Question About ESW 25-PDV Burn

[jintoreedwine]

Hi all. I've been reading through these forums for over a year now (back when I was first considering purchasing a pellet stove for this winter.) I finally purchased one a month or so ago and finished setting it up 10 days ago. The install took me a while because, as with most home improvement projects, one thing lead to another and my wife had asked me to tile from our front door to where I was setting up a hearth area. Originally, I was just going to build a simple platform with some brick... .

Anyway, I have been burning the stove pretty much every day since I installed it, and it has been putting out good heat but I have noticed that I get quite a lot of ash build up in the burn pot even after 5 - 8 hours of burning on low (1 for heat range 3 for blower speed.) Additionally, it seems that one half of the burn pot gets better air flow than the other (I get an occasional lazy flame on the right (as you are looking at it from the front of the stove), but a pretty consistent and strong flame on the left.) This is also reflected by the fact that the baffle plate gets some soot build-up on that one side but not the other and that half of the door seems to get dirty faster than the other half.

I suspect the problems may be somewhat related IE: the ash builds up enough that it impacts air-flow and that leads to the second problem of the lopsided burn, if you will. I attached some pictures that may or may not be useful.

So, my question is: Is this normal?

The picture of ash in the burn pot is from a 6 or 7 hour burn. Since the stove seems to be putting out good heat, this isn't the end of the world, but I still want to make sure there isn't something I should be adjusting to get the best possible burn . So far, I'm quite happy with the stove, and my wife is happy that we aren't sitting around freezing this year! Also note the soot in the other two pictures and how it only seems to appear on the right side and not the left.

Other potentially useful information:
Stove: ESW 25-PDV
OAK: Yes, and I used 3" ducting because I had to put two 90 degree turns in the run
Manufacture Date: 09/08 (I was a bit disappointed to learn that the store I purchased the stove from sold me one that had been sitting in a warehouse for 6 years without any mention of it, but that's another story...)
Chimney: Vertical (no elbows used) ~ 12.5' tall
Pellets: Lignetics

 

[kofkorn]

The ash buildup you have is a little more than normal, but I've certainly seen similar buildup in my stove. If you look at the burn pot, the large hole on the right hand side is slightly larger than the one on the left. That provides a little more fresh air to the right side of the pot.

I've done a couple of things in the past to help combat the buildup. Easiest thing you can do first (Especially if you are always running on low) is to bump up the LBA setting. Low Burn Air controls the amount of air being brought into your burn pot. I run mine pretty high (on 9 normally). By having the LBA higher, you'll blow more of the ash out of the burn pot.

Another easy thing that I've done in the past is to force the air up through the plate rather than up the sides of the burn pot and through the top holes. After cooling down the stove, I've taken the wear plate out of the burn pot. Underneath the wear plate, you can see one hole on each side of the burn pot. I've placed a coarse steel wool into these holes. This will cause less of the air to run through these holes on the sides of the burn pot and more air through the wear plate. This also has the effect of blowing the ash out of the burn pot.

On the flip side, the less ash that you have in the burn pot usually means more ash built up in your exhaust venting. You'll need to stay on top if it either way.

Honestly though, the biggest influence I've found is the brand and batch of pellets used. I had a wonderful experience with some softwood pellets which had a very light fluffy ash that didn't stay in the pot long.

Another thing to do is get a nice metal spatula and scrape out the extra ash when it's needed. During the cold months, I tend to do it 3 times a day, before leaving for work, after returning from work and just before bed.

Good luck!

 

[johnboy89]

I have the same stove except it's a 2010 and my flame looks alot stronger than that. You did pipe the fresh air intake to the outdoors correct? I had a similiar problem with my intake being partially blocked and the flame looked just like yours.

 

[jintoreedwine]

Thanks for the suggestions kofkorn. I'll have to tinker with the LBA setting tomorrow or Saturday when I have a chance to see how the stove responds. Maybe I'll pick up some course steel wool as well. I'm quite OCD about maintaining things, so I don't think keeping up with cleaning ash out of the exhaust will be a problem. I did quite a bit of research before putting the stove in and I understand that they require some work for safety and efficiency sake -- totally fine with me. Considering how much I'm saving in oil, some elbow grease is no problem .

Johnboy, yes, I did pipe my air intake to the outdoors. The kit I installed is marketed as being for high efficiency furnaces and came with 10' of 3" aluminum flex duct as well as the intake vent which mounts to the outside of the house (it looks just like the one that ones with the stove, only it accepts a 3" flex duct). I then purchased a 3" to 2" reducer so I could hook that up to the back of the stove. My stove is not mounted by an exterior wall, so I drilled a hole through the floor and ran the duct between my floor joists and drilled another hole through the rim joist to get to the outside of the house. It is only a ~7' run, but since I effectively have two elbows I figured I wanted to run a larger diameter duct than the 2" one included with the stove. I called ESW support before I did any of this and asked if they thought that was going to be sufficient. They told me that even the 2" may have even worked, but that it was better for me to run the 3" duct as I did.

I know the flame in my picture doesn't look that impressive, but it actually was burning pretty strong. The point of the pictures was mostly to illustrate the soot only appearing on one side of the burn pot and to show that the flames were uneven. The flame was mostly blue at the base and was a bright yellow-white further up, which I think is what I'm after, right? My problem, is that the one side of the burn pot seems to burn less well than the other and does sometimes produce only a mediocre flame (orange tips, leaves a bit of soot on the baffle plate.)

