# Castle Serenity - lots of ash



## mrbeal (Nov 12, 2016)

I've been using my Serenity for about 2 weeks now and am surprised at the amount of ash I'm getting.  Granted it's not the most super deluxe high efficiency stove you can get but my ash collector was almost full after 2 bags of (hardwood) pellets.  Friends of mine have used a pellet stove for years and never have that much ash.  Should this be what I expect or do I need to make an adjustment somewhere?


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## rich2500 (Nov 12, 2016)

Could be the pellets your burning, how does the flame look when the stove is burning


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## mrbeal (Nov 12, 2016)

rich2500 said:


> Could be the pellets your burning, how does the flame look when the stove is burning


Low and yellow... I run mainly on the lowest setting since it's still a bit warm out.


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## GT_Sharp (Nov 12, 2016)

Doesn't sound normal at all.


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## rich2500 (Nov 12, 2016)

I would try a bag of different pellets first and see if they are better. Some pellets do produce a lot of ash. You should be able to go atleast 4 - 5 days before having to empty the ash pan with a decent pellet and a properly burning stove.


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## bags (Nov 13, 2016)

Sounds like the pellets. Which pellets are you burning?


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## mrbeal (Nov 15, 2016)

bags said:


> Sounds like the pellets. Which pellets are you burning?


Premium hardwood pellets bought at Tractor Supply.  I bought some Premium pellets at HD first, they weren't specific as to the wood type so I tried the Tractor Supply hardwood ones.  I'm about halfway through my second bag since emptying the ash collector so I'll see how it looks tomorrow night perhaps.  Pellet choice is pretty slim around here without having to drive 20 miles.


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## Mt Bob (Nov 15, 2016)

Being a serenity do not suspect a problem,,burning on low is a problem.Almost all pellet stoves burn much better on med or high.Period.Rea search it.A pellet stove burning on low will be innefficient and waste pellets,and create problems.


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## Deezl Smoke (Nov 15, 2016)

I just cleaned my serenitys a few days ago. I should have taken pics. Next time I will. But I can burn probably 10-12 bags before I clean the stove, and I clean it then mainly for the glass. The ash box is maybe 15-20% of capacity at most. I'd bet if I really needed to, I could burn a full ton before cleaning. I just like a clean glass as the flame acts as a night light for the whole house during the dark winters. And,...I burn on low settings exclusively.

 So IMO, you have either some bad pellets, or some bad settings. The flame should average about 6-10" from the bottom of the burn pot, and be bright, very light yellow with almost a white hot center. 

 Once you have the serenity set right and use a good pellet, you might be surprised how efficient it actually is. 

 How is your exhaust and combustion intake plumbed? Did you make note of where the "gate" on the intake is set. You can see it when the stove is OFF and you remove the burn pot. There is a round hole that will have a slide that partially closes off that hole. Start with it about 1/3 open or so. You can go into your electronic controller and make fan setting changes for both the combustion fan and the room fan. Even though I run my stoves on the lowest heat settings, I do run the combustion fan on 85 volts and sometimes in certain situations I will go to 90 volts if it's breezy outside.

 Another point to make is that the holes in the burn pot must be kept open. It is one of the poorer designs and the bottom holes will plug up. It  may sound like a pita, but before each start up, take a flash light and a small stick or screwdriver, and just scrape across the bottom of the burn pot a few times to loosen the hardened ash that sticks to it and closes off the holes. 

 Here's my burn pot after last nights burn, and the ash box after about 4-5 bags.




 And here are the 3 items I keep handy by the stove. A free harbor freight led light, a harbor freight screw driver, and a good box cutter for opening bags. You can see a few of the holes in the bottom of the pot are pretty well plugged, and a few others are starting. The screw driver scraping across it a few times will take care of it. At random intervals I do take the pot out to the shop and use a drill bit the same size of the holses originally and run it thru all the holes to remove the small amount of hard carbon that builds up.


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## mrbeal (Nov 15, 2016)

Deezl Smoke said:


> I just cleaned my serenitys a few days ago. I should have taken pics. Next time I will. But I can burn probably 10-12 bags before I clean the stove, and I clean it then mainly for the glass. The ash box is maybe 15-20% of capacity at most. I'd bet if I really needed to, I could burn a full ton before cleaning. I just like a clean glass as the flame acts as a night light for the whole house during the dark winters. And,...I burn on low settings exclusively.
> 
> So IMO, you have either some bad pellets, or some bad settings. The flame should average about 6-10" from the bottom of the burn pot, and be bright, very light yellow with almost a white hot center.
> 
> ...



Wow, great information!  I have read through the manual again and realized MEDIUM is the most efficient burn setting and, in the colder months, I'm sure that will be the most appropriate setting.  Right now it just gets too hot to leave it on MEDIUM so I'll either turn it to LOW or just turn it off completely.  I'll check the burn pot to see if the holes are clogged at all, last time I emptied the ash I took the burn pot out and tapped the ash out of it but didn't really pay attention to the holes. 
I'll also take another look at my intake. I opened it up some at first to see if it would make a difference, I'll [play with that and the fan speed next. 
I think the pellets are ok, they all look nice and shiny, no hint of moisture in them.  I was starting to wonder if I had a defective stove since the burn seems to be so inconsistent but it could just be the settings I'm using.  I don't believe I've gone in and looked at the combustion fan settings, I'll look at that too.

Thanks for taking the time to do this write-up, I think it may help me out!


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## alternativeheat (Nov 15, 2016)

We had a lady in here last year with I believe a Serenity, and it was throwing sparks out the vent. As I recall, she had the combustion blower set high and the damper inside the intake wide open. She had the opposite effect to our OP here. So I can imagine with too low a combustion setting and the damper shut, you would get tons of dirty burning going on. She was over firing the stove but all she needed to do was reset it and close down that damper flap.. FWIW, St Croix Stoves are known for this as well, in fact the damper is set to be open only about an 1/8" or so on some models of them.

I have seen some crappy pellets though, the worst I ever burned caused me to have to clean my P61 in three days which is basically unheard of with even half decent pellets. And a P61 ash pan can go a month.  If Tractor Supply has some blends there ( soft/hard combo pellets),maybe try those out or otherwise try and get some better pellets and make sure you set the stove up correctly.


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## bags (Nov 15, 2016)

What are the two brands you have burned exactly? Even crappy pellets will say premium on the bags.....

Yes, Alternative I remember the one with sparks flying out of the exhaust. I think Rich helped get them squared away.

FWIW the Tractor Supply stores around here are notorious for selling sub par pellets. They all seem to get the junky pellets and try to sell them at the going rate. I have never bought or burned any brands they have carried. I can get some of the best pellets (hardwood) made even cheaper than what TSC wants for the junk. I am still thinking it is the pellets but could very well be that you need to tweak your stove a bit and find the sweat spot.

The Serenity stoves have been good performing stoves so I can not see yours being the ash issue.


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## alternativeheat (Nov 15, 2016)

I agree that TSC doesn't generally have the best pellets, now and then they do get something decent in. Of their brands though, I've found the blends to be about the best. Around here those would be made by Maine Woods.

Incidentally, if you hang around pellet stoves long enough you will discover that the stigma of softwood that you hear of all the time in reference with wood stoves , generally is not the case with pellet stoves. The compression factor in making pellets and the efficient burn of pellets vs wood stoves kind of cancels that. In fact, often the superior pellets are softwood, typically less ash and at least equal if not more heat. It just depends on how much trash they compressed into them along with the wood but that is the case with both soft and hard wood pellets..


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## mrbeal (Nov 15, 2016)

alternativeheat said:


> I agree that TSC doesn't generally have the best pellets, now and then they do get something decent in. Of their brands though, I've found the blends to be about the best. Around here those would be made by Maine Woods.
> 
> Incidentally, if you hang around pellet stoves long enough you will discover that the stigma of softwood that you hear of all the time in reference with wood stoves , generally is not the case with pellet stoves. The compression factor in making pellets and the efficient burn of pellets vs wood stoves kind of cancels that. In fact, often the superior pellets are softwood, typically less ash and at least equal if not more heat. It just depends on how much trash they compressed into them along with the wood but that is the case with both soft and hard wood pellets..



Good info too... I'm from the fireplace school of thought.  Oak and Maple are excellent for burning long and hot so I naturally assumed "hardwood" pellets would be best.  Compression, in essence, makes all pellets "hardwood".  
I need to get this squared away for multiple reasons.  I am heating exclusively with the stove so it's kind of a priority.  I do have an issue with LOTS of sparks flying out the exhaust so NEED to tweak that too as a priority.

alternativeheat - since you're pretty local to me, where do you find pellets?  I'm just thinking about the obvious places I drive by and have seen pellets at, where should I be looking other than HD, Lowes and Tractor Supply that also will sell at a good price?


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## alternativeheat (Nov 15, 2016)

Price is the problem when you go shopping around here for higher end pellets ! But you could do worse than to pick up a few bags of LG at HiWay Concrete in Wareham Ma to get an idea how a little better pellet should burn. Tome these are upper middle road pellets. Actually right now I'm burning Fireside Ultra pellets from HD in Plymouth, they are OK but LG are better. If you like the LG, or your stove likes the LG, then you can assess if their ton price is worth while ( I don't know what they are charging this year).


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## mrbeal (Nov 15, 2016)

I'm a good long drive from Wareham, like an hour... each way.  I suppose I should do some Googling and see what's good and where I can get them.  TS is about 2 miles away and I was hoping they would have what I needed because it's so easily accessible.  Time, money, storage and transport are my obstacles... I was hoping to by a pallet but may just have to stick with getting a dozen bags every 2 weeks.
Lots of great help and suggestions on here so far, I like it!


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## rich2500 (Nov 15, 2016)

The more info I'm reading here the more it sounds like you need to make some adjustments to your stove.If your blowing sparks out your exhaust you are moving to much air through the stove and getting an incomplete burn which would also explain your high amount of ash.I would start with like Deezl said and check your air adjustment and close it down to 1/3 open and report back with your results.


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## mrbeal (Nov 15, 2016)

rich2500 said:


> The more info I'm reading here the more it sounds like you need to make some adjustments to your stove.If your blowing sparks out your exhaust you are moving to much air through the stove and getting an incomplete burn which would also explain your high amount of ash.I would start with like Deezl said and check your air adjustment and close it down to 1/3 open and report back with your results.



Shutting down now and will close the damper a bit and see what happens.  Wish it didn't take so long to cool down and then restart...


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## rich2500 (Nov 15, 2016)

Several of us Serenity owners have added an adjustment rod on to the air gate that sticks out the side of the stove so you can make adjustments on the fly.


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## mrbeal (Nov 15, 2016)

rich2500 said:


> Several of us Serenity owners have added an adjustment rod on to the air gate that sticks out the side of the stove so you can make adjustments on the fly.



I've seen that.  At the moment I just have the side off of the stove.  
At the moment I have 2 "issues".  VERY inconsistent flame and EVERY pellet that drops send sparks flying (and sparks out my flue).  What adjustments fix each problem?  My flame is yellow, anywhere from 1" to 14" above the burn pot and lots of sparks that have the neighbors threatening to report me to the fire department.  I do have embers landing on the ground and taking several seconds to eventually burn out.


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## Deezl Smoke (Nov 15, 2016)

mrbeal said:


> Good info too... I'm from the fireplace school of thought.  Oak and Maple are excellent for burning long and hot so I naturally assumed "hardwood" pellets would be best.  Compression, in essence, makes all pellets "hardwood".
> I need to get this squared away for multiple reasons.  I am heating exclusively with the stove so it's kind of a priority.  I do have an issue with LOTS of sparks flying out the exhaust so NEED to tweak that too as a priority.
> 
> alternativeheat - since you're pretty local to me, where do you find pellets?  I'm just thinking about the obvious places I drive by and have seen pellets at, where should I be looking other than HD, Lowes and Tractor Supply that also will sell at a good price?



 Sounds as though you are starting to narrow your issue down. The sparks out the exhaust are un-burned partials of pellets jumping out of the pot. This will also cause lots of ash as the pellets complete their burn in the ash pan. Bad pellets can add to a bad setup to make things even worse.

Here's a site with a pretty good definition of hard wood vs. soft wood.


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## mrbeal (Nov 15, 2016)

Looks like pellets keep coming up as a strong contributing factor.  I have 3 bags left which will probably last the week and then I will have to search for another source of pellets.  Who knew having a pellet stove was going to be such a hassle?  Such is life.....
FWIW, both images are the same setting on the stove just a minute or so apart.  The flame is VERY inconsistent.  I would think that, on medium for instance, the flame would stay pretty steady as pellets are fed.


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## Deezl Smoke (Nov 16, 2016)

mrbeal said:


> Looks like pellets keep coming up as a strong contributing factor.  I have 3 bags left which will probably last the week and then I will have to search for another source of pellets.  Who knew having a pellet stove was going to be such a hassle?  Such is life.....
> FWIW, both images are the same setting on the stove just a minute or so apart.  The flame is VERY inconsistent.  I would think that, on medium for instance, the flame would stay pretty steady as pellets are fed.
> View attachment 188125
> View attachment 188126



 They're really not a hassle. It's like most things in life, they just have a learning curve. 

 The Serenity pellet auger sorta runs on demand. It does not just run 100% of the time and slow or speed up as needed, it runs for a second or two, then stops, then runs etc. to meet the temp demand. This does cause the inconsistent flame you are seeing. Mine acts the same way. If the pellets are are bit long, and in good shape, they can bridge just a bit at the auger opening. Usually not for more than a couple auger cycles. You'll notice this when the flame gets really low because that pocket of no pellets has reached the auger exit.
 Then the pellets start falling again, and maybe a bit many of them to make up for the lack of pellets. It will all average out and the house temp will be unchanged. 

 Dont get discouraged. It just takes a bit of time and experimenting to find the right settings for the pellets you wish to burn.

 Think of it this way. If you play basketball or racket ball or the like and do so with the same people for some time, you get to know how each player acts and moves about the court. You get comfortable and can usually play a consistent game, each week the scores are pretty close for everyone. Then one guys leaves on vacation and a new guy you have never seen before steps in for a few games. Now what? You're lost. You have to make changes to even have a chance of score. 
 Your pellet stove is the same. Once you find a pellet that you like, which the Serenity seems to be very tolerant of many qualities, you can find the settings to work with those pellets and get along fine. If you buy 10 bags of 20 different brands and grades of pellets however, you will have to reset something with each new pellet. But you must go thru the initial time consumption of finding the pellet that you think is a good fit. Maybe one that is easy to get locally, or one that even though you have to drive a bit for, has less fines in the bags or is more consistent from bag to bag. Then set the stove up for them and plan to buy that pellet as your main one. Sure, sometimes you may have to buy a few bags of something else if your brand runs out at the store or something, but by then you should have a good handle on the settings and what each setting will do to make a new pellet work for a while.

