Pellet Stove Top Feeder Fire YoYo Effect. Do this happen in your stove?

[Don2222]

Hello

See video of fire growing to a nice flame and then going down to red wood pellet coals.
This is a 1997 Lopi Pioneer Bay fire YoYo effect.

This may be extreme and seems like there maybe room for some improvement?

Did you see this in your stove and what did you do to improve it?
i.e. Change the auger bearing or the control panel?

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[TimfromMA]

My stove does the same thing. It does not bother me.

 

[Dr.Faustus]

I dont have that particular stove, but mine was doing the same thing. I had to adjust the feed rate and air rate so that would not happen. You will need to adjust your stoves settings a little. Yours isnt too bad in that even when its low i still see a flame. if it ever gets to a point where there is sometimes no flame and just smoldering pellets that relight when a new load is dropped, you do want to fix it. smoldering is the dirtiest burn you can achieve.

 

[Don2222]

I dont have that particular stove, but mine was doing the same thing. I had to adjust the feed rate and air rate so that would not happen. You will need to adjust your stoves settings a little. Yours isnt too bad in that even when its low i still see a flame. if it ever gets to a point where there is sometimes no flame and just smoldering pellets that relight when a new load is dropped, you do want to fix it. smoldering is the dirtiest burn you can achieve.

It does get down to just red hot coals at times. I just upgraded the damper.
So I will put it in a notch.
See pics
https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads...enance-friendly-reminder.152795/#post-2050557

 

[TStark]

I concur with Dr
Not that familiar with the model, but universally, the symptom suggests the feed rate is too high.
But anytime the burn is just red embers, with no flame, there is likely smoke emitted.
If there is smoke with no flame, smoke will condense on the cooler parts of the exhaust, creating a flammable goo...

 

[Don2222]

There could be some drag from the old auger bearing and auger motor.
Looks like the stove has the original auger motor and auger bearing.

Replacing both the auger bearing and auger motor may be the best fix.

 

[Peterfield]

In room temp auto mode, my stove has sometimes done something like that.

 

[Don2222]

In room temp auto mode, my stove has sometimes done something like that.

Room temp auto feeds more or less pellets to keep the temp in the room constant so that is correct for that stove.

On the Lopi, medium heat level (like your constant burn or stove temp setting) is approx 3.2 lbs per hour so the flame should be more constant.

 

[Don2222]

Hello

Tried lowering the Damper as much as I could and it did help.
Should it be better than this on Medium heat?

 

[Chrisnow86]

My stove does this on low feed rates... As long as it dosent smolder I'm good with it

 

[bogieb]

My Hastings did that even on very low setting and no matter how I set the damper. Was used to the P61a, so it bothered me at first. After seeing several mentions of it, and a few videos, decided it was normal and it didn't bother me (too much). Still like the more steady flame of my Harmans better though.

 

[Tonyray]

My Hastings did that even on very low setting and no matter how I set the damper. Was used to the P61a, so it bothered me at first. After seeing several mentions of it, and a few videos, decided it was normal and it didn't bother me (too much). Still like the more steady flame of my Harmans better though.

No adjusting air flow, this/that/and other with a Harman..that's why I bought one..

 

[Don2222]

Hello
Do you think a dirty auger and nasty dirty auger bearing and an auger motor with skinny mini magnetic plates contributed to this yo-yo fire effect?

Will a buffed up clean auger, new hi quality GA auger motor and new hi temp nylon auger bearing help keep the fire from smoldering?

See pics

Pic 1 - Control panel heat setting shown on medium heat level
Pic 2 - dirty auger and old tired auger motor
Pic 3 - Dirty auger top
Pic 4 - Dirty auger bottom
Pic 5 - Dirty Bronze bearing
Pic 6 - Old dirty auger motor with only a few magnetic plates
Pic 7 - New high temperature nylon auger bearing in end plate
Pic 8 - New auger motor, bearing and clean buffed out auger installed!

 

[Don2222]

Hello
Cleaning up the auger and beefing up the auger motor and bearing keeps the fire from smoldering.
Still has some yo-yo effect which is fairly normal according to the general consensus
See pic below after new auger motor and bearing

 

[bogieb]

If you watch St. Croix's video, the first part is of a good burn. You can see that when pellets are dumped, the fire is partially smothered (they actually cut out to a bad flame before you see the full effect). that is probably on #3 (I don't have speakers so don't know if they say). On #1 or 2, it is even more pronounced. Not saying a cleaner stove won't have better tendencies, just saying that I based my decision that it was normal on mfg vids.

 

[alternativeheat]

You drop a bunch of wood on a camp fire it does the same thing, knocks the flame down till the new wood catches fire.. it's a top feeder, that's why I bought a bottom feeding stove.

 

[Don2222]

Thanks for your comments.
I agree.
Atleast the stove is in better mechanical shape now with the new auger motor, upgraded auger bearing, POF snap disc and upgraded damper rod.
Upgraded exhaust blower pics
https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads...-blower-maintenance-friendly-reminder.152795/
Upgraded damper pics
https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/lets-do-a-lopi-avalon-small-stove-damper-upgrade.152732/

 

[MSmith66]

Thanks for your comments.
I agree.
Atleast the stove is in better mechanical shape now with the new auger motor, upgraded auger bearing, POF snap disc and upgraded damper rod.
Upgraded exhaust blower pics
https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads...-blower-maintenance-friendly-reminder.152795/
Upgraded damper pics
https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/lets-do-a-lopi-avalon-small-stove-damper-upgrade.152732/

It could be a couple of issues. The length of the pellets is one, damper setting is another. I think I would have checked these two things before I started taking it apart and replacing things that might not needed to be replaced.

 

[Cedarjunki]

You drop a bunch of wood on a camp fire it does the same thing, knocks the flame down till the new wood catches fire.. it's a top feeder, that's why I bought a bottom feeding stove.

I wasnt crazy about the trail of pellets catching on fire leading to the hopper so i decided to try a drop feed. (Yes i pulled the plug and sat and watched as the fire continued down the auger tube but never let it go long enough to actually see a hopper fire. Apparently i have very good natural draft now)
the yoyo effect doesnt bother be at all.

 

[Don2222]

It could be a couple of issues. The length of the pellets is one, damper setting is another. I think I would have checked these two things before I started taking it apart and replacing things that might not needed to be replaced.

I did try adjusting the damper after I did the damper upgrade but it did not help much. The Okanagan Gold pellets work fine in my Harman, Qudrafire and Astroflamm. The new auger bearing is so much cleaner and smooth inside, I could not go wrong there. The new auger motor has more magnetic plates so it is stronger.
After using it awhile it does seem a lot better.

What do you think about upgrading the control panel from the old knob control to the new digital panel?
The auger timing circuit may be better on the new digital panel?