# King Pellet Stove 5502M - Issues



## Acps87 (Feb 1, 2016)

Ok I just installed the King Pellet Stove 5502M from TSC in the beginning of December. Here are a few pics of how it is currently setup.













Ok, now some background. It was not my idea to get a pellet stove, nor was I invovled with the installation or past usage, until now. "She" who must not be named set this all up, with a contractor friend installing it. I assumed that she understood what was required to run the pellet stove efficiently and safely. Never assume with women!

It wasn't until I decided to clean the stove because I found the glass window blacked out and my ADHD kicked in. I immediately found a problem when I opened the door.....




The amount of ash was unreal, and this is only after 2 weeks since "her" last cleaning. She said you just scoop it out...

I cleaned it out, and tried to have a conversation about it, but was overruled and stove was restarted without changing anything. Now today 7 days later, I opened it up again, not nearly as much ash but still enough to be pouring out when I opened the door. So I decided to step in.

Normally the HR is on 1-2 and everything else was on Auto, I believe. I have never seen a flame burning inside the stove, but it has always produced heat and never any ERs, albeit more than likely not efficiently.

Now the little research I have done today says the Draft Fan should be 1-2 pts above the Heat Rating setting. So HR 2 is a DF 3-4. Adjust these settings I can start to get a flame I believe should be normal, healthy and dancing. However I think there is an underling issue.

The Room Fan is extremely loud, and drowns out what I believe is the draft fan I should be hearing. Because the 2nd much quieter fan is intermittent at best. It sounds like its trying to blow for 3-5 seconds and then its not for 5-10 secs, and then it tries again and then its not.

This is obviously causing problems with my flame, for moments it is great and then its getting smothered. 

One thing I did not clean out was the exhaust fan, and there is no intake pipe. I am assuming this fan struggling to run is not normal and is causing some issues?

Is this all related to the ash buildup too? Or is that related to terrible settings?

Thanks for the help in advance!


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## Lake Girl (Feb 1, 2016)

Wow!  I would start with good internal cleaning (exhaust fan, internal exhaust pathways not just the fire box).  Not sure what to say about venting...  Stove in basement and vented out through roof of garage?  No better way to run the venting?  What size venting and how long is it?


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## Chrisnow86 (Feb 2, 2016)

another question is what kind of pellets are you burning?.. that is a lot of ash.. also take the bottom of the T cap off and see how mush ash in in there..

I mean i have to clean my stove out every week because the stove gets full of ash.. just the nature of the beast


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## Acps87 (Feb 2, 2016)

Its 3 in for venting. Like I mentioned before, this setup was not approved by myself, I thought it was a terrible place to begin with in the laundry room. I shut it down again this morning I am going to have to look back in the T cap as you mentioned, there has got to be some ash in there if I was getting so much in the front.

As for pellets, she has been using the Premium TSC bags, which have no BTU rating on them. White bag and black lettering. 

Any ideas on what I think is the draft fan kicking on and off every few secs? Is that normal?


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## Johnny_Fiv3 (Feb 2, 2016)

That exhaust setup better be 4" or there's a big issue right there. Next, the exhaust fan pulsing is how they run. No constant RPM. You are correct about the draft setting. HR 1 and 2 should produce a flame that varies as the pellets burn down, then are replenished. That amount of ash after 2 weeks is just wrong. What brand pellets are being used? That thing needs a leaf blower cleaning badly. That will clean out the exhaust housing without disassembly. The room blower on max is loud, real loud. Supposed to be. As long as there is no grinding or squealing noise, you're good.


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## FirepotPete (Feb 2, 2016)

Johnny_Fiv3 said:


> That exhaust setup better be 4" or there's a big issue right there. Next, the exhaust fan pulsing is how they run. No constant RPM. You are correct about the draft setting. HR 1 and 2 should produce a flame that varies as the pellets burn down, then are replenished. That amount of ash after 2 weeks is just wrong. What brand pellets are being used? That thing needs a leaf blower cleaning badly. That will clean out the exhaust housing without disassembly. The room blower on max is loud, real loud. Supposed to be. As long as there is no grinding or squealing noise, you're good.