 FWIW, I too use pellet heat as my sole heat source. Right now it is quite mild here yet, and I only burn about 10 of the 24 hour day. That is on low settings, 900 sq/ft un-insulated house. The constant heat of a pellet stove or a block wood stove, uses your house as a mass heat storage. So once everything in your house is up to temp, and you turn the stove off, it takes quite a while to cool off as the mass of the house and it's contents are now releasing the heat they stored up.


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## rich2500 (Nov 16, 2016)

D


mrbeal said:


> Looks like pellets keep coming up as a strong contributing factor.  I have 3 bags left which will probably last the week and then I will have to search for another source of pellets.  Who knew having a pellet stove was going to be such a hassle?  Such is life.....
> FWIW, both images are the same setting on the stove just a minute or so apart.  The flame is VERY inconsistent.  I would think that, on medium for instance, the flame would stay pretty steady as pellets are fed.
> View attachment 188125
> View attachment 188126



totally normal for the flame to fluctuate like that, looks like a pretty good flame though,,where are you at with your adjustments. Hang in there we will help get you squared away it just takes a little time through a forum,to speed up the process you could always call tech support they are very good at Ardisam.


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## alternativeheat (Nov 16, 2016)

FWIW, I've never gotten pellets that were a blend from TSC, that were so bad I wouldn't consider using them again. And the ones packaged by Maine Woods are a little ashy but quite hot, I've burned many bags of those over the years. They have sold some straight hard woods I wouldn't bother with again. But one year they sold some pure white pines that I'd like to get my hands on a lifetime supply of, hot , hot pellets and almost 0 ash on the pot ! That said, if you have a Home Depot near by, check with them and see if they have some Fireside Ultra pellets in stock ( i know that Plymouth HD has them because I've been buying them there at $5.18 a bag), those should burn pretty well for you. Those are about my favorite mid range , hot, if a little dirty in a low burn BBS pellet. They are fine in the cold weather too. FSU are not a bad pellet at all. Maine Woods blends are not a bad pellet either but a little more ash.

You just need to get your air set right in that stove, no way you should be throwing sparks out the vent regardless what brand pellets you are burning..


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## mrbeal (Nov 16, 2016)

alternativeheat said:


> FWIW, I've never gotten pellets that were a blend from TSC, that were so bad I wouldn't consider using them again. And the ones packaged by Maine Woods are a little ashy but quite hot, I've burned many bags of those over the years. They have sold some straight hard woods I wouldn't bother with again. But one year they sold some pure white pines that I'd like to get my hands on a lifetime supply of, hot , hot pellets and almost 0 ash on the pot ! That said, if you have a Home Depot near by, check with them and see if they have some Fireside Ultra pellets in stock ( i know that Plymouth HD has them because I've been buying them there at $5.18 a bag), those should burn pretty well for you. Those are about my favorite mid range , hot, if a little dirty in a low burn BBS pellet. They are fine in the cold weather too. FSU are not a bad pellet at all. Maine Woods blends are not a bad pellet either but a little more ash.
> 
> You just need to get your air set right in that stove, no way you should be throwing sparks out the vent regardless what brand pellets you are burning..




I think my first pellets were the HD Fireside Ultra, I'll go back tomorrow since there is one just up the street from me. 
I'll keep playing with the air and fan settings once I get the new pellets and see if it makes a difference. 
Someone earlier made reference to adjusting the fan on the burn pot... is that tied in to the room fan setting or the exhaust fan?  I only have those 2 to choose from.  Or was I misinterpreting that as adjusting the air damper?


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## alternativeheat (Nov 16, 2016)

I don't own or operate the same stove but my understanding is you physically have to adjust the damper flap to where it is approximately 1/3 open ( this was the problem the lady had last year who was throwing sparks out of her stoves venting, hers was wide open). Then the fan adjustment would be for the combustion fan/blower ( this we do on Harman stoves as well but our damper is automatic). You need both of those items set properly to get a good burn, then it's just little tweaks from there for different pellets, if at all.

So pull what ever it is you have to pull ( side panels, vent pipe, what ever) and get your damper flap set to about 1/3 open. Hook things back up and set your combustion fan , which I assume is an electronic setting. 

Maybe a real Serenity owner will chime in !lol


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## mrbeal (Nov 16, 2016)

alternativeheat said:


> I don't own or operate the same stove but my understanding is you physically have to adjust the damper flap to where it is approximately 1/3 open ( this was the problem the lady had last year who was throwing sparks out of her stoves venting, hers was wide open). Then the fan adjustment would be for the combustion fan/blower ( this we do on Harman stoves as well but our damper is automatic). You need both of those items set properly to get a good burn, then it's just little tweaks from there for different pellets, if at all.
> 
> So pull what ever it is you have to pull ( side panels, vent pipe, what ever) and get your damper flap set to about 1/3 open. hook things back up and set your combustion fan , which I assume is an electronic setting.
> 
> Maybe a real Serenity owner will chime in !lol



I do have the flap about 1/3 open, I think that part I am all set on.  Once I try new pellets I'll try adjusting it again... I just need to get that balance figured out and I'll be all set.  The sparks out the vent are what really irks me... the end of the vent is about 10 feet off the ground and LARGE embers are still falling to the ground and slowly burning out.  Once again it seems to be that the pellets I'm burning are the common denominator. 
I can't believe all the helpful information given here, it's great!


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## alternativeheat (Nov 16, 2016)

I'm going to guess that with some pellets it might not be inconceivable to close that valve up some more, say 1/4 way. You want to get your air volume to a point where you just have nice flame tips but still a clean burn. Be that it happens by vent/combustion blower speed or damper opening or the perfect combo between the two. You'll get it set eventually though !

On our Harman I like to get it so some of the glowing pellets  just about dance on the pot but don't lift off. There are always sparks inside a pellet stove but they shouldn't be making it out the vent, mine die as they settle to the bottom of the stove.


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## rich2500 (Nov 16, 2016)

What is your exhaust blower setting at, start to back down the voltage of the exhaust blower gradually allowing 15 mins. For the stove to take to the adjustment, monitor the flame and and sparks. You can keep making fine adjustments as long as the flame is not getting lazy, when you got it close the sparks should stop.


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## mrbeal (Nov 16, 2016)

rich2500 said:


> What is your exhaust blower setting at, start to back down the voltage of the exhaust blower gradually allowing 15 mins. For the stove to take to the adjustment, monitor the flame and and sparks. You can keep making fine adjustments as long as the flame is not getting lazy, when you got it close the sparks should stop.



I actually have backed down my exhaust blower a little bit on the medium burn setting.  It's possible it's made a difference but I got bored standing outside last night waiting for things to happen (or not happen) and it's still pretty warm here so I didn't let it burn all night.  I think the information I'm getting here is starting to sink in and adjustments should start being noticeable soon... new pellets tomorrow maybe and more than likely more questions


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## mrbeal (Nov 16, 2016)

alternativeheat said:


> On our Harman I like to get it so some of the glowing pellets  just about dance on the pot but don't lift off. .




My glowing pellets are always bouncing around in the burn pot.


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## alternativeheat (Nov 16, 2016)

mrbeal said:


> My glowing pellets are always bouncing around in the burn pot.


Well then keep turning your blower down for as long as the activity seems lively, you can always turn it back up if you went a little too far and it goes dead. FYI, when you get this right the stove is probably going to put out more heat on the same pellets. When you get those FSU, maybe tomorrow, you may or may not have to tweak slightly for them. FSU in my stove I turned the blower up a little, in a low burn they produced dark ash on the door and I had set the blower for some hotter, faster burning pellets that I wish I could get more of because they were super hot and clean ! but for what you are doing, as I said , it may or may not need a tweak. FSU are a decent mid road pellet, close in nature to Energex..


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## rich2500 (Nov 16, 2016)

Ok good sounds as though we are getting you to understand the workings of your stove, should be smooth sailing from here.


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## mrbeal (Nov 16, 2016)

Well, so far so good tonight.  Flame looks good, I've checked 4 times so far and NO embers hitting the ground and only a few sparks shooting out.  In a little bit I'll shut it down and clear out the ash pan and start with a full hopper and check my ash hole on Friday  
It's funny, all I did was open my damper a tiny bit.


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## alternativeheat (Nov 16, 2016)

So it's improved, but you aren't there yet. You should have nothing coming out the vent but some hot fumes ( well at night if you shine a light at the vent you will see what looks like a little smoke but no sparks, sparks are not acceptable). You're headed in the right direct though. Have you started to turn the blower down yet ?

As I said earlier, you will always have some sparks shooting around inside the stove. But they shouldn't be making it outdoors.


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## mrbeal (Nov 16, 2016)

alternativeheat said:


> So it's improved, but you aren't there yet. You should have nothing coming out the vent but some hot fumes ( well at night if you shine a light at the vent you will see what looks like a little smoke but no sparks, sparks are not acceptable). You're headed in the right direct though. Have you started to turn the blower down yet ?
> 
> As I said earlier, you will always have some sparks shooting around inside the stove. But they shouldn't be making it outdoors.



I tried turning down the blower but..... I forget what happened.  I just cleaned the ashes out and filled the hopper and started it up again.  I'll heat it up and turn the blower down a notch and see what comes about.  Getting there.....


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## alternativeheat (Nov 16, 2016)

I'm starting to feel like I know this stove myself now, I think I want one for my basement wood working/work shop !! Course I'd take a good used P43 at the right price too.


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## rich2500 (Nov 16, 2016)

The thing with the Serenity is that because of it's simplistic design of no internal passages and exhaust outlet being right at the bottom of the firebox it moves alot of air through the stove quickly and that is why it throws the sparks out the exhaust so it's just a matter of finding the correct air balance.You will not find an easier stove to clean though, deep cleanings are basically non existent on the Serenity.I like my Ravelli but I sure do miss the simplicity of the Serenity.It's tough going to work everyday and seeing that brand new Serenity just sitting next to my tool box covered up.


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## rich2500 (Nov 16, 2016)

alternativeheat said:


> I'm starting to feel like I know this stove myself now, I think I want one for my basement wood working/work shop !! Course I'd take a good used P43 at the right price too.


Awesome we need a Serenity guru


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## mrbeal (Nov 16, 2016)

Welp.... cleaned out the ashes, fired it up so it's really hot and there are sparks flying out the exhaust and even landing on the ground again.  Seems like there is an air flow issue... I've turned the blower down a notch again and will check outside, again, in a bit...
The red hot coals are bouncing around in the firepot... I turned the blower down to see if that helps, seems to have.  Still sparks outside and falling to the ground.
The fire looks really nice, swirling about in the firepot and it is HOT!  The side of the stove is about 400 degrees by my IR thermometer.  
Should I lower the fan speed next or open/close the damper to deal with the outside sparks??


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## rich2500 (Nov 16, 2016)

Back the exhaust fan down some more


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## mrbeal (Nov 16, 2016)

Done, still sparks and sparks to the ground.

Deductive reasoning brings me to the conclusion the pellets are not burning fast enough in the burnpot and falling through the holes and getting blown outside.  I need to figure out how to get the pellets to burn faster... more air or turn up the blower?  GRRRRR!

P.S.  The flame doesn't seem to be as happy as before.


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## rich2500 (Nov 16, 2016)

try opening the damper gradually, if thats not helping
give Ardisam a call and they will walk through everything with you over the phone, rather then stretching this out over days here.I personally never experienced the spark issue but I'm sure they have and should be able to get you squared away. Their customer service is the best in the business.


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## bags (Nov 17, 2016)

rich2500 said:


> Awesome we need a Serenity guru



Nope! You're stuck. Load that in the box new Serenity up and bring her down to me. I'd love to foster her here. She'd have a good home. LOL!


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## bags (Nov 17, 2016)

alternativeheat said:


> I'm starting to feel like I know this stove myself now, I think I want one for my basement wood working/work shop !! Course I'd take a good used P43 at the right price too.



A serenity will likely be the next stove I buy. I've been checking them out for some time and for the money I do not think you can go wrong with one. Then again used Harmans for the right price are always welcome but as we all know they also bring big bucks used but there are deals sometimes.

I am entertaining one for a similar situation, Alternative. I have bee thinning the herd here lately with my toys. I sold a car about two weeks ago and a guy came yesterday and bought my BMW K1200S bike so I am due for some "new toys." At least that's how I will justify it to the wife........

Right now I really do not need any more toys. I always like to dream big though. LOL!


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## alternativeheat (Nov 17, 2016)

bags said:


> A serenity will likely be the next stove I buy. I've been checking them out for some time and for the money I do not think you can go wrong with one. Then again used Harmans for the right price are always welcome but as we all know they also bring big bucks used but there are deals sometimes.
> 
> I am entertaining one for a similar situation, Alternative. I have bee thinning the herd here lately with my toys. I sold a car about two weeks ago and a guy came yesterday and bought my BMW K1200S bike so I am due for some "new toys." At least that's how I will justify it to the wife........
> 
> Right now I really do not need any more toys. I always like to dream big though. LOL!


Call it toys or what ever, I just know that the basement in mid winter is too cold . I had a kerosene heater down there for years, it got old and rusted but I should have kept it. Instead tossed it, to find out that the sales of new ones is now banned in this state.


----------



## mrbeal (Nov 17, 2016)

alternativeheat said:


> Call it toys or what ever, I just know that the basement in mid winter is too cold . I had a kerosene heater down there for years, it got old and rusted but I should have kept it. Instead tossed it, to find out that the sales of new ones is now* banned in this state*.



That's why we invented New Hampshire


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## rich2500 (Nov 17, 2016)

bags said:


> Nope! You're stuck. Load that in the box new Serenity up and bring her down to me. I'd love to foster her here. She'd have a good home. LOL!






That's how she has been sitting since I got her. No guru here just offer up my useless 2 cents.


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## mrbeal (Nov 17, 2016)

rich2500 said:


> View attachment 188240
> 
> That's how she has been sitting since I got her. No guru here just offer up my useless 2 cents.



