Stove heat and auger levels

[Mregency]

Hey, extremely new to pellet stoves and recently just got one a few weeks ago to help with the rise in propane. I bought a regency gfi55 insert. Hoping it’s a decent stove. When it was first set up the company didn’t use a magnahelic gauge and had to come back and set it up again. Before it wasn’t fully burning the pellets so there was a ton of creosote in the ash pan but it still burned extremely hot. I have a raised ranch and the stove is in the basement. I have a small fan blowing upstairs to help try and heat the 1200 square feet. I had the upstairs at 70 pretty easily using the cubex extra. I also tried the Vermont soft wood pellets, supreme green platinums and the cubex mix of soft and hard pellets. Now that the stove is set with the gauge and burning everything properly with zero creosote I’m having trouble keeping the upstairs at 67 even with the heat on level 5. Now my questions are

1. do the pellets make that much of a difference is how hot it burns. The cubex extra burned extremely hot but were 7.50 a bag

2. I’m having trouble figuring out the heat and auger levels. I hear it should be within 2 levels of each other ? Example heat set at 4 and auger set at 2.When I was using the cubex extra I had the heat at 3 and the auger at 1 and it burned hot. Now I have it set at heat 4 and auger 2 using the supreme green platinums and the Vermont softwoods and barely get it to 67. The downstairs is always hot just the heat upstairs changes. Any help would be awesome. Thank you

 

[SidecarFlip]

First off, read and follow your owners manual and secondly, never buy pellets by the bag, much cheaper to buy them by the full pallet. I'd never consider paying $7.50 a bag, that is totally insane.

 

[Mregency]

Appreciate the response but I did read the manual and there isn’t much about any of that in it. Just shows the default settings. Also I only bought a couple bags because Why would I buy a ton of pellets if I wasn’t sure the quality of them , hence only buying a couple bags for 15 bucks than spending 360 on a ton of pellets. Isn’t that the point of trying different pellets? Lol

 

[SidecarFlip]

Once you have a pellet that works well, stick with it.

 

[johneh]

If you are using a fan to move air blow the cold are toward the stove.
also, did they install an OAK (outside air kit)? There is
some debate on using an OAK . Personally, I use them on all 3 of my stoves
Why because I am a cheap SOB and don't like paying to heat air that is
just going up my chimney.
Heat will depend on a lot of factors, How well your home is sealed and insulated
windows, and outside air temp, wind, and others

 

[gfreek]

Welcome the the forum. Pellets stove are space heaters, not meant for whole house heating, however some have done it. Being in the basement is a factor..Moving air on multilevel homes is trial and error...other factors: outside air temp, pellet quality, outside air infiltration, being an insert there is probably no outside air kit installed for combustion air,meaning it's sucking inside air and exhausting it thru the chimney. The inside air has to be replaced with something, non airtight basement? . It's good you made them return and set it up with the gauge... I buy individual pellet bags to try before I commit to a ton, 7.50 a bag seems kind of high, but better to try before you buy a ton..

 

[Mregency]

Thanks for the response. I don’t have an OAK and the basement isn’t super airtight. The garage is attached to the lower level so I’d imagine it’s able to breath. I have electric heat in the lower level where the stove is. It’s only about 400 square feet. Unheated it gets to about 47-48 degrees when it’s in the 30s outside so I wanted to try a pellet stove. I’m thinking about putting vents in the floor above to transfer some heat upstairs because it doesn’t seem to naturally move up the stairs to heat it. I tried a small fan pointing up the stairs and can only get it to about 67-68 with the pellets I’m currently using. With the cubes extra I got it to 71. So I guess the quality might have been a little better. Will a OAK make the unit burn hotter? The places I’ve talked to around here pretty much say I don’t need one. That if the gauge is set correctly and the pellets are burning correctly than the oak wouldn’t matter much. Thanks for the help










