Seasons Greetings, Pellet People! 
Hello from Frozen Central Virginia! Hope everyone had a happy and healthy non-burn season, and that everyone is keeping warm in this our COLDEST DECEMBER ON RECORD. (We just heard this today at our stove store!)
OK, help The Husband and me settle a "Domestic Discussion."
We visited the stove store today to buy my Christmas Bling- a metal ash vac! And I am SO HAPPY! No seriously, I AM HAPPY, no more shutting the stove down for hours and hours before it's safe to vacuum it out with a Shop Vac. No more stressing about melting a Shop Vac or burning down the house!
While there we kicked the tires on an Avalon Astoria free standing pellet stove. Pretty stove, but what impressed us both was that it was really, really kicking out some heat. Both of us commented that it felt like it was pushing more heat than our 2008 Napoleon NPS-40 free standing stove.
We inquired with the sales staff to see if the Astoria was rated to push more BTU's. If I recall correctly, they said that the the Astoria was rated to put out up to 45,000 BTU's. Our Napoleon is rated to put out up to 42,500 BTU's, so that hardly seems like a difference we would note while standing in front of the stove.
One of the salepeople noted that they were running the stove on high, and that they were "going through pellets like water." At that point I chalked the notable difference in heat output to burning up a lot of pellets at a rapid rate.
My husband noted, however, that while they were venting the stove to the outside of the building (obviously) they didn't have an OAK hooked up. He became convinced that the difference in the stove output temperature was because the stove was heating warmer, interior air that was being recirculated through the stove from the showroom.
I explained to him that really, it wouldn't make that much difference: the stove is going to pull air from *somewhere.* It's either going to pull it in through an OAK, in which case the cold air goes directly into the combustion pot to be heated up quickly and with great authority, or that stove is gonna pull cold outside air in through every crack and crevice and flaw in the house, causing a noticeably drafty house.
My husband thinks that the draw through leaks without the OAK would not be noticeable, and that the stove's heat output would increase because the stove would be heating air that had been heated previously.
Personally, I think that, if anything, we were feeling BTU's rushing out at us in a building that's more tightly insulated than our 1950's brick and block wall bungalow, and that there was simply less heat dissipation because the showroom is kept warmer by numerous fireplaces (and probably an HVAC thermostat set higher as well.) Plus, they were running that Astoria on "high." Burning more pellets equals more BTU's. Also, who knows? The Astoria's max pellet feed setting may be throwing more pellets in the pot more quickly than the Napoleon's max feed setting, and certainly it's throwing more pellets in the pot than the Napoleon's optimal feed setting of 4. We may not be talking apples to apples comparisons here. That would make sense, because the Astoria's flame profile was bigger than anything I see in our Napoleon's firebox unless we are burning off the pellets that we allow to accumulate in the pot when we first crank the stove up. The flame was big in that Astoria's box for a good part of the burn cycle- clean, bright, white and sharp but big. I equate that with a lot of pellets burning in the pot.
We never run the Napoleon flat out per the instructions in the owner's manual. Once we get a flame in the pot we turn the feed down to 4.
Another sales person pointed out that the difference in BTU's could be attributed to the pellets being burned. They were burning Hamer's today. We are currently burning O'Malleys. I rather like O'Malleys; they seem to burn hot enough for our climate, and they are manufactured locally. I love supporting a local business, particularly a local pellet manufacturer. Although, come to think of it, Hamer's is pretty "local" as well, we are practically neighbors! I like both O'Malleys and Hamers and I wouldn't complain about burning either (in fact we will burn both this winter.) I don't think it's the pellet quality- I don't think we'd notice that much difference between O'Malleys and Hamers.
Anyway, my husband is itching to disconnect the OAK to see if it makes any difference in the heat output of the stove. I told him that I'd already picked everyone's brain to death about this topic LAST YEAR (see last year's Beca Sunshine) and that disconnecting the OAK wouldn't make a difference in heat output. Also I told him that if he disconnected the OAK I'd stick a fork in my eye. DO NOT BE MESSING WITH THE PELLET STOVE DURING THE COLDEST DECEMBER ON RECORD. THANK YOU.
What say you, Pellet People? Who is right- Beca Sunshine, who is cute and can cook? or The Husband, who is right about most things but NOT THIS ONE?
P.S. Per my candy thermometer, the stove is currently pushing air out of the far left heat exchange tube at a temp of about 270'F. I just stuck the candy thermometer in the port and left it there for a bit. Does that temp output sound about right? The stove was cleaned this afternoon and has been running at 4 feed, 3.5 room air blower and 2 damper for a few hours.