You can tell I've been in the medical field too long..... at quick first look at that picture and I was trying to figure out why there was a pellet stove parked next to a crash cart... and then I saw the MACTOOLS on the drawer.


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## Deezl Smoke (Nov 17, 2016)

Not all Serenitys are created equal. You may have one that has a very good exhaust fan and even with the fan slow, there is too much velocity. In that case, leave the fan slow and close the gate opening to try to reduce the air volume. The pellets should only dance when the auger drops a new bunch in, and makes the half burned ones jump a bit, but not out of the pot. If the burning pellets are dancing so much that they jump out of the pot, you have too much inlet air. I would'nt be surprised if you have to nearly close off the inlet gate. Your exhaust fan may just be that powerful. Remember, these stove were made over seas, and though they work very well and seem to have good support, they will have a great variance in assembly tolerances. This can mean one stove will have too much air, and the next stove can have too little. Each stove, especially at this price point will have its own character.


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## mrbeal (Nov 17, 2016)

Deezl Smoke said:


> Not all Serenitys are created equal. You may have one that has a very good exhaust fan and even with the fan slow, there is too much velocity. In that case, leave the fan slow and close the gate opening to try to reduce the air volume. The pellets should only dance when the auger drops a new bunch in, and makes the half burned ones jump a bit, but not out of the pot. If the burning pellets are dancing so much that they jump out of the pot, you have too much inlet air. I would'nt be surprised if you have to nearly close off the inlet gate. Your exhaust fan may just be that powerful. Remember, these stove were made over seas, and though they work very well and seem to have good support, they will have a great variance in assembly tolerances. This can mean one stove will have too much air, and the next stove can have too little. Each stove, especially at this price point will have its own character.




Good point about tolerances and fan power variations.  Luckily I don't have red hot pellets bouncing out of the firepot, they just dance around in the bottom of it from being blown by the air movement.  And that's only happening intermittently.  "If" it gets cold enough tonight/tomorrow I'll play around with the damper opening and exhaust fan speed to see if I can stop these sparks from flying out.  In addition to that I'm going to try different pellets to see if there is any variation (since this thread was originally about excess ash).

Any chance a mod can change the title of this thread to Castle Serenity?  I think the ash issue has been resolved enough but there's a lot of good info about the stove being thrown around.


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## Deezl Smoke (Nov 17, 2016)

I just thought of another question. When the fan is on low, and then you go to shut down the stove, can you hear the fan run up to high to clear the pot of embers?


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## mrbeal (Nov 17, 2016)

Deezl Smoke said:


> I just thought of another question. When the fan is on low, and then you go to shut down the stove, can you hear the fan run up to high to clear the pot of embers?



Yup... it's also cooling the stove off to disperse the heat ASAP.


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## mrbeal (Nov 17, 2016)

Exhaust fan speed... it's hot in here and I want to turn the stove down a bit - I have little to no sparks outside the vent at the current setting, should I use the current exhaust fan setting at "LOW" heat setting?


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## Deezl Smoke (Nov 17, 2016)

Yes. But what is the fan set at? 80 volts? The heat number scale can be tuned.


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## Deezl Smoke (Nov 17, 2016)

I just took a couple pictures of my settings.


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## mrbeal (Nov 17, 2016)

Maybe I didn't word the question right... I know the current exhaust voltage on my stove on MEDIUM doesn't let sparks out... should I use the same exhaust fan setting on LOW?  80V on MED seems right, would I use the same or LESS on LOW?  I'm just trying to figure out where to start my trial and error since I'm still not 100% on what I'm doing with this thing.


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## Deezl Smoke (Nov 17, 2016)

80 is the lowest voltage, unless they changed the controller since mine. So yes, if you are at 80 volts, leave it at 80 since you cant go lower.


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## alternativeheat (Nov 18, 2016)

The more I read about this serenity the better I like it, at least for the money.

Where did you end up setting the damper at or is it still 1/3 open ? It's sounding like you are down to little 1/8th inch damper tweaks now.

If you get some FSU pellets I'll be curious what your take is on them with this stove. or will you now stick with the TSC pellets ?


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## mrbeal (Nov 18, 2016)

alternativeheat said:


> The more I read about this serenity the better I like it, at least for the money.
> 
> Where did you end up setting the damper at or is it still 1/3 open ? It's sounding like you are down to little 1/8th inch damper tweaks now.
> 
> If you get some FSU pellets I'll be curious what your take is on them with this stove. or will you now stick with the TSC pellets ?




I got some FSU pellets today, I'm letting the hopper empty out and then I'll fill with the FSU.  I bought 12 bags at HD for about $5.12/bag.
I haven't looked at the damper opening to make note of how open it is... I just cleaned everything out and would have to guess it's somewhere around 1/3 open. 
While I was cleaning it out I had to take a HUGE chunk of crap out of the burnpot.  It was caked on stuff covering about 2/3 of the bottom and side of the burnpot.  What causes that?  I cleaned it out last night and had a smaller bunch of crap in it then and all I did was leave the stove on all night)on LOW).  Could that just be bad pellets or do I need to look at something else?

Oh yeah, FWIW there was hardly any ash in the ash hole so I am definitely getting a more complete burn now.


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## alternativeheat (Nov 18, 2016)

Try those FSU and see what they do in comparison regarding the pot "Crap".


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## mrbeal (Nov 18, 2016)

alternativeheat said:


> Try those FSU and see what they do in comparison regarding the pot "Crap".



Will do... already shut it down (it's still too warm to run it today).  I just looked, my damper is around 1/5 - 1/4 open and it burns HOT!


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## alternativeheat (Nov 18, 2016)

Ya. What the heck is an ash hole anyway ?


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## mrbeal (Nov 18, 2016)

alternativeheat said:


> Ya. What the heck is an ash hole anyway ?




ROTFL!!  It's my way of having fun AND letting you know how much ash the pellets are producing... say it out loud


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## rich2500 (Nov 18, 2016)

alternativeheat said:


> Ya. What the heck is an ash hole anyway ?



You gotta know what an ash hole is Alternative because there are plenty in the world


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## rich2500 (Nov 18, 2016)

mrbeal said:


> Will do... already shut it down (it's still too warm to run it today).  I just looked, my damper is around 1/5 - 1/4 open and it burns HOT!



Cool now you are putting your heat into your house instead of out your exhaust vent.That deposit in your burn pot is referred to as a clinker, that's the pellets causing that, if you get yourself a metal scraper you can open the door while the stove is running and break up the clinker and then it can blow out of the burn pot, gotta do it quickly though or the stove will error out for loss of vacuum and shut down.


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## bags (Nov 19, 2016)

rich2500 said:


> View attachment 188240
> 
> That's how she has been sitting since I got her. No guru here just offer up my useless 2 cents.



Well hell, The way I see it is that it is now OUT OF THE BOX and should come with a hefty scratch and dent demo type discount. You can keep the extra cardboard. No OEM original packaging, (( Deduct $250 )). I'll be up in the morning....... Can you toss in some good pellets too?


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## bags (Nov 19, 2016)

alternativeheat said:


> Call it toys or what ever, I just know that the basement in mid winter is too cold . I had a kerosene heater down there for years, it got old and rusted but I should have kept it. Instead tossed it, to find out that the sales of new ones is now banned in this state.



I bought a new one last year. They are great. KY baby! Go Cats


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## alternativeheat (Nov 19, 2016)

bags said:


> I bought a new one last year. They are great. KY baby! Go Cats


I found a place online that will ship me a 23000btu convection kerosene heater made by Dyna-Glo, ventless and made to be run indoors, in basements and such. I'm thinking on that now and it has more output than my last kerosene heater had.


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## mudeprived (Nov 19, 2016)

alternativeheat said:


> I found a place online that will ship me a 23000btu convection kerosene heater made by Dyna-Glo, ventless and made to be run indoors, in basements and such. I'm thinking on that now and it has more output than my last kerosene heater had.



Mind sharing the link? My basement gets down to 40's in the winter and I could use some heat down there. I have the regular kerosene heater that I got at Home Depot last year but it's a chore to have to take it outside to light/extinguish.


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## alternativeheat (Nov 19, 2016)

I can't link to it where I just bought it from because it will take you to my Amazon prime page. I first had seen it at Global International but it was cheaper from Amazon. But the item is a Dyna-Glo RMC-95c6.
I will be using this as intermittent heat just when I want to work in the basement a few times per week.  If you want longer term use you might want a different unit.


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## mudeprived (Nov 19, 2016)

alternativeheat said:


> I can't link to it where I just bought it from because it will take you to my Amazon prime page. I first had seen it at Global International but it was cheaper from Amazon. But the item is a Dyna-Glo RMC-95c6.
> I will be using this as intermittent heat just when I want to work in the basement a few times per week.  If you want longer term use you might want a different unit.



Oh doh! That's what I have down there now. Same model, black in color. It's pretty good and keeps my basement warm but starting and stopping it creates black soot. Not alot but enough to darken the ceiling after a while so I do that outside.


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## alternativeheat (Nov 19, 2016)

mudeprived said:


> Oh doh! That's what I have down there now. Same model, black in color. It's pretty good and keeps my basement warm but starting and stopping it creates black soot. Not alot but enough to darken the ceiling after a while so I do that outside.


My old one was like that when I had the wick up too high ( it was a radiant heater with the circular ring wick), but I can just duck into the bulkhead to light it if it turns out to be an issue, and my basement has no ceiling anyway.

Also, I looked for vented kerosene heaters but didn't find anything decent.


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## alternativeheat (Nov 19, 2016)

mrbeal, how are those FSU doing ?


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## mudeprived (Nov 19, 2016)

I figured I'd post this in here since it's related to dialing in the stove. 

I fired mine up and got a huge flame rather quickly. The flame was hitting the top of the stove and going towards the sides. I think this is too much flame. So should I dial down the blower/exhaust settings or is this air intake related? I am using default settings and air intake is closed as far as the screw will allow it (about 1/3). 

I feel stupid posting alot questions but I'm a total noob at this stuff.


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## alternativeheat (Nov 19, 2016)

mudeprived said:


> I figured I'd post this in here since it's related to dialing in the stove.
> 
> I fired mine up and got a huge flame rather quickly. The flame was hitting the top of the stove and going towards the sides. I think this is too much flame. So should I dial down the blower/exhaust settings or is this air intake related? I am using default settings and air intake is closed as far as the screw will allow it (about 1/3).
> 
> I feel stupid posting alot questions but I'm a total noob at this stuff.


I'll let the folks who actually own and run these stoves answer regarding the specific setting details. But on start up a lot of stoves have a large flame initially  as they burn off the initial load of pellets delivered during the starting phase ( my Harman does that). The key is if the flame settled down after a few minutes or not. If not, _then_ you need to adjust something.

Asking stupid questions is what this place is about or why have it ? If we were all experts coming into this, we wouldn't need the forum ! Oh someone might get razzed over something they should know better but we just roll with it around here. In due time you too will be able to answer someone's questions who is new here. We are very used to it. I just don't know that stove all that well myself but am a quick learn over things mechanical. I asked questions here before I ever bought a pellet stove and it helped a lot in my choice. So welcome, have a seat by the fire and ask away !


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## mudeprived (Nov 19, 2016)

alternativeheat said:


> I'll let the folks who actually own and run these stoves answer regarding the specific setting details. But on start up a lot of stoves have a large flame initially  as they burn off the initial load of pellets delivered during the starting phase ( my Harman does that). The key is if the flame settled down after a few minutes or not. If not, _then_ you need to adjust something.
> 
> Asking stupid questions is what this place is about or why have it ? If we were all experts coming into this, we wouldn't need the forum ! Oh someone might get razzed over something they should know better but we just roll with it around here. In due time you too will be able to answer someone's questions who is new here. We are very used to it. I just don't know that stove all that well myself but am a quick learn over things mechanical. I asked questions here before I ever bought a pellet stove and it helped a lot in my choice. So welcome, have a seat by the fire and ask away !




Thank you for your kind reply. I'm going to see how it does after burning for a while. 

My living room got really toasty in the short time I ran it. It's a very effective stove!


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## mrbeal (Nov 19, 2016)

alternativeheat said:


> mrbeal, how are those FSU doing ?




Playing with the stove now... I opened up the damper a tiny bit, the flame was a little low for my taste and it's now big and beautiful.  As for ash, I'm sure it'll get a bit hot in here soon so I'll shut it down and look at the amount of ash.  I'll report later tonight or tomorrow.


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## mrbeal (Nov 19, 2016)

mudeprived said:


> Thank you for your kind reply. I'm going to see how it does after burning for a while.
> 
> My living room got really toasty in the short time I ran it. It's a very effective stove!




When mine first star


mudeprived said:


> I figured I'd post this in here since it's related to dialing in the stove.
> 
> I fired mine up and got a huge flame rather quickly. The flame was hitting the top of the stove and going towards the sides. I think this is too much flame. So should I dial down the blower/exhaust settings or is this air intake related? I am using default settings and air intake is closed as far as the screw will allow it (about 1/3).
> 
> I feel stupid posting alot questions but I'm a total noob at this stuff.




When mine first starts up the flame is HUGE while heating everything up and then settles down.  I'd have to say it's normal for this stove. 
Keep playing, it's taken me 3 weeks to "fine tune" my stove... I need to take a look later on but, for now, my advice is to keep an eye on buildup in your burnpot.  I'm using a different pellet and am curious about ash and buildup.


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## Deezl Smoke (Nov 19, 2016)

A fair amount of pellets will drop into the burn pot before they ignite. Once they ignite, yes, the flame will go big and hot until that large pot full of pellets burn up and the metered amount that coincides with the heat settings will then determine how many pellets are in the pot at any time. Default settings should be changed to meet your needs. But to do so, you really should have the stove warmed up and run for about 30 minutes. Then you can go into the controller and make changes, let run for 30 minutes and see how the changes work out.


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## alternativeheat (Nov 19, 2016)

mrbeal said:


> When mine first star
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Most pellets from TSC have burned more ashy in my P61 than FSU. Some worse than others. The Maine Woods blends are similar and the pure White Pines they had two years ago were hot and almost no ash at all by comparison to even FSU. But they just had those for part of that one year. This is why I say that FSU are good example of mid road pellets. I'd definitely take four tons of them for heat even in a severe winter.


