St. Croix SCF 050 questions

[mithesaint]

I just ran out of corn, and I'm starting to burn pellets in my SCF 050. The furnace was brand new this fall, and I've burned about 5000 lbs of corn in it so far. It handled the corn very well, and heated the house very well. I recently ran out of corn, and am not planning on getting any more this year, since it's supposed to warm up...at some point...I think...

Anyway, I was wondering if any of the other SCF owners had advice for setting the damper for pellets. The pellets are filling up the burnpot faster than the corn did. I have a very nice, lively flame. Sharp tips, light color orange/almost white flame. Thin film of light colored ash on the door. Unfortunately, the pellets seem to build up faster in the pot than the corn ever did. I had a full pot after 12 hours of burning when I got home tonight, and I'm pretty sure the stove idled all day long. I have it on a thermostat, and it didn't burn many pellets today.

I have the damper set at the factory setting, as that seemed to burn the corn very well. I've cleaned the furnace multiple times, cleaning the venting, vacuuming out the ash trap doors, pounding on the wall, etc. I don't *think* it's a dirty stove problem, like I said before, the flame looks great. I've been down the dirty stove/airflow issue before with my englander.

Thoughts on the damper setting? It's almost all the way open right now.

What about the pellet pot? I have the multifuel pot right now, and it worked great for corn, but I'm not burning corn anymore.

 

[hossthehermit]

First thing to do is see what the manual says .......................

 

[mithesaint]

The manual talked about adjusting the damper till you get a good flame. I already have a good flame. Might just have to buy some bagged corn every few days to make it through the end of the season or something.

 

[bogieb]

I don't know your stove, but I know for some St. Croix's, when you change what you burn, you also have to change the burn pot (hole size maybe?). what got my attention is the fact that your damper is almost wide open to get a good flame. On my Hastings, and for most SC owners on this forum, we start with barely any opening and adjust from there.

If you are using the corn pot - did you take off the side shields like the manual says is mandatory on page 22?

 

[Arti]

Remove top shield on firepot. I have the same issue with pellets. Need to dump ashes every 12 hours doesn't matter what brand of pellets we use.
If you get some corn just mix about a gallon or so of corn with a bag of pellets it will burn better. As far as the draft damper it doesn't seem to matter with pellets I can't get it to go more than overnight wherever I set it so I set it for a nice lively flame and forget about it.

 

[mithesaint]

I already took the side shields off.

Bogieb - I started with the factory setting on the damper, which was almost wide open. It produced a good clean flame when I started burning corn, so I left it alone from there. Maybe next year when I start burning corn again I'll try a smaller opening and go from there.

Arti - Good to know that I'm not the only one. I'm going to try some AWF White pine tonight, but I suspect the result will be the same in the morning. Have you tried the special pellet pot? I found a pellet burnpot online, but it was $200. I'll mix bagged corn from Rural king in with pellets at that price for the few times a year I burn pellets.

 

[Arti]

I'm in the same boat as you, Burn mostly Corn and pellets to finish out the end of the year, I don't really like to have any corn left over because of rodents and the room it takes up in my basement.
Haven't tried the Pellet Pot however the stove is reasonably efficient the way it is. If Corn gets expensive and pellets stay expensive then I might consider doing something else. Pellets were about 140 a ton when I started burning them.

Btw I burn a corn pellet mix in the cold months approx 2 buckets of corn and a half bucket of pellets mixed together. It seems to work best in my setup.
Damper is about 90% open. I have a short 4 in vent run into a 7 inch all fuel chimney going up thru the roof so the natural draft is very good.

The reason I said that it is reasonably efficient is because it takes 80 lbs of fuel to heat my house in 24 hours if it goes below 0 at night and only gets to single digits during the day. I have a Quadra Fire Santa fe in the living room and if we heat the house with it at the temps I mentioned it takes 2 bags of pellets or 80 lbs a day and heats mainly our main living area with some heat spilling into the far rooms.

The ST Croix lives in the basement and I installed it with it's own duct work (very tight joints and insulated pipe) and heats the entire house. Therefore it doesn't matter which stove we burn it takes the same amount of pellets !!
Neither stove has an oak installed however I do have a fresh air intake into the cold air drop on the gas furnace.
When we first installed the scf 050 Furnace I tapped into the duct work on the gas furnace and found out that it was inefficient hooked up that way.

