the good verses the bad

[yknotcarpentry]

so after reading the best and worst pellet threads I have come to a conclusion that differant pellets work for some and not for others? Is this due to the type of stove being used to burn them or related to the feed rate/ air mixture?
For instance I had a bag of penningtons and on Fri night I burned them over night and awoke to a fair amount of ash. Sat night, my first night on these boards I finally leaned how to adjust my feed rate air mix on my stove as I was never sure how to do it(when the stove is at a heat setting of 1 or 2). Fri night it was set at 6 feed 4 air. After adjusting it to 4 feed 4 air Sat night when I came down on Sun morning I had significantly less ash in my pan then the previous night. This all assumes a heat setting of 2 which I always set my stove to when we go to bed and when we leave the house. Honestly I never turned my stove up higher than 5 because it just even needed; and when I do turn it up it is just for short periods when we are home to get the house nice and toasty.
On the bad pellet thread some one just stated that the generic wood pellets from canada were full of ash, at these same settings f4 a4 I burned some last night and had very minimal ash and I would also say that compared to the penningtons the night before my house was warmer this morning (it is also 10 degrees warmer outside so I know this is a factor)???

How much impact does changing the feed rate and air supply effect the amount of ash have for the rest of you? Is the ash just remnants of pellets that were burnt but not to their full capacity? thus leaving more ash?

Just still trying to figure all this out What has worked for you in these settings?

also by adjusting the feed rate and air(in heat setting 2) say to f 9 and a 9 would this be say the equvilant of a heat setting 4 or 5 ????

another note last season leaving my stove at the f6 a4 setting I would fill my hopper at night and when I woke it was practically empty, on my new setting it is still half full I am so glad I learned how to do this. I do realize I am cutting back on the amount of heat produce at these but I'd rather get longer slow heat at these time and when it gets really cold I'm sure I will increase it back up as neccesary.

Thanks

 

[Clay H]

Its been my experience that ash builds whe you choke down the air, not because you have unburnt pellets but when the air is open fully and the flame is very busy, more ash is actually carried out of the exhaust and carried away in the wind. This also will deposit more ash in your exhaust "T" and any pipe sections that are horizontal.

 

[dbjordan]

Having used different stoves though the years, yes feed and draft settings do make a big difference. But I am not a real big ash watcher. Last year I burned Turmans, and they were the HOTTEST pellets I have ever burned; but they were very ashy. It was also some of the finest ash I have seen. Have have burned other pellets in the past that were less ashy, but put out less heat. I will make the ash for heat trade any time. I moved from WV back to MD in the middle of the winter, and had to make some (big) air feed adjustments with the same pellets and stove. Relative humidity makes a Big difference as well. To complicate things more, my Dad currently has an older Whitfield, and we have big ash differences using the same pellets. It is just a matter of trail and error, to find what combinations will work best for you. Good luck finding your sweet spot for this year. Hopefully it will make it easier to find it again next year. It will change!