# Castle  serenity pellet  stove New user ?



## Dchase08 (Dec 11, 2017)

I'm first year pellet stove user. Stove is all factory settings. I feel like I'm going threw pellets fast. I'm burning green team hardwood premium pellets. Flame looks good and all just burning fuel quick I think. Any setting changes or air flow to helo or whatever is helpful thank you.


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## mikkeeh (Dec 11, 2017)

How many sqft are you heating?  Insulated?   How many pellets in how many hours?   Not enough info in your post to help you.


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## Dchase08 (Dec 11, 2017)

It's little over 1,000sf and I would say about have the hopper was gone in 6hrs


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## Dchase08 (Dec 11, 2017)

And the area isn't the best insulated kinda drafty


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## mikkeeh (Dec 11, 2017)

Assumimg pellets at 8000 btu per lb.  if you're using 24k btu/hr,  which is about 75% of the stove output.... 3lbs/hr .   Hopper hold barely 40 lbs so 1/2 of which would be 20 lbs.... should last about 7 hrs.   Hope this helps


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## Dchase08 (Dec 11, 2017)

Thank you should the air flow to the burn pot be pretty close to closed? The flame is nice orange yellow and 4 to c inches over pot. Put when pellets drop it is sparks and flame goes down alittle then burns back up.


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## mikkeeh (Dec 11, 2017)

Dchase08 said:


> Thank you should the air flow to the burn pot be pretty close to closed? The flame is nice orange yellow and 4 to c inches over pot. Put when pellets drop it is sparks and flame goes down alittle then burns back up.



Spunds about right.  You might want to try increasing the room blower speed some...might help get a little more heat, and less out the vent.  As long as flames are bright and dancing.  You should be close.  Make sure to clean your burn pot regularly.  Mine needs scraped every 12 hrs or so.


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## Dchase08 (Dec 11, 2017)

Thank you so much


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## Dchase08 (Dec 11, 2017)

So my air flow should be closed more then factory setting?


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## Deezl Smoke (Dec 11, 2017)

Actually sounds like you got things pretty close. What heat number are you running on? Like mikkeeh mentions, check what voltage your "blower" is set at and if needed, bump it up 5 volts to get more heat away from the stove and see how things go. If no improvement, go back 5 volts etc. But it does seem a pattern on here about the Serenity to close the air inlet gate a bit from factory setting.


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## Dchase08 (Dec 11, 2017)

I usually run on settings 1 2 or 3 and I have not closed the air flow gate any yet from factory


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## Dchase08 (Dec 11, 2017)

My room blower setting is 
95
100
105
110
110 
This is with no air flow adjustment I still thing I need to close it off some. Or do you think I need to adjust the room blower to


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## rich2500 (Dec 11, 2017)

I would start with closing the damper in small increments until you see the flame start to get lazy then open it back up just enough to get a nice flame.


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## mikkeeh (Dec 11, 2017)

I think your air intake setting is fine.   I would increase your room air fan speed.  Keep in mind you have blower settings  for each heat level.   I think I have mine set to 105 for levels 1,2, and 3.
If your flame gets lazy...open your air intake a little.  If the flame is lazy..adjust the air flow gate before you play with the fan speed.


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## rich2500 (Dec 11, 2017)

mikkeeh are you confusing the room blower  with combustion blower because adjusting the room blower isn't going to change the flame


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## mikkeeh (Dec 11, 2017)

rich2500 said:


> mikkeeh are you confusing the room blower  with combustion blower because adjusting the room blower isn't going to change the flame



I understand that.  In his original post he was concerned about how many pellets he was using.  From his description, his flame (combustion blower) seemed fine.  My suggestion was to increase the speed of the room blower..thus moving more heat while consuming the same amount of fuel.   More heat....same amount of fuel.....better efficiency....thus addressing his question about how many pellets he was burning.


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## rich2500 (Dec 11, 2017)

gotcha just confused me when you said if the flame gets lazy , sounding like adjusting the room blower would change the flame


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## mikkeeh (Dec 11, 2017)

Dchase08:   Look at Rich2500’s signature line.  Check out his video of Serenity burning.  Will give you a good idea of what your flame should look like.


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## Dchase08 (Dec 12, 2017)

How do i know that my exhaust settings are good or not I closed my air intake a bit flame j think looks good


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## mikkeeh (Dec 12, 2017)

Dchase08 said:


> How do i know that my exhaust settings are good or not I closed my air intake a bit flame j think looks good


Look at Rich2500 video.   That’s what your flame should look like


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## rich2500 (Dec 12, 2017)

wait until the 1 min mark though, the first min the stove is still in start up.