No OAK that I can see in the pic, not a big deal for the problem they are having, just an observation.


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## Acps87 (Feb 2, 2016)

Yes no OAK as of now. I did remove the exhaust pipes, which are definitely 3in. and they were loaded with ash, some parts 50% of the exhaust pipe was clogged with ash.

This can't be a normal operation, is it really just a setting issue or do I need to look for different pellets?


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## Johnny_Fiv3 (Feb 2, 2016)

What pellets are being used now?


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## Acps87 (Feb 2, 2016)

TSC Premium Wood Pellets. White bag , black lettering


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## Chrisnow86 (Feb 2, 2016)

Try another brand and see how it works.. Since the stove has been installed how much have you burned?


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## ABusWrench (Feb 2, 2016)

Acps87, where in Ohio are you located? The pellets you are using, while they will produce some heat, are very, very dirty! Burnt 2 bags of those last winter in my quest to not freeze AND figure out my pellet stove and home. They suck! Turned the inside of my Harman black, yuck! Do what the others are saying. A good cleaning, and definitely find some other pellets.


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## Acps87 (Feb 2, 2016)

ABusWrench said:


> Acps87, where in Ohio are you located? The pellets you are using, while they will produce some heat, are very, very dirty! Burnt 2 bags of those last winter in my quest to not freeze AND figure out my pellet stove and home. They suck! Turned the inside of my Harman black, yuck! Do what the others are saying. A good cleaning, and definitely find some other pellets.



I live over near Salem, OH. 

These wood pellets are the only ones I have tried since installing it. On top of the ash, is it common to go through 2-40lb bags of pellets a day on a HR 1-2?

I'm going to start looking for another brand of pellets!


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## dozerdean (Feb 2, 2016)

Acps87 said:


> I live over near Salem, OH.
> 
> These wood pellets are the only ones I have tried since installing it. On top of the ash, is it common to go through 2-40lb bags of pellets a day on a HR 1-2?
> 
> I'm going to start looking for another brand of pellets!


One thing thing I noticed u have 3 elbows.Should be no more than 2. Pipe needs to be 4" or bigger for that long of run. Look for pellets with low ash content, it will tell u on the bag. Hard wood pellets. I drilled my holes 2 sizes bigger in burn pot & more on sides. Burns a lot better for me.


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## ABusWrench (Feb 2, 2016)

Acps87, you can get Hamer's Hot Ones and Lignetics @ Farmers Exchange in Carrollton and Waynesburg. This place saved me from freezing last winter. I use Waynesburg as it's only a 12 mile round trip. Last time there,January 9th,  Hamer's were $270 cash and carry. They also got another shipment of Hamer's since then. They don't always have Hamer's, but they will always have the Lignetics, same price. Hamer's are hotter, Lignetics are cleaner with not quite the heat of the Hamer's, but still a very good pellet. Was told Menards in Massillon have both hardwood and soft wood pellets. Haven't been there myself to confirm.


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## Lake Girl (Feb 3, 2016)

With the stove in its basement location, you have to change the venting to 4".  Personally, I would opt for a different location so you can shorten the venting run and add an OAK (outside air kit).  When figuring out venting, any thing over an EVL length of 15 needs to go to 4".  Elbows/Ts = 5 ... you have 3 which puts you at 15 right there.  1' horizontal =1; 1' vertical = 1/2.  In planning change, you need to allow enough clearance to meet minimum clearances for windows, doors, ground and vegetation while ensuring enough height to clear potential snow coverage.

Keep us posted....

When locating pellet stoves, you generally have it in the room where you spend time ... not a laundry room as the heat will have difficulty moving to the areas where you actually spend time and want the warmth.