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## mudeprived (Nov 19, 2016)

Deezl Smoke said:


> A fair amount of pellets will drop into the burn pot before they ignite. Once they ignite, yes, the flame will go big and hot until that large pot full of pellets burn up and the metered amount that coincides with the heat settings will then determine how many pellets are in the pot at any time. Default settings should be changed to meet your needs. But to do so, you really should have the stove warmed up and run for about 30 minutes. Then you can go into the controller and make changes, let run for 30 minutes and see how the changes work out.



Thanks. The fire died down a bit and flares up as pellets drop in. I guess it's good.

I did notice smoke in the back upon start up. The Duravent pipe is leaking out of every possible section that I did not tape even the side connection on the 1 foot section. It only leaks when I start it up and I think once the draft is created then it stops. Is there a foil tape that I can use to completely wrap the pipe with? I did tape the joints with high silicone tape but that stuff is $6 for a small roll and would cost alot of money to tape up the entire pipe.


----------



## mrbeal (Nov 19, 2016)

alternativeheat said:


> Most pellets from TSC have burned more ashy in my P61 than FSU. Some worse than others. The Maine Woods blends are similar and the pure White Pines they had two years ago were hot and almost no ash at all by comparison to even FSU. But they just had those for part of that one year. This is why I say that FSU are good example of mid road pellets. I'd definitely take four tons of them for heat even in a severe winter.




I "had" to shut down because it was warm in here so I checked things out.  There is very little ash in the ash hole and the burnpot was all gunked up again.  I'm wondering if I need to worry about the gunk at all... some of the holes were still open and I'm betting that the gunk would just burn up with the new burn cycle starting.  The stove is getting ready to start up again, I'mm try to take a picture for mudeprived to show what mine looks like right after ignition.

mudeprived - you need to better seal your venting, tape up every connection and I bet you're all set.  I have to admit this stove is frustrating at first (I assume most are as well) but seems easy to dial in once you understand what each setting is/does.  FWIW, the EXHAUST fan speed is what I needed to adjust to fix my sparks/embers coming out the exhaust problem.  To get my stove dialed in I just needed to do adjustments on the damper.  I've gone from lots of ash (could be pellet brand related or not) to a small amount of ash on both Tractor Supply AND Home Depot FSU pellets (both about $5.12/bag) to a small amount of ash and WHITE ash on the back side of the burn chamber (was brown before dialing it in).  Photo's in my next post.....


----------



## alternativeheat (Nov 19, 2016)

mudeprived said:


> Thanks. The fire died down a bit and flares up as pellets drop in. I guess it's good.
> 
> I did notice smoke in the back upon start up. The Duravent pipe is leaking out of every possible section that I did not tape even the side connection on the 1 foot section. It only leaks when I start it up and I think once the draft is created then it stops. Is there a foil tape that I can use to completely wrap the pipe with? I did tape the joints with high silicone tape but that stuff is $6 for a small roll and would cost alot of money to tape up the entire pipe.


Yes pellet stoves smoke on start up, that's normal. You need to seal Duravent, the standard grade in that brand is not self sealing. I sealed most of my joints with red RTV on assembly and still had some leaks in the clean out T ( which is my fireplace), so the T seams I sealed with RTV and the clean out cap with just some 200 deg duct tape. Then I had a leak at the stove connector joint and I just RTVd over it. As you said, "every possible joint". But I had some 400 deg black RTV and much of the exterior sealing I did with that. But where I sealed the internal joint on assembly it did not leak the first year, it was the second year and not the connector joints so much as the pre assemblies themselves leaking, like the rived T joints for instance and in the warmer weather when draft is a little lower.

Any of the double wall exterior surfaces of the vent will never see 200 deg unless there is a problem. Everyone uses silicone tape mostly but RTV still works too, just tougher to take apart.


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## mudeprived (Nov 19, 2016)

mrbeal said:


> I "had" to shut down because it was warm in here so I checked things out.  There is very little ash in the ash hole and the burnpot was all gunked up again.  I'm wondering if I need to worry about the gunk at all... some of the holes were still open and I'm betting that the gunk would just burn up with the new burn cycle starting.  The stove is getting ready to start up again, I'mm try to take a picture for mudeprived to show what mine looks like right after ignition.
> 
> mudeprived - you need to better seal your venting, tape up every connection and I bet you're all set.  I have to admit this stove is frustrating at first (I assume most are as well) but seems easy to dial in once you understand what each setting is/does.  FWIW, the EXHAUST fan speed is what I needed to adjust to fix my sparks/embers coming out the exhaust problem.  To get my stove dialed in I just needed to do adjustments on the damper.  I've gone from lots of ash (could be pellet brand related or not) to a small amount of ash on both Tractor Supply AND Home Depot FSU pellets (both about $5.12/bag) to a small amount of ash and WHITE ash on the back side of the burn chamber (was brown before dialing it in).  Photo's in my next post.....



Photos apprecaited!

This is how I have it taped up now:





I can't use that tape on the vertical crimps because you need to wrap it onto itself in order for it to stick and I'd need a ton of rolls to cover all that.


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## mrbeal (Nov 19, 2016)

#1 white ash on back of stove (burning HOT!)
#2 ignition
#3about 1:15 after ignition
#4-9 the next minute or so of the burn

after a few minutes the flames start to fluctuate from low to high and back to low and so on... seems to be pretty normal.  BIG things to notice are the exhaust outside - there really shouldn't be any sparks coming out and the amount of ash you get in your ash hole.  I believe that, with this stove, you can dial in the cheaper pellets to burn with minimal ash (I'm assuming that the TS pellets I have are considered "cheaper") and have an efficient heat source.  Most important for mudeprived right now is sealing up those joints!


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## mrbeal (Nov 19, 2016)

alternativeheat said:


> Y
> 
> Any of the double wall exterior surfaces of the vent will never see 200 deg unless there is a problem. Everyone uses silicone tape mostly but RTV still works too, just tougher to take apart.



I've been monitoring my pipe, I haven't seen over 105 degrees yet.


----------



## mudeprived (Nov 19, 2016)

mrbeal said:


> #1 white ash on back of stove (burning HOT!)
> #2 ignition
> #3about 1:15 after ignition
> #4-9 the next minute or so of the burn
> ...



Thanks for the pictures. That's about the same as what I'm seeing. I have no sparks coming out of my vent so I'm good there. 

I do have one issue...it's HOT. I have it on setting 1 and I'm approaching 82 degrees in the living room. It's slow in spreading through the house. I'm reading 68 in the kitchen which is right next door to the living room (divided by a wall and 3 foot opening). I'm about to turn it off so I can go back in there.


----------



## mudeprived (Nov 19, 2016)

alternativeheat said:


> Yes pellet stoves smoke on start up, that's normal. You need to seal Duravent, the standard grade in that brand is not self sealing. I sealed most of my joints with red RTV on assembly and still had some leaks in the clean out T ( which is my fireplace), so the T seams I sealed with RTV and the clean out cap with just some 200 deg duct tape. Then I had a leak at the stove connector joint and I just RTVd over it. As you said, "every possible joint". But I had some 400 deg black RTV and much of the exterior sealing I did with that. But where I sealed the internal joint on assembly it did not leak the first year, it was the second year and not the connector joints so much as the pre assemblies themselves leaking, like the rived T joints for instance and in the warmer weather when draft is a little lower.
> 
> Any of the double wall exterior surfaces of the vent will never see 200 deg unless there is a problem. Everyone uses silicone tape mostly but RTV still works too, just tougher to take apart.



I need a temp gun to see what temps are like on my pipe before I choose my type of tape. Most of the foil tapes I find locally are rated for 200 degrees.


----------



## alternativeheat (Nov 19, 2016)

mudeprived said:


> Thanks for the pictures. That's about the same as what I'm seeing. I have no sparks coming out of my vent so I'm good there.
> 
> I do have one issue...it's HOT. I have it on setting 1 and I'm approaching 82 degrees in the living room. It's slow in spreading through the house. I'm reading 68 in the kitchen which is right next door to the living room (divided by a wall and 3 foot opening). I'm about to turn it off so I can go back in there.


r


mudeprived said:


> I need a temp gun to see what temps are like on my pipe before I choose my type of tape. Most of the foil tapes I find locally are rated for 200 degrees.


My double wall Duravent pipe never gets hotter than just a bit uncomfortable to the touch, you wouldn't want to keep your hand on it but it won't sizzle either. With the exception of the single wall liner where it connects to the top of the T and runs up through the smoke shelf but that is fully sealed with red RTV. You're not touching that on a good hot burn.


----------



## mrbeal (Nov 19, 2016)

mudeprived said:


> Thanks for the pictures. That's about the same as what I'm seeing. I have no sparks coming out of my vent so I'm good there.
> 
> I do have one issue...it's HOT. I have it on setting 1 and I'm approaching 82 degrees in the living room. It's slow in spreading through the house. I'm reading 68 in the kitchen which is right next door to the living room (divided by a wall and 3 foot opening). I'm about to turn it off so I can go back in there.



Suck it up buttercup, it's a stove.  I have fans to try to push the heat down the hall to the bedrooms and they work "ok".  This isn't as good as I thought it was going to be but it'll work for the winter.  I have electric space heaters I can use if necessary but, so far, I'm hot sleeping in my room at the other end of the house with nighttime temps in the high 30's - low 40's.  Propane is WAY too expensive to even think of going back to it.  It'd be cheaper to get another stove for the other end of the house and heat that way IMHO.  So far I LOVE this thing!!  There's a learning curve but it's pretty simple now that I've asked questions here and gotten really EXCELLENT responses!


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## alternativeheat (Nov 19, 2016)

mrbeal said:


> Suck it up buttercup, it's a stove.  I have fans to try to push the heat down the hall to the bedrooms and they work "ok".  This isn't as good as I thought it was going to be but it'll work for the winter.  I have electric space heaters I can use if necessary but, so far, I'm hot sleeping in my room at the other end of the house with nighttime temps in the high 30's - low 40's.  Propane is WAY too expensive to even think of going back to it.  It'd be cheaper to get another stove for the other end of the house and heat that way IMHO.  So far I LOVE this thing!!  There's a learning curve but it's pretty simple now that I've asked questions here and gotten really EXCELLENT responses!


You can't really judge the output of a stove and how it will heat your house till it gets cold out.


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## Deezl Smoke (Nov 19, 2016)

mrbeal said:


> Suck it up buttercup, it's a stove.  I have fans to try to push the heat down the hall to the bedrooms and they work "ok".  This isn't as good as I thought it was going to be but it'll work for the winter.  I have electric space heaters I can use if necessary but, so far, I'm hot sleeping in my room at the other end of the house with nighttime temps in the high 30's - low 40's.  Propane is WAY too expensive to even think of going back to it. * It'd be cheaper to get another stove for the other end of the house and heat that way IMHO*.  So far I LOVE this thing!!  There's a learning curve but it's pretty simple now that I've asked questions here and gotten really EXCELLENT responses!



 Enter my world. I have a hall way right down the middle of the house. I have a serenity at each end of the hall. Mornings and evenings I am in the south end which is living room and kitchen. Night time I'm in the bedroom at the north. Which stove I run depends upon which end of the house I'm in. I never run both at the same time as that would cook me to well done in an hour, no matter the weather outside. One stove running only burns one stove worth of pellets. 
 At the price of these serenitys, I can buy 4 for the price of one fancy stove. But my house is not fancy, nor am I a fancy sort. My house serves a function for me, not a fashion statement. Having had my two stove system for over a year now, I would'nt have it any other way. My mind is at ease knowing that if we do get a cold snap with wind, even if one stove broke down, I still have heat. And it is the kind of heat that I like. I can run my stoves with solar if I choose, and certainly can run them with those small ultra quiet Honda inverter generators on eco mode.


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## mrbeal (Nov 19, 2016)

alternativeheat said:


> You can't really judge the output of a stove and how it will heat your house till it gets cold out.



I agree to a point... we have a place on a pond - no insulation at all - and in the coldest of winters it's too hot for a long sleeve t-shirt on the coldest of days in there.  1 wood stove and 1 fireplace.  You go through a LOT of wood but it is HOT!  Come winter I'm pretty sure I'm going to need an extra heater in the far bedroom (mine) but I'd bet the rest of the house is comfortable... we shall see.


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## alternativeheat (Nov 19, 2016)

Deezl Smoke said:


> and certainly can run them with those small ultra quiet Honda inverter generators on eco mode.


You could probably run them both on one generator if you lit the stoves manually.

I have a generator, it does about half-2/3 of the house including the oil boiler. So when we lose power I burn some oil, no big deal.


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## rich2500 (Nov 19, 2016)

Wow I go out to eat for dinner and come back to find mrbeal coaching mude on his stove,that's awesome.Hang in there mude you too will soon have your stove mastered.The Serenity likes to throw heat you will just have to play around with some fans and see if you can get the heat spread through the house.


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## Deezl Smoke (Nov 19, 2016)

mrbeal said:


> I agree to a point... we have a place on a pond - no insulation at all - and in the coldest of winters it's too hot for a long sleeve t-shirt on the coldest of days in there.  1 wood stove and 1 fireplace.  You go through a LOT of wood but it is HOT!  Come winter I'm pretty sure I'm going to need an extra heater in the far bedroom (mine) but I'd bet the rest of the house is comfortable... we shall see.



 Remember you can up the voltage on the room fan. That will blow the heat further into the house and pull the heat off of the stove quicker. By pulling the heat off quicker, the area directly about the stove will cool some and the heat will be pushed further away into the house.


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## Lake Girl (Nov 20, 2016)

mrbeal said:


> Suck it up buttercup, it's a stove.  I have fans to try to push the heat down the hall to the bedrooms and they work "ok".  This isn't as good as I thought it was going to be but it'll work for the winter.  I have electric space heaters I can use if necessary but, so far, I'm hot sleeping in my room at the other end of the house with nighttime temps in the high 30's - low 40's.  Propane is WAY too expensive to even think of going back to it.  It'd be cheaper to get another stove for the other end of the house and heat that way IMHO.  So far I LOVE this thing!!  There's a learning curve but it's pretty simple now that I've asked questions here and gotten really EXCELLENT responses!



You will find it more effective to place fans at floor level directed toward the stove room.  The cooler air will get pulled into the stove, warmed over the heat exchangers, and pushed back down the hall.  Encourages the convection loop...


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## Nvnv (Nov 20, 2016)

mrbeal said:


> I've been monitoring my pipe, I haven't seen over 105 degrees yet.