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## Dchase08 (Dec 12, 2017)

My flame goes up stays strong for a bite then slowly drops down and pellets drop in then it goes back up again anything I need to change my air gate I closed a bit from factory and turned up room blower on settings 1 2 3 to 105 I'm not sure if my exhaust blower settings are good they are factory settings


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## rich2500 (Dec 12, 2017)

That's normal for the flame too fluctuate. What you want is a nice bright lively flame but you don't want pellets blowing out of the burn pot, Sparks are normal when pellets drop though. I tune my stoves so that the exhaust blower runs as slow as possible but maintain a nice flame. The faster the exhaust runs the more heat that is being sucked up the vent. From the sounds of it your real close with your settings so you could try tweaking things slightly and see if you can get anymore efficiency out of it. I would average 18 hrs on a hopper chocked full to the top and running on heat level 1 only so with using levels 2 and 3 your in the ballpark.


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## Frey (Dec 13, 2017)

Hoping the damper is my issue.  Flame is bouncing off the ceiling of the stove and thermostat is saying it's 90 degrees(definitely not that in the room). I've been going through a bag of pellets every 8 hours only running on setting one.  

Does anyone know is there a way to slow the auger down?  Pellets drop every 4 1/2 seconds.  Seems unnecessary.  House is 1000 sq ft and very well insulated.


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## Deezl Smoke (Dec 13, 2017)

Frey said:


> Hoping the damper is my issue.  Flame is bouncing off the ceiling of the stove and thermostat is saying it's 90 degrees(definitely not that in the room). I've been going through a bag of pellets every 8 hours only running on setting one.
> 
> Does anyone know is there a way to slow the auger down?  Pellets drop every 4 1/2 seconds.  Seems unnecessary.  House is 1000 sq ft and very well insulated.



 By thermostat, you mean a remote one mounted on a wall, or the control panel temp reading?
 Almost sounds like you have no stove fans operating or something. How much exhaust chimney is connected and is it clean?


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## Frey (Dec 13, 2017)

Deezl Smoke said:


> By thermostat, you mean a remote one mounted on a wall, or the control panel temp reading?
> Almost sounds like you have no stove fans operating or something. How much exhaust chimney is connected and is it clean?



I closed the damper today as far as the slide would let me.  Seems like theres still a lot of airway open though.  This did nothing to change the flame at all.  Still smacking the roof of the stove.  The control panel temperature gauge is what I was talking about.  As for piping I have it straight run out the back (about a foot from the wall) then outside about 3 ft up from the T.  I clean the outside once a week.  Only been running it about a month now so it's never that dirty.  I left a message with them today,  no call back though


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## rich2500 (Dec 13, 2017)

have you by chance switched pellets


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## Deezl Smoke (Dec 13, 2017)

Frey said:


> I closed the damper today as far as the slide would let me.  Seems like theres still a lot of airway open though.  This did nothing to change the flame at all.  Still smacking the roof of the stove.  The control panel temperature gauge is what I was talking about.  As for piping I have it straight run out the back (about a foot from the wall) then outside about 3 ft up from the T.  I clean the outside once a week.  Only been running it about a month now so it's never that dirty.  I left a message with them today,  no call back though



 That's kinda what I am getting at, the flames hitting the roof of the stove can be from too little air, not too much. If the fan is running correctly, the pellet load will glow and the flame will be a few inches tall, on average, and nearly straight up like a jet engine flame.
 When there is too little air, or virtually no air, the flame will look a fireplace or wood stove flame. Tall, lazy, smokey and very full of color. When my stoves start up, sometimes the pot gets pretty full before sparks fly and the pellets ignite. When this happens, the pellet load in the pot is so dense that the air can not get through. The flame will be quite tall and hit the roof of the stove for a minute or so. I can see a bit of smoke coming out of the exhaust when I watch outside.

 When standing in front of the stove facing it, to your left, there is a panel on the side of the stove that can be removed via 4 small screws. It is the back half of the side of the stove. That is how you access the exhaust blower. See is it is running or running well. I know it is supposed to run in order to get a vacuum signal to the vacuum switch to operate, but it may be that your controller is not functioning properly or something like that. 

 On heat setting one, manual, you should be able to get around 16 to maybe 18 or so hours of run time on a 40# bag of pellets that the stove is set up for. 

 Your exhaust piping, if I read it right, sounds fine. In fact, the vertical piping may even be enough in the right circumstance to create a draft which "may" be enough to continue the pellet burn in the absence or near absence of fan speed. I dont know for absolute certain, but vertical piping once worm, will pull air through the stove.


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## Dchase08 (Dec 16, 2017)

How do I know if my exhaust settings are right. Flame is dancing pretty good I think I have the air gate close to closed.


