US Stove / Ashley 5660 ... Burn Pot & it's gasket

[CladMaster]

Well, after a short time the gasket that's in the channel of the burn pot shrinks / gets compressed (see first picture below). When this happens the sealing ability of the gasket when it sits on the cradle fails and air leaks past in places.

I was looking at replacing the rope gasket in the burn pot but stopped short of doing so. Why ? Well after only 2 months of use with the original pot and 3 weeks with the new replacement pot it seems that I'd need to replace the gasket on both burn pots every 2 / 3 months, this seemed to be a waste of money going this route every 2 / 3 months so I looked to see if there was another way to fix this issue.

Well, after 2 experiments there is, and that is to lay a flat gasket on the cradle that holds the burn pot and to leave the original gasket in the burn pot as well. Both gaskets mate up with each other when the burn pot is in it's cradle and seals better than the single one in the burn pot alone.

I fixed the flat gasket to the cradle with gasket cement, you need to apply a bit to make the gasket stick and stay.

Since doing this the stove burns better and the burn pot stays cleaner inside with only a very small amount of ash / clinker buildup as most of the ash is ejected from the burn pot. I was giving the pot a stir every 8 hours, but now it's every 24 - 30 hours before I need to stir the pot if at all.

The new burn pot (replacement under warranty) seems to be holding up well, it's not warped as much as the original pot, but I am going to keep an eye on that just in case it does.

 

[LordmetalZ28]

Id like to do this. Where did you get that gasket. Also my fake bricks look exactly like yours was wondering if there was something to color in those chipa

 

[CladMaster]

Local hardware store like Ace Hardware.

Going to test some high temp paint as soon as the season is over on the brick panels.

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

About damn time OM.

The original gasket in there wasn't ideal.

The intent was fine, the execution was a bit lacking.

 

[CladMaster]

About damn time OM.

The original gasket in there wasn't ideal.

The intent was fine, the execution was a bit lacking.

Yes, they could have come up with a better design too, there is really no need for the gasket, they could have just welded a solid collar around the pot, this would then sit flush with the cradle and stop the air bypass problem. Also, they need to revise the back part of the pot, pellets fall behind the pot when they fall out of the chute.

The pot could also benefit with a few more air holes, 4 of them in the back edge, same section where the large igniter hole is, this would stop the carbon buildup in that part of the pot that I seem to be getting when the stove is on setting 1 and 2.

There is another modification that they can do to this stove as well, the top area where the heat tubes are, left and right sides, ash traps.

There are two cleanout ports at the bottom left and right sides of the stove (small square covers over them), well, they could add two more at the top (one each side) to allow access to the hidden ash traps in the top corners and at the same time allow access to the tops of the upper tubes and the inner roof of the fire box to clean out all the ash from there. The scraper that cleans the tubes does not clean the area above them or the ash traps in the corners. This would make it so much easier to clean and not have to manufacture tools to bend round corners to clean these areas out unless you have access to an air compressor / can of air, but that makes a mess, and needs to be done outside. Not everyone can move a 250 - 325 lbs lump of steal on their own outside.

As for the stove in it's self, it does a fantastic job at producing heat, much better than I expected, so I can not fault it there, I give it a 9 out of 10 in this section.

Just wish they had taken the time to improve the cleanout options and the burn pot design, here I give it a 6 out of 10.

They rate the stove at 48,000 BTU, and it sure does kick out some heat. I can not leave my hands on the top front of the stove for more than a second or two at best on any setting, when it's on it's highest setting (5) you can't stand in front of it for long, and have to be at least 4 feet away from it or you will get heat burn from the air that's being forced out of the tubes and the radiant heat from the flame through the glass.

I hope to get some more details on it's feed rates per heat setting, I'll have to ask Owen for that, hopefully he will be able to provide that info.
At a guess, I suspect that the high heat setting is feeding around 5.4 - 5.7 lbs per hour. (5.4 x 7500 = 40500 BTU or 5.7 x 7500 = 42750 BTU)

When we had cold nights (-4F or lower), the stove was able to keep up, with the stove room at 82 - 84F and the living room and kitchen at 72 - 75F, my other stove, the 25-PDVC could not do this, I was lucky to get 67F in the living room and kitchen when the temps outside hit -4F or lower.

 

[Doug Doty]

Here some info I have gathered on my 2013 5660 the feed rates are all timed with a Stop Watch and the poundages are per book but match what I get on average. Some pellets feed through a bit faster than others based on length.