The pipe on my serenity is much hotter than 105 inside before it goes outside through the wall. This is the one thing that I've been worried about. I emailed Arsisam and they said it will be hot to the touch and it's normal for this stove. I shot it with a temp gun and it seems to be around 200. One thing I noticed is the temp gun will read only 90* if I aim it at the metal I have to aim it at the tape on the pipe to get a good reading. 

Other than that it seems to be burning really well. I've been dialing in the air a little more than 1/2 closed and that seems to be best.

Edit: to be clear though I am measuring about 6-12" from the stove. My pipe goes about 18" straight out the wall then outside goes up three feet. Outside I can lay my hand on the pipe no problem.


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## mudeprived (Nov 20, 2016)

Deezl Smoke said:


> Enter my world. I have a hall way right down the middle of the house. I have a serenity at each end of the hall. Mornings and evenings I am in the south end which is living room and kitchen. Night time I'm in the bedroom at the north. Which stove I run depends upon which end of the house I'm in. I never run both at the same time as that would cook me to well done in an hour, no matter the weather outside. One stove running only burns one stove worth of pellets.
> At the price of these serenitys, I can buy 4 for the price of one fancy stove. But my house is not fancy, nor am I a fancy sort. My house serves a function for me, not a fashion statement. Having had my two stove system for over a year now, I would'nt have it any other way. My mind is at ease knowing that if we do get a cold snap with wind, even if one stove broke down, I still have heat. And it is the kind of heat that I like. I can run my stoves with solar if I choose, and certainly can run them with those small ultra quiet Honda inverter generators on eco mode.



I would love to do this type of set up but all I have are bedrooms at the other end of the house and I hear you cannot run a stove in the bedroom. It's against code or something? I do plan to set up another stove in my basement after I master this one. 



rich2500 said:


> Wow I go out to eat for dinner and come back to find mrbeal coaching mude on his stove,that's awesome.Hang in there mude you too will soon have your stove mastered.The Serenity likes to throw heat you will just have to play around with some fans and see if you can get the heat spread through the house.



Yeah I'm going to mess with the blower and see if I can spread the warmth. Thanks.



Nvnv said:


> The pipe on my serenity is much hotter than 105 inside before it goes outside through the wall. This is the one thing that I've been worried about. I emailed Arsisam and they said it will be hot to the touch and it's normal for this stove. I shot it with a temp gun and it seems to be around 200. One thing I noticed is the temp gun will read only 90* if I aim it at the metal I have to aim it at the tape on the pipe to get a good reading.
> 
> Other than that it seems to be burning really well. I've been dialing in the air a little more than 1/2 closed and that seems to be best.
> 
> Edit: to be clear though I am measuring about 6-12" from the stove. My pipe goes about 18" straight out the wall then outside goes up three feet. Outside I can lay my hand on the pipe no problem.



So I gotta find something locally that I can wrap my pipe up with. Seems like all the foil tapes they offer at HD and Lowes have max temps of 200 degrees but I'd like something a little higher than that.


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## rich2500 (Nov 20, 2016)

here you go mude you can check if your local ace has it in stock
http://www.acehardware.com/product/index.jsp?productId=1273881


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## rich2500 (Nov 20, 2016)

Nvnv said:


> The pipe on my serenity is much hotter than 105 inside before it goes outside through the wall. This is the one thing that I've been worried about. I emailed Arsisam and they said it will be hot to the touch and it's normal for this stove. I shot it with a temp gun and it seems to be around 200. One thing I noticed is the temp gun will read only 90* if I aim it at the metal I have to aim it at the tape on the pipe to get a good reading.
> 
> Other than that it seems to be burning really well. I've been dialing in the air a little more than 1/2 closed and that seems to be best.
> 
> Edit: to be clear though I am measuring about 6-12" from the stove. My pipe goes about 18" straight out the wall then outside goes up three feet. Outside I can lay my hand on the pipe no problem.



you are fine at that temp but keep in mind you want to keep a nice lively bright flame with the least amount of air going out the exhaust, the more air going out the exhaust is more heat going out the exhaust which will cause higher pipe temps so keep dialing on the stove and I think you will find your pipe temp will drop also as it did for mrbeal.


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## Deezl Smoke (Nov 20, 2016)

Nvnv said:


> The pipe on my serenity is much hotter than 105 inside before it goes outside through the wall. This is the one thing that I've been worried about. I emailed Arsisam and they said it will be hot to the touch and it's normal for this stove. I shot it with a temp gun and it seems to be around 200. One thing I noticed is the temp gun will read only 90* if I aim it at the metal I have to aim it at the tape on the pipe to get a good reading.
> 
> Other than that it seems to be burning really well. I've been dialing in the air a little more than 1/2 closed and that seems to be best.
> 
> Edit: to be clear though I am measuring about 6-12" from the stove. My pipe goes about 18" straight out the wall then outside goes up three feet. Outside I can lay my hand on the pipe no problem.



 My stoves are virtually the same plumbing out the exhaust. Only mine go up 6' on the outside. I can not hold my hand on the pipe next to the stove inside for any length of time. It's about like the hot hose on an engine in a car. But outside, I can hold my hand in front of the outlet. It may sound confusing but some of the heat on the pipe next to the stove is actually heat from the fire box metal transferring on out for a ways. And yes, the exhaust fan is hot as well.


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## alternativeheat (Nov 20, 2016)

Not that this relates to the thread as it developed but I picked up some TSC pellets today in a white bag, blue lettering, marked Hardwood Blends. I will burn those for a couple of days ( I just got 3 bags to try them) and see how the heat and ash is with them compared to the FSU I currently am using. I had never seen the white bag with blue letters before. But the guy at TSC said they have 4 or 5 suppliers of their brand pellets and this one wouldn't put them in the old TSC bags with the red lettering. He also said that they have had no complaints with them so far . But at $4.79 a bag I figured I'd try them out, the P61 will burn anything anyway, I'm thinking about dumping my shavings from my wood lathe and my thickness planer in the hopper LOL ( yes I'm sort of kidding) !


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## mudeprived (Nov 20, 2016)

rich2500 said:


> here you go mude you can check if your local ace has it in stock
> http://www.acehardware.com/product/index.jsp?productId=1273881



Thanks. I decided to buy the silicone tape at HD since it was 10 feet for $7. Ace was a bit of a drive. I picked up four rolls and did the entire pipe.





I still saw a little bit of smoke coming from somewhere and I'm guessing the hole for the igniter? The smoke is only visible with a flashlight. I can see the glowing rod through a little hole with the back cover off but I don't know if that hole is covered or not. It's just a tiny bit of smoke for like 10 seconds so it's no big deal.

I set the blower settings a little higher this time starting at 95 for Level 1. Let's see if it pushes more heat throughout the house.

I do plan to eliminate about 2 feet of the wall on the left in the picture below:





It's not really important and the other side of it is just a built in shelf holding my zombie stuff.





That will open up the living room and allow more air flow. I think it'll look better too.


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## rich2500 (Nov 20, 2016)

I bet that will make a huge difference if you take out part of that wall.


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## mudeprived (Nov 20, 2016)

rich2500 said:


> I bet that will make a huge difference if you take out part of that wall.



Yeah I hope so. The heat is just not exiting that room for some reason. It's already 81 in there and I been running it for 40 minutes. I walk outside the room and it's  a cool 66 degrees. 

I may have to shut it down soon or else I'll become Bear Grylls attempting to survive in the desert.


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## rich2500 (Nov 20, 2016)

Have you tried a fan on the floor in the stove room across from the door opening trying to push some of the heat out the door opening.I don't know it would help or not but worth a try. My brother tried a pellet stove in his house which has doorways into all his rooms and he could never get the heat to other rooms and ended up taking the pellet stove back out. My stove is in my dining room which is wide open to my kitchen and living room then my bedrooms and bathrooms are at either ends of my house and I only have a 2 deg.temp difference in my bedrooms  and bathrooms.


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## mudeprived (Nov 20, 2016)

rich2500 said:


> Have you tried a fan on the floor in the stove room across from the door opening trying to push some of the heat out the door opening.I don't know it would help or not but worth a try. My brother tried a pellet stove in his house which has doorways into all his rooms and he could never get the heat to other rooms and ended up taking the pellet stove back out. My stove is in my dining room which is wide open to my kitchen and living room then my bedrooms and bathrooms are at either ends of my house and I only have a 2 deg.temp difference in my bedrooms  and bathrooms.


Wanna swap houses? lol

I like the fan idea but I'm tryin to lean on the stove alone to save $$ on the electric bill. It just went from $51 in October to $131 in November with a $101 account balance. Geez!


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## Lake Girl (Nov 20, 2016)

Best get that wall out to get better air flow!  If you run a fan on the floor, try to pull air from the bedroom direction and push it into the stove room.  It will speed up the convection loop with the warm air up higher and the cooler air getting fed back to the stove to get rewarmed.


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## mudeprived (Nov 20, 2016)

Lake Girl said:


> Best get that wall out to get better air flow!  If you run a fan on the floor, try to pull air from the bedroom direction and push it into the stove room.  It will speed up the convection loop with the warm air up higher and the cooler air getting fed back to the stove to get rewarmed.



I will try this tmw when it gets colder.


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## mrbeal (Nov 20, 2016)

mudeprived said:


> I will try this tmw when it gets colder.



Let us know how it works... it didn't work when I tried it.


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## Lake Girl (Nov 20, 2016)

It actually worked in my kitchen doorway in the hall to the bedrooms.  Oversized doorway with short hallway...


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## mrbeal (Nov 20, 2016)

Maybe I'll try again... what's the worst that could happen??


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## Deezl Smoke (Nov 20, 2016)

mudeprived said:


> Thanks. I decided to buy the silicone tape at HD since it was 10 feet for $7. Ace was a bit of a drive. I picked up four rolls and did the entire pipe.
> 
> 
> View attachment 188469
> ...



 A small fan of decent brand will likely only be a dollar or two per month. However, if there are no other doors or air outlets in the room that is cool, a fan will be marginal help unless it is placed in the doorway to the cool room. A closed off room kinda creates it's own air block in a way. The warm air has to move in order to get into the cooler room. But if the cooler room is closed off other than the doorway, the warm air cant get in very well. 

 Warm air ascends, cold air descends. So cooler air will be at the floor. A small fan on the floor faced toward the stove, will "pull" the cooler air out and allow the warmer air to enter the room at the ceiling.

 If you know any firemen, ask them how PPV works. It's Positive Pressure Ventilation. When you see them cutting a hole in the roof and setting up a fan in an open doorway, it is to push the heat and smoke up and out of the house. If the fan starts before the hole is cut, you can see smoke comes back at the fan. This is because there is no place for the smoke to go until a hole is cut or a window at the other side of the house is opened. Kinda how a room with no way for air to move thru it works. The air just stagnates and wont allow the warm air to enter until some sort of circulator is set up.


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## Lake Girl (Nov 20, 2016)

Deezl Smoke said:


> If you know any firemen, ask them how PPV works. It's Positive Pressure Ventilation.


 Hubby, very recently retired Fire Chief.


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## alternativeheat (Nov 21, 2016)

Of all the things that use electricity, fans have to be among the cheapest to run. I would guess pennies per week per fan. In my house ceiling fans help some, enough to be noticeable. Especially the one at the top of the stair well, which I use in mid winter to push air down the stairs actually, making kind of an air dam so all the warm air doesn't end up up there and so we can get some warm air out to the extended kitchen area. The other two ceiling fans in outer rooms are drawing up, which brings warm air in and out down the walls as it cools.

No system is perfect, with central heating being as close as it gets. People locking a pellet stove in a closed off room and expecting it to heat the house is the least effective . So we Rube Goldberg to compensate ( compared with central heat that is).


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## DrewBoogie (Nov 21, 2016)

I completely agree on the small fan on the floor.  I put one in our TV room blowing into the kitchen where the stove is and it made a huge difference in my house. It pushed much more warm into the TV room which is where the stairs up are, which warmed the upstairs considerably better.


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## mudeprived (Nov 21, 2016)

Well I got a fan running and tossing cold air into the living room. That might even manage the temp in there so it doesn't go up to 85 like before. We'll see if I can get the kitchen higher than 70, which is the warmest it has been.


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## rich2500 (Nov 21, 2016)

Not much activity from the Serenity owners lately I'm assuming they got their stoves pretty well figured out.


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## alternativeheat (Nov 21, 2016)

Just for the record, I reported buying some of the white bag/blue lettering TSC pellets. There isn't anything wrong with these pellets, burning quite hot , not too bad on ash. Just a little dusty going into the hopper.


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## rich2500 (Nov 21, 2016)

now that they are getting their stoves dialed in they should be able to burn pretty much any brand pellet with minor adjustments.I have burned about every cheap pellet available in my area in the serenity with no problems and never even adjusted the stove.


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## mudeprived (Nov 21, 2016)

rich2500 said:


> now that they are getting their stoves dialed in they should be able to burn pretty much any brand pellet with minor adjustments.I have burned about every cheap pellet available in my area in the serenity with no problems and never even adjusted the stove.



Yeah the pellets I got from TS are burning just fine. I dunno what alot or little is pertaining to dust yet so I will learn that soon and then I can tune the stove and judge pellets better. 

So far the fan trick is working. My kitchen is 73 degrees and rising (highest it's ever been in winter), however, the living room is 89 degrees on setting 1. LOL


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## Deezl Smoke (Nov 21, 2016)

rich2500 said:


> now that they are getting their stoves dialed in they should be able to burn pretty much any brand pellet with minor adjustments.I have burned about every cheap pellet available in my area in the serenity with no problems and never even adjusted the stove.



 That's because you are an experienced operator. d 
 I was raised on a wood stove and still have one in the shop. So I dont even notice a few degrees here or there as it is just normal for me to not have every inch of the house or shop or wherever at the exact same temp. I get in my vehicle, start it, let the oil pressure get to normal and maybe set there 30 seconds or so changing the heater settings or radio dial, but I then back out and leave. I dont start it and go back into the house for any length of time unless it is 10 degrees out. But then I dont have any reason to drive at that temp, so..........But it does not bother me to drive in a cold vehicle for a mile or two as I know it will warm eventually. I know a few people that cant fathom such an act.


