US Stove 8500 info and a question

[BillinOhio]

Good morning all.
I am 2 years in with my 8500 US Stove in my shop. The most helpful information I have found is on YouTube. The videos that
"Land/Air Mechanical" graciously put out are great! The one thing that I discovered THIS year, after watching a couple of them, was the two doors on each side of the burn pot. I guess I missed that on the previous views and the chamber behind that was plumb full! I vacuumed that out and the stove has been running great! I was having "error 2"s shutting down the stove and this was my fix. Also, the window has been staying much clearer than ever before!

Now, my question: I built an extension to make the burn pot taller, and he described, and the burn pot seems to be extremely full of ash and burning pellets. It seems to be working well, but I would have thought that the ashes would work their way down into the ash drawer. Am I wrong on that assumption?

Hope this helps someone struggling with their stove. Keeping them clean is key!

 

[ARC]

I would have thought that the ashes would work their way down into the ash drawer. Am I wrong on that assumption?

Correct, try turning up a the stir rod/agitator. You can turn it up using the aux button or using the C codes. If you use the C codes keep notes so you can always go back to what works best.

 

[slowlymakingprogress]

I'm in the fourth season with my 8500 that keeps my 2400 square foot house at 68 degrees but with the cold snap we're in(highs in single digits and lows even lower) I did have to turn on the heat strip to help out, but the two work well together. I did insulate the duct work work considering my basement( location of 8500) is poorly insulated and drafty but I have no complaints on the performance of the 8500. I too watched the helpful Land Air Mechanical videos but also got tons of help here from the Pellet Mill. Thank You!! My 8500 likes to pile up also as you described but I have found that if open the dampener all the way and adjust the draft in C6 and C7 settings I still get great heat, maybe even better, and the pellets burn up more complete while yet keeping exhaust at or below 250 degrees when running hard. I have [email protected] and HR5@5pph and still have some pile up when she's running in HR4 or HR5 but considerably less than before when I had dampener opened about 1/2way. I have not found any info for a fresh air kit for the 8500 so I took a 4" flex dryer hose that I keep as close as I can to air intake on the ash pan by holding it in place with coat hanger and other end of hose to outside air source that allows fresh air which was the best thing I could've done. Like I said earlier I still do get some pile up of unburned or smoldering pellets( not near as bad as before when they would overflow burn pot) but now as far as ash build up it's rather minimal as most of it falls to ash pan. I've been experimenting with different agitator settings but have yet to get that figured out so I wont approach that topic. I have unit hooked to a thermostat and normally don't go higher than HR3 unless it's really cold out and have to empty ash pan maybe once a week. Make sure to keep unit clean and the holes in burn pot are clean and make sure gasket around door ain't leaking. Get some fresh air to it and adjust C settings. hopefully this helped out. Thanks

 

[BillinOhio]

Good info, thanks! My C-codes are: C2=1.1, C3=4.9, C6=25, C7=250, C8=200, C15=2 and just checked C4 WAS 31, now 45 and C5 WAS 50, now 55. I will report what happens. I have never adjusted the agitator settings, until now. Thank you! I attached pics of burn pot as of right now and my solution to not enough air flow. I took the panel out and covered it with this wire mesh.

 

[Jeremy6500]

Good morning all.
I am 2 years in with my 8500 US Stove in my shop. The most helpful information I have found is on YouTube. The videos that
"Land/Air Mechanical" graciously put out are great! The one thing that I discovered THIS year, after watching a couple of them, was the two doors on each side of the burn pot. I guess I missed that on the previous views and the chamber behind that was plumb full! I vacuumed that out and the stove has been running great! I was having "error 2"s shutting down the stove and this was my fix. Also, the window has been staying much clearer than ever before!

Now, my question: I built an extension to make the burn pot taller, and he described, and the burn pot seems to be extremely full of ash and burning pellets. It seems to be working well, but I would have thought that the ashes would work their way down into the ash drawer. Am I wrong on that assumption?

Hope this helps someone struggling with their stove. Keeping them clean is key!

I have a USSC 6500. It is pretty much an 8500, just slightly smaller. Same burn pot etc etc.

I missed the 2 doors beside the burn pot the first year too. Once I got them all cleaned out it made a huge difference.

