@Shoe1757 You seem pretty knowledgeable about this unit, and depending where at in SW PA you are, we're pretty close. I'm in Beaver County, not far from Butler County. I'd love to pick your brain about this thing because it's new to me.
I seem to have an issue, or maybe it's just being temperamental based off some of the forums I've read. I installed it Thanksgiving weekend (2022) and used it sparingly at first, but now rely on it daily for our main heat source. It's installed on our first floor, in such a way the intake tube and exhaust tube are both able to run directly out the back of the unit, and straight through the exterior wall. The intake tube is ~5 feet off the ground, the way my house/first floor is oriented. The exhaust tube goes out the wall to the T, up 5 feet and has the adjustable 90* termination cap. I put anywhere between 1 to 2.5 bags of Cheat River hardwood pellets in daily. I vacuum the firepot and entire firebox daily. I remove the firepot and poke through every hole and scrape it clean every other day. I also scrape all the excess ash and soot from all surfaces / nooks I can see or get to in the firebox about every other day.
Since install, I removed the center baffle once, and vacuumed everything that exposed the best I could - I have not yet removed all 3 baffles, just the center one. Nor have I cleaned any fans/blowers/exhaust parts since install. I did empty the exterior ash catcher (I'll call it that, can't think of what it's called) that's on the bottom of the T, one time.
I never had any issues, or so I thought. Recently and most notably this morning I noticed the debris left in the fire pot and surrounding areas was still incredibly hot (even some embers still) after it was off all night - usually 6-8 hours - closer to 8 last night. I thought that was odd and makes me wonder if there is a blockage somewhere in the exhaust system causing it not to cool down? I also noticed this morning that there was a thin layer of very black soot inside the entire firebox. Usually there's ashy residue to always scrape off the box, but I've never seen black soot like this inside of it before. There were still distinguishable pieces of pellets in the pot/box that were burnt and charred, but certainly not just ash. Last night after I turned it off, the house didn't fill with smoke, but there was a strong campfire odor all night and still this morning until I fired it back up, which again makes me wonder if there is an exhaust blockage, or maybe the fan that blows heat into the room is dirty? Regardless, that has never happened before. I turned it on this morning at 6AM after my normal vacuuming of the pot/box and it seemed to take longer than normal to get the flame going. By the time I got home for lunch around 1PM, the glass door was almost entirely covered with black soot, which in my experience is normal to have at least some soot built up on the glass, but not that bad in that little of time.
Some things that have always been consistent since install, that may be an issue according to what I've read here & in the manual:
1. I'm unsure of what a lazy flame is / how to identify if I have one.
1A. I have never had an issue with smoke leaking into the house.
1B. The size of the flame isn't always consistent - it's usually always flickering out of the pot by 4-6 inches, but at times it doesn't even crest the top of the firepot. It has never died on me, except one time when I didn't empty it for 3 days lol.
2. The burnt debris left over has always resembled at least a piece of a pellet. There is usually ash mixed in, but there's almost always little pieces of charred pellets left over.
3. We usually keep the temperature dial between 3 and 6
4. Have never adjusted the blue dial under the temp dial
5. This unit maintains a pretty consistent temperature throughout my house. If its 25-35 outside, I can count on the unit to keep my house at 68-72 degrees. Any colder than 20* outside and I think my house is just too drafty, and my furnace kicks on at 66. For example, that single digit weather we had the other day, I had the stove burning on high for 2 hours and it didn't budge over 66 in my house.
I'm not sure if this all sounds about normal, or if I'm having issues. It heats the house fine, and I'm assuming the soot/smell issue last night & this morning is from me not giving the whole thing a good cleaning. Although, I will say if that's the case, I'm surprised that after 3 months of use fans/blowers need cleaned already, but maybe I'm naive. Regardless, tonight I'm going to take everything apart and clean it really good.
Open to feedback from anyone!!
