New pellet stove owner; second-hand stove. Couldn't afford a Harman, and the wife liked the looks of this Empress. Previous owner (according to the story) used it for a couple years before switching to gas. Recently discovered that it may be a pre-'07 model. (Owner's manuals show different control panel on post-'06 stoves.)
Seller fired it up in his shop and showed me the slow flame, the blowtorch flame, and the ideal flame. It appears as though adding six feet of pipe and over a foot of cold air intake tubing changes the dynamics of the flame A LOT! Pellet brand (I'm using ThermaGlo) likely has an effect as well. I've had a heckuva time making adjustments, reading threads, making another adjustment, and reading more threads until I got some consistent performance.
I'd appreciate your comments since I have no experience with pellet stoves.
To get away from the blowtorch flame, I finally loosened the stop collar on the bottom damper control and pushed the sucker all the way in. Also adjusted the auger to top speed, and have been running the stove on #3 setting. The flame alternates between low (after a few pellets finally fall into the pot) to about half the height of the door glass (when the recently-dropped pellets catch fire). Pellet level in the burn pot seems to stay at just one pellet depth—no piles.
When I tried lower settings (#1 and #2) pellets piled up and the fire went out. When I tried the #5 setting briefly, I got a great flame—just like the picture in the owner's manual. Setting 3 is putting out great heat on this mild day, and I hope that settings 4 and 5 will keep us warm when the cold weather hits like the Farmers Almanac is predicting.
Having read every thread on this site about the Empress, I fully expect the auger and blower motors to go out at any moment, as well as the electronic control panel. But I'm committed at this point. I do have a couple of questions : 1) Is the auger motor indeed CCW rotation? Gleason-Avery shows two 1.1rpm gearboxes that I presume fit this stove. 2) Anybody know the specs for the control panel fuse? I'd like to have a spare on hand but am reluctant to disassemble the stove just to see the fuse. 3) Ash pan latch does not snug the ash pan to the stove tightly. The weight of the pan appears to close the gap, but the latch itself seems designed simply to prevent theft by a burglar. Should I worry about this? 4) Extended use at #5 setting is said to have a bad effect on the motors because of the heat. Would there be anything wrong with setting up a small fan (muffin fan) to blow through the internals at the back of the stove?
Thanks in advance for your comments.
Seller fired it up in his shop and showed me the slow flame, the blowtorch flame, and the ideal flame. It appears as though adding six feet of pipe and over a foot of cold air intake tubing changes the dynamics of the flame A LOT! Pellet brand (I'm using ThermaGlo) likely has an effect as well. I've had a heckuva time making adjustments, reading threads, making another adjustment, and reading more threads until I got some consistent performance.
I'd appreciate your comments since I have no experience with pellet stoves.
To get away from the blowtorch flame, I finally loosened the stop collar on the bottom damper control and pushed the sucker all the way in. Also adjusted the auger to top speed, and have been running the stove on #3 setting. The flame alternates between low (after a few pellets finally fall into the pot) to about half the height of the door glass (when the recently-dropped pellets catch fire). Pellet level in the burn pot seems to stay at just one pellet depth—no piles.
When I tried lower settings (#1 and #2) pellets piled up and the fire went out. When I tried the #5 setting briefly, I got a great flame—just like the picture in the owner's manual. Setting 3 is putting out great heat on this mild day, and I hope that settings 4 and 5 will keep us warm when the cold weather hits like the Farmers Almanac is predicting.
Having read every thread on this site about the Empress, I fully expect the auger and blower motors to go out at any moment, as well as the electronic control panel. But I'm committed at this point. I do have a couple of questions : 1) Is the auger motor indeed CCW rotation? Gleason-Avery shows two 1.1rpm gearboxes that I presume fit this stove. 2) Anybody know the specs for the control panel fuse? I'd like to have a spare on hand but am reluctant to disassemble the stove just to see the fuse. 3) Ash pan latch does not snug the ash pan to the stove tightly. The weight of the pan appears to close the gap, but the latch itself seems designed simply to prevent theft by a burglar. Should I worry about this? 4) Extended use at #5 setting is said to have a bad effect on the motors because of the heat. Would there be anything wrong with setting up a small fan (muffin fan) to blow through the internals at the back of the stove?
Thanks in advance for your comments.
