Pellet furnace n00b - St. Croix Revolution questions

[riggy469]

Hi all,

I just had a St. Croix Revolution installed along side my oil furnace to supplement the heat in our home. So far it's working well. I have a few n00b questions, and I apologize if some seem dumb.

1. Can anyone recommend a good digital (millivolt) thermostat that will work with this unit?

2. On thermostat mode, you can set the unit to a heat level (1-5). Once the house heat reaches the temp you set the stat at, the unit is supposed to drop down to heat level 1, and if the temp goes down below where you have it set, it will increase back to the heat level you set. How long does it take the unit to switch heat levels once it needs to increase or decrease?

3. I'm guessing that the daily maintenance (pull the heat exchanger tube rods, clean the glass) should be done with the unit off?

So far we have been running the unit on manual mode (not thermostat) as I don't care for the mechanical thermostat that came with the unit, and would like to install a digital one instead. Also, we've pretty much been running it on heat level 1, as that's been maintaining the temperature in the house, but it hasn't been that cold yet either. We haven't been running it 24/7 either, usually shutting it down before we leave for work, and starting it up again when we get home. We are going to start getting down into the single digits soon, so we won't be doing that for long.

Lastly, can anyone with this unit give me an idea on how many bags of pellets you burn through a day (obviously it depends on how hot you run it, I suppose).

Any other tips or info would be appreciated. Thanks!

 

[hossthehermit]

1. No, all I have is a Lux slider cheapo from Lowe's, that I put in 6 yr. ago when I did the original install, works good enuff for us

2. I think it switches immediately, but you don't see an immediate change, feed rate goes up, think the fan speed goes up, too. Remember, any thermostat will have a swing, if you set it for 70, it doesn't come on at 69.9 and off at 70.1 - Most have an adjustable swing setting, but if you cut it too close yeo're asking for trouble from what I hear. Mine is about 2 degrees, I think, kicks up at like 68, down at 72.

3. Only time I shut mine down is weekly cleaning or deeper, manual does say don't open the door to wipe the glass if it's on hi, but pulling the scraper rods can be done anytime.

4. In this weather, I'm burning about a bag and a half a day. It's all I'm using for heat, usually run the oil furnace once in the fall to make sure it still works.

Other - the manual IS YOUR FRIEND. Yeah, you have heat level 1 - 5 , but that's on EACH PROGRAM. Don't know about programs? Tells ya in the manual. Feed trim? Same place. Draft trim ? Guess where .......... My 6th year, and I'm still learnin' ...............

 

[heat seeker]

My Afton Bay takes about 2 ¼ minutes to climb each heat level. When the thermostat calls for heat, sometimes in goes right to level 2, sometimes it waits. It stays at level 2 for the 2 ¼ minutes, then goes to level 3, and so on.

My thermostat is a digital cheapie I bought at Ace hardware. It's good, but I can't adjust the swing on it. It's still a lot better than the mechanical one the stove came with.