Hello from Frozen Central Virginia! Hope everyone had a happy and healthy non-burn season, and that everyone is keeping warm in this our COLDEST DECEMBER ON RECORD. (We just heard this today at our stove store!)
OK, help The Husband and me settle a "Domestic Discussion."
We visited the stove store today to buy my Christmas Bling- a metal ash vac! And I am SO HAPPY! No seriously, I AM HAPPY, no more shutting the stove down for hours and hours before it's safe to vacuum it out with a Shop Vac. No more stressing about melting a Shop Vac or burning down the house!
While there we kicked the tires on an Avalon Astoria free standing pellet stove. Pretty stove, but what impressed us both was that it was really, really kicking out some heat. Both of us commented that it felt like it was pushing more heat than our 2008 Napoleon NPS-40 free standing stove.
We inquired with the sales staff to see if the Astoria was rated to push more BTU's. If I recall correctly, they said that the the Astoria was rated to put out up to 45,000 BTU's. Our Napoleon is rated to put out up to 42,500 BTU's, so that hardly seems like a difference we would note while standing in front of the stove.
One of the salepeople noted that they were running the stove on high, and that they were "going through pellets like water." At that point I chalked the notable difference in heat output to burning up a lot of pellets at a rapid rate.
My husband noted, however, that while they were venting the stove to the outside of the building (obviously) they didn't have an OAK hooked up. He became convinced that the difference in the stove output temperature was because the stove was heating warmer, interior air that was being recirculated through the stove from the showroom.
I explained to him that really, it wouldn't make that much difference: the stove is going to pull air from *somewhere.* It's either going to pull it in through an OAK, in which case the cold air goes directly into the combustion pot to be heated up quickly and with great authority, or that stove is gonna pull cold outside air in through every crack and crevice and flaw in the house, causing a noticeably drafty house.
My husband thinks that the draw through leaks without the OAK would not be noticeable, and that the stove's heat output would increase because the stove would be heating air that had been heated previously.
Personally, I think that, if anything, we were feeling BTU's rushing out at us in a building that's more tightly insulated than our 1950's brick and block wall bungalow, and that there was simply less heat dissipation because the showroom is kept warmer by numerous fireplaces (and probably an HVAC thermostat set higher as well.) Plus, they were running that Astoria on "high." Burning more pellets equals more BTU's. Also, who knows? The Astoria's max pellet feed setting may be throwing more pellets in the pot more quickly than the Napoleon's max feed setting, and certainly it's throwing more pellets in the pot than the Napoleon's optimal feed setting of 4. We may not be talking apples to apples comparisons here. That would make sense, because the Astoria's flame profile was bigger than anything I see in our Napoleon's firebox unless we are burning off the pellets that we allow to accumulate in the pot when we first crank the stove up. The flame was big in that Astoria's box for a good part of the burn cycle- clean, bright, white and sharp but big. I equate that with a lot of pellets burning in the pot.
We never run the Napoleon flat out per the instructions in the owner's manual. Once we get a flame in the pot we turn the feed down to 4.
Another sales person pointed out that the difference in BTU's could be attributed to the pellets being burned. They were burning Hamer's today. We are currently burning O'Malleys. I rather like O'Malleys; they seem to burn hot enough for our climate, and they are manufactured locally. I love supporting a local business, particularly a local pellet manufacturer. Although, come to think of it, Hamer's is pretty "local" as well, we are practically neighbors! I like both O'Malleys and Hamers and I wouldn't complain about burning either (in fact we will burn both this winter.) I don't think it's the pellet quality- I don't think we'd notice that much difference between O'Malleys and Hamers.
Anyway, my husband is itching to disconnect the OAK to see if it makes any difference in the heat output of the stove. I told him that I'd already picked everyone's brain to death about this topic LAST YEAR (see last year's Beca Sunshine) and that disconnecting the OAK wouldn't make a difference in heat output. Also I told him that if he disconnected the OAK I'd stick a fork in my eye. DO NOT BE MESSING WITH THE PELLET STOVE DURING THE COLDEST DECEMBER ON RECORD. THANK YOU.
What say you, Pellet People? Who is right- Beca Sunshine, who is cute and can cook? or The Husband, who is right about most things but NOT THIS ONE?
P.S. Per my candy thermometer, the stove is currently pushing air out of the far left heat exchange tube at a temp of about 270'F. I just stuck the candy thermometer in the port and left it there for a bit. Does that temp output sound about right? The stove was cleaned this afternoon and has been running at 4 feed, 3.5 room air blower and 2 damper for a few hours.
