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.
Castle Serenity - lots of ash
- Thread starter mrbeal
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alternativeheat
Minister of Fire
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.
![[Hearth.com] Castle Serenity - lots of ash](https://www.hearth.com/talk/data/attachments/188/188763-17b75dcd35733148d682e2850a11722a.jpg?hash=F7ddzTVzMU "[Hearth.com] Castle Serenity - lots of ash"){kind=small}
open a window and fab up some duct work from the open window up over the roof and into a window in another room 
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.
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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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.
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!
edit: ALL 5 rooms upstairs are not utilizing the baseboard heaters. This is a complete win.
Getting excited!
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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.
Deezl Smoke
Feeling the Heat
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.
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:
![[Hearth.com] Castle Serenity - lots of ash](https://www.hearth.com/talk/data/attachments/188/188787-07378ba3060eafddb0162e280d2f4968.jpg?hash=qTJ3GLAyZv "[Hearth.com] Castle Serenity - lots of ash")
I think my settings are pretty spot on 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!
alternativeheat
Minister of Fire
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.
alternativeheat
Minister of Fire
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.
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.
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?
Any reason for the shy flame?
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 .
Tails1
Feeling the Heat
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.
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.
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
Feeling the Heat
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.
![[Hearth.com] Castle Serenity - lots of ash](https://www.hearth.com/talk/data/attachments/189/189732-2721aca20ac7752c8ffa5ad0fdfa469a.jpg?hash=JyGsogrHdS "[Hearth.com] Castle Serenity - lots of ash")
Tails1
Feeling the Heat
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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