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## mudeprived (Nov 21, 2016)

Deezl Smoke said:


> That's because you are an experienced operator. d
> I was raised on a wood stove and still have one in the shop. So I dont even notice a few degrees here or there as it is just normal for me to not have every inch of the house or shop or wherever at the exact same temp. I get in my vehicle, start it, let the oil pressure get to normal and maybe set there 30 seconds or so changing the heater settings or radio dial, but I then back out and leave. I dont start it and go back into the house for any length of time unless it is 10 degrees out. But then I dont have any reason to drive at that temp, so..........But it does not bother me to drive in a cold vehicle for a mile or two as I know it will warm eventually. I know a few people that cant fathom such an act.



Hey, I drive two very old jeeps that......remind me of my childhood when it comes to heating (wood stove, chopping wood, hauling wood inside, etc). But then again I am attached to a woman who wants warmth NOW andi pay the bill........and...you know the rest. lol.



If it were just me then I would have the stove running full time. I'd sleep in the living room if I had to.


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## alternativeheat (Nov 22, 2016)

mudeprived said:


> Yeah the pellets I got from TS are burning just fine. I dunno what alot or little is pertaining to dust yet so I will learn that soon and then I can tune the stove and judge pellets better.
> 
> So far the fan trick is working. My kitchen is 73 degrees and rising (highest it's ever been in winter), however, the living room is 89 degrees on setting 1. LOL


If you don't have a ceiling fan in that room you might consider one . Or you could place a portable in there and blast the ceiling with it and encourage/knock some of that heat out of there. So you would be pushing cold air into the room at floor level, and knocking heat out of the air locked environment at the ceiling level. I have a fan up on my mantel right now doing exactly that myself. I've been running the Harman in Stove temp mode for the last day or so and it's gotten a bit hot in here. So I decided to help it out of the room for a while today.


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## DrewBoogie (Nov 22, 2016)

You could try running one of these in the corner of the room opening.

I have a cheap white corner door fan that doesn't move much air, one of these would be much better but not look as nice.  i have it blowing from the kitchen where the stove is into the TV room, and the small fan on the floor blows at the stove from the TV room.  It evened out the temp across the whole first floor and now i run my stove on a lower setting with a warmer house.


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## DrewBoogie (Nov 22, 2016)

This is what I have and it works but doesn't move as much air as the one I posted above.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0007N5LHM/?tag=hearthamazon-20


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## Nvnv (Nov 22, 2016)

I have a mini split as my primary source of heat/cooling. It is mounted up high on the wall of the living room so when I have the stove on I turn the mini split on fan mode and it moves a good bit of the heat throughout the house.


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## mrbeal (Nov 22, 2016)

OK, I have "news" to report.  

First, the ash problem.  I've burned 4 bags of FSU and there is little ash in my ash hole.  Whether that is better pellets or just having things set right I still don't know.  I just topped off the hopper with the TS hardwood pellets and will monitor that bag... probably tomorrow night or Thursday morning before I know anything .

Second, fans.  I have 1 fan in the living room that is pushing warm air down the hall and around the corner and another that's around the corner pushing the warm air down the hall.  This was the original setup I had that didn't "seem" to be working.  I tried putting a fan on the floor in the bedroom at the end of the hall to blow cold air back to the living room but that really didn't work.  Temps have been pretty steady the last few days and, with this setup, my bedroom topped out at about 61 degrees.  Moving that floor fan back down the hall has made a significant difference... it is currently 65 in my bedroom and 32 outside.  I think this setup is a winner!  

I'd love to get creative and run a 6" round tube down the hall on the ceiling with a cutout and fan for each bedroom to suck the warm air down the hall and right into the bedrooms but that's a project for another day.


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## rich2500 (Nov 23, 2016)

Is the spark issue definately solved now.


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## alternativeheat (Nov 23, 2016)

mrbeal said:


> OK, I have "news" to report.
> 
> 
> it is currently 65 in my bedroom and 32 outside.  I think this setup is a winner!
> ...



I don't think your round tube idea will do a whole lot personally, not unless you had a powered plenum over the stove or some kind of direct pressure system like a furnace has and there may be legalities involved in that, should you have an "incident" . And you still need a return loop anyway. You're better off sticking with moving room air along the ceiling and floor. The floor fan moving return air towards the stove, should set up a loop. What that fan moves along, then by natural physics has to be replaced and the source of replacement air is warm ceiling air.

65 is a decent sleeping temp, now if you can maintain that when it gets cold out is the question.


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## alternativeheat (Nov 23, 2016)

Nvnv said:


> I have a mini split as my primary source of heat/cooling. It is mounted up high on the wall of the living room so when I have the stove on I turn the mini split on fan mode and it moves a good bit of the heat throughout the house.


The best part of the mini split from what I can tell from other posters, is that they cool in the summer and can move some air in the winter. Maybe it's the nature of who we get in the forums but as point of observation only, it seems very few are happy with them as a heat source. It seems they get costly to run and not really heat the house in colder winter weather. But they do mix air if you have another heat source like a pellet stove. I've wondered too, about the cost of mixing mini split heat with pellet heat vs ringing out a stove to get the heat from and burning more pellets. I bet it wouldn't cost any more and maybe less than just one heat source or the other heat source by itself. Something to keep in mind for the coldest part of winter. I do this with oil heat sometimes, when the temps get down around -0 f.

My kerosene heater for my basement comes today, FWIW ( have a work shop down there, mostly wood working). It's a substantial heater of 23,800btu, considerably more btu than my old kero heater was, plus it's convection, the old one reflective. I'll get some use out of this low investment and if I don't like it in the long run, then I'll put in a second pellet stove down there. It will be nice to have the basement warm again when it's single digits outside.


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## mudeprived (Nov 23, 2016)

alternativeheat said:


> The best part of the mini split from what I can tell from other posters, is that they cool in the summer and can move some air in the winter. Maybe it's the nature of who we get in the forums but as point of observation only, it seems very few are happy with them as a heat source. It seems they get costly to run and not really heat the house in colder winter weather. But they do mix air if you have another heat source like a pellet stove. I've wondered too, about the cost of mixing mini split heat with pellet heat vs ringing out a stove to get the heat from and burning more pellets. I bet it wouldn't cost any more and maybe less than just one heat source or the other heat source by itself. Something to keep in mind for the coldest part of winter. I do this with oil heat sometimes, when the temps get down around -0 f.
> 
> My kerosene heater for my basement comes today, FWIW ( have a work shop down there, mostly wood working). It's a substantial heater of 23,800btu, considerably more btu than my old kero heater was, plus it's convection, the old one reflective. I'll get some use out of this low investment and if I don't like it in the long run, then I'll put in a second pellet stove down there. It will be nice to have the basement warm again when it's single digits outside.



How big is your basement? 

Mine is I believe approx 44x22 divided by one wall down the middle with three rooms on the left side and one big long one on the right with no doors. I leave the Kerosene heater on the right side and it warms that entire area to about 70 but the left side remains around 65. My basement is only 1/2 underground so it's naturally colder than a normal underground basement. It gets down to 37 degrees in the dead of winter. If yours is underground then it should work very well in heating that space up.


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## mudeprived (Nov 23, 2016)

mrbeal said:


> OK, I have "news" to report.
> 
> First, the ash problem.  I've burned 4 bags of FSU and there is little ash in my ash hole.  Whether that is better pellets or just having things set right I still don't know.  I just topped off the hopper with the TS hardwood pellets and will monitor that bag... probably tomorrow night or Thursday morning before I know anything .
> 
> ...



I thought about the fans suggested above. An idea I came up with was to install a open/close vent above the door way on both sides of the wall and install the fan inside that vent. That way the fan can move the heated air out of the stove room plus it's concealed. You would think it's just part of a central air system. This will get the heat into the next room but not sure about moving it further down the house.


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## alternativeheat (Nov 23, 2016)

mudeprived said:


> How big is your basement?
> 
> Mine is I believe approx 44x22 divided by one wall down the middle with three rooms on the left side and one big long one on the right with no doors. I leave the Kerosene heater on the right side and it warms that entire area to about 70 but the left side remains around 65. My basement is only 1/2 underground so it's naturally colder than a normal underground basement. It gets down to 37 degrees in the dead of winter. If yours is underground then it should work very well in heating that space up.


The part I want to heat is about 970 sq ft., there is more basement than that because of an old coal room and then 500sq ft crawl space under the apartment we rent out, but that area is completely separate from the main basement under our house, I can just block the doorway leading over there if it becomes an issue.. It's fully under ground but it isn't greatly air tight, there are some gaps here and there that can be tightened up.. My old heater was one of those old reflective single wick heaters and it took the chill out, enough to work without a sweater and not freeze your butt off.  This one should be fine, it's got to produce at least double what the old one did. I really didn't want to spend a minimum of $1000 right now, I'll try this first. My old heater got rusty and I tossed it out, haven't had heat down there in a few years now and so I just avoided being down there in Jan and Feb.


----------



## mrbeal (Nov 23, 2016)

rich2500 said:


> Is the spark issue definately solved now.



I haven't checked recently BUT I also haven't heard from any of the neighbors either.  I'd say turning the exhaust fan down was the cure.


----------



## mudeprived (Nov 23, 2016)

Wow what a mess. I decided to try the Temperature setting. According to the manual you set the room temp and the stove will run at full blast till it reaches this temperature. I set it to 80 while the room was 64. It ran at full power but was blowing unburnt/half burnt pellets all over the inside of the stove. I just cleaned it out prior to the turning it on and now it's a mess all over again. No sparks out of the exhaust though.


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## alternativeheat (Nov 23, 2016)

mudeprived said:


> Wow what a mess. I decided to try the Temperature setting. According to the manual you set the room temp and the stove will run at full blast till it reaches this temperature. I set it to 80 while the room was 64. It ran at full power but was blowing unburnt/half burnt pellets all over the inside of the stove. I just cleaned it out prior to the turning it on and now it's a mess all over again. No sparks out of the exhaust though.


If it's blowing half burned pellets out of the burn pot then you probably need to turn your combustion blower down a bit. It seems to be a pretty popular adjustment to make on those stoves. also the damper setting matters, 1/3 open is the starting point with that, then tweak from there.


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## mudeprived (Nov 23, 2016)

alternativeheat said:


> If it's blowing half burned pellets out of the burn pot then you probably need to turn your combustion blower down a bit. It seems to be a pretty popular adjustment to make on those stoves. also the damper setting matters, 1/3 open is the starting point with that, then tweak from there.



I think my blowers settings are this:

1: 85
2: 90
3: 95
4:100
5:105

the lowest you can go is 80 I believe. 

I am 1/3 open on the damper (the lowest)


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## mrbeal (Nov 23, 2016)

alternativeheat said:


> If it's blowing half burned pellets out of the burn pot then you probably need to turn your combustion blower down a bit. It seems to be a pretty popular adjustment to make on those stoves. also the damper setting matters, 1/3 open is the starting point with that, then tweak from there.



There is no "combustion" blower on the Serenity.  The only adjustment is the damper, the room fan and the exhaust fan (unless one of the fans is combined with a combustion fan).  
mudeprived - I'd say you need to close your damper down a bit - mine is happy at about 1/4 open, I'd bet yours is half open or more.  ALSO, I've found that using the stove on MANUAL is my preference.  I have my fan settings changed on LOW and MEDIUM settings, which are the ones I primarily use, and everything seems happy now.


----------



## mrbeal (Nov 23, 2016)

mudeprived said:


> I think my blowers settings are this:
> 
> 1: 85
> 2: 90
> ...



Try manual on MEDIUM with your exhaust blower on 80 and your blower on default... double check your damper really is closed down.


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## mudeprived (Nov 23, 2016)

mrbeal said:


> Try manual on MEDIUM with your exhaust blower on 80 and your blower on default... double check your damper really is closed down.



I ran manual with 80 on the first setting but the room hit 90 degrees. I have the damper as closed as it will go. I'm guessing it's ok to remove that screw to close it even more?

I wanted to try the Temp setting to see if I can maintain the temp instead of it slowly climbing till it's unbearable.


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## alternativeheat (Nov 23, 2016)

mudeprived said:


> I ran manual with 80 on the first setting but the room hit 90 degrees. I have the damper as closed as it will go. I'm guessing it's ok to remove that screw to close it even more?
> 
> I wanted to try the Temp setting to see if I can maintain the temp instead of it slowly climbing till it's unbearable.


Unbearable or not, you want your combustion right.


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## mrbeal (Nov 23, 2016)

mudeprived said:


> I ran manual with 80 on the first setting but the room hit 90 degrees. I have the damper as closed as it will go. I'm guessing it's ok to remove that screw to close it even more?
> 
> I wanted to try the Temp setting to see if I can maintain the temp instead of it slowly climbing till it's unbearable.



It doesn't, don't bother.  My initial thought on these stoves was you set a temp and it kept that temp for you.  It doesn't.
My place is (I think) 950 sq feet and the living room and kitchen are half that.  My stove keeps my living room at (currently) 77 degrees (41 outside temp) and the kitchen a few degrees cooler.  It's on LOW/80 exhaust/105 blower and stays comfortable - I wear shorts and a t-shirt happily.  I've found the higher BLOWER speed takes the heat off the stove faster so it stays a little cooler/more comfortable.  If I lower the blower speed it'll hit 90 easy.


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## alternativeheat (Nov 23, 2016)

mrbeal said:


> There is no "combustion" blower on the Serenity.



Combustion blower/exhaust blower = same thing. Different manufacturers just call it different things but they serve the same purpose.


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## mudeprived (Nov 23, 2016)

mrbeal said:


> It doesn't, don't bother.  My initial thought on these stoves was you set a temp and it kept that temp for you.  It doesn't.
> My place is (I think) 950 sq feet and the living room and kitchen are half that.  My stove keeps my living room at (currently) 77 degrees (41 outside temp) and the kitchen a few degrees cooler.  It's on LOW/80 exhaust/105 blower and stays comfortable - I wear shorts and a t-shirt happily.  I've found the higher BLOWER speed takes the heat off the stove faster so it stays a little cooler/more comfortable.  If I lower the blower speed it'll hit 90 easy.



Alright I'll try these settings and see what happens. My original settings netted very little ash but temps that keep climbing. We'll see how your settings do.

My house is 960 sq ft so we got similar sized homes.

How's your ash?

On a side note I picked up a dust bag for my 6 gallon Shop Vac and brush piece. Worked like a charm to clean it out.


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## mudeprived (Nov 23, 2016)

alternativeheat said:


> Unbearable or not, you want your combustion right.



I'll get it!


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## mudeprived (Nov 23, 2016)

Well it hit 90 again with MrBeal's settings. My kitten is laying on the floor like a cooked turkey. lol 

Gotta tune it some more.


