St. Croix scf-050 pellet furnace question

[Candance]

Posting this for my husband so please bear with me on the terminology.
We bought a used St Croix scf-050 2 months ago and installed it in our greenhouse that is attached to our home. There is about a 12 foot of vertical chimney pipe with 5 foot being outside. He did not hook up the outside air pipe since the greenhouse is not well sealed. We thoroughly clean the furnace weekly. I tend to have OCD, which drives him nuts...LOL. He rigged up a hose to go on his ridgid shop vac that fits up the clean out ports and we also use a long vent brush that fits up there and beat on the wall to knock anything loose. We have cleaned the chimney but have not tried the leaf blower on it yet(asked him to do that so still waiting for him to get one to try that also) We have used a wire brush on the burn pot and I have made sure all the little holes are open but we can not get the pot to come out. The metal plate from where the pellet feed hangs over the top of it and no matter what we have tried we can not get the burn pot to come out because of that overhang holds it in place. (I will get a picture of it) So here is the problem the pellets are not burning correctly and building up, can run it on 1 but go off of 1 and you have to go out there every couple hours and dump the clinkers or the pot overflows. I did not get out there fast enough and it backed up today and we had a hopper fire, ARgh !!. . Need some ideas on how to get the burn pot out and also ideas on settings for the damper and or draft trim for a long vertical chimney. He has a pellet stove in his shop that runs like a champ with no issues(we are using the same brand of pellets in both) but this furnace has been a nightmare. I really think it has something to do with the air flow but not sure what to do to fix it. Thank you

 

[Candance]

The burnpot, I have the covers off the ports as I'm now in cleaning mode after the fire.

 

[Candance]

I think he has too long of a run outside and it is allowing the chimney to cool down and it is not drafting properly.

 

[rickwai]

You have to loosen the 1/4" hex screw behind the one you have out. That lets the coal rake back out of the slots in the burn pot to allow it the slide back and lift out. Also Check the pot floor. I think it has a space in it that fills with ash between the bottom and the top where the holes are. Check and clean where the pot floor seals against the back wall. Make sure ash is not packed in those holes also. Typically you can just shake pot floor back and forth quickly and the ash will dump out the front of it.

 

[jzm2cc]

Sounds like the classic ashes up St Croix exhaust channels. Time for leaf blower exhaust cleaning and see if you can now run on higher than heat setting #1 without over flowing burn pot too quickly.

 

[Candance]

You have to loosen the 1/4" hex screw behind the one you have out. That lets the coal rake back out of the slots in the burn pot to allow it the slide back and lift out. Also Check the pot floor. I think it has a space in it that fills with ash between the bottom and the top where the holes are. Check and clean where the pot floor seals against the back wall. Make sure ash is not packed in those holes also. Typically you can just shake pot floor back and forth quickly and the ash will dump out the front of it.

Thank you for responding, we have been doing that with the hex screw but that overhang from the pellet shoot will not allow the burn pot to slide back. Can just tilt it up a bit but it does not slide back at all. Have checked and cleaned all the others. I did get him to cut down the chimney last night in -15 degrees temps, YIKES !! That seems to be helping with the pot overflowing. But we still need to figure out how to get that pot out. Thank you again for responding.

 

[rona]

Posting this for my husband so please bear with me on the terminology.
We bought a used St Croix scf-050 2 months ago and installed it in our greenhouse that is attached to our home. There is about a 12 foot of vertical chimney pipe with 5 foot being outside. He did not hook up the outside air pipe since the greenhouse is not well sealed. We thoroughly clean the furnace weekly. I tend to have OCD, which drives him nuts...LOL. He rigged up a hose to go on his ridgid shop vac that fits up the clean out ports and we also use a long vent brush that fits up there and beat on the wall to knock anything loose. We have cleaned the chimney but have not tried the leaf blower on it yet(asked him to do that so still waiting for him to get one to try that also) We have used a wire brush on the burn pot and I have made sure all the little holes are open but we can not get the pot to come out. The metal plate from where the pellet feed hangs over the top of it and no matter what we have tried we can not get the burn pot to come out because of that overhang holds it in place. (I will get a picture of it) So here is the problem the pellets are not burning correctly and building up, can run it on 1 but go off of 1 and you have to go out there every couple hours and dump the clinkers or the pot overflows. I did not get out there fast enough and it backed up today and we had a hopper fire, ARgh !!. . Need some ideas on how to get the burn pot out and also ideas on settings for the damper and or draft trim for a long vertical chimney. He has a pellet stove in his shop that runs like a champ with no issues(we are using the same brand of pellets in both) but this furnace has been a nightmare. I really think it has something to do with the air flow but not sure what to do to fix it. Thank you

