Can't get my pellets to feed :-(

[subsailor]

Glad to see all the hard work paid off. Congrats.

 

[akthor]

Also is there a place with pics of what the fire should look like?

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

Your fire should have a blue base and be very bright a brilliant yellow almost white at the top without red and orange in it.

The manual should provide a clue as to which direction opens the damper (usually pulling out if it is a pull rod if it is a left to right slider it could be either way). You'll know the redder and higher the flame gets the more closed down the damper is.

 

[akthor]

Here's pics of my stove installed and the fire. With the lights off you can't see the window insert I built. I can finally get the tools off my bar!

 

[akthor]

Figured out the air damper.

Do you have a source for the fans Smokey?

 

[Stovensen]

Congratulations with your stove, Akthor. It looks really nice and cozy at your place. I'm sure those speakers sound as good as they look. JBL?

 

[akthor]

Super rare Danish Cerwin Vega 1215 MK II's brought to the USA by a serviceman who was stationed in Germany. Vintage house shakers each speaker has a front facing 12" woofer and a 15" woofer that faces the floor, two 5" mids and a tweet. They sound like you are at the concert

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

Well if you have the numbers from the plates on the fans you can use Google to sometimes find places that have them.

Basically with the voltage, current, rpm and fan size or cfm you can locate equivalent units.

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

Dayton, CSH, Fasco, and Smith all make motors in addition searching on blower and or motor type will get you page upon page in Google to look at.

I don't service stoves other than my own and I fequently use the surplus center and grainger to find parts the customer service folks at grainger can match up a lot of items with equivalents, just like the auto parts folks.

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

Here's pics of my stove installed and the fire. With the lights off you can't see the window insert I built. I can finally get the tools off my bar!View attachment 76469

Much much better, it has fire.

 

[DexterDay]

If the pellets start building up (piling up) and not burning completely. Then you know you need to open the damper more.

Did you already do any of the Mods? If you didnt, then the damper could be wide open and its still not gonna be good enough.

There should be sparks flying almost constantly. You dont want whole pellets popping out. But you want a blue base with dancing pellets (slightly jiggling).

 

[akthor]

I was only able to run it for about an hour till it made it too warm in here.

I did the pot and the air wash mods.

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

I believe he already mentioned having taken the time to do some mods.

The reason folks harp on doing the mods on the baby is that it has a reputation for having hopper fires due to backup in the burn pot and right up the ole pellet chute that the mods go a very long ways towards preventing.

 

[akthor]

Dexter I was searching for info on the high CFM blower fan to see if I could find a cheaper alternative like Smokey found for the auger motor and saw you had posted in a thread about it. Do you have any specs or info on it?

 

[DexterDay]

I believe he already mentioned having taken the time to do some mods.

The reason folks harp on doing the mods on the baby is that it has a reputation for having hopper fires due to backup in the burn pot and right up the ole pellet chute that the mods go a very long ways towards preventing.

Yep.... Unless you like stirring the pot and/or removing (scooping into ash pan) pellets, every 4-8 hrs!

The mods are a necessary evil.

Magnum (AES) has the Higher CFM combustion blower for the Baby Countryside now. This eliminates a lot of headache.

But for those that dont have the Higher CFM blower, stealing some air from the air wash and plugging a few holes up high in the pot, prodive the same effect. More air... This stove burns great. Provided it gets the proper air (well, any stove). Its all about having the proper fuel/air ratio.

 

[DexterDay]

No specs. Other than my buddy was gonna buy one.

Forum member Jrsdws bought one for his Baby. He got it straight from AES though.

PM him and ask for the specs? I think its a 105 CFM, as opposed to the 75-80 CFM thats in it now. But you will need RPM, amp, etc.

 

[akthor]

So I don't have as active and lively of a burn as I think I can get. No danger of the pot filling up with pellets but I don't have " dancing pellets" or the ash blowing out of the pot, especially at 1 or 2 speeds.

I notice the holes in my pot on the bottom are very tiny, would it help to make them a little bigger? I covered the top two rows of holes on it but should I try 3?

Also on the air wash I left about 1/2" uncovered is that too much?

Finally looking at maybe getting the higher CFM blower, but I'm confused by exactly which blower I need? If you look at this list:

(broken link removed)

Which blower am I looking for?

And if I'm looking at this right why in the hell is the baby countryside AC blower $115 and the baby countryside DC one $300!?!?!!?!??!

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

The RP2025 or RP2027 you want the highest cfm of the 2 you need the ones for DC.

Would you please post a picture of the burn pot showing the sides and bottom along with a picture of it in the receptacle it sits in, I want to see if there is an gaps around the burn pot.

ETA: The dance is a wiggle or pellets turning around in the pot and there should be sparks exiting the burn pot.

 

[akthor]

Also seems I can perhaps replace the fan blades? Is this an option to get higher CFM?

(broken link removed to https://www.americanenergysystems.com/fanblades.cfm)

 

[akthor]

Stove is on right now but the pot sits very tightly no gaps. I have two pots that are the same give me a sec I will take pics of the one not in the stove.

So to replace the blower $300? More than twice what the AC blower costs? That seems outrageous. Of course they also want over$100 for the auger motor you found for $18

 

[DexterDay]

Also seems I can perhaps replace the fan blades? Is this an option to get higher CFM?

(broken link removed to https://www.americanenergysystems.com/fanblades.cfm)

Yes. Its only a small increase. But an increase.

As for your burn. The Baby Countrysides combustion blower is Single speed. So it runs all out on level 1 through 5. So a bad burn on 1 will mean a very bad burn on 5. Thats why this unit has a damper.

Is your damper wide open? How much of your air wash is plugged? How many rows of holes on the pot is plugged? (And is it the front and back?)

 

[DexterDay]

IIRC, the stainless pot has small gaps on the 4 corners.

 

[akthor]

This is the pot I have.

 

[jrsdws]

The blade replacement option has been discontinued by AES. They said it was stressing the smaller blower motors too much, thus the new high output cumbustion blower.

 

[akthor]

Burns much better on 3 and 4 than on 1 and 2.

Top two rows are covered front and back.

So if I can get in there and pull info or number off the fan think I can find a suitable upgrade at a decent price like the auger motor?

The upgraded fan blade is like $25, worth trying?