Saranac FS Auger feeding way to fast

[SmokeyTheBear]

Just so you know what I get for burn times before I have to flip the clinker out of my burn pot. My longest time between shut downs was 7 days.

Heat settings 1-,1,1+ 32+ hours.

Heat setting 2 24+ hours.

Heat setting 3 7+ can't get to the flip out point because the convection fan cuts out (I was finally in the room when it happened so I know the sequence) and that in turn causes the hi temp limit snap disc to snap and shut down the stove.

Heat setting 4 haven't really needed and haven't used past 30 minutes during burn in.

Heat setting 5 the same as heat setting 4.

I've been slowly working my way through any issues with the stove and have been trying different pellets, I have burned 94 bags so far in the stove.

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

Is there a clean out tee out side the house on your exhaust system, if so and you are cleaning things you might consider looking in the exhaust piping as well.

About the extra holes in the back plate it was one extra hole in my case because it looks like they mis drilled the hole for the baffle screw, you may or may not have one, in any event it is an extra hole that may interfere with the air system.

You need to make certain that what is behind those three holes in the burn pot are cleaned out. I pulled some ash out of there how it got there I don't know, I have a flexible hose attachment for my small shop vac it works great for getting into places like that.

Remember if there is a small bit of ash you can see, likely there is more close by just out of sight.

I'm not familiar with any of those pellets, I can however tell you that true premium pellets burn better than what I am burning.

Also I hope that no one thinks that these things are plug in, turn on, and go away on vacation devices. They also aren't brush soot off of here and here and empty the ash pan devices.

 

[sammypoodle]

Looking at my Hudson River I have one hole on each of my baffles that the screw goes in to hold that side baffle in place. With the "brick in" if I look further out on the left side I see another hole. If I look at the right side I also see a hole. These holes seem to be in the firebox casing. Are you seeing those holes too? They are hard to see but are there. Happy New Year

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

Behind the left baffle I had just one extra drilled hole it was quite obvious that when the drilling was done they made a blunder.

I can't really take a good look right now as the stove is burning and I don't want to shut it down or open the door at the moment, however I don't see any holes on the outside of the baffles into the firebox wall.

sammy how is your stove doing? I think I'm approaching my last issue.

I am of the opinion that the combustion fan is slightly undersized or the control unit is being a bit conservative with the voltage it is sending to the combustion fan or that the fire pot is too big. I'll try a couple of experiments one of these days. I've got to round up a few pieces of steel and build a couple of fire pot blocks.

Like any burning device these pellet stoves really need good draft control, everything I've had to do revolves around air handling. The timing on the feed system has been correct and rock steady.

It also can put out some serious heat. We got the stove to take care of my office area as it would be a bit cool and there was no heating zone for just this room. If I leave the door to the stairwell open it keeps the whole house warm and doesn't drive me out. 1800+ square feet of the 2688 square foot house. We have a garage under that takes up 800 or so square feet, the thermostat in there is set for 50 and that loop rarely runs. Might have to do something about domestic hot water this summer. So we are using the stove as primary heat with the FHW system as backup.

Todays chore (not quite done yet) was some storage shelving in the garage. Hopefully my boss will be happy when she gets home.

 

[dstang17]

hey guys I did take the left and right side baffles out and vacum the ash that was behind. I also sealed up the gap where the chute is.I contacted the dealer that sold me it and they said they were contacting hudson river.and see what they think it could be?Possibly ordering a new and bigger combustion fan. any other ideas on what else it could be rite now it is on and running fine.Only start having problems after about 8 to 10 hours. I do relize that I can not leave it on for days and days but Id like to make it through the nite without worrying if my house is gonna burn down.

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

dsatng17,

Glad to hear that you understand it isn't a let it run by itself device. Actually you can leave it on for days and days, you'd just have to open the door and flip out the clinkers etc... while leaving enough burning pellets to catch the ones dropping into the now somewhat clean fire pot on fire. It's the going away that is the issue ;-).

When yours overflows is it just soft ash in the burn pot or do you have mutant killer clinkers, and also what heat setting?

I'm just musing about a number of things, BTW how much ash did you get from behind the baffles? I pulled quite a bit out and I was expecting it considering what I was burning.

While these beasts are not supposed to be air tight they sure as heck don't like air coming in that breaks the vacuum effect they rely on to operate, that reminds me to check something when I clean the stove later.

I left a message for my dealer letting him know about the modification he made and the fact that they still owe me an answer to a question and that I now know the failure sequence that shuts my stove off when I run it a heat setting 3.

 

[dstang17]

Smokey,

I would say that behind the baffles did need to be cleaned it wasnt clogged but there was defintley ash back there.I usually try and run it on setting 3. as far as the ash in the burn pot it is a combo of I guess both.its soft and in it has what feels like hard little rocks.I would assume that is what clinkers are??I never would have known to take those baffles off. until you said to. Why wouldnt they tell us about em?its still running good rite now. I hopefully will leave on over nite, to see what happens. When I was cleaning it b 4 i noticed 2 small gaps in the fire box. if you are looking at the pot, it was down on the bottom of the fire box in both corners. It looks like it is where a seam is. I filled that with chimney cement too. think that could help??I really appreciate all the time you guys have taken to help me out

 

[PhatT]

Hello

After the dealer replaced the circuit board, exhaust blower, changed the pot, modified the pot, messed around with it, it still overflowed. They just replaced the stove yesterday, the new stove benn running for just under 24 hours, its so noisy it kept my dogs up all night...... Guess I will be on rattle investigation today.

The one thing I did learn is the Saranac FS is the same stove as the Tasman 40,0000, which is a 40,000 BTU stove, Check your model number on the right door, how is it they can rename the stove and increase the BTU's to 50,000

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

Hell renaming happens all of the time, the Tasman was one of the brand names used by Savannah.

As for change the BTU rating that is just a matter of the BTU per pound output of what gets burned in the stove multiplied by the firing rate.

Firing rate is determined by the auger and how long it is on versus off, quite simple.

I've seen pellets that say everything from 7400 BTU/lb to 9200 BTU/lb and that is just the tip of the iceberg.

That is the reason for all of the astericks in the brochures.

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

PhatT, about that combustion blower that was replaced.

Did your repair person examine the fan blades? If he did, he should have noticed that there was a difference in the blades. If they were exactly the same I would expect no change in how it will work. The new combustion blower that was put on my stove Monday has slightly longer blades and is slightly stronger than the one that was replaced which is funny (not really) considering they have all the same numbers and are from the same manufacturer just different plants. I'm running with a modified burn pot (not factory provided). It will be several days before I'll know how it all turns out, however it is looking good from an ash evacuation standpoint.

 

[PhatT]

The blades on mine where kind of shredded. lots of metal fragments where left in the housing.

Both fans are gone on my replacement stove, having lots of problems.....

Decided to switch manufacturers. I think after 2 bad stoves it is time to move on.

As for the BTU output, Saranac increased the design output by 25%, with no other modification to the pot, or fans. In short they are dumping 50,000 worth of energy into something that was designed for 40,000. There is no surprise that the pot will overflow

Aside from that their quailtiy control is none existant, the last stove came with doors that didn't fit properly, several missing screw, screws that were not tightened, parts that rattles.

Thats my gripe for the day

I do have to say the dealer August West Provides fantastic customer service though