St. Croix Lancaster conversion

[JSF]

Hi all,

I have been burning corn and pellets for over 10 years, I have an early St Croix Lancaster that is corn only and burns corn very well. I am trying to convert to burn pellets which St Croix says I just need to change burn pot which I have and still will not burn pellets good at all. I was just wondering if any one here has attempted this and had any luck at it.

 

[bogieb]

Can you explain what you mean by they don't burn very good? Is the flame lazy, don they create a lot of ash or soot? Does the fire go out unexpectedly? I don't have experience with the corn to pellet conversion, but I imagine more info would help anyone else who has done so to understand your issues.

 

[JSF]

very lazy flame, pellets pile and do not burn completely. I tried this many years ago without the pellet burn pot which has not helped much. I think I'm
going to get a bag of corn just to make sure stove is burning ok. I was messing with this last night and adjusting the inlet damper for air flow and just couldn't get much flame out of it. I run the damper wide open when running corn on this stove and wide open on the other Lancaster burning pellets. The pellets look hot in the bottom of the pot but just don't burn up. The different heat settings did not seem to change much, so may run both stoves and time auger sequence to find out if it is maybe just dropping to fast.

 

[Lake Girl]

Auger timing is a good start ... Does the Lancaster have an outside air kit besides the damper? What kind of pellets - soft or hard wood?

 

[JSF]

Yes, the stove has an outside air kit though not hooked up at the moment, stove is in my garage, Pellets are hardwood (Greenway) the same as I
burn in the other stove in the house. Was hoping that I would not have to change control board but will find out as soon as I can check the auger
timing and such.

 

[JSF]

I Guess I should rephrase my lazy flame comment. The flame burns straight up, but I'm going to say maybe a third of the flame of my other stove.

 

[jzm2cc]

Lazy flame or pellets piling up in a St Croix usually means it's plugged up in exhaust path. Bottle brush up through ash traps to clean back wall, compressed air or choke cable hooked to drill through small holes on sides of fire pot, leaf blower trick, etc. All of these cleaning tricks can be found by searching threads.

 

[ben153]

I have a '09 Lancaster and currently burn corn pellet mix. I have both burn pots and do not bother switching out if burning 100% pellets. I would agree, clean first.

 

[JSF]

My stove is a 2002 and is strictly for corn only. After comparing the auger timing I have found that the corn burning stove auger runs slower or shorter time compared to the pellet burning stove, On setting 2 on both stoves the corn stove would run auger at 1.4 sec. every 10 sec. and the pellet stove would run the auger 1.9 sec. every 10 sec. So I guess it's time to revamp the old stove if I am going to burn pellets. Anyone have any idea of the voltage values to the room fan at the different heat settings.

 

[jzm2cc]

St croix stoves usually have.2 pin jumpers that can be moved on the back of the control board to adjust the auger duty cycle. Thus allows for flexibility with fast or slow burning fuels.

 

[JSF]

St croix stoves usually have.2 pin jumpers that can be moved on the back of the control board to adjust the auger duty cycle. Thus allows for flexibility with fast or slow burning fuels.

Could you advise more on the jumpers please, I see one pin set at J8 and another at R15 of which neither have jumpers

 

[jzm2cc]

My stove control boards have 4 pins in a horizontal plane. With the jumper on the left 2 pins cycle time is 10 seconds, center is 11.5 sec, right is 8.5 sec. So assuming yours is the same moving from left to right two would increase your feedrate.

For reference, my Prescott factory #5 feed rate is 5.75 seconds auger on with cycle time of 11.5 seconds (50% duty cycle). Never plan on changing it as its usually run on 3 or 4max.

My Lancaster on runs 3.5 seconds with a 10 second cycle time (35% duty cycle), thus one of the reasons it generates less heat on pellets compared to Prescott. However, if i moved jumper pins to right two pins the duty cycle would be 41%. Not quite 50% but an improvement.

One would have to keep an eye on firepot burn levels to avoid burn backs into the hopper obviously.

I'll see if i can find older board pin configurations.

 

[jzm2cc]

Older board instructions aren't real clear: The 11.5 sec cycle can be changed to 10 seconds by removing the jumper cap from the bottom pin on the J2 jumper and placing it in the bottom 2 pins of the jumper.

It sounds like you already have the cycle time setup for 10 seconds though.

One thing you could do is clock your existing auger on time for each heat setting against the cycle time. (On Time) /(Cycle Time) = duty cycle.

To match the pellet stove factory feed rate it needs to be 50%.

 

[rickwai]

Before doing anything do the leaf blower, It my solve all you problems. That is the ONLY way to get the entire exhaust path clean. Choke cable ect does not do near as good. The one that made me a believer was a Lancaster that would not burn right ect. (like yours). I spent a hour cleaning,pulling fan and cleaning some more running a brush up thru ash traps ect. Before starting I only had about .1 iwc, after cleaning I had about .15 iwc. Still not burning right so I hooked up leafblower for about 15 sec. and WOW! a .3 iwc and stove burned great. From the St. Croix installs that I have cleaned and serviced it seems that a .3 iwc has been what I am coming up with for a clean stove. First thing I do Is pull hose off of vac switch and hook up vac guage. This tells me if my cleaning is doing any good. 3 iwc when the fan starts on high when stove is initially turned on.
I burn pellets or corn in my Lancaster without switcing anything. Originally it came w/ a shallow pellet grate. Then St. Croix came out w/ a pot that looked just like corn pot but had side extensions. I just use my corn pot and run it just like corn, when ash gets up to cutter I throw pellets in on top and cut it just like a corn clinker and continue on.

 

[JSF]

Older board instructions aren't real clear: The 11.5 sec cycle can be changed to 10 seconds by removing the jumper cap from the bottom pin on the J2 jumper and placing it in the bottom 2 pins of the jumper.

It sounds like you already have the cycle time setup for 10 seconds though.

One thing you could do is clock your existing auger on time for each heat setting against the cycle time. (On Time) /(Cycle Time) = duty cycle.

To match the pellet stove factory feed rate it needs to be 50%.

Unfortunatley

 

[JSF]

Unfortunately it appears as though my board does not have the same jumper setup as yours. I have what looks like jumpers at J8,J9,J10 but J9,J10
jumper pins have been removed leaving only the pins on J8. Would do the leaf blower cleaning but I do not have a leaf blower. I had a few minutes tonight and fired the stove up and set to setting 5 just to check timing and found that I can get about a 35% auger cycle which may be enough to do what I want to do. Filled stove with pellets and going to let it run tonight and see how warm it is in the garage in the morning.

 

[jzm2cc]

Double checked my shop Lancaster yesterday, 3.5 seconds on out of 11.5 second period, or 30% duty cycle. Weak compared to 50% Prescott pellet default max setting.

I could change it to 41% if needed vua jumpers but its a small shop and not needed.

With your board you may have to add corn to increase BTU output if duty cycle can't be increased.