I like the efficiency of the St Croix, The big hopper and the good quality of the motors and materials used in it.
Don't like the rather small ash pan, having to take the door of 2 times a day to dump ashes and cleaning could be easier,
Putting the baffle in sometimes is a pain, the 3 LITTLE trapdoors could be 10 times bigger but overall we are pleased with the Furnace.
Sorry to get long winded but though you might like to see how others are getting along with the scf 050.
I'm interested in hearing more about your setup and how things are working out.

 

[Bioburner]

The kernals of corn help keep the air flow thru the pile by not melting like wood plus the extra btus help too. Wish they could figure out how to compress the corn ash as it piles up fast. I never had as good as heat from the Santa Fe as our other heaters but made a good shoulder season heater.

 

[mithesaint]

Thanks for the reply Arti. It's nice to see how something worked out for others. Not many people have this furnace, so there's been a lot of trial and error. Well, mostly trial. I've been pretty happy with how things are going.

I originally wanted to get a Revolution. My house is 2400 sq ft, and I live out in the middle of nowhere, and sometimes the wind really kicks up and my windbreak doesn't block much wind yet. I figured I needed the extra BTU from the Revolution and I also wanted the automatic stop start stuff. I got so far as to put down a deposit on a new model, and then found out that St. Croix isn't making them this year/anymore. In the meantime I found a place that had this SCF 050 that they just wanted to get rid of, and got it brand new at a great price. I knew it wasn't big enough, but for the price I was going to give it a try.

I installed it into my basement. Multifuel venting up and out was an arm and a leg, but that was pretty simple. I had originally planned to run new ductwork, but since it's a two story colonial, I'd still have a little trouble heating upstairs. I ended up tapping into my LP furnace ductwork, and closed off about 1/2 the dampers. I'm using the basement as the return. All in all, I'm heating about 3500 sq ft with the unit. It works pretty good down to about 10 degrees or 20 degrees and windy. For those days I have a Englander 10 CPM stove in my living area, and that automatically kicks on when it gets too cool. Either way, I go through about the same amount of pellets as you do. The pellet stove is a bit easier on fuel, but then the basement isn't heated, and the upstairs is a bit cooler.

My only disappointment is how I connected to the LP ductwork. I wanted to connect through the side of the duct to preserve head room in the utility area. I found a boot that would allow that, but it was directional. The end result was that the east side of the house (living room, eat-in kitchen, office, kids bedrooms, foyer) gets heated MUCH better than the west side of the house, which is also the side that the wind hits. The end results is a COLD master bathroom, although a space heater goes a long way there. Our bedroom is a bit cold, but we just add blankets.

That, and I'm a bit disappointed with the pellets not burning as well as they could. Eventually I'd like to switch to a Revolution, but I have to find one first. Bottom line is that I LOVE having a biofuel furnace, and I can't believe they're not more popular. I'd pay good money for a 70K BTU automatic biofuel furnace...and no one makes one, at least not that I have found.

 

[rona]

Thanks for the reply Arti. It's nice to see how something worked out for others. Not many people have this furnace, so there's been a lot of trial and error. Well, mostly trial. I've been pretty happy with how things are going.

I originally wanted to get a Revolution. My house is 2400 sq ft, and I live out in the middle of nowhere, and sometimes the wind really kicks up and my windbreak doesn't block much wind yet. I figured I needed the extra BTU from the Revolution and I also wanted the automatic stop start stuff. I got so far as to put down a deposit on a new model, and then found out that St. Croix isn't making them this year/anymore. In the meantime I found a place that had this SCF 050 that they just wanted to get rid of, and got it brand new at a great price. I knew it wasn't big enough, but for the price I was going to give it a try.

I installed it into my basement. Multifuel venting up and out was an arm and a leg, but that was pretty simple. I had originally planned to run new ductwork, but since it's a two story colonial, I'd still have a little trouble heating upstairs. I ended up tapping into my LP furnace ductwork, and closed off about 1/2 the dampers. I'm using the basement as the return. All in all, I'm heating about 3500 sq ft with the unit. It works pretty good down to about 10 degrees or 20 degrees and windy. For those days I have a Englander 10 CPM stove in my living area, and that automatically kicks on when it gets too cool. Either way, I go through about the same amount of pellets as you do. The pellet stove is a bit easier on fuel, but then the basement isn't heated, and the upstairs is a bit cooler.

