fan is still not running on high. Is it possible that the distribution blower throttles back depending on the temperature of the burn?

Yes entirely possible. I actually was going to ask you in my last post if you had some known good pellets on hand to try but changed my post LOL ! I've burned water damaged pellets in my P61 but waited till they were good and dry.

 

[RKBAGUY]

Yep. That's what it is. Vacuumed out some of the damp ones, added fresh dry pellets, and she's going again. I guess I'll just feed in the new pellets until she burns through the damp ones still in the hopper and make a note to not do that again until they're thoroughly dry. Thanks!

 

[Mt Bob]

Hook it to your room t/stat.

 

[RKBAGUY]

Hook it to your room t/stat.

Spoke too soon. Got the 6 blink again, so I just turned it from Temp Mode to Constant Burn, dialed the fan all the way up and set the knob on the left to '5' in the hope that I'll burn through what's in the hopper. Stand by...

 

[alternativeheat]

You might have to mix in some good pellets with those damaged ones, or else just get them out of the hopper all together for now. I've mixed bad pellets with good at about a ratio of 1/3 bad to 2/3 good before with no adverse effects to speak of.

 

[RKBAGUY]

You might have to mix in some good pellets with those damaged ones, or else just get them out of the hopper all together for now. I've mixed bad pellets with good at about a ratio of 1/3 bad to 2/3 good before with no adverse effects to speak of.

That's exactly what I did. There were a lot of fines at the top of the hopper from the last damp bag, so I vacuumed those out, added fresh dry pellets and mixed. Back to room temp mode now for about 15 minutes, everything is working fine... so far.

 

[alternativeheat]

That's exactly what I did. There were a lot of fines at the top of the hopper from the last damp bag, so I vacuumed those out, added fresh dry pellets and mixed. Back to room temp mode now for about 15 minutes, everything is working fine... so far.

Good !

 

[Mt Bob]

Hey RKB,hope it is working ok.I have never seen a Harman stuffed with wet pellets to make it die,a first,but is easy to do in my integra.

 

[alternativeheat]

Hey RKB,hope it is working ok.I have never seen a Harman stuffed with wet pellets to make it die,a first,but is easy to do in my integra.

That was my first thought as well, I can run most anything through my P61. But maybe they were clumped together. I suppose there comes a limit to where even a Harman won't burn lousy pellets.

 

[RKBAGUY]

That was my first thought as well, I can run most anything through my P61. But maybe they were clumped together. I suppose there comes a limit to where even a Harman won't burn lousy pellets.

Hey RKB,hope it is working ok.I have never seen a Harman stuffed with wet pellets to make it die,a first,but is easy to do in my integra.

I think in this case, it wasn't a matter of feeding, but of burning. Damp pellets don't burn as hot as dry ones. So I think what was happening was that the fines and damp whole pellets were getting to the burn pot but just not generating enough heat to keep the stove at the proper operating temperature.