Help with Austroflamm Integra

[Griff503]

I just bought a house with an Austroflamm Integra Pellet stove. I have no idea how to use it, if it is running correctly, or if it is in danger of blowing up. I have been searching for Tech support from the company to see if I can download an owners manual PDF file with no luck. I did find one site that said I could download the file but this ended up being a spam site. Anyway, I got the stove to light but it seems that the auger is supplying way too many pellets as the hopper will fill and the flame will get very large. Also the fans and auger are very noisy. Any info with be helpful as I have never owned a pellet stove before.

Oh yes there are two bolt/rods sticking out of the top of the stove. They have holes in them and there is a tool that fits the holes. Both turn and one (left hand) will pull out partically. Can anyone tell me what these are, I am thinking some kind of adjustment. HELP ME...lol

 

[imacman]

Griff, first of all, welcome to the forum....lots of nice and helpful people on here.

As for your search for the manual, here's a site that has the owners manual and a service manual you can download in PDF format for $9.99 each ( I hope it's not the place you mentioned :roll: )

(broken link removed to http://woodheatstoves.com/austroflamm-user-manuals-c-291_215_219.html)

As for the rods, I think they are the convection tubes cleaning rods......you pull them in and out once a day to clean the soot, carbon, etc. off the tubes, and the tool you mention is what you hold while doing that. I'm guess they should be screwed in clockwide until snug so they don't come off the scraper.

Hope this helps.

 

[Mark_ms]

Griff,
I have an Integra also, which I just love.

Macman is right about the two rods, they are for cleaning the the heat exchanger tubes. You insert the tool into the hole in the rod(s) and move them up and down a few times to clean the tubes. If you hear a metallic sound when you lower the rods to the bottom that means you have little to no ash buildup, if it sounds "dull" you need to clean the ash from the tubes. If as you say you can only pull them out partially (fully extended is about 8-10 inches) you definitley need to clean them.

On start-up the flame will get very large until the unit gets warmed up enough to kick on the fans and regulate the flow of pellets.
When my unit is running My fans are relatively quiet and the auger just barely makes a whirring sound when operating It could be you may just need a very thorough cleaning.

Macmans link is a good one although I did get the download for the operating manual but the diagrams are hard to decipher.

Good luck,

Mark

 

[summit]

how old is this unit? is it an auto light, or a manual light? if auto, there are adjustments that you can make to the computer to regulate feed rates on start up cycles, as well as self cleaning cycles and exhaust rates... i've got all the reprogramming info at the shop... letme knowwhat you got.

 

[Griff503]

First off thank you for the help I have received so far.

I figured out the cleaning rod part and it seems to be getting better air. The stove seems to be fairly old (don't know how to tell for sure) and it is a manual light. I have got it to work, but the flames seems large and sooty for the first 5 to 10 minutes. After it heats up the rate of pellets slows way down and the fire becomes small and very hot. After the flame mellows and the auger slows it seems to work well but I have never left it running for more then a half hour or so.

Other issue I am having with it are the fans seem to be noisy and the auger is fairly noisy, no grinding sound or anything like that just loud motor noise every time it advances. I did take it partically apart the other day and noticed it was very dirty inside, alot of dust on the long fan that blows the heated air out.

Is it cost effective to have these older units rebuilt (I plan on having it cleaned by a professional), or better to just buy a new one? Manual light kind of sucks, but not enough to pay a bunch of money for a new one if cleaning gets it to work well.

Oh one other thing, the pellets that were in the stove have quite a bit of sawdust in them and I notice that when the pellets drop into the burner, I get alot of sparks from time to time. Common sence tells me that pellets should be solid and free from most dust, but as I said in my first post I am new to the whole pellet stove thing, what would be a reasonable amount of sawdust to expect? And is it dangerous to use these older pellets?

 

[summit]

excess sawdust/fines can clog the auger / chute

 

[imacman]

....... the pellets that were in the stove have quite a bit of sawdust in them and I notice that when the pellets drop into the burner, I get alot of sparks from time to time. Common sence tells me that pellets should be solid and free from most dust, but as I said in my first post I am new to the whole pellet stove thing, what would be a reasonable amount of sawdust to expect? And is it dangerous to use these older pellets?

The "sparks" you see when the pellets drop into the burn pot are a normal part of pellet stoves.....it's just tiny pieces of burning pellets thrown out from the new pellets hitting them, and maybe a little "sawdust" (what we call "fines"). In most of the better brands of pellets, you should only get about 1/4 - 1/2 cup of fines per 40lb. bag, or less. As mentioned above, too much fines will tend to clog the auger. Some people (myself included) use different devices to remove the fines (screen set-ups, or vacuum systems).

As far as "danger" in burning "older" pellets, not really. The worst thing you may find is that they just won't burn too hot from absorbing moisture from sitting around.

BTW, the pellets are ones that came w/ the stove? if so, what brand are they?

 

[pmassa]

try removing the lower panel on the inside of the stove, just above the pellet buket. it is attached with two allen head screws. it takes a wee bit of finaggling to get it out, it will want to catch on a bolt head on the inner right side of the stove as you look at it. remove the lower panel, on the back side of this is a 1/4" thick insulating pad. over time this will crumbled and fall apart. this will allow air to leak past the panel. causes lots of black soot, causes ash to get to the exchanger tubes more quickly, and generally just takes away from the stoves performance. if you find this to be bad its replaceable for about $45 with shipping costs. This is the site I use most often for parts (broken link removed to http://www.stove-parts-unlimited.com/Pellet_Stove_Parts_s/21.htm). hope this helps.