My only disappointment is how I connected to the LP ductwork. I wanted to connect through the side of the duct to preserve head room in the utility area. I found a boot that would allow that, but it was directional. The end result was that the east side of the house (living room, eat-in kitchen, office, kids bedrooms, foyer) gets heated MUCH better than the west side of the house, which is also the side that the wind hits. The end results is a COLD master bathroom, although a space heater goes a long way there. Our bedroom is a bit cold, but we just add blankets.

That, and I'm a bit disappointed with the pellets not burning as well as they could. Eventually I'd like to switch to a Revolution, but I have to find one first. Bottom line is that I LOVE having a biofuel furnace, and I can't believe they're not more popular. I'd pay good money for a 70K BTU automatic biofuel furnace...and no one makes one, at least not that I have found.

Bixby made a 70,000 btu furnace called the Ugly Black Box. is a multifuel furnace. Auto ignition and auto dumping so it you don't have to babysit. Of course it isn't made anymore but you can turn a dial for the best settings when burning corn, pellets or a mix. There wasn't many UBBs made as Corn had gone up and there wasn't much demand. I've had one for 5 years and no problems.

 

[Arti]

Thanks for the reply Arti. It's nice to see how something worked out for others. Not many people have this furnace, so there's been a lot of trial and error. Well, mostly trial. I've been pretty happy with how things are going.

I originally wanted to get a Revolution. My house is 2400 sq ft, and I live out in the middle of nowhere, and sometimes the wind really kicks up and my windbreak doesn't block much wind yet. I figured I needed the extra BTU from the Revolution and I also wanted the automatic stop start stuff. I got so far as to put down a deposit on a new model, and then found out that St. Croix isn't making them this year/anymore. In the meantime I found a place that had this SCF 050 that they just wanted to get rid of, and got it brand new at a great price. I knew it wasn't big enough, but for the price I was going to give it a try.

I installed it into my basement. Multifuel venting up and out was an arm and a leg, but that was pretty simple. I had originally planned to run new ductwork, but since it's a two story colonial, I'd still have a little trouble heating upstairs. I ended up tapping into my LP furnace ductwork, and closed off about 1/2 the dampers. I'm using the basement as the return. All in all, I'm heating about 3500 sq ft with the unit. It works pretty good down to about 10 degrees or 20 degrees and windy. For those days I have a Englander 10 CPM stove in my living area, and that automatically kicks on when it gets too cool. Either way, I go through about the same amount of pellets as you do. The pellet stove is a bit easier on fuel, but then the basement isn't heated, and the upstairs is a bit cooler.

My only disappointment is how I connected to the LP ductwork. I wanted to connect through the side of the duct to preserve head room in the utility area. I found a boot that would allow that, but it was directional. The end result was that the east side of the house (living room, eat-in kitchen, office, kids bedrooms, foyer) gets heated MUCH better than the west side of the house, which is also the side that the wind hits. The end results is a COLD master bathroom, although a space heater goes a long way there. Our bedroom is a bit cold, but we just add blankets.

That, and I'm a bit disappointed with the pellets not burning as well as they could. Eventually I'd like to switch to a Revolution, but I have to find one first. Bottom line is that I LOVE having a biofuel furnace, and I can't believe they're not more popular. I'd pay good money for a 70K BTU automatic biofuel furnace...and no one makes one, at least not that I have found.

Traeger makes one it looks like one of the nicer ones available
http://woodstoves.net/traeger/gbu-070-pellet-corn-furnace.htm

 

[mithesaint]

I knew about the traeger, but was very disappointed to find out that it wasn't automatic. It's hard to justify dropping 5K on a furnace that I still have to manually light.

Hadn't heard of the UBB. Interesting.

 

[mithesaint]

Arti - just wanted to give an update. I've been burning the AWF White Pine ultra premium pellets and things have been going much better. I fired up the furnace last night about 7 pm, and it burned on 4/5 most of the night. Forgot to check it this AM, and just got home a little while ago. We're at 18 hours, and I can't even see any ash in the pot. With the Somersets, the pot would be full of ash or overflowing by now.


I bought 12 bags of the WP, but they were very expensive. Somewhere between $6-7/bag iirc. I'm going to try some Equine bedding pellets. They're pine, a bit cheaper, and more available. I'll post back when I get some of those ran through.