Serenity Smoker - Oh No - Learning Curve

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Hiskid

New Member
Sep 26, 2017
70
PA
So far so so good, but. Burned three bag so far with cold/windy days. Tried TSC pellets and Lowes Clean Energy. The Lowe's pellet seemed to be less dirty around the stove but more ash chunks in the pot and more ash on the sides of the pot. So we left the house for church with the door to the sun porch open and two fans had the kit/LR at 80 and 75 in bath and back room It was sunny and lo 40". The sun porch was 90. Anyway, I shut it down then cleaned it after lunch. Okay so I go to light it and the stove fills with smoke. Oh no, radioactive smoke cloud, will it go over the park ? Thankfully with our m/h skirting the woods/creek on the south and west corner it drifted to the woods. I quickly hit off and let it clear. Ok analyze the situation which takes a bit longer for an old man. OK windy good, calm not so. I turned off the stove relit and smoke appeared again. I let it finish lighting and burn as the cloud drifted into the woods. It was burning but lazy with light smoke. Hmm clogged, then exhaust voltage crossed my mind. Well a quick bump from 85 to 90 and instantly it clears and burns like previous. My thought was that corner is protected and there probably was a vacuum there with it being windy. Any experience this issue . Should I bump it another five ? What will that effect ? Thanks for your thoughts. God bless.
 
Where is the air gate set at.
 
Where is the air gate set at.

It is at 1/3 as per another Serenity owner here. I did read to open that first before the voltage change. I just wonder if I do get a vacuum effect from different wind direct which would be the best way to compensate for it.
 
If you continue to have the problem at start up open the air gate a little bit. The blower can only pull as much air through as the air gate opening will allow.
 
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If you continue to have the problem at start up open the air gate a little bit. The blower can only pull as much air through as the air gate opening will allow.

Would I be better to go closer to half open and put the blower voltage.back. Man it's 36 out, no wind. At the top of the doorway to the porch it's 86 and the thermostat on the hall back to the bedroom reads 76. It has only run on heat setting 1. Going to take the long sleeves off ;^). My sweetie now sits by the stove at 4AM for her morning devotions/prayer before work and tops off the stove. I can sleep in. They drywall mud is drying faster now.
 
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for now try it the way you have it. The faster the exhaust blower runs the more heat your pulling out the exhaust so it's a matter of finding the happy medium between the airgate and blower voltage
 
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for now try it the way you have it. The faster the exhaust blower runs the more heat your pulling out the exhaust so it's a matter of finding the happy medium between the airgate and blower voltage

Thanks for your help. Have a great week . God bless
 
It is more of an igniter issue. I have this happen a couple times a year. Not to worry, the stove has control protection and will shut down on it's own if no flame is sensed. However, if you do not have the oak hooked up, it can belch a bit of smoke back through the intake if the smoke decides to flash at the last second. Because the smoke can flash ignite, do not open the door until shut down is complete.

If you pull the burn pot, you'll see a bit of ash in the igniter tube. In combination, that ash with the burn pot having a bit of play and allowing a gap between that igniter tube and the burn pot igniter hole, now and then, the ignition temperature does not reach quite high enough with in the time allowance of the ignition sequence. Usually it will ignite on the second try, but I always like to know why it did not ignite on the first try, so I pull the pot, and use a cordless vacuum to clean the igniter tube, push the pot to the back of the hole and hit start. So far, works every time. That does'nt mean it will continue to work every time, just that so far, it has.
 
It is more of an igniter issue. I have this happen a couple times a year. Not to worry, the stove has control protection and will shut down on it's own if no flame is sensed. However, if you do not have the oak hooked up, it can belch a bit of smoke back through the intake if the smoke decides to flash at the last second. Because the smoke can flash ignite, do not open the door until shut down is complete.

If you pull the burn pot, you'll see a bit of ash in the igniter tube. In combination, that ash with the burn pot having a bit of play and allowing a gap between that igniter tube and the burn pot igniter hole, now and then, the ignition temperature does not reach quite high enough with in the time allowance of the ignition sequence. Usually it will ignite on the second try, but I always like to know why it did not ignite on the first try, so I pull the pot, and use a cordless vacuum to clean the igniter tube, push the pot to the back of the hole and hit start. So far, works every time. That does'nt mean it will continue to work every time, just that so far, it has.

Thanks Deezl. I'll make sure that gets cleaned when I vac everything out. I have an oak. It did light but when I saw all the smoke I just shut it down. It did smoke on the retry but as soon as I bumped the exhaust voltage a notch it cleared right up.
 
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Most stoves will smoke some at start up. Part of the process.
 
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