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## rich2500 (Nov 23, 2016)

be careful guys with how far you close off the damper, don't go less than 1/4 closed or you chance not having enough air at start up, you wanna talk about a mess you don't even want the mess of a violent start up. believe me been there done that.


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## alternativeheat (Nov 23, 2016)

mudeprived said:


> Well it hit 90 again with MrBeal's settings. My kitten is laying on the floor like a cooked turkey. lol
> 
> Gotta tune it some more.


Open a window LOL ! At least the heat isn't going out your vent.


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## rich2500 (Nov 23, 2016)

if your already getting cooked running the stove on low, running on the temp setting is not gonna help because it will only idle down to low any way.The only 2 complaints I had with the Serenity is that it won't cycle off and on with temp setting and that they did not put an external way to adjust the damper. the damper issue i solved easily the other issue I controlled with shoulder pellets but my house is wide open so it wasn't as big of an issue for me.


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## rich2500 (Nov 23, 2016)

alternativeheat said:


> Open a window LOL ! At least the heat isn't going out your vent.


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## rich2500 (Nov 23, 2016)

open a window and fab up some duct work from the open window up over the roof and into a window in another room


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## mudeprived (Nov 23, 2016)

lol

I am starting to think the temperature reader on the stove is a bit off. My temp/humidity device says it's 82 in that room and 75 in the kitchen. I reset both of them and got that reading. I think the thermometer of the stove is that wired part held on by a bracket and screw on the back of the stove? It's in the corner facing the wall of the hottest part of the room.

I don't mind being in shorts and a t-shirt but I feel my cat is like an Eskimo at the equator. lol

The fan blowing into the room keeps that half of it cool so she's been lazying in that area dreaming of me hanging strings again....

This is actually becoming quite fun, sort of like a scientific experiment. I need to get me some more temp sensors and monitor the rest of the rooms and take notes as I go.


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## rich2500 (Nov 23, 2016)

yes that is the temp sensor, there is some additional wire inside that you can pull out too move that sensor away a little bit.


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## mudeprived (Nov 23, 2016)

So so far the living room is at 82, kitchen 77 and both room's baseboard heaters haven't turned on since. It's only been three hours of run time. I feel if I run this 24/7 then it will slowly heat the house and lessen my need for baseboard heat ($$).

edit: ALL 5 rooms upstairs are not utilizing the baseboard heaters. This is a complete win. 

Getting excited!


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## mrbeal (Nov 23, 2016)

mudeprived said:


> So so far the living room is at 82, kitchen 77 and both room's baseboard heaters haven't turned on since. It's only been three hours of run time. I feel if I run this 24/7 then it will slowly heat the house and lessen my need for baseboard heat ($$).
> 
> edit: ALL 5 rooms upstairs are not utilizing the baseboard heaters. This is a complete win.
> 
> Getting excited!



YAY!!  As I said, higher blower speed means "cooler" room for me... as it cools off outside I'll have to control the temp with my blower speed.  I know LOW is not the most efficient  but if I can heat on LOW and just change fan speed I'll be quite content.  Someone earlier said that not all stoves are created equal, maybe mine will burn a little cooler on the same settings.


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## Deezl Smoke (Nov 23, 2016)

mudeprived said:


> lol
> 
> I am starting to think the temperature reader on the stove is a bit off. My temp/humidity device says it's 82 in that room and 75 in the kitchen. I reset both of them and got that reading. I think the thermometer of the stove is that wired part held on by a bracket and screw on the back of the stove? It's in the corner facing the wall of the hottest part of the room.
> 
> ...



 I too enjoy the challenges and all the new learning that goes with them.

 But I will tell you, even though you seem to have just learned it, running the serenity on anything but manual low, will cook you out in a smaller house.


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## mrbeal (Nov 24, 2016)

Deezl said it ^^^ and I'll somewhat agree...  I set the stove on MEDIUM last night and woke up this morning to a 72 degree bedroom (37 degrees outside) and I forgot to look at the living room thermometer but it's currently 76 after shutting down the stove for maybe a half hour now.  

Also, I'm pretty sure my excessive ash problem is completely gone.  I've burned a full bag of the Tractor Supply pellets I was "complaining" about and a half bag of FSU and (although it may be tough to see) have just a little ash in my ash hole: 




I think my settings are pretty spot on now!


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## alternativeheat (Nov 24, 2016)

Sounds good, looks good. When the cold weather comes you can tell more then.


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## mudeprived (Dec 2, 2016)

So I've been through three bags since the cleaning and have very little ash. I would say mabye 1/8" layer in the ash pan and some hanging around up by the burn pot. I'm surprised at the low amount with the "decent" Tractor Supply pellets. I'm getting ready to run this puppy 24/7 and see how it does.


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## rich2500 (Dec 2, 2016)

Let her rip


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## alternativeheat (Dec 2, 2016)

Ya, I'm having pretty good luck with those pellets myself. Though right now it hasn't been very cold for the last two or three days.It got a little cool over night last night. Last weekend we had some freezing nights and they did fine. I haven't finished up cleaning up my stove, I keep touching up this or that and the ash pan is getting up there now. It's running fine though.


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## mrbeal (Dec 3, 2016)

I just went through 12 bags of the FSU with very little ash... I just bought 12 bags of the TSC hardwood pellets to compare to the FSU.  I'm pretty sure the wettings were off for me and these next 2 weeks should prove that theory.  It's supposed to get pretty chilly too so this'll be a good test.


----------



## mudeprived (Dec 8, 2016)

Got a question. The past few days I've noticed the flame going very low like it's about to go out. I've made no adjustments to it since I got it dialed in and the flame was always about 4-8 inches high. Now the flame can't be seen when it gets low. It hides in the pot till the stove feeds it enough pellets to get it back up high and mighty and then it hides again. 

Any reason for the shy flame?


----------



## rich2500 (Dec 8, 2016)

Have you shut the stove down lately. I ask because I get the same thing with the Ravelli and had it with the Serenity and it's because of ignition timing, if the stove ignites quickly then I get that lower flame but if the ignition takes a little longer then the flame don't drop down real low .


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## Tails1 (Dec 8, 2016)

mudeprived said:


> Got a question. The past few days I've noticed the flame going very low like it's about to go out. I've made no adjustments to it since I got it dialed in and the flame was always about 4-8 inches high. Now the flame can't be seen when it gets low. It hides in the pot till the stove feeds it enough pellets to get it back up high and mighty and then it hides again.
> 
> Any reason for the shy flame?



Are they the same pellets you were using when you had a consistent flame? Different brand pellets can cause a variation like this as the average pellet length changes the feed rate slightly as well as how long each pellet burns. My stove is the same, one brand I have I get a continuous flame and another I get a flame that rises then dies down. I wouldn't worry about it long as the stove isn't going out or you are not getting enough heat.


----------



## mudeprived (Dec 8, 2016)

I checked my settings and they were back to default. I'm guessing it resets if I pulled the plug or turn off the power switch on the back?

I noticed last night the side of the stove was extremely hot and so was the wall next to it. The almost-burn-your-finger type of hot. That made me think the stove was not shedding the heat enough which made me check the settings which showed the blower and exhaust setting at their lowest.


----------



## Tails1 (Dec 8, 2016)

mudeprived said:


> I checked my settings and they were back to default. I'm guessing it resets if I pulled the plug or turn off the power switch on the back?
> 
> I noticed last night the side of the stove was extremely hot and so was the wall next to it. The almost-burn-your-finger type of hot. That made me think the stove was not shedding the heat enough which made me check the settings which showed the blower and exhaust setting at their lowest.




The settings shouldn't do that I wouldn't think. They should be retained even on a power failure. This could indicate a faulty control board.


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## mudeprived (Dec 8, 2016)

Tails1 said:


> The settings shouldn't do that I wouldn't think. They should be retained even on a power failure. This could indicate a faulty control board.


----------



## Tails1 (Dec 8, 2016)

mudeprived said:


> View attachment 189703



If the stove and controller otherwise work fine just plug the stove into a UPS. That's what I would do and not bother with the expense of replacing the board unless it was under warranty. if turning off the stove resets them then yes you will have to look into a board replacement. 

Does anyone know if these stoves controller boards use a coin battery to retain memory? If so then you should check it.


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## rich2500 (Dec 8, 2016)

Did the time and date hold or did they default also.


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## mudeprived (Dec 8, 2016)

rich2500 said:


> Did the time and date hold or did they default also.



Time and date held.


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## rich2500 (Dec 8, 2016)

I would have to say then that it's working as designed.


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## mrbeal (Dec 8, 2016)

mudeprived said:


> Got a question. The past few days I've noticed the flame going very low like it's about to go out. I've made no adjustments to it since I got it dialed in and the flame was always about 4-8 inches high. Now the flame can't be seen when it gets low. It hides in the pot till the stove feeds it enough pellets to get it back up high and mighty and then it hides again.
> 
> Any reason for the shy flame?



Mine does the same thing, I've attributed it to the thermostat saying it's warm enough.  Could be completely unrelated but it seems reasonable.  Does it put out consistent heat?


----------



## mudeprived (Dec 8, 2016)

mrbeal said:


> Mine does the same thing, I've attributed it to the thermostat saying it's warm enough.  Could be completely unrelated but it seems reasonable.  Does it put out consistent heat?



Yup, pretty steady. 

I know it's not accurate but the stove temp is reading 88 degrees, kitchen is a steady 73 and furthest bedroom is 68.


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## mrbeal (Dec 8, 2016)

I tried to take a picture of my stove but was too slow... it's steadily putting our heat but the flames (when I tried the pic) were just barely coming over the burnpot.  The room thermometer says 76 and the stove says 85.  I think it's just the cycle of the pellets burning... flame gets low so pellets are fed to raise the temp, flame gets high and raises the temp so pellets feed slows.  It's just the cycle.


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## Nvnv (Dec 8, 2016)

What power level do you run it on when this happens? If mine is on low it will do this often. On 3 it will for the most part stay mid to high.


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## mudeprived (Dec 8, 2016)

Nvnv said:


> What power level do you run it on when this happens? If mine is on low it will do this often. On 3 it will for the most part stay mid to high.



Level one, blower speed 100, exhaust speed 85, air 1/3 open. I can't do 2-3-4-5 or else we cook ourselves well-done.


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## Nvnv (Dec 8, 2016)

mudeprived said:


> Level one, blower speed 100, exhaust speed 85, air 1/3 open. I can't do 2-3-4-5 or else we cook ourselves well-done.



I think it's normal. Mine does the same thing on 1.


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## mrbeal (Dec 8, 2016)

Mine runs on level 1 almost all of the time.  Blower/exhaust 105/80 and the damper about 1/3.  I can somewhat adjust the room temp with the blower, higher blower speed = "cooler" room... if you can call 76 cool.


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## Deezl Smoke (Dec 8, 2016)

Nvnv said:


> I think it's normal. Mine does the same thing on 1.


 Yep. Both of mine go below the pot lip, then the auger drops pellets and it comes back up. But it appears to be more extreme after the stove has run for 12 hours and the holes in the very bottom of the burn pot have about half of them plugged. Then the inlet air has to come more from the side than directly under the pellets. 

 The settings should stay were they were before the plug is pulled. That is "if", the settings were confirmed first. If you go into settings and change a setting, it will be blue back grounded. If you just exit settings, the fans will stay there, but the setting was not confirmed or whatever the right word is in computer board land. Once you highlight the setting and it back grounds blue, then adjust it, you have to hit enter to get the back ground back to white with the new setting showing, before you exit.


----------



## mudeprived (Dec 9, 2016)

Deezl Smoke said:


> Yep. Both of mine go below the pot lip, then the auger drops pellets and it comes back up. But it appears to be more extreme after the stove has run for 12 hours and the holes in the very bottom of the burn pot have about half of them plugged. Then the inlet air has to come more from the side than directly under the pellets.
> 
> The settings should stay were they were before the plug is pulled. That is "if", the settings were confirmed first. If you go into settings and change a setting, it will be blue back grounded. If you just exit settings, the fans will stay there, but the setting was not confirmed or whatever the right word is in computer board land. Once you highlight the setting and it back grounds blue, then adjust it, you have to hit enter to get the back ground back to white with the new setting showing, before you exit.



Looks like you nailed it. I woke up this morning and noticed the flame was hiding and it barely made it half way up the chamber when pellets were dropped. I can see the pot is pretty clogged all over and cannot spot any open holes so it seems it's struggling for air. 

It kinda looks like dried up smeared mud. I wonder if this is due to the type of pellets or is it normal?

It's the first time I had it running a full 24 hours. Looks like I gotta shut it down and clean it.


----------



## Deezl Smoke (Dec 9, 2016)

mudeprived said:


> Looks like you nailed it. I woke up this morning and noticed the flame was hiding and it barely made it half way up the chamber when pellets were dropped. I can see the pot is pretty clogged all over and cannot spot any open holes so it seems it's struggling for air.
> 
> It kinda looks like dried up smeared mud. I wonder if this is due to the type of pellets or is it normal?
> 
> It's the first time I had it running a full 24 hours. Looks like I gotta shut it down and clean it.



 You're fine. Even the best pellets will do some of this. Sounds exactly like mine after a 24 hours run. I leave a small harbor freight magnetic led light, a free screwdriver, and a box cutter at my stoves. The light sticks to the side of the stove on the cool shielding, and the cutter and screwdriver set on the pellet lid. I use the screwdriver to rake across the holes to clear them each time the stove is started. The loosened material can just set in the pot and will blow with the ignition of the next start up.





 At your next vacuum job, take the pot out and find a drill bit or file that matches the hole size of one of the holes on the outer edge of the pot. These would be the horizontal oriented holes, and drill thru the rest of the holes to break out the hardened carbon buildup. This only needs done occasionally, so not to worry about adding to your maintenance much time or pita. 

 Something else I have done is to take a counter sink bit and chamfer the holes ever so slightly. A square edge like what comes stock is easier for stuff to build up on than a more rounded edge. A drill bit and counter sink bit can be had for very little money at harbor freight tools or anywhere on amazone etc. I've got my cleaning system down so it is no trouble at all and gets done between loads of laundry early on sunday morning. I am a farmer and was raised on a farm with livestock, so "chores" are just part of my daily life and I would'nt have it any other way.