Your picture does look like excessive ash. 99% of the time that is related to airflow. Even the smallest impediment can cause an issue. Look at this thread I just posted about mine. My ash wasn't as bad as yours, but was definitely building up.

USSC 6500 Cleanliness Reminder

Just a reminder for everyone that even a small bit of ash obstruction can effect your pellet burn. Had a cold snap here the last few days. Highs below 0*F (-6* - -4*) and the lows in the negative teens at night. Because if this my USSC 6500 has spent a lot more time running on PR2 and PR3 than...

www.hearth.com

Cleaning the stove, using a leaf blower on the vent and then using a wire wheel attached to my drill on the burn pot did the trick. Just to be safe I bumped up my draft fan low and high settings some to increase the air flow.

Turning up the agitator frequency couldn't hurt either. Your burn pot looks a lot like mine did when my agitator quit working. Motor was still good, but the pin that held the shaft to the agitator was gone. I replaced it and all is good.

How much more airflow did you notice with removing the side panel by the fans. My 6500 has the same 2 blowers, but no panel to remove. I have been thinking of cutting a round hole in the metal and attaching a 10" metal collar with a screen.

 

[ARC]

I have not found any info for a fresh air kit for the 8500 so I took a 4" flex dryer hose that I keep as close as I can to air intake on the ash pan by holding it in place with coat hanger and other end of hose to outside air source that allows fresh air which was the best thing I could've done.

Fresh air kit for 8500 and 6500 was discontinued you have made one that is close to what they sold. It was a dryer like flex hose that went to a metal box that hung in front of air intake your post in the blow thread is great and if BillinOhio hasn't read it yet he should.

https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/ussc-8500-fresh-air-kit.185815/

 

[Jeremy6500]

Good info, thanks! My C-codes are: C2=1.1, C3=4.9, C6=25, C7=250, C8=200, C15=2 and just checked C4 WAS 31, now 45 and C5 WAS 50, now 55. I will report what happens. I have never adjusted the agitator settings, until now. Thank you! I attached pics of burn pot as of right now and my solution to not enough air flow. I took the panel out and covered it with this wire mesh.

View attachment 322915 View attachment 322916

Your C6 and C7 seem to be very low compared to how I run mine, especially if the ranges are the same as my 6500.

Defaults are 150 and 400. For my cleanest burn on high heat settings I run 175 and 450.

I know there is talk about the higher draft fan settings pulling heat out, but mine still produces very well.

 

[BillinOhio]

I will bump up my draft fan setting to what you suggested. Thanks. I guess my thought was that that would pull more heat out the exhaust. I keep notes, so I will give it a try.

Also, on the subject of sifting pellets, I built a sifted modeled after the one that Land/Air posted. It sifts out alot of dust, and I believe that does help. I used an old cabinet for mine.

 

[Jeremy6500]

I will bump up my draft fan setting to what you suggested. Thanks. I guess my thought was that that would pull more heat out the exhaust. I keep notes, so I will give it a try.

Also, on the subject of sifting pellets, I built a sifted modeled after the one that Land/Air posted. It sifts out alot of dust, and I believe that does help. I used an old cabinet for mine.

View attachment 323041 View attachment 323042 View attachment 323043

I used to have my draft settings lower to try and keep more heat in. I had also watched the Land Air Mechanic guy and followed a lot of what he said.

I found that everyone's setup is unique and that, while his settings are a good starting point, they are not optimal for everyone. I didn't notice any difference in heat output when I changed the draft setting. What I noticed is that I didnt get as clean of a burn at higher feed rates when the high draft setting was too low.

I would also encourage you to make sure you exhaust is super clean and that your burn pot holes are clean. Even a small buildup around them that makes the holes smaller effects my burn performance a lot. I use a wire wheel on my drill to clean the burn pot really well.

 

[Jeremy6500]

For reference, this is a picture of my burn pot after about 3-3.5 days of burning on PR2 and PR3 (the 6500 only has PR1 - PR3 for heat settings). It is hooked up to a thermostat so it is not burning on the higher settings non-stop, but with the cold snap it is burning on them quite frequently since PR-1 wont hole the temp.