Well folks, I'm feeling kind of foolish after all my posts and headscratching. I replaced my flameguide right around christmas. My old one I thought was not that bad, had a little play at the back vertically, but wasn't a bad fit. After I put the new flameguide on, there was immediately alot of flame behind my logset, bluish and dark orange. My immediate thought is that it was going to be worse and something was majorly screwy. Anyhow, after an hour or so, was all cleared up, the creosote buildup I had was gone, and everything seemed to be normal. I would say the flame I had in the back was the creosote burning off. I have since gone back to my original settings I have been running since I have had the stove for 6 winters. Feed rate about 3 1/3, low voltage draft at original position as was set by my dealer. Everything seems to be running smooth, bright flame, low carbon buildup, no creosote. I have been taking my pellets from a different part of my pile, which would have come from a different pallet than when I was having issues. The only other thing I noticed was that my feed dial is a bit loose, I wiggled it a bit and since then the feed seems to be normal. When I was having problems it seemed that it was overfeeding all the time, huge flames and smoke, and no matter where the dial was it seemed to be the same. Also wondering if it could have been my feed dial. But, brings me back to the point that the stove should not overfeed as I was told by my dealer, and by different posts on here.
In any event, the stove is running good now. Still get some whoofing on low flame, and seem to be going through alot of pellets, but they are burning bright and flame is normal. I'm running through 2 bags/day on stove temp #4 and feed 3 - 3 1/3. Seems to me previous years this would = 1 bag to 1.5 bags/day. only other thing is that the ash on the sides of stove and under burnpot is still black not gray, but nowhere near as sooty as before. Could be the pellets, could it also be bad window or door gasket? that is my next project, replacing the window and door gaskets.
Thank you all again for your feedback. This site rocks, there is great comfort knowing that when you are having problems you can not get to the bottom of, all you have to do is come here and someone always is able to help to find a solution!
I hope my problems are solved for this winter! Been over a week of no problems, possibly all due to a $25 flameguide.