US PELLET STOVE 5500 READ THIS IF U HAVE ONE

[TODJ2002]

I have read alot of posts about the crappy burn this stove has and I had purchased one of these stoves last fall. I too agree that this POS does burn crappy and is noisy. however, I have been trying to make the best of it and this is what i have done to improve things so far. I have only been using pellet stoves for a few years so correct me anyone or add any opinon please.
first problem was the door gasket was crappy and it seemed when the stove was good and hot, the metal bent and made gap even larger at the top of the door. I fixed this by adding rope to the top of the door only as the rest of the seal seemed fine.
second I drilled about 50% of the holes in the burn pot bigger for more air to get thru and burn the pellest better.
I sealed the holes in the ash pit in the corners. I am not sure if they were a problem with air leaking but to be sure I sealed them.
and just recently I have been tinkering with the feed rate and draft rate. this is what i have found to work best. I put the draft rate on 9. this is the highest setting but since I have done this the glass has stayed cleaner WAY longer. the glass would be dirty within a few hours if I left the draft on auto, or pretty much any other setting.
also I had the problem that many others had with the pellets filling the pot and spilling all over and the pot would be one solid clinker ect. well now i have feed rate set at 4.5 and (max) and keep draft on 9 all the time, min feed rate set at 1.7. it has been hovering around zero here last few days and seems to be working fine.
also I have tstat hooked up and set at 70 and has kept it 70 in liv room with no prob.

I hope this info helps someone because I have been tinkering with draft rate and feed rate ect for quite awhile now and this seems to be working well. my only question is having the draft fan set so high, is it putting more of the heat out my exhuast instead of in my house? at any rate it seems to be working well. please chime in with any comments. tks.

 

[DexterDay]

Burn problems are a problem in certain stoves. There was another member that recently had a problem with a 5500.

If its clean and you have searched for all normal problems (gaskets, vent EVL, etc) then do a search for "Magnum Baby Countryside". Thats another problematic stove when new. They to had air flow problems.

Just a thought. But remember, any modification is a void in warranty. I am in no way saying mod'ing a stove is the right/safe thing to do.

 

[TODJ2002]

Tks. I am aware of warranty issue. I was hesitant because once the mod is made there is no turning back, but with this simple mod worst case I would buy new burn pot if it backfired on me. no gasket probs that I can see other than the crappy door seal that I fixed. and no evl probs. vented straight out wall to clean out and about 2 feet of vertical rise outside. this stove from all the post I have read just seems to be problematic in this area. My old 2001 enviro cranks out heat better than this new stove and is alot quieter. no thermostat for my enviro tho and doesnt have the large hopper. I had to order the steel wall backing for it the other day. It was $130 but worth it to keep this old stove going. I would not recommend the us 5500 stove to anyone at this point but maybe with some tinkering I will change my mind. also the convection fans are loud on this stove. since it is installed in my liv room u have to have the tv cranked up to here it. But the price was right. I paid $999 for it at trac supply so u get what u pay for right? I am considering adding a pellet or wood furnace to put in my cellar and tie into duct work for next season. still doing my homework and looking at different models and options.

 

[mikkeeh]

I have a 5500 I use for my shop. Have run it in "auto" mode most of the time. 12" horz out the back to cleanout T, 4' vertical with OAK. It seems to run pretty good. If I idle it down to "1" overnight, the glass gets alot of ash buildup, as well as the inside of the door, on the top of the lower section of door gasket. So much so that when you open the door...it dumps about3 tbls. of ash on the floor. In the shop its not a problem, but in the house it would be a PITA. The noise is not a problem...but would be much different in the living room. Once I get things warmed up in the morning, I usually run it on "2" or "3" and it seems to run pretty good. Heat output is adequate. Overall a good stove for what I use it for...but i wouldnt want one in my living room. $800 on sale.

 

[mooselake]

I've have a 5500 that's on it's 4th winter, run it in auto mode other than turning the room fan up to 9. Some time back I turned the minimum feed rate to 1.7. Noisy, but otherwise has worked fine since I got it. It's on a thermostat, heat control set at 4. I've got an Ikea oven thermometer wire tied to the room air outlet to monitor the output air temp. Burn around 4T a year in it, heats a big somewhat drafty house until it's about 25 degrees outside, then we fire up the Jensen (now USSC) wood boiler.

The part of the door latch that attaches to the stove body needs some tweaking to make it close tight - I tried hammering on the end to tighten it, but it snapped off. USSC sent me another free (even after I explained it was my fault) and I shimmed it with some brass under the top edge. The door now seals tight and passes the dollar bill test all around. This fall I replaced the gasket rope and the door glass gasket leaving a one inch gap in the bottom center that helps keep the glass cleaner. After 3 winters the gaskets were getting ragged.

Every year the ignitor burns out. Got two under warranty, one out of my own pocket, now I use homemade starter - fill a clear cottage cheese container 3/4 full, pour in enough denatured alcohol that there's a quarter inch or so on the bottom, shake, and let it set a few hours. Fill the burn pot about half full and light. It's faster than the ignitor, too.

