I appreciate all the help that everyone is giving. It has helped me understand more about my stove. However, its getting to the point that packaging the thing up and bringing it back may be the most rational decision at this point. If I had to troubleshoot wiring harnesses on my new truck I would be pissed. Same applies here, just a lesser scale. I will still remain patient and hope that I hear back from Mike soon.
ESW-Summers Heat 55-SHPEP
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Just stopped by the house to check on the stove. There is no buildup of ash in the burn pot. Stove has been running on heat setting 3 since 10:00am today. I dont have a thick black soot buildup on the window, but rather a light gray buildup. I bumped the stove up to heat setting 4 to see how it goes for the next 2.5 hours while im away at work. The only thing I can think of is how I started the stove this morning as opposed to other times. I will do a couple of shutdown/startups when I get home from work to see if there is something in common or just a quick startup as someone mentioned as a possibility.
Oh, im also back to burning my crap Eco-Flames. I had 3 bags left and since I wasnt seeing a difference with the Cubex I figured I would burn off the last of my cheapo pellets.
Again. No matter what heat setting you have it at, it always starts the same.
Its the same start up sequence on heat level 1 as it is with 9.
Not trying to be discouraging, but stoves have a "Set" start up. After so long.(15 min) it reverts to.your desired/selected setting.
(Edit: its 20 minutes on setting 5 is default start up. After 20 minutes, stove will.go.to users setting. Its all in the manual. RTM)
My manual is telling me something different. Why would they recommend a heat range setting of 5 to ensure a strong fire if the startup is defaulted to 5 during startup? That just doesnt make sense to me.
"The fuel feed rate and combustion air during start-up is determined by the
control board, so the stove may be started on any heat range, although we recommend starting the stove on Heat Range 5, to help ensure a strong fire is initiated."
"The fuel feed rate and combustion air during start-up is determined by the
control board, so the stove may be started on any heat range, although we recommend starting the stove on Heat Range 5, to help ensure a strong fire is initiated."
The default startup for your 10-CPM and 26-PDV are different than the 25-EP or 55-SHPEP (same damn thing).
Am I the only one who noticed how close the termination is to the side of the chase? Min 12" beyond anything left or right.......just sayin
Yup, his stove was set to mode #3. They had him change it to #2. After going through the diagnostics with Russ, we determined that mine was set to the correct mode, #2.
If it is less than 12" there is a chance of the hot exhaust lighting up the siding on the house
My siding is aluminum, dont really forsee that being an issue. But good to know.
Been in the fire service for 12 years, worked up to the rank of Captain before moving onto training. These things seem pretty tame unless someone is grossly negligent.
Been in the fire service for 12 years, worked up to the rank of Captain before moving onto training. These things seem pretty tame unless someone is grossly negligent.
Now I'm going to again bring up that horizontal run.
Please get out a tape measure and tell us exactly what the distance is going from the stove through that elbow and to the end of the exhaust.
If it is more than 4 feet I want you to find someway to provide a slight upslope to the vent outside the house.
One other thing changing more than one thing at a time makes it very difficult to determine which of the changes is actually helping.
Please get out a tape measure and tell us exactly what the distance is going from the stove through that elbow and to the end of the exhaust.
If it is more than 4 feet I want you to find someway to provide a slight upslope to the vent outside the house.
One other thing changing more than one thing at a time makes it very difficult to determine which of the changes is actually helping.
Well with a bad burning stove it pays to be very careful, one never knows what might be inside that vent.
The CPM is 5 as Default. Why yours is different makes NO sense.
But having said that, (and reading the entire manual) it says that 8 is an acceptable level in for t-stat operation.
Even having said that, the level 5 of my CPM is still higher than you have been starting.
As for the Fire hazard.
You obviously have not read much here. Not to disrespect. But a burn pot that is "Building up" with fuel eventually finds the auger chute and that is how hopper fires are started.
As you said before, you don't want to go through the wiring on a new truck? Maybe exchange this model? Or take it back all together?? The flame is lazy? Whether its a failing combustion blower (my CPM convection blower took a Chit the 1st week/literally) a bad controller, or a seam on the firebox thats leaking? Something is causing your stove to loose copious amounts of air.
Dexter is correct. The start-up default setting is 5-5. The manual is just "suggesting" a heat setting of 5.....you can set it at anything you want.
Every manual is worded the same except mine. Both of Dexters manuals say it starts with a pre designated startup setting and then after 20 minutes goes to whatever the user setting is. Mine does not state that.
Furthermore, my control board is different than other models of ESWs stoves as it doesn't have an a, b, c, or d mode but rather has number settings. Maybe, just maybe its possible that the startup sequence is different. Since I already know how many seconds the auger actuates at heat range one I set the stove to this range at startup. Low and behold the auger actuation was the same while starting up as when its been running for hours on end.
I'm not saying this is the way it should be. But the test clearly proves that the controller at startup is using the user input settings.
I shut down the stove and cleaned it up when I got home. There was no ash buildup in the burn pot. I restarted the stove at heat range one. Once the fire had worked across the burnpot I increased the setting to 4. I also put my faux log set back in. The flame peak height is now just over the top of the log set. My bottom three buttons are at 1-6-1.
