Afton Bay

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matt85bears

Member
Hearth Supporter
Dec 15, 2008
63
midwest
I have a Afton Bay by St.Croix. Would i greatly benefit from hooking up my thermostat. The reason I have not hooked it up is i dont want one room in the house to be warm and the rest really cold. So the room i burn in is around 78 degrees all the time and the second floor is around 59 degrees. I fear hooking my thermostat up will cause the upstairs to get even colder, however i feel hooking up the thermostat will reduce the amount of pellets i burn per day. I just feel like my stove is no where near "fined tuned" and that ii may not be running as efficient as it should. Wish the stove dealer wouldnt charge me for coming over and checking on it, so i just keep tinkering with it.
 
Easiest solution is to just keep the thermostat high so that the 2nd floor doesn't get too cold.

Or put the stat on the second floor if that is what you are really concerned about. The thermostat just takes all of the effort out of adjusting the stove to maintain temperature.

I love mine.

Good Luck!
 
Matt i have the afton bay and one thing to remember is it is a pellet stove is "space heater" not central heating so there are bound to be rooms that are colder than where the stove is located.

Have you tried moving the warm air upstairs via some type of fan? if not try that.
Is your home insulated properly?
If your main room (where the stovei s) is 78 then i'd say your stove is working well.
What rate are you running? 1,2,3,4,5???
Have you gave the stove a really good cleaning lately?
Make sure your cleaning the ash traps next to and just below main fire area. (small square doors that lift out)
also when cleaning, remove the fire brick (4 screws) and with them out tap on that wall to release and trapped ash you will see it fall into the ash traps below.
Also check the heat exchanger, have you taken off the plate and cleaned inside there??.
Let me know and we can go from there.

I heat my entire house at a heat setting of 3 in manual you will simply roast so it has to go onto the programmable thermostat i have on it. The only place i use a heater is the bathroom just to warm it up a bit.

Matt what year stove is it??
 
woodsman

i just got my stove so i assume it is a new one, i have never taken off the brick and i try to vacum the ash traps but dont think i get into them far enough. i typically run on setting 3. i clean my heat exchangers often. Thanks so much for assisting me , i am in love with the stove best investment ever just the minor things.
 
Here is the best way to adjust the flame.
1: set it on 3 in manual
2: allow it to run on 3 for about 20 minutes.
3: if the flame is not sharp, pointed ends no black smoke then it should be good.
4: if not then you go behind the stove and loosen the set screw for the air flow.
5: open the air flow gate just a bit and watch the flame and see if it gets better
6: if it get worse then close it a bit and again watch the flame to see if it changes for the better. with a bit of trial and error you will find the sweet spot.
7: I use a small 3/8" rubber hose to get inside the ash traps. i simply attach it to my shop vac with a home made adapter and vac all the ash from behind there you can also do this with the heat exchanger after you remove the plate simply use an old paint brush and brush away then stick the small rubber hose up and behind all the hiding places this does a good job cleaning.
When the stove is on high the flame is also high almost touching and at times touching the the heat exchanger plate, this seems to normal for this high setting. This can also be adjusted with the damper at the freash air intake.
Good luck with the stove mine heats at a setting of 4 at over 350 * when checking the the exit air flow into the room.
 
woodsman23
thanks so much you have been incrediably helpful.. wish my dealer was this helpful..... if i have any more questions i will ask
 
woodsman

my air intake is sucking air from inside the house and i seem to still have a flame/ air issue do you think this issue could be remedied if my air intake was vented to bring air in from outside.
 
matt85bears said:
woodsman

my air intake is sucking air from inside the house and i seem to still have a flame/ air issue do you think this issue could be remedied if my air intake was vented to bring air in from outside.

matt i also do not use an OAK i draw right from the house. It depends on how tight your home is. If it is tight (well insulated) then yes you need to have the Outside Air Kit. At what setting is the flame a problem?. What kind of exhaust venting do you have i think you said it is direct vented horizontally right straight out.
 
YES it is straight out venting and seems to be inconsistency on the flame. Maybe my draft trim setting is not accurate. I have a hard time with the draft trim.
 
Matt mine is vented the same way. What kind of pellets are you using?. Dry creek are about the best i have used but lignetics are right up there. I tried some firesid ultras and they left huge balls of clinkers in the burn pot and i had to clean them out often they well suck!. Pellets mean alot so have you tried a different brand.
 
adjusting my draft trim has seem to wrok well my flame looks like yours in the other thread and i am puuting heat out. I took the brick panel off this morning and cleaned well. still having problems trying to clean out my small vents need to get some hose and my cloths hanger doesnt seem to want to snake its way throiugh it just shows on the other side. I love my stove
 
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