Vogelzang 5790 Recent burning issue.

[Joe.G]

Hi, I have had this stove for about 6 Years and I put between 4 to 6 Ton a year though it and it heats my 2,600 SQ FT home without issue in the North East winter.
A couple weeks ago it started to burn really dark and fill the burn pot up with a hard dust in a couple days, All of the soot in the chimmney which started to fill up and in the chamber turned from normal soft grayish ash to black. I took it apart along with exhaust blower and cleaned everything up like I do about twice a year with no change.

I tried moving the damper to diffrernt settings ( I usually have it between 1/4 and half since my stove normally runs on low and never have it higher then the 3rd setting ) with no change.

I tried Golden Pellets and Barefoot no change.

I tried a new auger motor for the heck of it since I did have one go bad a few years ago and it was doing something similiar but was also cooking me out of the house which is not the case this time .

Not sure what else to do, Any tips? Thank you

 

[johneh]

When was the last time the stove was cleaned
from air intake to top of the chimney?

 

[tlc1976]

Barefoots should be great in this stove. They appear to be the same composition as the pro pellets that work amazing in mine. I have the little sibling of yours and it has most of the same parts.

Other than pellets which you already tried, it sounds exactly like the stove isn’t getting the air it needs. Especially the part about moving the damper and no change. Mine did that before I installed outside air.

Have you cleaned out the side ash traps in addition to all the passages? I run a long flexible dryer lint brush through my heat exchanger passages every now and then. And that little square part where the exhaust blower meets the pipe.

Do you have an outside air kit? If so, is there an animal or nest in it? Or if you don’t have outside air, have you done anything to the house to make it more tightly sealed, or are running things that will create more negative pressure like dryers and exhaust fans a lot more often?

Can you tell if your exhaust blower sounds like it’s running at the same speeds as usual?

 

[Joe.G]

About twice a year I do a pretty good cleaning on it andi hit it with and air compressor and vacumm. I am going to pull it back apart and give it a good cleaning again ( I did it on Easter when this first started happening but I may have missed something ).

Barefoot have always ran good for me in this stove.

The Exhaust motor is older but it appears to be running at normal speed but I don't really have a way to verify this.

I am hoping a good cleaning again will do the trick. This stove has been a work horse for me.
I did notice the metal nipple on the stove where the pressure switch tube mounts wiggles a little bit, no t sure if this is a new or has been like this.

 

[tlc1976]

As far as the exhaust fan speed I was thinking after all these years you might have a good idea what it sounds like, what pitch it runs at. If it sounds lower all of a sudden then that would indicate something is slowing it down.

Even if you don’t have outside air you could have had a mouse or something crawl into the air intake tube on the back. I believe the intake is a straight tube. With the damper open you can poke a dowel or something in the back and see if it passes freely into the area below the burn pot. You can also make sure the damper isn’t broken this way too.

I wouldn’t worry about the pressure switch nipple right now. If there was a vacuum problem you would get a code and the stove would shut down. But if you think it might be leaking you could always smear some high temp rtv around it on the outside of the heat exchanger. Won’t hurt anything as long as you don’t get any in the tube.

 

[Joe.G]

The exhaust blower sounds the same as far as I can tell and I am pretty good at picking up on these things. I will give it a good cleaning and hope that is all it is and I will also check to make sure damper didnt get plugged. I will do this in the morning and I will report back.

 

[Joe.G]

I don't want to Jinx myself but It seems to be good now, I did a really good cleaning ( I think I took it easy with the compressor on easter because well I don't think the family wanted to look like coal miners ) . So i blew everything out and took everything off and after about 2 Hrs I had it looking new. I fired it up and it instantly looks better and it has been about two hrs and the glass is still clean .

I was thinking about trying these since people seem to rave about them. (broken link removed to https://www.ebay.com/itm/Klinkerking-Pellet-Stove-Burn-pot-Improver-New-product-for-2018-Vogelzang/264589610397)

 

[Joe.G]

Everything is still going well, Honestly for the price this stove has been very good, I purchased the Klinker King insert and I don't think the stove is burning any different and I also don't belive it has kept the glass cleaner longer, I do believe that it has stopped the pellets missing the burn pot and going to waste and Ill confirm that on the next cleaning.

 

[Don2222]

Everything is still going well, Honestly for the price this stove has been very good, I purchased the Klinker King insert and I don't think the stove is burning any different and I also don't belive it has kept the glass cleaner longer, I do believe that it has stopped the pellets missing the burn pot and going to waste and Ill confirm that on the next cleaning.

Hello
Can you please post a picture of the clinker king?
I have no idea what it looks like?
Thanks

 

[Ssyko]

Its a metal frame that extends the top of the burn pot.

 

[Joe.G]

It seems to kep the fire bit more focused and does keep the pellets in, My stove ran really good before adding this, I made this post but it was just a cleaning issue on my part. The only reason I still use this is because it does keep the pellets from bouncing out. I would say it is something that should be added to the stove for that reason and that reason only on a well working stove.

 

[Ssyko]

I made something similar to raise the front of the lip to keep pellets in the pot and not in the ash pan on my old Breckwell. Didn’t affect the burn much

 

[Don2222]

Its a metal frame that extends the top of the burn pot.

View attachment 259920

Thanks for showing that. It is very similar the the one Breckwell sells for their burn pots which just keep the pellets from bouncing out when feeding.

 

[Joe.G]

Figured I'd update the post, Everything is fine and I am really happy with the Klinker King, it does keep the stove cleaner and seems to keep the burn pot cleaner, No more hard build up just ash. The 5790 is a work horse and if you have a large house that you want to heat this should not be over looked. I have been running this stove since 2014 and I think I have replaced the auger twice and exhaust motor once. The stove gets a deep clean twice a season and a basic cleaning about every week and a half.