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## Hiskid (Dec 16, 2017)

Frey said:


> I closed the damper today as far as the slide would let me.  Seems like there's still a lot of airway open though.  This did nothing to change the flame at all.  Still smacking the roof of the stove.  The control panel temperature gauge is what I was talking about.  As for piping I have it straight run out the back (about a foot from the wall) then outside about 3 ft up from the T.  I clean the outside once a week.  Only been running it about a month now so it's never that dirty.  I left a message with them today,  no call back though



My flame smacks the roof and modulates down to just above the pot on #1. I had to open my draft to about half. My stack is in a protected corner and when the air is still the flame gets lazy I bump ex. v  up . When the air is moving it is like a blow torch and I can do ex @ 80v. I tried it at 1/3 open but I needed more air when it was still/raining. I never really checked the usage on #1 but it was 19 last night and I had it on 3. It was 83 on the stove and the window fan at the top of the window showed 80 blowing in the m/h. I topped it off at midnight and checked it during a b/r trip 4-5 hrs later. It was low so I added 4 scoops. She was up about 8 and it was down where you see the auger top.


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## dtaylor628 (Dec 26, 2017)

I have a well insulated 1500 st home, my stove would run me out of the house on low after it reached set temp. I made a cover for the auger that blocks entry of pellets into It, slowed the pellet feed down some. I can run the stove on setting one for 27 hours on one hopper. On the temp setting it will jump to high for a few minutes every hour or so to maintain temp, but I will still get 24 hours on a hopper. Cost me 3 dollars in parts.

On manual mode hi, the stove now runs about 100 degrees cooler than it did from the factory.


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## Hiskid (Dec 26, 2017)

dtaylor628 said:


> I have a well insulated 1500 st home, my stove would run me out of the house on low after it reached set temp. I made a cover for the auger that blocks entry of pellets into It, slowed the pellet feed down some. I can run the stove on setting one for 27 hours on one hopper. On the temp setting it will jump to high for a few minutes every hour or so to maintain temp, but I will still get 24 hours on a hopper. Cost me 3 dollars in parts.
> 
> On manual mode hi, the stove now runs about 100 degrees cooler than it did from the factory.



Any pics, instructions or parts list ? Can you describe the flame operation ? Is there much hi/lo modulation. Thanks  GBY


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## dtaylor628 (Dec 26, 2017)

I just fabbed up a piece of tin that I double back taped to the auger housing. The tin is almost the width of the housing and extends approximately three inches below the cutout at the bottom where the pellets enter the auger.

On setting one, the stove operates at less than 300 degrees as measured on the side of the firebox. About 100 degrees cooler at the same fan settings from before the modification. The flame will extend a couple inches above the burn pot to about level with the top of the pot on low. The pictures show the average low and high.  Been running it this way for almost a month now, no problems. No increase in ash, no extra soot on the glass and has not shut down due to an overtemp. Extended run times on high give me about 500 degrees max. Before I would hit 650. Just ran the stove 26 hours on low, still have an hour or two left on the bag...


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## Hiskid (Dec 26, 2017)

dtaylor628 said:


> View attachment 218829
> View attachment 218830
> View attachment 218831
> View attachment 218833
> ...



Cool, *thanks for that*. Be nice to have a channel on each side to be able to slide it up/down. Is that auger tube hot ? What double stick tape did you use ?  Was the 3" a random choice or did you try different measurements ? Is that tin or aluminum ? Remember the gauge ? Sorry for all the ???'s
I have my stove on a porch I turned into a sun room. Many warmer days I would have like  the stove to "idle" without having to shut it down. Thanks and  God bless.

BTW, where exactly is that thermometer location ?


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## dtaylor628 (Dec 27, 2017)

The auger tube gets warm but not hot. I used 3M tape and a section of sheet metal I bent to the contour of the tube, don't remember the gauge but thin enough to cut with tin snips. I initially went longer and shortened the tin until I found the right feed/burn rate. The thermostat is on the side of the stove at the hotest location i could find with my infared thermometer - almost at the top of the stove just below the heat exchanger.


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## rich2500 (Dec 27, 2017)

Hiskid said:


> Cool, *thanks for that*. Be nice to have a channel on each side to be able to slide it up/down. Is that auger tube hot ? What double stick tape did you use ?  Was the 3" a random choice or did you try different measurements ? Is that tin or aluminum ? Remember the gauge ? Sorry for all the ???'s
> I have my stove on a porch I turned into a sun room. Many warmer days I would have like  the stove to "idle" without having to shut it down. Thanks and  God bless.
> 
> BTW, where exactly is that thermometer location ?


The idea of the slider is the first thing that came to mind when I seen the pic. hmmm may have to do some tinkering


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## Hiskid (Dec 27, 2017)

rich2500 said:


> The idea of the slider is the first thing that came to mind when I seen the pic. hmmm may have to do some tinkering



Keep us posted.  I'll definitely check it out but when it's warmer ;^)...


