New to this Pellet stove thing..... HELP!

[jkremzar]

New to this pellet stove thing….

I have a corn Stove Model 5000. It just does not seem to get hot enough! There is a small slit along the bottom that just blows out ice cold air. I’ve cleaned and cleaned and cleaned and no idea why its so cold. Can anyone help!?!

The top part, above the flame does blow hot air, but the cold air being blown from below defeats the purpose.

Thanks for any help and HAPPY NEW YEAR!

 

[tjnamtiw]

Do you, by any chance, have the ash dump door open outside????

 

[jkremzar]

No ash dump door outside that I am aware of.

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

Is it actually blowing cold air out or is the cold air being drawn towards the insert.

Unless you had an OAK installed the stove is going to suck air out of the house and that air will be drawn down low towards the insert.

Tell us all about the installation of the insert, in particular the block off plate portion of the install.

 

[jtakeman]

Is it actually blowing cold air out or is the cold air being drawn towards the insert.

Unless you had an OAK installed the stove is going to suck air out of the house and that air will be drawn down low towards the insert.

Tell us all about the installation of the insert, in particular the block off plate portion of the install.

Thats what I was thinking. Hard to tell sometimes if its blowing at you or sucking the air out.

To the OP(jkremzar) If you smoke hold a cig in front of the area where you feel the air. Or light a candle and blow it out so it smokes. I'm betting its the inlet sucking the air in. What is the smoke doing?

 

[jkremzar]

It's actually blowing cold air out into the house. So if you put a tissue in front of it, it blows towards the center of the room. It is inserted into a previous fireplace. There is a vent in the back wall for the outside for ventilation. The hose goes up the chimney for the fumes. There is very little info on the net about how the air is distributed through the unit. I have talked to one person and he said he has hot air blowing from the lower slit, the one under the glass front.

Such a newbie that I do not know what an OAK is...

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

It's actually blowing cold air out into the house. So if you put a tissue in front of it, it blows towards the center of the room. It is inserted into a previous fireplace. There is a vent in the back wall for the outside for ventilation. The hose goes up the chimney for the fumes. There is very little info on the net about how the air is distributed through the unit. I have talked to one person and he said he has hot air blowing from the lower slit, the one under the glass front.

Such a newbie that I do not know what an OAK is...

Please post a picture of the vent in the back wall.

I guess you haven't read your stoves installation manual then.

OAK = Outside Air Kit it hooks the combustion air intake of the stove directly to the outside of your house.

There should be a block off plate that the flue from the stove passes through the block off plate must be sealed to the chimney flue and the stove's flue must be sealed to the block off plate.

This plate prevents flue gases from coming back down the chimney and also the chimney from acting as an air pump removing heated air from the house.

tj was wondering if the fireplace's ash dump system was open allowing cold air to be sucked in through it by either the combustion or the convection blowers or some other means that would dump cold air into the room.

I'll see if I can locate a copy of the installation manual and give it a read through. It will be later this evening before I get to it.

 

[jkremzar]

I guess you haven’t read your stoves installation manual then.

This is a very vague manual........

(broken link removed to http://www.cornflame.net/images/pdf/5000_Install_Manual.pdf)

It is not as a stand alone. On the back there is an exhaust, inner ring and an outer ring. This site, you can see the back of the unit: (broken link removed to http://www.pinnaclecornstoves.com/Model) 5000.htm

The pipe goes about 8 - 10 feet up the chimney, from the inner exhaust.

 

[jtakeman]

Stove link didn't work try this one.

(broken link removed to http://tinyurl.com/8yp3rdb)

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

Yes and no on the vague, it covers the ground if you know what the pieces are.

Now can you tell us if the stove actually drops corn into the burn box? This starts when the temperature gets hot enough to light the corn.

If you get to this point you should increase the fuel feed, your room blower which may be the source of that cold air could be running to fast for the current fuel feed and it will take awhile for the stove to heat up.

 

[jkremzar]

It does drop and it will stay running all night long. The top blower will blow out hot air, its only ice cold on the lower one. But the schematics are so unclear...

My other question, along the same lines. On the exhaust, there is an outer ring, is that an inlet? If so, does that need to be piped out somewhere? Is the hose going up the chimney up high enough to prevent the fumes being sucked back down? Is this the source of the cold air because there is a vent outside?

