Pinnacle PB150 Problems

[mkling]

I have a Pinnacle PB150 in series with my oil furnace. I recently had a problem with the PB150 producing creosote which actually ended up in a small chimney fire. I had a chimney sweep come inspect it and he recommended replacing a small section of the chimney pipe and also to clean the heck out of the PB150; I found that the exhaust fan was pretty dirty but now it looks factory fresh along with the rest of the unit. I also installed a clean air intake in hopes it would help the unit burn better. After cleaning the unit, installing the new chimney section and re-sealing everything I fired it back up yesterday. Already I can see the glass on the front building up with black soot, which never happened last year. Some other info about my installation, I have >10 feet of vertical stack on the outside of my house terminated horizontally because it is below the roof-line and the rest of the chimney consists of a 1 foot vertical rise out of the PB150 followed by a 3 foot horizontal run through the wall. I burned Lignetics last year and decided to try Rocky Mountain Pellet Co. Pellets this year based on good reviews. I am really at a loss on how to get this thing to burn better especially since I installed the clean air. Also, I even run it with the draft slider all the way open and the draft fan on the high setting. Has anyone had similar problems and if so how did you fix it?

 

[Duetech]

I don't have a pellet stove so take this for what it's worth. If you are getting soot on the glass already it sounds like you are over fueling with too rich of a mix. Perhaps these new pellets are of a softer/harder wood than the Lignetics???

 

[mkling]

Lignetics pellets are premium (certified by PFI) hardwood pellets. Rocky Mountain Pellet Co. pellets are super premium (certified PFI) softwood pellets. both claim to be at least 8200 BTU and have very low ash/moisture content. I have a friend who has a PB150 as well and he is burning the Rocky Mountain Pellet Co. pellets without any of the problems I am having. Our installations are almost identical (same installer did them both) except he has a 8 foot horizontal chimney run from the boiler to the wall where it goes outside and then up 10 feet. He is also lucky enough to be able to store all his pellets in his 3rd garage bay, whereas I can only store 1 ton of fuel inside, the rest is stored outside but is still in all the factory wrap and covered by a large tarp.

 

[whippingwater]

I think you'll get a better response if you post your question here: http://forum.iburncorn.com/viewforum.php?f=17

 

[connerfur]

I had a similar problem last year with another brand of pellets. I never found a way around the issue other than to buy Eastern Embers this year. You may want to give Mark a call at Evergreen Heat in Limerick. I'm assuming you bought it from him based on your location.

 

[oracleminded]

I'd run this with the damper at 50% (not open all the way as you have it) and a medium setting on the pilot pan. You aren't getting enough suction for a full clean combustion which is why you have a creosite problem. Setting the damper open reduces the speed of the air flow and doesn't draw in fresh oxygen fast enough.

Watch your flame as you adjust the damper. You get a pretty good idea of the quality of the flame. The bigger and more orange the flame, the hotter and better your combustion will be.