First week with Enviro M55 FPI - impressions and two questions

[steveg_nh]

Thanks. On the premium setting its not spilling over anymore on run level 4. Trim setting is the default. I think the agitator was pushing it out too quickly (spinning too much). This is what I get when running on normal.

(broken image removed)

If this solves it am I good? The adjustments you talk about sound a bit beyond what I understand at this point.

And why do most just say leave the fuel setting on normal and not premium?

Thanks for the help.

 

[bags]

The engineers figured out the "norms" for each unit to a degree. They must work well.... You will gain more understanding and can experiment with rates, temp changes, etc; As you get a better understanding and become more familiar with your set up and ever changing variables things will make more sense. I had one last night and ran mine on experimental settings. It worked out well but I had nothing to gauge it on until I was set in the right direction here.

Keep reading up. Especially, threads for your Enviro model. Now you have a starting point or baseline to work off of. Trust me, I'm still learning a lot. Noe you have something that IS working and a reference to what was NOT.

 

[steveg_nh]

So I'm seeing much improved performance on the Premium pellet setting. No more spill over. I had a feeling it was turning too much, and the pellets weren't burning fast enough, that they were pushed out too soon. Boy this thing eats pellets though.

 

[Cleetussnow]

I have only ever used the premium setting, even with sketchy pellets. These are true multi fuel stoves, so you can run some real garbage in there.

Put a thermostat on it and you will lower your pellet usage, if you haven't already.

The m55s are gadgets. Lots of moving parts and lots of adjustments can be made. For someone who doesn't mind playing around its a great stove. Honestly, if I was going to get a stove for say my mom, Harmon all the way. M55 a lot can go wrong. Many many variables.

 

[steveg_nh]

I like gadgets. I'm a tinkerer. We'll see how far it goes tonight. Hopper was about 90% full at 7am. It's now 11:15 (16+ hrs later) and I think I have about 10-20% left. It will run out overnight I'm sure but I think I can gauge when it died by how cool it is when I pour my first cup of coffee around 6am.

 

[steveg_nh]

So I went about 15-16 hrs on one bag. Averaged on heat setting 3 and 4. So about 1.5 bags per day. About what they told me it would do. No Tstat yet.

 

[steveg_nh]

If you run with the feed trim on 1, as long as you seem to have the right sized flame for the setting you are on, is that ok? I am down to about 12 hrs per 40 pound bag, running on average setting 3. I figure I can reduce the pellet consumption on trim feed 1, as long as the flame and heat output seems ok. Maybe I'm wrong and shouldn't have it that low. Also, I adjusted the air trim by increasing it one setting too. The glass is black, and I read it should be more brown. The stove was setup with a magnahelic gauge, so I figure I can adjust the air with the trim right now, vs manually the damper...

 

[smwilliamson]

So I'm one week in with my M55 insert. I've gone through only 3 bags of pellets.

Overall I'm very happy with the purchase, and I'm thinking I will see a huge difference in my oil consumption this winter, as the apparent air flow in my house is allowing the stove to heat MUCH more than I thought it would. Granted it's not cold yet, but I figured just getting the heat into some rooms might be challenging, but I guess not. We'll see when the cold really hits.

Here's my thoughts for anyone considering this insert, along with a couple of questions.

Observations:
1. Puts out a very solid amount of heat, even on low. Surprising actually. The auger feeder and firebox auger are quiet, as long as you keep the firebox auger properly greased/treated.

2. Very easy to clean. Disassembly and assembly of the firebox components is very simple, and it only goes back to together one way, taking any guess work out.

3. Flame size on heat settings 1 and 2 is almost non seeable, meaning, the height doesn't quite get over the top of the burnpot sides. I'm told this is normal by some folks here. Still agree? It would be nice to see a little more flame (just for aesthetics) on at least setting 2. Settings 3-4 looks great, setting 5 is like a mini inferno! Impressive. Heat output is fantastic though.

4. Noise level of blower on 1 isn't bad, but you know it's running. Sounded much quieter in the store, but I wasn't trying to hear every word of my favorite show with the TV low enough so as to not keep everyone in the house awake. 2 is bearable too, but 3-5 drowns out the room. To be expected, and I knew it. Not a complaint, just an observation. But still quieter than my friends Harman that I heard, so I'm still happy with my belief that it IS one of the quieter ones.

