Pellet Newbie : Ecoteck Installed

[blazeitup]

that stove looks great even without the shell, definatly a ferreri. FYI with outside air that stove is approved for 12" from window, not to mention how do u hav that 4' horizontal suspended anyway jus curious?

 

[Pelleting In NJ]

I have a support strut to brace the pipe to the outside wall. I know that with OAK only 1 foot clearnace is needed, but I want to minimize any sooting of the light colored siding of my house.

 

[myers7457]

let me know how often you clean your burnpot. I have been cleaning every other day. There isnt much soot but the holes in the burnpot get covered. The window stays clean as well as the exhaust cleanout. I am burning lingetiics. I was thinking about getting several bags of something else. very happy with stove so far wating for some real cold.

 

[blazeitup]

I have a support strut to brace the pipe to the outside wall. I know that with OAK only 1 foot clearnace is needed, but I want to minimize any sooting of the light colored siding of my house.

ur choice but sooting should not b an issue as long as shes running correctly, with 12-18". sorry jus tryin to picture 4' stickin out of my house. mayb with an american flag hangin off it lol

 

[Pelleting In NJ]

It does look a little funny, but I intend to remove it during the warmer months, so I don't have to look at it from my patio. That's way better than staring at a 12 foot vertical flue that can't be so easily removed.

 

[Pelleting In NJ]

let me know how often you clean your burnpot. I have been cleaning every other day. There isnt much soot but the holes in the burnpot get covered. The window stays clean as well as the exhaust cleanout. I am burning lingetiics. I was thinking about getting several bags of something else. very happy with stove so far wating for some real cold.

I don't really have a read on how often I have to clean it yet, as I only have burned maybe 8 lbs of pellets. My burn pot holes seem clear, after the "Final Cleaning" from the full speed operation the combustion blower during the shutdown sequence. What is clogging your holes? Hard deposits? or just soft ash? Are you cleaning yours so often because you want to? or have to?

I am burning "Great American Wood Pellets", which are made in PA. They were tested (I forget the pellet test website), and they have very low ash, almost ultra-premium, and were very well liked by the tester. Maybe you should try some of those. greatamericanpellets.com They are only sold thru stove dealers, I got mine from "Wood Heat" in Flemington NJ, but there is one or two Wood Heat dealers in PA.

 

[myers7457]

I guess you would call it hard as it clumps in the firepot..It seems to be burning clean. I called great american they are to email a local supplier.

 

[CT_Burner]

I've had the same stove for a year. Powerful heat thrower! Beautiful to look at. Seems to need major vacuuming after about a ton or so. You'll know when flame burns too high and smokey. Definitely do the clean right away.

Good Luck!

 

[Pelleting In NJ]

Since I ended-up with a horizontal flue config, I am considering to buy a UPS back-up unit to power the stove for a few minutes so that there is no smoke back-up if the power fails. I found a pure sinewave UPS, Cyberpower CP850PFCLCD, about $120, that will supply 255 Watts for 8 minutes. I measured the consumption of the combustion blower at 33 watts, and the convection blower is about 40 watts, so 73 watts is what the stove needs during a shut-down sequence. I should be able to get about 28 minutes of run-time from this UPS at 73W. To get the stove to go into shut-down mode automatically, I will put a set of N.O. relay contacts in series with the auger motor, so the contacts open if the 110VAC power drops-out. The stove will then run out of fuel, which will make the stove go into shut-down mode. Any thoughts? Any favorite UPS systems that people use for their stoves?

 

[jtakeman]

Since I ended-up with a horizontal flue config, I am considering to buy a UPS back-up unit to power the stove for a few minutes so that there is no smoke back-up if the power fails. I found a pure sinewave UPS, Cyberpower CP850PFCLCD, about $120, that will supply 255 Watts for 8 minutes. I would guess the combustion blower and convection blower use about 120 watts total, so I should be able to get about 16 minutes of run-time for the stove to shut down properly. To get the stove to go into shut-down mode automatically, I will put a set of N.O. relay contacts in series with the auger motor, so the contacts open if the 110VAC power drops-out. The stove will then run out of fuel, which will make the stove go into shut-down mode. Any thoughts? Any favorite UPS systems that people use for their stoves?

Some are using a relay to open the thermostat circuit which will also put the stove in shutdown mode. My stove goes to low fire for 30 minutes, So I would need a UPS that ran for that long or do what you plan. Just cliping the power to the auger motor sounds like a good Idea. ;-)

 

[Pelleting In NJ]

Amazon delivered my pure sinewave UPS, Cyberpower CP850PFCLCD. Charged the battery and hooked it up to the stove : Did a power failure test run while the stove was running....works like a champ. Now to hook-up the automatic power failure shut-down to the stove, and hide the UPS unit in the basement.....