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## Acps87 (Feb 13, 2016)

ABusWrench said:


> Acps87, you can get Hamer's Hot Ones and Lignetics @ Farmers Exchange in Carrollton and Waynesburg. This place saved me from freezing last winter. I use Waynesburg as it's only a 12 mile round trip. Last time there,January 9th,  Hamer's were $270 cash and carry. They also got another shipment of Hamer's since then. They don't always have Hamer's, but they will always have the Lignetics, same price. Hamer's are hotter, Lignetics are cleaner with not quite the heat of the Hamer's, but still a very good pellet. Was told Menards in Massillon have both hardwood and soft wood pellets. Haven't been there myself to confirm.




Lol i spent some time looking into Hamer's hot ones and liked the review, then I tried to call several places to see if anyone nearer to me had them. Finally gave up and called them directly. The guy I talked to then proceeded to tell me that closed 1 of their 2 mills because of the boy scouts moving near them. Lol weird, then he told me nearest one is in Carelton, but they could be out.

I have had a lot of time to play with it and try 2 different brands of pellets. Buying only a few bags at a time to figure this out.

My first question is, can someone explain a little better about the arbitrary numbers the stove uses actually mean? It might as well display an up and down arrow instead. For the HR what does a 1 do? Is it based on temp or time or RNG? What does going from 1-2 do? Same questions as 1's, so far and so forth.

Also for the draft fan settings 1-10. Same as above!

What about the draft fan adjustments? Which is from the Aux and Draft down button arrows at the same time? It appears to start at 100 and you can go up or down? What is the differences?

What about the feed rate adjustments? This starts at 300 and you can go up or down. Same as above?

What should the pot look like under ideal circumstances? Full, half full? Empty? Same with the flame? Should it always be large and beautiful? Do the settings above affect what I should be looking for?

I feel like I am almost there, apparently the Auto function is terrible, but once I get a clear understanding of this and can adjust to what temp I want and pellets to consume, this will be the ticket

Also what on average do others with this stove burn in terms of pellets a day? 1-40lb bag of pellets a day, 2-40lb = 80 total a day, or 3-40lb = 120 total a day? I realize This will change depending on the settings mentioned above. But lets get an ballpark estimate here for 75 degrees + or - a few.

Lastly I opened up the glass windows and cut the 4in for the gasket and I noticed a huge difference. Not just for cleaner glass, which I did not see yet. But just in the health of the flame, it burns awesome now

Thanks guys!


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## FirepotPete (Feb 13, 2016)

Acps87 said:


> Lol i spent some time looking into Hamer's hot ones and liked the review, then I tried to call several places to see if anyone nearer to me had them. Finally gave up and called them directly. The guy I talked to then proceeded to tell me that closed 1 of their 2 mills because of the boy scouts moving near them. Lol weird, then he told me nearest one is in Carelton, but they could be out.
> 
> I have had a lot of time to play with it and try 2 different brands of pellets. Buying only a few bags at a time to figure this out.
> 
> ...


The numbers are not arbitrary for any of the functions on that stove. First, do your HR#'s go from HR1 to HR9, or HR1 to HR5?

When pushing the AUX and DF either up or down buttons at the same time, DO NOT adjust those numbers!! At least until you understand what they do.

This board is a proportional control board. So the lowest and highest setting controls all the setting between the high and low setting. If you change the DF1 setting it will change everything between DF1 and DF8. You said DF10 but I think that board should only go to DF9 at the highest and then A, for auto?

Once you get the stove running decent you can then tweak those settings to get the most heat and fuel feed on the stove. I would suggest to push the HR DOWN button and the AUX DOWN button at the same time and post the number that is displayed here. Then push the HR UP button and the AUX UP button at the same time and post that number here. This will tell what your low and high feed rates at set at. Those numbers can be adjusted to suit different pellets or fuel such as corn/cherry pits.