I think you should open the left side and see if you can remove the exh fan. It maybe your problem. I had a auburn that was doing the same thing and after cleaning everything plus sucking the exh out via leaf blower the only thing left was the exh fan. After 182.00 for a new improved fan it worked like new. The exh channels are hard to get clean with normal tools. Is there a couple round holes above the clean out ports on each side of the pot? I know that helps clean it. You can also take a old choke cable and feed it up into the cleaning ports and fasten it to a drill then run it in and out which also unlodges soot. But after doing all that with no results I would remove the fan. and see if it turns with resistance plus maybe the blades are worn down.

 

[Candance]

Sounds like the classic ashes up St Croix exhaust channels. Time for leaf blower exhaust cleaning and see if you can now run on higher than heat setting #1 without over flowing burn pot too quickly.

I think you are right, he did cut the outside chimney down a bit last night and adjusted the draft and feed trims and damper and does seem to be working better but not putting out the heat it should. It may take me awhile but I will try to convince him to do the leaf blower as I think it will make a difference. I think he thinks the leaf blower is only to blow out the chimney and he has assured me he has cleaned it thoroughly. I can not convince him it will also dislodge the ashes in the exhaust channels IN THE STOVE, if he hooks it up to pull through the stove. It might be more of the fact it is going to be a major pain since the chimney is a vertical run with the clean out being inside the greenhouse. Might have to attempt to rig something up myself...that usually gets his attention and motivates him when I start messing around with his tools and something beyond my skill set...LOL

 

[Candance]

I think you should open the left side and see if you can remove the exh fan. It maybe your problem. I had a auburn that was doing the same thing and after cleaning everything plus sucking the exh out via leaf blower the only thing left was the exh fan. After 182.00 for a new improved fan it worked like new. The exh channels are hard to get clean with normal tools. Is there a couple round holes above the clean out ports on each side of the pot? I know that helps clean it. You can also take a old choke cable and feed it up into the cleaning ports and fasten it to a drill then run it in and out which also unlodges soot. But after doing all that with no results I would remove the fan. and see if it turns with resistance plus maybe the blades are worn down.

He has had the exhaust fan out. I will have to ask him if it was turning freely and what the blades looked like. I saw a video on youtube on those holes and running a cable up them. I tried to run a wire up them to no avail. I will see if I can get hubby to run a choke cable up them with his drill. Thank you !!

 

[my2bois]

Posting this for my husband so please bear with me on the terminology.
We bought a used St Croix scf-050 2 months ago and installed it in our greenhouse that is attached to our home. There is about a 12 foot of vertical chimney pipe with 5 foot being outside. He did not hook up the outside air pipe since the greenhouse is not well sealed. We thoroughly clean the furnace weekly. I tend to have OCD, which drives him nuts...LOL. He rigged up a hose to go on his ridgid shop vac that fits up the clean out ports and we also use a long vent brush that fits up there and beat on the wall to knock anything loose. We have cleaned the chimney but have not tried the leaf blower on it yet(asked him to do that so still waiting for him to get one to try that also) We have used a wire brush on the burn pot and I have made sure all the little holes are open but we can not get the pot to come out. The metal plate from where the pellet feed hangs over the top of it and no matter what we have tried we can not get the burn pot to come out because of that overhang holds it in place. (I will get a picture of it) So here is the problem the pellets are not burning correctly and building up, can run it on 1 but go off of 1 and you have to go out there every couple hours and dump the clinkers or the pot overflows. I did not get out there fast enough and it backed up today and we had a hopper fire, ARgh !!. . Need some ideas on how to get the burn pot out and also ideas on settings for the damper and or draft trim for a long vertical chimney. He has a pellet stove in his shop that runs like a champ with no issues(we are using the same brand of pellets in both) but this furnace has been a nightmare. I really think it has something to do with the air flow but not sure what to do to fix it. Thank you

Good morning, have you figured out what the problem was, we have had our stove now for 2 years and have the same problem, many hopper fires to which I dont like as we loss everything 8 yrs ago due to a wood stove fire.Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thank you in advance