Furthermore, my control board is different than other models of ESWs stoves as it doesn't have an a, b, c, or d mode but rather has number settings. Maybe, just maybe its possible that the startup sequence is different. Since I already know how many seconds the auger actuates at heat range one I set the stove to this range at startup. Low and behold the auger actuation was the same while starting up as when its been running for hours on end.
I'm not saying this is the way it should be. But the test clearly proves that the controller at startup is using the user input settings.
I shut down the stove and cleaned it up when I got home. There was no ash buildup in the burn pot. I restarted the stove at heat range one. Once the fire had worked across the burnpot I increased the setting to 4. I also put my faux log set back in. The flame peak height is now just over the top of the log set. My bottom three buttons are at 1-6-1.
The CPM is #'s. Not letters. My PDV is 17 yrs old an analog and manual start.
Your start up isnt the problem. If it was ...... Then start up on 1 and then go to 9 after 20 minutes of burning at low flame. Your stove should burn fine and produce Gobs of heat and eject all ash out of the pot.
Sorry to be blunt. But your issues are much larger than heat setting 1 or heat setting 4 at start up.
Your stove has a lazy flame. Start up is irrelevant to this issue.
An On/Off stove will start with the same sequence.
If you contacted Mike, he should be along. I wish you the best of luck.
Cheers.
Your start up isnt the problem. If it was ...... Then start up on 1 and then go to 9 after 20 minutes of burning at low flame. Your stove should burn fine and produce Gobs of heat and eject all ash out of the pot.
Sorry to be blunt. But your issues are much larger than heat setting 1 or heat setting 4 at start up.
Your stove has a lazy flame. Start up is irrelevant to this issue.
An On/Off stove will start with the same sequence.
If you contacted Mike, he should be along. I wish you the best of luck.
Cheers.
I can only report what I see. I'll report back in the AM with my findings. I'm gonna leave it at 4 for the night. Unless I see any ash build up in the burnpot.
Ran stove overnight on the following settings;
Heat range = 3
Blower speed = 5
Bottom buttons = 1-5-1
Startup was done on 1-1.
No log set.
There is no ash in the burnpot. Flame is bright white and very active. Light gray haze on window except for right by the window wash.
Heat in the house has been better than its ever been. The last few nights the highest I could get the upstairs was 66. Downstairs was 71. Today the upstairs was 71 and the downstairs was 78. This weekend will be the true test as the temps are going to drop into the teens.
I'm baffled as to why the log set creates such a difference in air flow through the fire box. Am I putting it in the wrong place? I've been putting it in front of the burn pot.
Heat range = 3
Blower speed = 5
Bottom buttons = 1-5-1
Startup was done on 1-1.
No log set.
There is no ash in the burnpot. Flame is bright white and very active. Light gray haze on window except for right by the window wash.
Heat in the house has been better than its ever been. The last few nights the highest I could get the upstairs was 66. Downstairs was 71. Today the upstairs was 71 and the downstairs was 78. This weekend will be the true test as the temps are going to drop into the teens.
I'm baffled as to why the log set creates such a difference in air flow through the fire box. Am I putting it in the wrong place? I've been putting it in front of the burn pot.
If the log set prevents the burn pot from sitting properly in its receptacle you will have air flowing up and out around the burn pot and not through the burn pot is a burn issue.
Anything that disturbs the air flow through the proper locations or in the correct amounts can easily foul up the fire (the air flow both delivers oxygen for the fire and removes the ash from the burn pot)..
If you have several such occurrences at the same time it can become a 3 ring circus untangling it all.
With the single exception of your window air wash all air must enter below the pellets in the burn pot and exit through the pellets in the burn pot.
The air wash air volume was accounted for when the stove was designed.
Pellet stoves operate very close to the boundary between really well and crappy.
There was a party who had installed two Bosca stoves one was burning fairly well and the other not so well. After cleaning up the vent work both were burning really well, the one that was burning fairly well just needed its termination rotated so it was no longer exposed to the wind, the other one required more of a rework.
As the winter storms roll on through and if you are interested you will be able to see all kinds of things that can affect a pellet stove.
Anything that disturbs the air flow through the proper locations or in the correct amounts can easily foul up the fire (the air flow both delivers oxygen for the fire and removes the ash from the burn pot)..
If you have several such occurrences at the same time it can become a 3 ring circus untangling it all.
With the single exception of your window air wash all air must enter below the pellets in the burn pot and exit through the pellets in the burn pot.
The air wash air volume was accounted for when the stove was designed.
Pellet stoves operate very close to the boundary between really well and crappy.
There was a party who had installed two Bosca stoves one was burning fairly well and the other not so well. After cleaning up the vent work both were burning really well, the one that was burning fairly well just needed its termination rotated so it was no longer exposed to the wind, the other one required more of a rework.
As the winter storms roll on through and if you are interested you will be able to see all kinds of things that can affect a pellet stove.
I am happy now that the burnpot is not filling with ash. I am going to contact some installers of these things to get pricing on fixing the vent work and routing it through the roof. The inside venting will most likely remain the same but I am going to change the Tee to a 3" inlet/4" outlet. Then do 4" pipe up and through the roof to make sure that I get plenty of airflow. Hopefully by getting this done the gray film on the window will go away and I can work on why there are differences in how the stove burns with and without the log set. The good thing is now my burnpot doesnt fill with ash. That was my biggest concern as it would pile right up. Now everything else is cosmetic.
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