Too much air or not enough - which way

[stallau]

I have a breckwell Big E for a stove. THe problem I'm having is that #1 - I have maine pellets which tend to burn hot but also leave a bunch of ash. I can run it on setting number 2 which is fine for now but won't be putting out enough heat when winter decides to really start. I've tried running it on 3 but it ends up shutting off because it ends up getting quite the flame going. Which way should I go with the air (manual on a Big E) ? Too little it backs up with obvious results, but with too much I get a nice bonfire. Any suggestions on what I can adjust to get everything happy or with bad pellets comes bad problems??

Thanks for the suggestions

 

[krooser]

How old is the stove? How many tons thry the stove? How often have you cleaned out the ash traps and the areas behined the firebox?

 

[stallau]

The stove is on it's second year. I gave it a good cleaning over the summer via pipe brush and vacuum out behind those two little doors when I clean it each week. The other part of my weekly cleaning it to get the extra buildup on the heat pipes that the built in scraper doesn't get. I've only put through about 15 - 20 bags this year.

 

[imacman]

The stove is on it's second year. I gave it a good cleaning over the summer via pipe brush and vacuum out behind those two little doors when I clean it each week. The other part of my weekly cleaning it to get the extra buildup on the heat pipes that the built in scraper doesn't get. I've only put through about 15 - 20 bags this year.

Forum member and Breckwell dealer Eric at Kinsman stoves did a 4 part(I think it was 4...?) cleaning series last winter. He is a great guy, and also one of the resident experts on Breckwells.

Here's part 1:

www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/forums/viewthread/29589/

 

[jtakeman]

I have a breckwell Big E for a stove. THe problem I'm having is that #1 - I have maine pellets which tend to burn hot but also leave a bunch of ash. I can run it on setting number 2 which is fine for now but won't be putting out enough heat when winter decides to really start. I've tried running it on 3 but it ends up shutting off because it ends up getting quite the flame going. Which way should I go with the air (manual on a Big E) ? Too little it backs up with obvious results, but with too much I get a nice bonfire. Any suggestions on what I can adjust to get everything happy or with bad pellets comes bad problems??

Thanks for the suggestions

Personally I found the bigE picky about the pellets you burn. Mainly because the burn pot is rather small. You could use the maine pellets for the shoulders and see if you can find a cleaner burning pellet. One that burns clean and has little ash will allow you to run the higher settings.

But if you do have to burn the maine on the higher settings go with as much air as you can. This will blow the ash out of the burn pot and Should give you a cleaner burn. Other wise the flame tends get excessive. The ash will stay in the burn pot and the pellets will build up on top of the ash. Try to set the dampar as high as you can. Just about blow the pellets out of the burn pot. The flame will be high but it will continue to burn and not load up on you. Its just how that stove is on iffy pellets. More like pellets with heavy ash. Light ash just blows right out with a little less air from the damper.

My bigE loved the Barefoots and Turman pellets. Hamer hot ones burned pretty well too. It also burned Spruce Pointes rather nicely, So the Okanagans should do well too. If you can afford it. Try a few bags of the above mentioned and See how it goes.

One last thing, Does the stove have an OAK? I found my bigE to burn better with the OAK. Really helped the burn quality.

Jay

 

[yknotcarpentry]

I have to agree 100% with Jay. I am burning spruce pointes right now and not having much ash. I am burning on either a 2 or 3 setting and I am setting the damper at probably say 3/4" to 1" out, its not quite a blow torch flame but just under. I sat there for awhile and played with it til it was blowing the pellets around pretty hard knocking ash out each time new pellets were dropped. last year I burned firesides in it without an oak installed and it was horrible. I installed the oak this year and I think the performance is much better even though I haven't really compared it with the same pellets... I need to clean those trap doors myself... thanks for the reminder.

 

[stallau]

Macman - Thanks for the thread on cleaning. I discovered those last year on mine and while not quite as full it was probably about1 - 2 inches deep. Much better performance after I finally cleaned there so I make a point to check on every cleaning

JTakeman - Thanks for the list of pellets. I have a little less than 4 tons of the Maine left but with a list like that of good pellets I take note for next season and even if it's $30 or $30 more a ton it's worth it to me for less hassle.

I did add an oak this year and I di seem to have a more lively flame with it. I'll have to try opening the damper more and see how everything works.

Thanks all for the help and especially for the humor.

I"ll probably be trying the leafblower in a couple weeks and if so I"ll try to get some pics.

 

[jtakeman]

How often are you scraping the burn pot?

 

[stallau]

I scrape it so that it's clean every time I empty it. Unfortunately that's daily.