just wondering where people are running there stoves,i cant quite find the sweet spot,seems this stove must be on4.5 for feed rate or above to get any heat.but seem to have problem with air. get clunkers and burn pot is always black.if you burn this stove on low,its seems like a waste.stove is clean only 20 bags at most through it,tried 3 brands,when this stove is above 4.5 it has awsome heat and a big flame. just wondering what everyone is finding for adjustments?
napoleon nps40 settings
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Experience with my NPS40 installation shows my stove sweet spot to be: feed 4, air control 2 or lower. I found that feeding much higher than 4 led to a poor burn. The air control setting would be site/installation specific and would depend on atmospheric conditions (low or high pressure weather systems) the chimney vent height (how much, if any natural draft is available) and finally wood pellet quality. How and where does your exhaust vent run terminate on the exterior?
i run 4.5/4 when im home
3.95/3 when im gone , epllets will dictate which settings are best for your situation
3.95/3 when im gone , epllets will dictate which settings are best for your situation
yours works on 2 for air and doesnt blacken up the window to quick?,maybe i am running mine to high,was told to give more air to help with clunkers. i do have outside air kit,and my piping out comes of stove with a t,then 4ftup,2feet horizontal plus cap.ill will try lower air.
During the day, when I'm home (I am almost always cold, so I do work at getting as much heat as possible out of the stove) I set the feed to 4 - 4 1/2, the blower to 4 (depending on the pellets being fed and the air intake lever to about 1/2 way in the middle. That gives me a nice warm (75* -82*) living room and the rest of the house is comforable. (Yes, living in Maine is not right for someone who needs warmth like me, but it's my home, always has been and always will be.)
Please be advised that I have the NPI40 witch is the insert version and this is our firts year with it.
I have found that I get pot buildup if I don't have the blower on higher. And yes, the bearings on my blower ARE going.
At night we turn the feed down to 3.5 and the blower to about 3. That keeps the downstairs warm enough to be comfortable for the normal person - about 68*
Please be advised that I have the NPI40 witch is the insert version and this is our firts year with it.
I have found that I get pot buildup if I don't have the blower on higher. And yes, the bearings on my blower ARE going.
At night we turn the feed down to 3.5 and the blower to about 3. That keeps the downstairs warm enough to be comfortable for the normal person - about 68*
On the NPS40 there are two fans. The first is a fan that comes on when you push the start button, this one is an exhaust blower fan. The second fan is a heat convection fan, the function of which is to move the air over the heat exchanger in the stove and out into your living space. The convection fan has no effect on the burn.
It sounds to me like your vent run is good to go. If you haven't already, you might check to see if fly ash has built up and is constricting the vent pipe. I wouldn't suggest cutting down on the air control rod setting. With the stove shut down and cold, clean out the pot and surrounding area. Check for venting restriction. Load your favorite wood pellets in the hopper. Pull the air control rod all the way out (5). Press the start switch and turn the pellet feed to the lower end of the optimum range (just below 3) Leave the convection blower off until your fire gets going good. When the fire gets going set the convection blower speed to the setting that feels most comfortable to you. As your fire gets established (an angry bright yellow flame not too much higher than the fire pot. Embers spitting out with each pellet drop and the burning pellets in the pot jumping around) dial in more pellet up to 4-4.5 depending on heat output desired. If it is very cold and windy out you can then ease the control rod back in to 3 or even 2. If it is a lower pressure outside (warmer/cloudy/rainy Ha!) you'll need to allow more air control rod. Generally more air control rod will give a better burn.
It's great reading about everyone's varied experience with the NPS40. It is very helpful to me. Thanks to everyone!
It sounds to me like your vent run is good to go. If you haven't already, you might check to see if fly ash has built up and is constricting the vent pipe. I wouldn't suggest cutting down on the air control rod setting. With the stove shut down and cold, clean out the pot and surrounding area. Check for venting restriction. Load your favorite wood pellets in the hopper. Pull the air control rod all the way out (5). Press the start switch and turn the pellet feed to the lower end of the optimum range (just below 3) Leave the convection blower off until your fire gets going good. When the fire gets going set the convection blower speed to the setting that feels most comfortable to you. As your fire gets established (an angry bright yellow flame not too much higher than the fire pot. Embers spitting out with each pellet drop and the burning pellets in the pot jumping around) dial in more pellet up to 4-4.5 depending on heat output desired. If it is very cold and windy out you can then ease the control rod back in to 3 or even 2. If it is a lower pressure outside (warmer/cloudy/rainy Ha!) you'll need to allow more air control rod. Generally more air control rod will give a better burn.
It's great reading about everyone's varied experience with the NPS40. It is very helpful to me. Thanks to everyone!