5. In not so cold temps (mid 40s) it burns about 1 bag of pellets in 24 hrs on setting 2, with a few hrs on 3. Seems pretty good to me.

6. It came through with some finish blemishes, so I think it could have been packed a bit better, in terms of protection in some areas. It was packed so tightly, that all of the blemishes are due to friction/rubbing of packing material. They should all be easy to fix with matching black touch up paint though, and you'll never see them.

7. Very easy to slide it back out if needed. A huge plus. The sides pop off, you unclip both sides, and just roll it out (with the service rails). That's cool.

Now two questions:

1. How do you guys clean the glass? It's getting frosted with black soot a bit. Not bad. After 2 bags it's in a half round shape on the top 1/3. I can wipe it off, but the glass is left dirty a bit. Any magic tricks here to get it sparkly, or just if it's cool enough, just a damp rag?

2. This will take a bit to explain...when they installed it, they realized something on the underside of the sliding hopper lid (the top) was hitting the tstat setting switch. To resolve it, they installed a small washer on each of the 4 bolts that hold the brackets (that connect to the slide rails on the side of the unit) to the hopper lid. It raised the lid only the thickness of the washers, maybe 1/32" of an inch but that was enough to eliminate the problem. But I was adjusting something else last night, and had to remove the lid. When I flipped it, I noticed the section of the lid that fits right over the actual pellet opening (where you fill it) was trimmed with the fireproof gasket/strip stuff. Not sure what it's called. Anyway, I wondered if the fact that they added the washers, which slightly lifted the height of the lid, was now reducing the contact of the firestrip and the frame of the hopper. Is that letting any air in? Is it a fire hazard? I can't imagine so, as the hopper is full of pellets. If there was any risk of fire inside there, all the pellets would burn. That's a major issue. And that fire gasket certainly doesn't appear to make anything air tight, given how the hopper lid just slides back into place (not cranked down like the firebox door is), so I can't imagine it was there to seal from say carbon monoxide escaping from the pellet fill box. So in short, does anyone think that needs to seal tightly? Could the 1/32" height difference make a difference for anything there? Should I be pushing for another solution that didn't require the washers? I plan on asking the dealer tomorrow, but I can just imagine getting a brush off answer of "You're fine, no issue at all." So I just want to see what others think. It was some type of little magnet that was hitting the switch for what it's worth. Looks like when the hopper lid is closed, the magnet sits directly over something, attracting it. Maybe some type of safety switch.

Anyway, to summarize, I'm VERY happy with this insert, but your mileage may vary, as house layout plays a big role in the effectiveness of a pellet stove in my opinion. But this fits my house well, and seems to do the job it was hired to do flawlessly.

Thanks.

Flame size...provided the damper has been properly set (between .15WC and .17WC), you can kick up the flame by trimming up the feed from 3 to 4 and trimming down the combustion trim from3 to 2. A little bit more fuel and a little bit less air, presto...higher flame. A high octane pellet helps.

 

[Jdmurphy]

This is my second season with the M55i. I always run in premium mode for the reason mentioned with the agitator pushing pellets out too soon. I normally run on heat setting 3, maybe 4 when it is really cold but the house gets hot fast, and I adjust the feed rate between 2 and 3. I'm not certain this is a fact but I feel more pellets drop via the auger when they are small? So I'm currently in the middle of a ton of Energex that seem very short compared to others. So I'll keep the feed rate at 2 until I perhaps run a different brand I have through there. And this feed rate slows this hungry stove without sacrificing heat too much.

Also, I run all the time with a thermostat. I during shoulder months on "auto off" but the colder months on "high low". I really think it is advantageous to automatically drop the stove to setting one and cruise for awhile rather than let it cycle off. It's a given that eventually the thermo will call for heat again and during startup it will drop a load of pellets that get pushed out unburnt again. I believe with the high low setting the house is more evenly heated. Especially the room with the stove.

 

[steveg_nh]

Flame size...provided the damper has been properly set (between .15WC and .17WC), you can kick up the flame by trimming up the feed from 3 to 4 and trimming down the combustion trim from3 to 2. A little bit more fuel and a little bit less air, presto...higher flame. A high octane pellet helps.

Doesn't reducing air decrease the quality of the burn, thereby making for black soot buildup on the glass? I'm still learning how it all relates.

 

[smwilliamson]

Doesn't reducing air decrease the quality of the burn, thereby making for black soot buildup on the glass? I'm still learning how it all relates.

