Watching popcorn in my P61A

[Tonyray]

I guess it's normal to see little embers flying all over inside the stove?
looks like pieces or Popcorn shells.....
not all the time but will do it for quite a while...
burning Energex hardwoods..
running room temp/feedrate 3/ 70 degree setting..

 

[briansol]

normal.. thats waste ash getting out of the burn pot via the vacuum effect

 

[Tonyray]

normal.. thats waste ash getting out of the burn pot via the vacuum effect

ok.. thanks...
btw:
I just saw a post a while back about who sells pellets under different names and found out that Energex bags Stove Chows
at 4.50 bag... I think Energex are 6 bucks a bag.. my 1st ton was free since I just bought my Harman middle of November..
I just happens to see Stove Chows at Home Depot today..buck County, just outside Phila.

 

[Bioburner]

Some brand of pellets really put on a show in some stoves. I posted last season some pellets with what looked like toothpicks in the mix and the Ecoteck blew them out as soon as they would light and made a nice pyrotechnic event.

 

[Tonyray]

Some brand of pellets really put on a show in some stoves. I posted last season some pellets with what looked like toothpicks in the mix and the Ecoteck blew them out as soon as they would light and made a nice pyrotechnic event.

Yeah, I imagine so...

 

[Don2222]

I heard it is called Caveman TV

See

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[Cory S]

I've actually improved the efficiency and the amount of fly ash by getting the draft setting perfect. The factory draft on my P61A was way too high for my venting natural draft. I have about 20' of vertical rise with my original stove pipe chimney. I had more fly ash than burn pot push ash. The flame has too much of a blowtorch effect. Horizontal surfaces were PILED after only 2-3 bags. Now I have a hotter steadier flame, fly ash sparks only when the auger cycles on, and about a 30* higher stove surface temperature. There was a lot of wasted heat going up the flue also.

 

[Fairwind]

Reducing the sparks and fly ash takes a little practice. First, good clean pellets with a minimum of fines. Let your hopper empty completely and see how much "fines" (sawdust) has collected in the bottom...Sawdust will make a lot of sparks and fly-ash..Next carefully reduce the combustion air so the fire is not quite as lively, so the red-hot pellets are not dancing around on the grate..That does not mean a lazy, smokey fire. It takes a little practice to find that sweet spot...Some sparks are inevitable, especially when the fresh pellets drop down and hit the burning ones in the fire-pot....

 

[Cory S]

Reducing the sparks and fly ash takes a little practice. First, good clean pellets with a minimum of fines. Let your hopper empty completely and see how much "fines" (sawdust) has collected in the bottom...Sawdust will make a lot of sparks and fly-ash..Next carefully reduce the combustion air so the fire is not quite as lively, so the red-hot pellets are not dancing around on the grate..That does not mean a lazy, smokey fire. It takes a little practice to find that sweet spot...Some sparks are inevitable, especially when the fresh pellets drop down and hit the burning ones in the fire-pot....

This is exactly what I experimented with, while also watching the temperatures of the flue stack and side of stove right below the heat exchanger area. Makes for much cleaner operation and a slightly hotter output! I wonder how many people are losing heat and ashing up their stoves prematurely.

 

[alternativeheat]

I slightly turned down the Combustion motor trim screw on my P61 last year as well. I just adjusted it so the flame steadied out a bit. I first marked my starting point so I could gt back there if I screwed something up LOL. Not sure of my gains but the flame has a little more natural look to it at least. And I think I filled the ash pan a bit sooner vs every cavity from the shelves of the stove to the vent ! Obviously there is some collection in those spots as well, it is a pellet stove after all.

I'm thinking I should have bought a coal stoker though, a little late now , hind sight being 20-20. I don't regret the P61 purchase, I'm just very familiar with coal and it's ash situation and higher BTU per LB. More ash but Way less fly/flying ash, it just gets pushed off the grate basically. Yep, should have bought a Magnum Stoker . Well at least this way the wife gets ash for her gardens, can't do that with coal.

 

[Cory S]

Coal will eventually be phased out though. We can't even get it here in the Northeast anymore. I burned it back in 2000 for a couple years. It was pretty neat.

 

[alternativeheat]

Coal will eventually be phased out though. We can't even get it here in the Northeast anymore. I burned it back in 2000 for a couple years. It was pretty neat.

I'm on Cape Cod and noticed Tractor Supply is handling rice coal this year ( who knows for how long). A first for around here. Other than that there is one supplier in Metro Boston, that was our concern and why we bought into pellets after burning coal for 35 years or more. We could get limited supplies of nut coal locally but 0 rice even from the Harman dealer who gouges prices on fuels unbelievably. Still no rice coal, though he handled nut ( and that indeed may well be past tense).

 

[Cory S]

I'm on Cape Cod and noticed Tractor Supply is handling rice coal this year ( who knows for how long). A first for around here. Other than that there is one supplier in Metro Boston, that was our concern and why we bought into pellets after burning coal for 35 years or more. We could get limited supplies of nut coal locally but 0 rice even from the Harman dealer who gouges prices on fuels unbelievably. Still no rice coal, though he handled nut ( and that indeed may well be past tense).

It got so expensive up here, that hardly anyone used it anymore. When I burned it that year, I think there was only two of us in that area that were buying it. There was no bulk delivery, and it was $5.75/bag back then. Shortly after that season, the farm store stopped carrying it also.

 

[alternativeheat]

It got so expensive up here, that hardly anyone used it anymore. When I burned it that year, I think there was only two of us in that area that were buying it. There was no bulk delivery, and it was $5.75/bag back then. Shortly after that season, the farm store stopped carrying it also.

All of our local dealers went out of then bulk business. In fact the guy from the Boston area told me that he bought a truck from down here from the guy I used to get it from. So ya, it appears to be fading out of style in New England. This was concerning, so we went with pellets, now look at pellet pricing !

 

[Cory S]

I'd like to see $229 a ton next season, and maybe $250/ton delivered !! Heck, maybe it will be if crude oil stays relatively low.....

 

[alternativeheat]

I'd like to see $229 a ton next season, and maybe $250/ton delivered !! Heck, maybe it will be if crude oil stays relatively low.....

Decades ago when pellets were fairly new oil prices crashed and pellet prices didn't go down, early investors lost their shirts and pellets all but disappeared ( in the eastern US anyway). Just sayin. Who knows where it will all go !

 

[bogieb]

Coal will eventually be phased out though. We can't even get it here in the Northeast anymore. I burned it back in 2000 for a couple years. It was pretty neat.

I just saw coal at the local Agway the other day (pea, rice and nut) and I'm pretty sure that Aubuchon's also carries it. Come to think of it, I may have seen it at TSC, but may be a false memory. About $8/bag if I remember correctly (don't know what size).