Lately - with outdoor temp in teens - I've been most happy with feed rate = 4-4.5 and air = 3. Good heat, nice flame. Glass stays clean for about 3 days. That's with CleanFire pellets. I also have a few bags of Pennington pellets from Home Depot bought in September. (Those are terrible, more powder than they are pellets.) They require a higher feed rate and still never kick out the same heat as the CleanFires do.
Run my stove on 4.5 with the deep cold. draft on 5, pulled out just as far as it will go. Flame is hot. Pellets dance in the pot. Flame go right straight up with no "hula dance". glass needs cleaning less frequently on higher settings. low draft = dirty stove.
On warmer days, I run on 4. Seldom run on 3.
Things that influence this:
1. how clean is the stove. I found that when I keep the holes in the pot clear, and when I did the leaf blower thing, my stove ran much better.
2. make sure there are no air leaks. ck the ash pan to make sure it is latched. I forgot to latch one once and had a rapid pot filling with black pellets and poor heat. Took 2 days to find out what I had done to cause this! ugh.
3. the pellets, the pellets, the pellets. not all equal, need to tweak for each. With Energex, I get good heat, but need to vac out the stove about every 3ed day. That is usually when I get that clumping ash biscuit in the pot. no clinkers or creosote ever, just ash and soot.
On warmer days, I run on 4. Seldom run on 3.
Things that influence this:
1. how clean is the stove. I found that when I keep the holes in the pot clear, and when I did the leaf blower thing, my stove ran much better.
2. make sure there are no air leaks. ck the ash pan to make sure it is latched. I forgot to latch one once and had a rapid pot filling with black pellets and poor heat. Took 2 days to find out what I had done to cause this! ugh.
3. the pellets, the pellets, the pellets. not all equal, need to tweak for each. With Energex, I get good heat, but need to vac out the stove about every 3ed day. That is usually when I get that clumping ash biscuit in the pot. no clinkers or creosote ever, just ash and soot.
if i run mine on 4.5 with the draft on 5 , i get not enough flame so i dont get the heat. seems if flame isnt 6 inches or so above pot stove has no heat.if on 4.5 dont cant leave draft up past 3-3.5
My experience is similar with the insert model. 4 to 4.5 feed rate with the air on about 4, my air control rod is has no numbers, I get decent heat. As the stoves gets some ash build up or if I am burning Corinth pellets I need the air on 5 to blow ash out of the burn pot. A lot of your success with the clinkers will depend on the pellet. I have burned eight different types of pellets, all two bags or more, this winter and some are bad about clinkers while others never seem to leave them. I also find that the stove will not produce any meaningful heat with any pellet below about 3.5 on the feed rate. With my Corinth pellets I cannot find a fuel/Air mixture that doesn't produce cinkers and cause ash buid up about every 12 hours I bought a stainless kitchen spoon and with the Corinth pellets when I get up in the morning I open the front door and use the spoon to pull out the clinker and some ash. I have to do it agaian when i get home from work. When I have to start doing it more than twice a day i shut the stove down and clean it usually about three days. I can go longer with better pellets.
I cannot adjust my convection blower, it is broken and only runs on high, I am waiting for the part to fix it, and the bearings are gone in my second convestion fan and I am waiting for a new one to repair that. Pretty stove though...
I cannot adjust my convection blower, it is broken and only runs on high, I am waiting for the part to fix it, and the bearings are gone in my second convestion fan and I am waiting for a new one to repair that. Pretty stove though...
with your napoleon can you actually get your pellets to jump out of burnpot with the air pulled out.i can make them dance a little but not jumpout. i know on many stoves you can blow themout of pot when too much air on. ive talked to 3 people with this same stove and they say they cant. just curious
I can make them jump arundwhen they are glowing red, but they do not blow out of the pot. When the pellets are cold they dont even move. This has been true with both combustion fans i have had.
Our pellets & sparkies jump & dance as the fire burns. Usually we set ours on 4 feed- 5 & up for air. Yesterday I decided to try it on 2-3 feed rate-with air on high.The fire was very low in pot,no heat at all-till I turned it up again.We've been mixing our Athens with Energix for 2 weeks now. cleaned the stove out good { vac} yesterday,as the sun was out-will just do a scoop out of the pot today.Long as we burn higher the window stays clean.Last week we also cleaned the pipes,now need to acquire some ceramic material to make our gaskets for the combustion motor- before we attempt to clean that we want some on hand.Pulled 2 cups of ash out of the pipes. It comes close to heating the house, 1500 sq. ft.,,except if its windy- and I think the floors should be a bit warmer,so a small woodstove is going in the cellar-and 3 passive solar collectors should do the trick. A budget of $1200 or less to be comfortable year round is the goal for us. We're pretty sure that can be reached.
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