But too much air extinguishes the flame.

 

[steveg_nh]

Ok, didn't know that. I need to read up on fire properties I guess!

So here's a picture of my stove and glass. I cleaned the glass on Friday night. This was taken this morning, so about 3 days of burning. Looks too dark and coated to me and ready to be cleaned again. The flame is setting 5 on the stove in this pic, feed trim 2, and air trim default, 3. I was thinking I should get either a magnahelic gauge or manometer to double check my settings on the air intake before I mess too much with air trim, but I could adjust it for now I guess. The installers did use a gauge, and I said "but the windows are open, won't that affect it" they said no, plus, the stove wasn't that hot...seemed like they should have let it hear up. I closed the windows anyway, but not sure if they looked again after I did. Does the apron have to be off to get to the adjustment, or just the side cast piece on? I need to read up on that.

 

[Bill L]

That glass doesn't look too bad, and your flame looks good too. I honestly can never really see a difference when I mess with the trim settings, I just leave them on three

 

[steveg_nh]

Really? I thought the glass looking really coated for only 3 days of burning...

 

[bags]

Really? I thought the glass looking really coated for only 3 days of burning...

Your glass will constantly get dirty even with an air wash systems included. Just the way it is. I get the typical Harman fog at the top of mine whether I am burning hot or in a lower mode within a given time. You can clean it every day or three. Make sure it is cool before hand. Don't want cracked glass and that expense. It's warming up here so I am hitting my unit with a good cleaning today. Gotta make hay while the sun shines.

 

[steveg_nh]

Thanks. I know it's hard to tell with pictures, but I also read that you want more of a brown color, than black. Where it's thickest, it's black, the rest is more chocolately in color. Maybe I'm just over thinking it? I just want to be sure I have the right amount of air.

 

[bags]

Like Bill L said, your flame and stuff looks pretty good. I like those M55's but don't have one so can't speak much on one. Just looked closely at my glass and it is gray to a light brown at the thickest ash collection at the top of the glass but I have a different stove. Just shut it down and will do a good clean after awhile. High of 63 here today then right back to the cold.

 

[steveg_nh]

Thanks. I'll feel better if I check my damper though. Do you have to remove the apron to do it, or just the cast side panel? Do you know?

 

[nailed_nailer]

I have the freestanding version of the M-55 Cast. Love it.

I use a damp sponge (retired one from the dishes) with a green scrubby side to clean the glass.
I use the sponge side to wet it down and the scrubby side dipped in ashes to get the brown off.
I then wipe it dry with a clean paper towel.

I also use the Rutland "White Off" Stove Glass Cleaner (Ceramic Glass Cleaner)
I find it makes the cleaning easy and seems to seal the glass so the next cleaning is easier.

Pellet quality makes a huge difference in how your stove performs.

It is hard to gauge the stove this time of year as it is not cold enough yet and you really can't run the stove long and hot.
Long Hot burn times will keep your stove cleaner. As long as you have quality pellets. Garbage fuel will give garbage results.

I clean my stove about once a week. And do a full breakdown about every ton burned.

Keep it clean and it will treat you right.

Remember to also clean the heat exchanger tubes about once a day.
Give the pull out rod in the top center of stove face a few pulls to get the ash off the tubes.
I use a pair of pliers to hold it. It does get hot.

I am heating a 900sq foot converted cottage that gets wind whipped all winter.
In the dead of winter on a 10 degree windy day I will burn 2 bags of Vermont or Okanagan pellets.
This time of year maybe 1/4 bag a day. But that is with the stove off 1/2 the day.

I do run mine on a thermostat and it is OAK'ed. Both of those will help with fuel usage.

Best of luck.
---Nailer---

 

[steveg_nh]

Thanks Nailer. What do you mean by a full breakdown, vs the weekly cleaning? I bet my weekly cleaning counts as the full breakdown.The only thing I don't do weekly is pull the plate behind the feed chute (whatever it's called).

On the heat exchanger tubes, in the manual, it says to only clean them when cold. Not sure why, but I haven't done it when hot/warm at all for fear of breaking something.

I read too, that after burning two tons of pellets, the vent should be cleaned, basically meaning a full service call for me. Is that needed? I'm only a seasonal user, and expect to go through 3-4 tons in a season, then it's off till the next winter. I thought cleaning at that level, once a year was sufficient. What's your take?