I closed the damper today as far as the slide would let me. Seems like theres still a lot of airway open though. This did nothing to change the flame at all. Still smacking the roof of the stove. The control panel temperature gauge is what I was talking about. As for piping I have it straight run out the back (about a foot from the wall) then outside about 3 ft up from the T. I clean the outside once a week. Only been running it about a month now so it's never that dirty. I left a message with them today, no call back though
Castle serenity pellet stove New user ?
- Thread starter Dchase08
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I closed the damper today as far as the slide would let me. Seems like theres still a lot of airway open though. This did nothing to change the flame at all. Still smacking the roof of the stove. The control panel temperature gauge is what I was talking about. As for piping I have it straight run out the back (about a foot from the wall) then outside about 3 ft up from the T. I clean the outside once a week. Only been running it about a month now so it's never that dirty. I left a message with them today, no call back though
Deezl Smoke
Feeling the Heat
That's kinda what I am getting at, the flames hitting the roof of the stove can be from too little air, not too much. If the fan is running correctly, the pellet load will glow and the flame will be a few inches tall, on average, and nearly straight up like a jet engine flame.
When there is too little air, or virtually no air, the flame will look a fireplace or wood stove flame. Tall, lazy, smokey and very full of color. When my stoves start up, sometimes the pot gets pretty full before sparks fly and the pellets ignite. When this happens, the pellet load in the pot is so dense that the air can not get through. The flame will be quite tall and hit the roof of the stove for a minute or so. I can see a bit of smoke coming out of the exhaust when I watch outside.
When standing in front of the stove facing it, to your left, there is a panel on the side of the stove that can be removed via 4 small screws. It is the back half of the side of the stove. That is how you access the exhaust blower. See is it is running or running well. I know it is supposed to run in order to get a vacuum signal to the vacuum switch to operate, but it may be that your controller is not functioning properly or something like that.
On heat setting one, manual, you should be able to get around 16 to maybe 18 or so hours of run time on a 40# bag of pellets that the stove is set up for.
Your exhaust piping, if I read it right, sounds fine. In fact, the vertical piping may even be enough in the right circumstance to create a draft which "may" be enough to continue the pellet burn in the absence or near absence of fan speed. I dont know for absolute certain, but vertical piping once worm, will pull air through the stove.
How do I know if my exhaust settings are right. Flame is dancing pretty good I think I have the air gate close to closed.
My flame smacks the roof and modulates down to just above the pot on #1. I had to open my draft to about half. My stack is in a protected corner and when the air is still the flame gets lazy I bump ex. v up . When the air is moving it is like a blow torch and I can do ex @ 80v. I tried it at 1/3 open but I needed more air when it was still/raining. I never really checked the usage on #1 but it was 19 last night and I had it on 3. It was 83 on the stove and the window fan at the top of the window showed 80 blowing in the m/h. I topped it off at midnight and checked it during a b/r trip 4-5 hrs later. It was low so I added 4 scoops. She was up about 8 and it was down where you see the auger top.
I have a well insulated 1500 st home, my stove would run me out of the house on low after it reached set temp. I made a cover for the auger that blocks entry of pellets into It, slowed the pellet feed down some. I can run the stove on setting one for 27 hours on one hopper. On the temp setting it will jump to high for a few minutes every hour or so to maintain temp, but I will still get 24 hours on a hopper. Cost me 3 dollars in parts.
On manual mode hi, the stove now runs about 100 degrees cooler than it did from the factory.
On manual mode hi, the stove now runs about 100 degrees cooler than it did from the factory.
Any pics, instructions or parts list ? Can you describe the flame operation ? Is there much hi/lo modulation. Thanks GBY
On setting one, the stove operates at less than 300 degrees as measured on the side of the firebox. About 100 degrees cooler at the same fan settings from before the modification. The flame will extend a couple inches above the burn pot to about level with the top of the pot on low. The pictures show the average low and high. Been running it this way for almost a month now, no problems. No increase in ash, no extra soot on the glass and has not shut down due to an overtemp. Extended run times on high give me about 500 degrees max. Before I would hit 650. Just ran the stove 26 hours on low, still have an hour or two left on the bag...
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Cool, thanks for that. Be nice to have a channel on each side to be able to slide it up/down. Is that auger tube hot ? What double stick tape did you use ? Was the 3" a random choice or did you try different measurements ? Is that tin or aluminum ? Remember the gauge ? Sorry for all the ???'s
I have my stove on a porch I turned into a sun room. Many warmer days I would have like the stove to "idle" without having to shut it down. Thanks and God bless.
BTW, where exactly is that thermometer location ?
The auger tube gets warm but not hot. I used 3M tape and a section of sheet metal I bent to the contour of the tube, don't remember the gauge but thin enough to cut with tin snips. I initially went longer and shortened the tin until I found the right feed/burn rate. The thermostat is on the side of the stove at the hotest location i could find with my infared thermometer - almost at the top of the stove just below the heat exchanger.
The idea of the slider is the first thing that came to mind when I seen the pic. hmmm may have to do some tinkering
This will slow the auger down
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Stihlfarmhouse91
New Member
So maybe I can bring this back alive. Dtaylor that controller you sell on eBay it’s just a plug and play kit to slow the voltage to the auger? Is it a solid state control or a vfd? I bought my castle back in June just installed it this past weekend. Fired it up this morning cause we had 39 degrees when I woke up. Another thing is when starting before the flame kicked over I had a small amount of smoke come out of the heat exchanger area just wondering if that was “normal” I expected the stink and stuff from the initial fire once hot but this was before hand. Thanks in advance.
Deezl Smoke
Feeling the Heat
You may have a leak at the connection from stove to chimney. A bit of pellet smoke there can be picked up by the room fan and blow it into the room. Otherwise, you would almost have to have a defective stove with a crack or bad weld in the fire box. One other possibility would be that you had a flash over ignition where the fire box fills with hot smoke and once the pellets do ignite, the smoke ignites too. Usually this makes a sound that resembles a "whooosh". My serenities do this from time to time if the pellets absorbed a bit of humidity.
Stihlfarmhouse91
New Member
I didn’t hear a woosh. The smoke smelled more metallic than wood. But that being said I could have just been a little on edge about starting it, before work at 6 am. I’ll know for sure if it does it again. Now I just gotta get my blower vfd set right and check into a feed rate adjustment of some sort. Cool little stove tho.
Hi GT_Sharp,
I read your 2017 post about decreasing fuel feed to yous Castle Serenity. I have the same problem, too much heat on #1. Can you send a pic of how you did your modification please? Space seems limited. Thanks!
Ed Corbett
[email protected]
Ooops, missed them somehow. Thanks. Also, one of the posts mentions a speed control but the ebay page expired. I could probably find one that would work, but which one were you suggesting?
Thanks again
Ed
Mt Bob
Minister of Fire
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