After I have a chance to tinker a bit I'll post my results.

 

[jintoreedwine]

After playing with the LBA setting and also trying out the steel wool, I ended up close to the defaults. I am now running on 6-5-1, and honestly it may burn just as well on 6-4-1. I tried a bunch of different combinations over a couple of days, allowing the stove to run for a few hours on each combination while I kept an eye on it.

Adding the steel wool had the most noticeable impact on the burn in that the flame looked much different, but the ash build up was roughly the same and I couldn't detect a difference in heat output, though, I didn't have a good way to measure it. Given that, I figured there was no point in having the steel wool in there. I did go "borrow" a metal spatula from the kitchen, and that makes it super easy for me to clean up the ash mid-burn -- which has by far made the biggest impact on how the stove burns for me since I can now easily clean out the build up a few times a day.

Also, per johnboy89's idea that maybe I wasn't getting enough air, I took my OAK off the back of the stove and opened a window (just to make sure there would be enough fresh air) and the stove seemed to burn just as well as with the OAK, so I don't think a choked OAK was the issue.

Ultimately, it must just be my pellets that are creating so much ash. Since I waited way too long to order pellets this year, I pretty much had to buy whatever I could find. Next year, I'm going to be sure to do my shopping early in the summer months .

 

[Harvey Schneider]

so I drilled a hole through the floor and ran the duct between my floor joists and drilled another hole through the rim joist to get to the outside of the house.

A little off topic, but. If your OAK is coming out the rim joist, you have to make sure that it is above the snow line or you will not have heat when you want it most.

 

[shawnfire]

that looks just like mine

 

[jintoreedwine]

Harvey, indeed! I did my best to make sure my OAK is above the snow line. We had quite a lot of snow last year and the soffit on our house seemed to keep snow from building where my OAK now exits the house. Additionally, it is 12" off the ground, which I believe will be enough given that we rarely get more than 6" of snow at a time and, apart from last year's unusual winter, it normally melts within a week or so. Still, it was in the back of my mind when I installed it. For what it is worth, I had to get everything inspected by the town, and the local building inspector seemed to agree with me that it shouldn't be an issue.

 

[johnboy89]

Interesting read here as I notice I also have about he same amount of ash build-up as you! I've tried a couple different brands of pellets so far with about the same results. I'm still learning with this thing, but wonder like you that I also waited to get my pellets last minute and that's the issue.

 

[shawnfire]

I am burning pro pellets which everyone says are good to great and still have ash

 

[Chrisnow86]

I'm using hardwood softwood blends and have the same results... I get good heat and that's my biggest concern.. I know people with englanders swear by softwood pellets, makes sense cause the ash is light and fluffy and blows out of the burn pot easier.

 

[jintoreedwine]

Interesting, I'd have to do some research to even see where I could get softwood pellets around here. The pellets I'm currently burning claim to be a blend of 65% hardwood and 35% softwood. I've been playing with it for a little while now and while the burn pot does fill up with ash, it doesn't seem to impact the burn for me (IE: seems to start burning a dirty) until somewhere between the 10 to 11 hour mark. At least for me, this is acceptable, because I could basically let it run while I am at work or while I'm sleeping and not have an issue. These observations are just for running on heat mode 1 or 2. It hasn't been hot enough yet for me to burn on the higher settings that long. This weekend is looking cold, so perhaps I'll have a chance .

 

[shawnfire]

well i just did a good clean on the inside removed the burn pot replaced the gasket and total clean the inside of the burn pot which was packed took 20-30 mins to clean, think it was good hit it again more stuff would come out used compress air to low it out as well (after thought LOL)..... cleaned the chunks of filed down some rough spots on the wear plate..... So far best flame I have had.... I tighten the urn pot this morning burned 10 hrs and the glass had a light ash on it. The urn pot gasket needed to be replace, so lets see how she looks in the morning but I think I got... all thats left is the door gasket and pull the exhaust blower for cleaning.....

 

[doghouse]

What you're seeing is normal for the PDV, and for that matter the PDVC; I have both. Use an ordinary garden shovel to remove the excess ash, leaving the hot embers as best as can be. Use an oven mitt if you have 'delicate' hands. No need to turn the stove off or set it to low, just open the door, scoop and close. Simple. Wait till you burn on 9/9. The ash climbs up the door.

 

[shawnfire]

man i need to start proof reading L0L alot better then it was but yup still happening has to to a faulty design

 

[jintoreedwine]

What you're seeing is normal for the PDV, and for that matter the PDVC; I have both. Use an ordinary garden shovel to remove the excess ash, leaving the hot embers as best as can be. Use an oven mitt if you have 'delicate' hands. No need to turn the stove off or set it to low, just open the door, scoop and close. Simple. Wait till you burn on 9/9. The ash climbs up the door.

Hmmm, ok, sounds good! I have been using a metal spatula to clean the excess ash out of the burn pot and it has been working quite well! It was really cold this Saturday morning and I was burning on 9/9 -- you are right -- quite a lot of ash. However, the stove was really putting out some heat, so it is hard to complain . I certainly don't mind scooping the ash out, just wanted to make sure everything was running as well as it could!