The stove needs to be fast cleaned (don't shut down, push the ash out the cleanouts, dump the burn pot, refill with starter and relight) midweek, and a good ash vac cleanout on the weekend (open the lid and let it shut down and cool first). Pull the cleanout's in the back of the firebox, rap on the back wall a couple times, and clean out all the ash in the heat exchanger - I use a piece of clear vinyl tubing (I think it's 1/2" id) duct taped to the vac hose and stick it in the holes in the top upper corners and wave it around the inside a bit in addition to cleaning through the cleanouts.

You can put a 1 1/2" PVC ball valve on the air inlet and experiment with the draft. I get a few extra degrees out with it just closed a bit.

Hope this helps.

 

[TODJ2002]

I am looking at this model wood furnace. Anybody know anything this manufacturer? I think one of these in the basement along with my pellet stoves would be good.
http://store.dakacorp.com/DAKA_Model_521FB_Wood_Coal_Burning_Furnace_p/521fb.htm

 

[TODJ2002]

Anybody know if the small cleanout doors should be closed tightly or left loose? On my US stove they are loose and I have always left them a little loose on my old enviro also. While cleaning the enviro today I got to wondering if they should be closed tight or left loose, sort of swinging freely. On the US stove they are doors that slide upwards to be removed for cleaning and are held in by 2 bolts (one on each side) but are very loose. So should they be cranked down tight? or left loose? Thanks.

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

Well if firebox gases can get through them they can impact the heat output, increase the exhaust temperatures, and change the path that the fly ash follows inside the firebox.

How much, who knows. I'd tighten them a bit but don't crank on them.

 

[TODJ2002]

Alright. Thats what Im gonna do. Tks.

 

[Profire73]

TODJ2002, they should be tight.

 

[TODJ2002]

OK so previously i said i had set the minimum feed rate at 1.7 but i have recently moved it to 1.25. I may even try lower and see how low i can get it without going out. 1.7 was working good, but it had been cold and i noticed when it got warmer and the stove was running on low for extended periods it was overflowing pellets with one huge solid clinker the size of the burnpot like before. lowering it down to 1.25 has made it much better but from the looks of the burn when on running on low it lt can probably go even lower. I think i may be able to lower it more, maybe down to1 and i will let u know how it goes. I also caulked the holes on the front and back of the burnpot so that all the air is forced thru the bottom of the burnpot. all these things have made it burn much better. lower feed rate means saving pellets getting it dialed in. slow but sure. I might try and turn the draft down to 7 or 8 now that i filled the holes on the burnpot also.......

 

[houdini_79]

I am a renter. When I moved into my house, there was a multi-fuel stove, but previous tenants had broke the control panel and it would not turn on, and we couldn't get the (only) authorized repair person to make the trip out to estimate a repair. The landlords have now purchased a king/ashley 5500m and basically dropped it off and 'here you go, hope it works good for you'. Knowing nothing about a pellet stove, we are tying to get it to work right. We have spoken to customer service several times and STILL have a horrible acrid smell in the house. So bad that my mouth,throat, and sinuses are inflamed and had to send my youngest (asthmatic) child to stay at her dad's house. After changing the exhaust pipes a couple times and replacing the door gasket I was told by customer service to shut the stove off and file a claim and was emailed the paper work. When I informed the landlord of this decision, he decided to, instead, go back to the store and have the store manager come take a look. Their cumulative solution was to 1) remove the exhaust cap and 3' pipe and replace it wth a 90° elbow connected directly to the cleanout T with a vertical cap (so the exhaust had less distance to travel) and 2) decrease the airwash gap at the bottom of the glass to 2" with gasket cement used like caulking. I now have more heat, but still have this horrible smell. Any suggestions for what to try now?

 

[mikkeeh]

How many hours on the stove. All new stoves, pellet, wood, etc have oils and preservatives on them from manufacturing that will burn off and cause an odor. Usually a couple of hours of hot burn takes care of that. Did you check the stove thoroughly to be sure there wasn't any packing/plastic/foam left anywhere after unpacking??? Just a thought.

 

[houdini_79]

120 hours now...have cleaned it out twice now from excessive ash buildup so, unless they put packing materials inside of the back of it, which i assume requires disassembly, then yes, i have cleared all packaging. And the first 5 hours we burned it as per directions with all of the Windows open...and honestly...it smells worse now than when we did that... :-(

 

[y2k400ex]

I've had the 5500 for 4 years now and I am happy with it. It has about 4 ft of 3 in pipe with 2 elbows into a chimney. The brand of pellets makes a hugh difference In how well the stove operates. Currently burning freedom fuel premium. Green Supreme burned very well too. I run it on a setting of 1 and burn 1 bag a day. The room air fan is always in high no matter what setting I try, I run the draft fan on 4.