 

[LordmetalZ28]

That gasket you found is it burn proof or whatever. Im gonna do this tommrow

 

[LordmetalZ28]

Nevermind I found it. Thanks

 

[Doug Doty]

I do not know why or what is different but mine seems to seal and do fine so far. ??

 

[LordmetalZ28]

I do not know why or what is different but mine seems to seal and do fine so far. ??

Somersets

 

[LordmetalZ28]

Nope. No good. Did this this morning. Igniter wont sit in the burn pot properly had to remove it. Now im left with a mess of glue on my hands. Yuck

 

[Doug Doty]

I had to open up the hole in my burn pot a little to get it all to align and also shorten the ignitor tube too as it was running into the back side of the pot and it would not sit down flat where it belonged and seal.

 

[LordmetalZ28]

Nah im not going that far. I did drill out 6 holes on the burn pot and I dont know if its the switch over of pellets or what but im getting alot less clinker and more soft piles of ash. Im currently burning up my three trial bags of omalley hard woods. Im getting alot more ash throught the stove when the pellets coming down the shoot and hit the pile they expell alot of ash. I do believe thats how its supposed to be on deep burn pots like ours. I dont know for sure but whatever the stoves doing better now then it did with the green supremes

 

[Doug Doty]

I have watched mine closely after cleanings and it does not burn as well when I first clean and all the holes are wide open, it is best after maybe 3-4 hours and a little ash gets in there so my thought was opening the holes might be wrong for my combination.


http://www.TickerFactory.com/weight-loss/wqnt7G2/

 

[LordmetalZ28]

Haaa. I just said it was running good and it threw an E1 overheat code.

 

[LordmetalZ28]

Hi limit tripped or just broke. Wont reset. I assume it was the limit fault since it wont reset and not an over heat issue. Unless these things are a one time only trip deal.

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

Hi limit tripped or just broke. Wont reset. I assume it was the limit fault since it wont reset and not an over heat issue. Unless these things are a one time only trip deal.

You never ever assume a tripped high limit is not an over heat issue.

 

[CladMaster]

Nope. No good. Did this this morning. Igniter wont sit in the burn pot properly had to remove it. Now im left with a mess of glue on my hands. Yuck

Why have you got glue all over your hands ? Your meant to glue the fiberglass rope to the cradle, not your hands !

One of my pots does not sit right either, but has a good seal around the lip of the pot and the cradle, the igniter still works and starts a fire.

I had to open up the hole in my burn pot a little to get it all to align and also shorten the ignitor tube too as it was running into the back side of the pot and it would not sit down flat where it belonged and seal.

I had the same problem with the pot that came with the stove, all I did was to make the hole for the igniter bigger for it to fit.

Hi limit tripped or just broke. Wont reset. I assume it was the limit fault since it wont reset and not an over heat issue. Unless these things are a one time only trip deal.

The snap disc with the red button can be reset, but it needs to cool off first. You need to find out why it tripped. Stuffed up heat exchanger (soot / ash) ?

 

[Doug Doty]

Some days ya just cant win, figure anything out yet

 

[LordmetalZ28]

Some days ya just cant win, figure anything out yet

Yes. Def the snap disk it will not reset at all. Took it down to the work shop and checked continuity wont reset when cool. So I have my uei electric meter temp prob in the snap disk port in the heat exchanger and the stove jumped out. Like I suspected no over heating issues at all. Highest I saw was 140 degrees nowhere near the needed 200 degrees . Im currently burning away nicely at 120 degrees on level 2. Ordered a snap disk from east coast hearth and will call us stove tomorrow for my warranty disk. Perfect timing heres comes record breaking blizzard. Oh well at least I can monitor it and run it

 

[LordmetalZ28]

Nope. No good. Did this this morning. Igniter wont sit in the burn pot properly had to remove it. Now im left with a mess of glue on my hands. Yuck

On my hands kinda meaning like to deal with. Not physically on my hands lol

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

Are you certain that you can't reset that switch?

You can not be ham fisted as it will just spring back open. I can exert all the pressure I want on mine and it just refuses to stay in.

A gentle push until it clicks resets them.

 

[Doug Doty]

I just ran 4 days without having to clean or tend to the 5660 on these dumb easy heat pellets. Was running on 3-4- or 5 the whole time and it stays cleaner with a fire fire burning. New record for this stove and these pellets.