Then you can start looking at the DF settings by doing the same as with the HR by using the DF UP and DOWN and the AUX up and down. Post those numbers also.

You may need to reset to factory defaults if you've changed them by accident.

Once you get these numbers tuned in for the fuel you are using the stove will run on AUTO with no problems.


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## Acps87 (Feb 14, 2016)

FirepotPete said:


> The numbers are not arbitrary for any of the functions on that stove. First, do your HR#'s go from HR1 to HR9, or HR1 to HR5?
> 
> When pushing the AUX and DF either up or down buttons at the same time, DO NOT adjust those numbers!! At least until you understand what they do.
> 
> ...



I feel like I should invent and copyright an universal sarcasm text that you can hotkey to any keyboard.

I kind of figured they total mean something, there is just no information what so ever about it. The part where you need to cut the gasket near the window is not even in the user manual for the installation process.... Clearly they manufactured it to do that though.

The DF settings are Low 100 and High 300
The Auger settings are Low 1.75 and High 4.50

What is Low and what is High relate too? The HR settings?

The HR settings was 1-5
DF was 1-9 and A


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## FirepotPete (Feb 14, 2016)

Acps87 said:


> I feel like I should invent and copyright an universal sarcasm text that you can hotkey to any keyboard.
> 
> I kind of figured they total mean something, there is just no information what so ever about it. The part where you need to cut the gasket near the window is not even in the user manual for the installation process.... Clearly they manufactured it to do that though.
> 
> ...


Ya the instruction manuals are terrible on these stove and most stoves from what I've seen.

Right now your stove is set this way. The HR settings are PPH (pounds per hour), it's a guess for the most part depending on the fuel you are using, pellets/type of pellet or other such as corn. In my stove that uses almost the same board it's a very good guess though. I  would say it's a little on the light side with the stove using more than what is guessed at for PPH, but not much more.

So right now on HR1 you are burning 1.75pph, on HR5 you are burning 4.50pph. It's a proportional control board, you can only set the high and low and everything else (HR2-HR4) is automatically changed by the high and low setting for the pph set on HR1 and HR5.

Your feed rate right now increases by 0.6875pph for each HR increase, so on HR1 you start with 1.75pph, on HR2 you are burning 2.4375pph, on HR3 3.125pph, HR4 3.8125pph and HR5 4.50pph. These feed rates can be changed to suit the fuel you are using and the stove setup, along with changing the DF settings because of length of exhaust pipe and other factors. It can seem daunting to play with the settings but it really make the stove very adjustable to almost any fuel or install, within reason of course.

Your DF settings right now are DF1 100 and DF9 300. I've never gotten a straight answer from USSC, same parent company of your stove, as to what these numbers actually mean. It could be CFM (cubic feet per minute) or something else? It doesn't really matter though what they mean, just that you understand what happens if you need to change them.

Again these DF numbers are proportional, they will change in proportion to the lowest and highest setting, DF1 and DF9.

Your DF will change by 25 for each DF you go up or down. DF1 is 100, DF2 125, DF3 150, DF4 175, DF5 200, DF6 225, DF7 250, DF8 275 and DF9 is 300.

IF and only IF you start changing either the HR or DF settings make sure you take notes and let the stove have time to show how the change in settings makes the stove run, it could be better or worse, so you always want to be able to go back if need be. If you change the lowest setting HR1 or DF1 the highest settings HR5 or DF9 will remain the same, but all the other HR's and DF's between will change, or the same would happen if you change only the highest number HR5 or DF9 and not the lowest HR1 and DF9.

Think of changing the high or low settings like an accordion. With the accordion lying on end on a table, if you keep the end on the table on the table and then pull the top end away from the table, the end on the table (HR1 or DF1) stays where it started, but the top (HR5 or DF9) increases as it pulls away from the bottom and the bellows of the accordion expand away from the bottom,(HR2-4 or DF2-8) that's what will happen if you change only the highest setting on your board.