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

It does drop and it will stay running all night long. The top blower will blow out hot air, its only ice cold on the lower one. But the schematics are so unclear...

My other question, along the same lines. On the exhaust, there is an outer ring, is that an inlet? If so, does that need to be piped out somewhere? Is the hose going up the chimney up high enough to prevent the fumes being sucked back down? Is this the source of the cold air because there is a vent outside?

I would contact the manufacturer about the configuration of the exhaust system but would be more apt to think that the two pipes is similar to the double wall vents we normally see but it could be the air intake, the only time they mention it is in a standalone through the wall installation.

I have a great deal of skepticism about the toss a flexible pipe up the flue and not blocking things off. It is possible for stuff to get sucked down the chimney even though the normal airflow would be up the chimney which is also a problem.

I don't know how high you have the fuel setting and where the room blower is set at but the blower system on that unit is hefty for a stove.

I'd spend a bit of time reducing the room blower rate a small amount at a time while paying attention to how hot the air gets out of both the upper and the lower portions of the stove.

 

[jtakeman]

There is a vent in the back wall for the outside for ventilation. The hose goes up the chimney for the fumes.

Are you sure the vent isn't causing the cold air issue? Did you plug that up before you slide the stove into the fireplace? One last thing, Did you make a plate for the damper block off and then run the liner up through it?

 

[jkremzar]

the damper is off on the inside and the pipe goes straight up we did not make a plate, since there is a vent to the outside. The vent is still open. If we get a plate, and close that up, then we should be able to close the vent, and maybe the cold air will stop.

I've called the manufacturer twice with out a return phone call and emailed once today.

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

I just finished reading the through the wall portion of the install the inner 3" portion of the vent is the exhaust venting and the outer 5" portion is the combustion air intake. The use of the outer portion as the combustion intake allows a zero clearance install through a wall.

Now I have this strange feeling that their 25% boost in performance feature currently going for 50% off regular price might some sort of outside air setup.

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

You really should use a block off plate. Normal air flow will suck air out of the house and send it up through the chimney. You do not want that.

What did you do at the top of the chimney?

 

[jkremzar]

Going to def look for one tomorrow. At the top of the chimney is a vented cap to prevent critters from coming down.

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

Going to def look for one tomorrow. At the top of the chimney is a vented cap to prevent critters from coming down.

Now here is why I asked about the top and mentioned the block off, you need to be able to exclude water from coming into the chimney and getting into the stove. Electricity and water do not get along at all.

I do not know what code is where you are but a lot of places require a full length liner that goes to a termination cap and for there to be a block off plate.

 

[jkremzar]

We do have a full length liner, since we also had a fireplace wood blower in here previously and def no way for water to get in with the cap at the top of the chimney.....

You can say we upgraded! LOL

Will making one out of sheet metal and caulking it off suffice?

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

We do have a full length liner, since we also had a fireplace wood blower in here previously and def no way for water to get in with the cap at the top of the chimney.....

You can say we upgraded! LOL

Will making one out of sheet metal and caulking it off suffice?

Use the proper sealant and everything will be fine. You need something that will handle about 500 degrees or better around the stove flue to plate. Around the plate to chimney something that has a decent lifespan.

 

[jkremzar]

I can't thank you folks enough! Thank you so much for all of your help.... Hopefully some day I can pay it forward, like I am sure you have. I would pay ya back in computer knowledge, that's all I gots. LOL..

Thank you and I will update this thread on our next cold day. Which in CT, I don't know when that will be this year.

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

I can't thank you folks enough! Thank you so much for all of your help.... Hopefully some day I can pay it forward, like I am sure you have. I would pay ya back in computer knowledge, that's all I gots. LOL..

Thank you and I will update this thread on our next cold day. Which in CT, I don't know when that will be this year.

Well 40+ years of bit pushing on this end ....

 

[jkremzar]

40+ huh?

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

40+ huh?

Yes I got my start on some of IBM's systems back in '69 using Fortran, Nutran, CUPL, RPG, PL1, APL, COBOL, and three different assembly languages. I can even run a lot of the old systems on my current Linux system.

ETA: I have been Windows free since 2001 on my home systems and this machine has never seen any Microsoft system ever.

 

[jkremzar]

Too funny.....

I worked for IBM for 10 years back in the 90s till I was laid off in 2002. Now I work for a company in Hartford that services doctors offices. AAAAhhhh the AS400 days...... Brings a tear to my eyes....