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## dtaylor628 (Nov 17, 2018)

Frey said:


> Hoping the damper is my issue.  Flame is bouncing off the ceiling of the stove and thermostat is saying it's 90 degrees(definitely not that in the room). I've been going through a bag of pellets every 8 hours only running on setting one.
> 
> Does anyone know is there a way to slow the auger down?  Pellets drop every 4 1/2 seconds.  Seems unnecessary.  House is 1000 sq ft and very well insulated.




This will slow the auger down

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https://www.ebay.com/ulk/itm/163374074447


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## Stihlfarmhouse91 (Sep 9, 2019)

So maybe I can bring this back alive. Dtaylor that controller you sell on eBay it’s just a plug and play kit to slow the voltage to the auger? Is it a solid state control or a vfd? I bought my castle back in June just installed it this past weekend. Fired it up this morning cause we had 39 degrees when I woke up. Another thing is when starting before the flame kicked over I had a small amount of smoke come out of the  heat exchanger area just wondering if that was “normal” I expected the stink and stuff from the initial fire once hot but this was before hand. Thanks in advance.


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## Deezl Smoke (Sep 12, 2019)

Stihlfarmhouse91 said:


> So maybe I can bring this back alive. Dtaylor that controller you sell on eBay it’s just a plug and play kit to slow the voltage to the auger? Is it a solid state control or a vfd? I bought my castle back in June just installed it this past weekend. Fired it up this morning cause we had 39 degrees when I woke up. Another thing is when starting before the flame kicked over I had a small amount of smoke come out of the  heat exchanger area just wondering if that was “normal” I expected the stink and stuff from the initial fire once hot but this was before hand. Thanks in advance.



 You may have a leak at the connection from stove to chimney. A bit of pellet smoke there can be picked up by the room fan and blow it into the room. Otherwise, you would almost have to have a defective stove with a crack or bad weld in the fire box. One other possibility would be that you had a flash over ignition where the fire box fills with hot smoke and once the pellets do ignite, the smoke ignites too. Usually this makes a sound that resembles a "whooosh". My serenities do this from time to time if the pellets absorbed a bit of humidity.


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## Stihlfarmhouse91 (Sep 12, 2019)

Deezl Smoke said:


> You may have a leak at the connection from stove to chimney. A bit of pellet smoke there can be picked up by the room fan and blow it into the room. Otherwise, you would almost have to have a defective stove with a crack or bad weld in the fire box. One other possibility would be that you had a flash over ignition where the fire box fills with hot smoke and once the pellets do ignite, the smoke ignites too. Usually this makes a sound that resembles a "whooosh". My serenities do this from time to time if the pellets absorbed a bit of humidity.


I didn’t hear a woosh. The smoke smelled more metallic than wood. But that being said I could have just been a little on edge about starting it, before work at 6 am. I’ll know for sure if it does it again. Now I just gotta get my blower vfd set right and check into a feed rate adjustment of some sort. Cool little stove tho.


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## ecorbett (Monday at 12:18 PM)

dtaylor628 said:


> I have a well insulated 1500 st home, my stove would run me out of the house on low after it reached set temp. I made a cover for the auger that blocks entry of pellets into It, slowed the pellet feed down some. I can run the stove on setting one for 27 hours on one hopper. On the temp setting it will jump to high for a few minutes every hour or so to maintain temp, but I will still get 24 hours on a hopper. Cost me 3 dollars in parts.
> 
> On manual mode hi, the stove now runs about 100 degrees cooler than it did from the factory.


Hi GT_Sharp,

I read your 2017 post about decreasing fuel feed to yous Castle Serenity.  I have the same problem, too much heat on #1.  Can you send a pic of how you did your modification please?  Space seems limited.  Thanks!

Ed Corbett
ccorbett1@comcast.net


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## ecorbett (Wednesday at 8:00 PM)

ecorbett said:


> Hi GT_Sharp,
> 
> I read your 2017 post about decreasing fuel feed to yous Castle Serenity.  I have the same problem, too much heat on #1.  Can you send a pic of how you did your modification please?  Space seems limited.  Thanks!
> 
> ...


Ooops, missed them somehow.  Thanks.  Also, one of the posts mentions a speed control but the ebay page expired.  I could probably find one that would work, but which one were you suggesting?

Thanks again

Ed


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## Mt Bob (Wednesday at 8:44 PM)

ecorbett said:


> Ooops, missed them somehow.  Thanks.  Also, one of the posts mentions a speed control but the ebay page expired.  I could probably find one that would work, but which one were you suggesting?
> 
> Thanks again
> 
> Ed











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