OK, I've probably confused you enough for tonight, time to fill the corn powered reactor for the night and head off to sleepy land. Ask questions if you have any.

Stay warm!


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## Acps87 (Mar 15, 2016)

FirepotPete said:


> Ya the instruction manuals are terrible on these stove and most stoves from what I've seen.
> 
> Right now your stove is set this way. The HR settings are PPH (pounds per hour), it's a guess for the most part depending on the fuel you are using, pellets/type of pellet or other such as corn. In my stove that uses almost the same board it's a very good guess though. I  would say it's a little on the light side with the stove using more than what is guessed at for PPH, but not much more.
> 
> ...



I really appreciate all the information, that has really helped me, I ended up printing your post and keeping it near the furnace as I tweak the settings!!

I have a couple more questions as we end the heating season! It will be below freezing again this weekend with possibility for some snow so I will be looking to hopefully having a finished product!

1) Has anyone hooked this type of stove up to a Nest thermostat as an Auxiliary Heating? The previous owners of my house installed a heat pump 8 years ago, but opted for the swamp air cooler version, instead of using a ground-source coils, I have a large pond in my front yard that is at least 20ft+ and ideal for this I think. So my heat pump is extremely inefficient in the winter months for heating, which is why I opted for a pellet stove. Getting tied in with the house thermostat would go a long way of needing to babysit it!

2) In hoping I can do #1, I need to better heat my home with my pellet stove. I have it currently installed downstairs in my laundry room. It sits directly below a set of ventilation ducts. Originally I had tried to install a fan blower to force air into the intake duct and push it through the house. This did not work at all, it ended up blowing extremely cool air and not heating as intended. So I have not been using anything to circulate the air, sometimes my laundry room gets to 90 to be able to get it near 72 in the rest of the house. This isnt a huge problem, and actually my pig who is crated in the same room, absolutely loves this! Thank fully she is a Julienna pig that has the sweet smelling pheromones and she heats up the room smelling of hot maple syrup!

This past week, I had someone else take a look at my heating dilemma and we had found some issues with my previous attempts to heat the house. The contractor who installed the fan, put it on what he thought was the return duct, but was actually the other. They suggested that I put a large vent on the bottom of the return duct in the ceiling of my laundry room. And then I could use the house fan to draw the heat out of the laundry room.

Can this be the solution I am looking for? Before I go cutting into the air duct to install an 40x8 vent I was going to try and get some more input from the pros here! I realize that I could have installed it in a better location and setup better, but with what I have now I am thinking this may be what I am looking for. 

Would love to hear what you guys think! Thanks again for all the help!


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## cb123and4 (Dec 10, 2017)

We recently purchased and installed the King 5502M pellet stove on 12/3/17.  It has worked great up until yesterday evening.  It was working, we shut it down, cleaned it and filled the hopper as normal.  Afterwards we attempted to start it back up and it would not ignite.  We have made sure there are not obstructions, door is sealed and the fuse is good.  We have also tried the factory reset (holding the AUX up and down buttons).  Thoughts?


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## R9R (Dec 11, 2017)

CB - I'm running that stove too   Any error codes/flashing lights on the control panel?  Also one thing I figured out is when replacing the burn pot after cleaning, make sure it's sitting correctly.  I had mine a little off and it smoked a little but wouldn't light.  Got it sitting in properly and took right off. 

Was that the first time you've cleaned it?  Or have you done that before with no issues?


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## tlc1976 (Dec 13, 2017)

I worked on one years ago and I agree the burn pot positioning is finicky, random ignite failures.  I ended up putting a couple strips of steel under the pot to better line up the hole with the ignitor and it worked much better.


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## Gasjetruss04 (Dec 10, 2018)

Don't count out the hopper lid switch. Adjusted it since first start out of the box. I know to listen for pellets dropping. Couple times the wife didn't pay attention.  I bypassed the dumb micro switch.


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