Regency Greenfire GF55 Flame Consistency

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jcleary47

Member
Feb 21, 2012
42
Gorham, ME
I've read through a number of posts regarding flame height, and read through the manual regarding the damper settings. I read about the auger trim and combustion air trim on my stove, yet I can't seem to get a consistent flame no matter what I do.

Most of the time what I'm seeing is:

Flame is strong when it starts (poking a 5-6 inches above the lip of the firebox)
As pellets start dropping, the flame starts dying down (Below the lip of the firebox)

This repeats over and over. The pellets appear to kill the flame down, and then after a while the flame shoots back up when those pellets ignite. Rinse and repeat. I've slowed the auger rate down thinking that would keep the flame from getting...smothered? by the new pellets but that didn't work. I've played around with the air trim and damper but it doesn't seem to have an impact on this issue.

Is this just a normal behavior of pellet stoves, or is the flame supposed to be a consistent height during operation? I mean, I've seen the flame die down to where the flame is only an inch or two up off the pellets and almost seems like it wants to die before the new pellets finally ignite.
 
Was the stove set with a magnihelic gauge? What heat setting is it on and what brand of pellets are you using?

I can get mine pretty close with some brands, But others not so much. I worry more on the color of the ash as its an indicator of rich/lean. Pellet quality-density-moisture content can effect this. A low moisture high density pellet seems to be more consistent in the flame department. When I go to my shoulder pellets with lower density, I seem to see more variance. I add as much fuel as I can without getting it too rich. Mine will only see flame drop in the middle of the fire grate. It will still be taller on the ends. It quickly catches and grows taller in the middle.

If your ash is white/lite gray you can add some more feed trim. Your stove also has(or should) the adjustable auger cover. Open it up some and let more fuel in. Some shoulder fuels may need gray to chocolate colored ash to keep close to a steady flame.
 
I typically run it on the 2nd heat setting (out of 5), but will sometimes turn it up to 3 or 4 to get the heat up in the house a little bit quicker but I haven't typically kept it at this setting for more than an hour. Once the house is warm the 2nd setting keeps it where I want it so I usually just run it at that.

It was not set with a magnihelic gauge. I did the install myself in February and I saw this mentioned in the manual but wasn't sure if it was something I had to do and I'm not familiar with the process.

As for Pellets, I've been using the "Maine's Choice Premium Wood Pellets".

The ash is in fact a chocolate/dark grey color.
 
Your stove should be set with a mag. Set it in the middle of the factory setting. This gets the variables like venting equalized. Then go from there with you pellets. Next, I'm going out on a limb and gonna say pellet quality might have a little to do with it. Go out and find some Lignetics green label. One of the easiest I have found to get a good consistent flame. There are a few others, But the Liggies are stand outs.

Keep us posted!
 
I run the same stove with those same pellets and have experienced the same issue. I switched over to Green Supremes' and the flame burns higher. Although then produce more ash. I also find that I have to keep the damper wide open.
 
Thank you for the information. I ended up putting the settings back to factory and have been running on that until I get a chance to try some different pellets and possibly a gauage to get it setup right. The last setting i had it at was the air trim up almost all the way and the fire went out overnight and the burn pot was halfway full of pellets that were never burned so I'm not sure what happened there. It happened a second time at that same setting so I'm sure it had something to do with it.
 
Thank you for the information. I ended up putting the settings back to factory and have been running on that until I get a chance to try some different pellets and possibly a gauage to get it setup right. The last setting i had it at was the air trim up almost all the way and the fire went out overnight and the burn pot was halfway full of pellets that were never burned so I'm not sure what happened there. It happened a second time at that same setting so I'm sure it had something to do with it.

What happened is too much air. All the pellets burned out, and the unburnt pellets are the ones that were fed in during the cool-down. Having the air trim all the way up with not enough feed will cause too quick a burn.

Don't worry too much about the flame height variations. I have two of these units, and it happens in both units with some pellets on some settings (it always does it to some extent). I set the air by eyeing the flames - it's pretty easy to get (fairly) right. And even with air set using the gauge, it still will have the varying flame.
 
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