  The light works great for cleaning the stove too, not just raking the burn pot. I brush the ash from the top of the burn chamber and the magnet on the back of the light then sticks the light facing down into the area I have to vacuum. Just dont forget it's there when done. d


----------



## mudeprived (Dec 9, 2016)

Deezl Smoke said:


> You're fine. Even the best pellets will do some of this. Sounds exactly like mine after a 24 hours run. I leave a small harbor freight magnetic led light, a free screwdriver, and a box cutter at my stoves. The light sticks to the side of the stove on the cool shielding, and the cutter and screwdriver set on the pellet lid. I use the screwdriver to rake across the holes to clear them each time the stove is started. The loosened material can just set in the pot and will blow with the ignition of the next start up.
> 
> View attachment 189787
> 
> ...



I don't mind the cleaning part since I got lots of time on my hands since it's too cold out to be ALWAYS wrenching on the jeeps so a little 10 minute cleaning every day is a nice time killer. 

I have one of those folding magnetic led lights that I use sometimes but lately i've been using my little chapstick sized led light. I just hold it in my mouth and clean away. 

Thanks for the tip for the vent holes. I will do this next time.


----------



## rich2500 (Dec 9, 2016)

If you get yourself a long handle scraper you can pop the door open while the stove is on and quickly scrape loose that build up in the pot and then it can blow out,shut the door and your good another 24 hrs. A lot of people do this so they don't have to shut the stove down daily.


----------



## mudeprived (Dec 9, 2016)

rich2500 said:


> If you get yourself a long handle scraper you can pop the door open while the stove is on and quickly scrape loose that build up in the pot and then it can blow out,shut the door and your good another 24 hrs. A lot of people do this so they don't have to shut the stove down daily.



I didn't know you could open the door while it's running. I thought it would auto-shut down.


----------



## rich2500 (Dec 9, 2016)

It will shutdown if you leave the door open too long so you have to do the scrape rather quickly  but you have a few seconds to get it done. I never timed it but you have probably atleast 10 secs. Here is my scraper it's a stainless steel spatula that I cut the sides down to make it more narrow it works awesome. Also you will know when you find a real good pellet because you won't get much of that build up in the burn pot.


----------



## Deezl Smoke (Dec 9, 2016)

I'm too chicken, I admit it. I'm always on the look out for sparks and embers in the shop when putting more wood in the stove, so I just never trust opening the pellet stove door when running.


----------



## mudeprived (Dec 9, 2016)

Deezl Smoke said:


> I'm too chicken, I admit it. I'm always on the look out for sparks and embers in the shop when putting more wood in the stove, so I just never trust opening the pellet stove door when running.



Makes me a little nervous too because I have carpeting. I do have fire extinguishers around the house though.


----------



## rich2500 (Dec 9, 2016)

When you open the door the flame dies way down because the loss of vacuum so you don't really get any ash flying around. I understand not feeling comfortable doing it at first but I never had any ashes fly out in 11 years of doing it.


----------



## Nvnv (Dec 9, 2016)

I get way more buildup in the holes when I burn on low. If I'm on 3 the holes stay relatively clear. But like you said you'll get burned out if you leave it on high. I fell asleep on the couch last night with it set on 3 and woke up a few hours later to a 90*+ living room.


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## rich2500 (Dec 9, 2016)

90 + deg.


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## mudeprived (Dec 9, 2016)

LOL I had it at 90 a few times.

Just for shi$s and giggles.....here is my routine that seems to work with this stove and my house:

(stove is in living room and temp outside is slightly below freezing)

Fill stove
Clean stove
Fire up stove
wait 45 minutes
start fan in kitchen facing living room
kitchen reaches 75 degrees, living room 85
Open window #1 in living room
Wait one hour
Living room temp reaches 88
Open kitchen door for 15 minutes
Kitchen temp lowers to 72, living room to 78
Close kitchen door, crack open living room window #2 half way
Living room maintains 78 degrees, kitchen 75, guest room 66, master 64

I have the option of starting fan #2 in guest room pointing down the hall towards fan #1. This will bring the guest room to 70 degrees, master to 68 but I like sleeping at 64. Covered and cozy.

What's nice is that I get fresh air pumped into the house all the time and the stove still manages to keep the house warm on setting 1.


----------



## Deezl Smoke (Dec 9, 2016)

mudeprived said:


> LOL I had it at 90 a few times.
> 
> Just for shi$s and giggles.....here is my routine that seems to work with this stove and my house:
> 
> ...



 I can relate to that. Sometimes I have to open a window for a bit as well. And I too really like the fresh air. During the summer my windows stay open a lot. It gets dusty being in farm country with all the harvesting going on, but I can only take so much of the stuffy ac or the stagnate closed up heat. I just need good fresh air to feel good.


----------



## Lake Girl (Dec 9, 2016)

Pellet stove doesn't keep up that well here but a bit farther north and colder.  Windows open all summer here and only would need AC (if we had it) about one week a year when it's hot and no breeze off the lake.

PS:  -2F/-19C at the moment!


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## Deezl Smoke (Dec 9, 2016)

Lake Girl said:


> Pellet stove doesn't keep up that well here but a bit farther north and colder.  Windows open all summer here and only would need AC (if we had it) about one week a year when it's hot and no breeze off the lake.
> 
> PS:  -2F/-19C at the moment!



 See we just had our first freeze of the season this week. 6 weeks late even. Right now it about 34 F. We seldom get into the 20s for more than a few hours. Every now and then we may get a 3-5 day cold spell from the north, but for the most part, we are so close to the Pacific ocean that we are more wet than cold. Which is another thing I like about my pellet stoves, the dry heat dries the wet jackets and hats quite nicely.


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## Lake Girl (Dec 9, 2016)

We stayed at Lincoln City this summer for my overnight view of the Pacific!  Windy and cool for July.  Hubby did his commercial divers training years ago at Wilmington, CA so the Pacific is not new for him.  Would have loved to stay longer but had a wedding to get ready for (meaning Mom had to do dress alterations).  Fun while it lasted and my first peek at the Pacific but have seen the Atlantic a couple of times  With a daughter in the UK, may get to see the Atlantic from the other side


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## mrbeal (Dec 10, 2016)

It's finally gotten cold here, 22 outside at the moment.  My Serenity is getting its first real workout and I've noticed something I hadn't noticed before last night.  It's not nearly as hot as it's been getting inside now that it's colder out but last night (and even more so tonight) I noticed a cool breeze on my feet... I attributed it to the ceiling fan on reverse to help spread the heat out but, after shutting the ceiling fan off, it actually got more noticeable.  I believe I finally have a noticeable convection current working.  The cold air is rushing down the hall from the bedrooms... but the heat isn't going down the hall as I'd hoped it would, even with 2 fans helping.  Oh well, 1 electric heater running is much better than the 3 I had running last winter.


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## rich2500 (Dec 11, 2016)

do you have the outside air hooked up


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## mudeprived (Dec 11, 2016)

mrbeal said:


> It's finally gotten cold here, 22 outside at the moment.  My Serenity is getting its first real workout and I've noticed something I hadn't noticed before last night.  It's not nearly as hot as it's been getting inside now that it's colder out but last night (and even more so tonight) I noticed a cool breeze on my feet... I attributed it to the ceiling fan on reverse to help spread the heat out but, after shutting the ceiling fan off, it actually got more noticeable.  I believe I finally have a noticeable convection current working.  The cold air is rushing down the hall from the bedrooms... but the heat isn't going down the hall as I'd hoped it would, even with 2 fans helping.  Oh well, 1 electric heater running is much better than the 3 I had running last winter.



Same here. Furthest bedroom hit 63 when it's usually 66-68 and kitchen hovered at 73 instead of the usual 75-77. I only have ONE window cracked open this time. It's in the 20's out there.


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## Deezl Smoke (Dec 11, 2016)

mrbeal said:


> It's finally gotten cold here, 22 outside at the moment.  My Serenity is getting its first real workout and I've noticed something I hadn't noticed before last night.  It's not nearly as hot as it's been getting inside now that it's colder out but last night (and even more so tonight) I noticed a cool breeze on my feet... I attributed it to the ceiling fan on reverse to help spread the heat out but, after shutting the ceiling fan off, it actually got more noticeable.  I believe I finally have a noticeable convection current working.  The cold air is rushing down the hall from the bedrooms... but the heat isn't going down the hall as I'd hoped it would, even with 2 fans helping.  Oh well, 1 electric heater running is much better than the 3 I had running last winter.



 The source of the "cool breeze" needs to be found asap while it is cold out. Is the entire floor cold to the touch? Are certain exterior walls colder than others? 

 We finally had our first freeze of the season this past week. Two days were quite windy with that light weight snow flying around. Because of the wind direction, the east side of my house was more exposed to the wind. This is unusual when moisture is in the air. It happens, just not very often.Usually when the east wind blows cold, it is dry and sunny outside, just in the 20sF. Anyway, my entry door in the car port has a window in it that leaks air around the trim holding it in the door. While doing some remodel years ago, I also found that the east wall is the least air tight with small gaps between the boards that are between the studs and the cedar siding. This section of the house was built before plywood was around.

 I actually had to turn which ever stove was running, up to number 2 heat setting. I also moved my floor fan to blow onto the hot part of the stove at an angle. Worked great. Still had one end of the house quite a bit cooler than the end with the running stove, but not enough for me to make adjustments for. But that breezy window in the car port door is going to need fixed soon.


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## Ifixjetz1 (Dec 13, 2016)

MRBEAL,
Can you post exactly what settings you are running now with your stove for damper exhaust/blower settings.  Its kind of hard to read what your final was with all the adjustments and other posts.  I Started my new stove last night, and I will have to make some serious adjustments tonight


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## mudeprived (Dec 16, 2016)

It's 8 degrees outside and my stove is struggling. I have it on level 2 right now and the other side of the house is cold even with the fans directing air towards the stove. I can't do level 3+ cuz it gets way too hot in the living room. 

At least half the house is warm....


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## Deezl Smoke (Dec 16, 2016)

mudeprived said:


> It's 8 degrees outside and my stove is struggling. I have it on level 2 right now and the other side of the house is cold even with the fans directing air towards the stove. I can't do level 3+ cuz it gets way too hot in the living room.
> 
> At least half the house is warm....



 Have you tried different fan locations and directions?
 It was 17 F here an hour ago, My exterior walls are very cold. I finally pointed my floor fan to side of the stove at an angle so the air would glance off of the hot side of the stove, and it keeps the temp difference from house end to end less extreme. Still 5-8 degree difference, but I can take a couple degree difference on either side of optimum.


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## mudeprived (Dec 16, 2016)

Deezl Smoke said:


> Have you tried different fan locations and directions?
> It was 17 F here an hour ago, My exterior walls are very cold. I finally pointed my floor fan to side of the stove at an angle so the air would glance off of the hot side of the stove, and it keeps the temp difference from house end to end less extreme. Still 5-8 degree difference, but I can take a couple degree difference on either side of optimum.




I figured it's easier to take pix than explain the fan placement. Let me know what you suggest. 

Fan at bottom of pix is at the door of the furthest guest room on other side of the house.





Living room and fan directing air into it:


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## Deezl Smoke (Dec 16, 2016)

mudeprived said:


> I figured it's easier to take pix than explain the fan placement. Let me know what you suggest.
> 
> Fan at bottom of pix is at the door of the furthest guest room on other side of the house.
> 
> ...



 If you're up for it, just to see if your house current likes it, put the fan on top of the stove's pellet lid and see what happens. This is up to you, I do not "advise" putting things on top of the stove and I'm sure the manual likely says something about not doing so too. But the pellet lid is a cool spot. Do so at your own risk, just curious if it would do what you need.


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## Tails1 (Dec 16, 2016)

mudeprived said:


> I figured it's easier to take pix than explain the fan placement. Let me know what you suggest.
> 
> Fan at bottom of pix is at the door of the furthest guest room on other side of the house.
> 
> ...



Try placing one of those fans in the doorway of the room with the stove blowing into the room. Also if you have a forced air furnace, running the blower on the furnace will help move things round.

Does the doorway into the room with the stove go right to the ceiling? If not then that will hold back alot of the heat.


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## rich2500 (Dec 16, 2016)

Deezl Smoke said:


> If you're up for it, just to see if your house current likes it, put the fan on top of the stove's pellet lid and see what happens. This is up to you, I do not "advise" putting things on top of the stove and I'm sure the manual likely says something about not doing so too. But the pellet lid is a cool spot. Do so at your own risk, just curious if it would do what you need.



I have an all metal small fan that sits on top of my hopper running on low to help circulate the air. Works great for me but I don't have many doorways.


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## mudeprived (Jan 24, 2017)

Has any of your serenity stoves made a clicking noise when igniting? I started noticing it recently. It doesn't do it every time but frequently enough to concern me. It's a loud click every second or two and it appears to be coming from the hopper area and only when igniting. Everything's working fine though.


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## Deezl Smoke (Jan 24, 2017)

mudeprived said:


> Has any of your serenity stoves made a clicking noise when igniting? I started noticing it recently. It doesn't do it every time but frequently enough to concern me. It's a loud click every second or two and it appears to be coming from the hopper area and only when igniting. Everything's working fine though.



 Search recent threads by rich2500. He had a banging noise issue and had to warranty a faulty burn box. One of my stoves does make a noise that sounds like someone is tapping on the burn box with a small hammer, but only after ignition while waiting for the room fan to come on. It is the burn box being just a bit out of spec, and when expanding from the heat, it does make noise. But it seems sealed and no smoke escaping.


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## rich2500 (Jan 24, 2017)

mudeprived said:


> Has any of your serenity stoves made a clicking noise when igniting? I started noticing it recently. It doesn't do it every time but frequently enough to concern me. It's a loud click every second or two and it appears to be coming from the hopper area and only when igniting. Everything's working fine though.



Is it after you have a flame or before you have a flame


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## mudeprived (Jan 24, 2017)

rich2500 said:


> Is it after you have a flame or before you have a flame



It does it as soon as I push "On" and continues till "Heating" mode turns on.


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## mudeprived (Jan 28, 2017)

I did little more poking around and watching/listening to the stove. I was wrong originally about when it starts clicking. It starts when the flame begins. I also noticed a burn smell around the stove during ignition. So it appears I might have the same burn box issue. 

I contact Castle Stoves via email and wait to see what they say.


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## rich2500 (Jan 28, 2017)

It's normal for the noise when the stove is  first building heat. The noise should then stop after the stove is up to temp.


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