QUOTE="gfreek, post: 2501240, member: 15316"]
Welcome the the forum. Pellets stove are space heaters, not meant for whole house heating, however some have done it. Being in the basement is a factor..Moving air on multilevel homes is trial and error...other factors: outside air temp, pellet quality, outside air infiltration, being an insert there is probably no outside air kit installed for combustion air,meaning it's sucking inside air and exhausting it thru the chimney. The inside air has to be replaced with something, non airtight basement? . It's good you made them return and set it up with the gauge... I buy individual pellet bags to try before I commit to a ton, 7.50 a bag seems kind of high, but better to try before you buy a ton..
[/QUOTE]

 

[johneh]

Will a OAK make the unit burn hotter? The places I’ve talked to around here pretty much say I don’t need

For every cubic foot of air, the stove uses with no OAK means somewhere in the house a cubit foot of cold air has entered your house to replace it but some people love to stuff money up their chimneys.

 

[Mregency]

For every cubic foot of air, the stove uses with no OAK means somewhere in the house a cubit foot of cold air has entered your house to replace it but some people love to stuff money up their chimneys.

If I install an OAK , will I have to adjust the magnahelic gauge again?

 

[johneh]

If I install an OAK , will I have to adjust the magnahelic gauge again?

Short answer NO

 

[Jeremy6500]

I have found it to work best to blow cold air off the floor at the pellet stove.

As stated with the OAK, it can effect the pellet burning but one of the biggest things is that you are heating the air in the house, then pulling it in for combustion and blowing it out the exhaust. This causes you to pull colder air in to the house from outside that you have to heat.

Adding some floor registers to allow the heat from the basement to rise could help heat the main floor, especially if the stairs are not open to the heated area. What is the basement temp getting to?

As far as the pellets. Finding what works good for you is important. When my usual wasn't available I had to use others and my stove performed very badly. Around here pellets run $4.50-5.50 for a 40lb bag.

 

[Mregency]

The basement gets anywhere from 70-85 degrees depending on how high I have the heat. But no matter if the basement is at 80 the heat seems to stand still at the bottom of the stairs instead of rising. I e tried a small fan at the bottom of the stairs but that only helps a small amount. Thinking the registers in the floor would be better since all the heat stays at the ceiling. I’m looking into the OAK but everyone I call tells me I don’t need it. Lol. Everyone on here says yes, all the pellet stove places around my area say no.

I have found it to work best to blow cold air off the floor at the pellet stove.

As stated with the OAK, it can effect the pellet burning but one of the biggest things is that you are heating the air in the house, then pulling it in for combustion and blowing it out the exhaust. This causes you to pull colder air in to the house from outside that you have to heat.

Adding some floor registers to allow the heat from the basement to rise could help heat the main floor, especially if the stairs are not open to the heated area. What is the basement temp getting to?

As far as the pellets. Finding what works good for you is important. When my usual wasn't available I had to use others and my stove performed very badly. Around here pellets run $4.50-5.50 for a 40lb bag.

 

[Jeremy6500]

The basement gets anywhere from 70-85 degrees depending on how high I have the heat. But no matter if the basement is at 80 the heat seems to stand still at the bottom of the stairs instead of rising. I e tried a small fan at the bottom of the stairs but that only helps a small amount. Thinking the registers in the floor would be better since all the heat stays at the ceiling. I’m looking into the OAK but everyone I call tells me I don’t need it. Lol. Everyone on here says yes, all the pellet stove places around my area say no.

If it is getting up to 85 in the basement, then you should definitely get some heat rise.

You mentioned trying to blow the air up the stairs. I have tried both blowing warm air around the house and blowing cold air off the floor at the stove. I have found blowing cold air at the stove works better, but using fans to blow air around never works the greatest. Do you have a ceiling fan near the top of the stairs that you can run on low sucking the air up?

As far as the OAK, it can help/benefit. I would also look at home insulation and sealing drafts when possible.

 

[Ssyko]

Before you go cutting holes in the floor check with the local code officer and your insurance company. Vents like you are proposing are outlawed here in NY for fire safety. A vent can allow for fresh air to feed a fire. I know a lot of people do it.