 

[Pelleting In NJ]

First "deep" cleaning of my Ecoteck Elena. It seemed to be burning a little dirtier, especially during start-up. The hourmeter indicated I have run the stove for 500 hours, though the manual says to deep clean it every 1000 hours. I open her up, open the rear clean-out ports, and remove the combustion blower, but there really isn't any ash to clean-up. So, today I pulled off the vent-cap on my horizontal run (I have no vertical, just straight out the wall for 5 feet.) and peer inside.....here's the problem...the pipe has about a 2inch thick layer of ash on the bottom. Good thing I used 4 inch pipe, gives a little extra room for build-up. Quick clean up with the shop-vac, and now the stove burns normally again. Seems I have to clean my flue every 500 hours, even with the clean burning Great American Pellets I have been burning. I have burnt about 3/4 to a ton so far.

 

[Pelleting In NJ]

Second Burn Season Update : Fired-up for the first time yesterday, still going strong. Bought 2 tons of CC Smith pellets. The only negative is that the "Firex" liner of the firebox is very fragile, trying to clean some "baked-on" ash resulted in a small piece of the Firex crumbling off. You have to be careful to only touch the Firex with a soft brush when cleaning.

Last year I burnt 2 tons of Great American pellets.

 

[Ih8oil]

Second Burn Season Update : Fired-up for the first time yesterday, still going strong. Bought 2 tons of CC Smith pellets. The only negative is that the "Firex" liner of the firebox is very fragile, trying to clean some "baked-on" ash resulted in a small piece of the Firex crumbling off. You have to be careful to only touch the Firex with a soft brush when cleaning.

Last year I burnt 2 tons of Great American pellets.

I am in my second season with an Ecoteck also. I have mostly been burning the Maine Hardwood and am seeing the same thing as you with a lot of ash in the pipe. What do you currently have the pellet rate and draught set to on the panel? I have an oak installed and find I have to run at -3 and -4 respectively.

 

[Pelleting In NJ]

I have the Draft "recipe" set to "Scarce" for my all horizontal flue pipe, , and the pellet-air mixture trim is set to "0" pellet and "+3" draught

 

[jjbash]

Can anyone tell me where to find a 3 1/4" pipe adapter for my ecoteck? I just bought an Elena from a friend who got it on clearance, but it didn't come with any pipe and the 3" pipe I have doesn't fit onto the stove.

 

[Pelleting In NJ]

So far, I have burned Great American Pellets, CC Smith , Presto log (Lignetics), TSC Premium Hardwood (AgriRecycle), Lowes Cheat River, and they all burn about the same for me.....the Ecoteck seems to not be pellet-pickey.

I also hooked-up my home-brew automatic auger disable, which cuts off if the power fails, so that the flame extinguishes and my UPS can run the combustion blower long enough to clear out the smoke. The auger disable has a push button to manually reset it when the power is back.

 

[gfreek]

I also hooked-up my home-brew automatic auger disable, which cuts off if the power fails, so that the flame extinguishes and my UPS can run the combustion blower long enough to clear out the smoke. The auger disable has a push button to manually reset it when the power is back.

Like what you did.. can you post what you used to do this and short instructions ?? Maybe a pic

 

[smwilliamson]

My Ecoteck was delivered yesterday, ordered my flue pipes today (Dynamitebuys).......now just need to decide what to do for the floor protection......I think my township inspector wants to see at least an inch thick pad....even though Ecoteck just specifies a non-combustible floor protector that is at least 0.02 inches thick ! I don't think I need any, since the floor is ceramic tile over backerboard.....but I understand that the Inspector has the final say.

You can use just about an non combustible pad because the Ecotecks have an inch air space under the stove, You can use glass if you want. Looks very modern.

 

[smwilliamson]

Good looking install. That is the same color as mine. Some yips for ya...

Dont scrape the Firex 600 with anything, it crumbles over time. Use a brush. Don't be a moron like me and try and hot rod the thing to burn as hot as you can...while I was standing in front of it playing with the controls I accidentally caught my pants on fire from the radiant heat out of the glass.

Watch the terminal disconnects for the wires on the right side going to the door switch, they are not heat rated and will crumble over time and may short out together.

The heat exchange tube create a very narrow air path, keep those clean...rake the bar EVERY TIME you add pellets and wear a glove do you don't loose your finger prints.

Enjoy the stove!

 

[PassionForFire&Water]

What brand of controllers are used in this Ecotek ?
I assume this is all 110V/60Hz?

 

[Pelleting In NJ]

The controller is Ecoteck proprietary, an in-house design. It is all 110v 60hz for the stoves shipped to US. The fan motors are PABST, I think made in Germany. The auger motor is a Merkle Korpf (might be off on the spelling)

 

[Pelleting In NJ]

Just adding some replacement parts info :
I ordered a spare ignitor and burn-pot for my Elena from North Forge Heating, Annville PA, (talk to Barry (717) 867 1744).
The Ignitor dimensions are 6 inches long by 10 mm diameter. A brass threaded (metric threads) ferrule is pressed on one end.
It is a 250W 110V heater, marked "HT51698 W250 V110 0080902401 CE"
I think the OEM manufacturer is European.
The room temp resistance is 46 ohms.

The burn-pot part number is 55009

 

[Bioburner]

How bad did you get hooked for the spare igniter?

 

[Pelleting In NJ]

How bad did you get hooked for the spare igniter?View attachment 117773

$60 for the ignitor, $90 for the burn-pot.

Thanks for posting the ignitor picture.