too many pellets

[tempmntllady]

I have not seen this problem with the Santa Fe pellet stoves. I have seen a lot of people say the feed does not feed the pellets, but ours is feeding too many and the setting is the lowest is can go with the plate. We have cleaned everything it says to clean if you have an "orange,lazy high flame" we have had this stove since 2003 and have had no problems until we started it this year. We cannot get the flame to go lower no matter what we try. Like I said, we have cleaned everything they say to clean in the manual and have the feed set properly. Any other suggestions? Our only other source of heat is electric and we cannot afford it.

 

[rap69ri]

I'm not familiar with your brand of stove but, it sounds like you have a combustion fan problem. Is the combustion fan running properly?

 

[j00fek]

have you tried to call support?

 

[nailed_nailer]

Does you stove have a damper control on the post-combustion side of the firebox?
I can control my flame with the damper. Anything from almost extinguished to pellets jumping out of the firebox.

Sounds like something isn't adjusted correctly.

---Nailer---

 

[welshcob]

When you say the stove feeds too many pellets, do you mean it dumps them in and smothers the fire or fills the firepot? From the sound of things, you are complaining about too much flame rather than too many pellets? Is the switch on the back set on low, medium or high? If it's on high I would try turning it down. If it's on low maybe there's something wrong with the switch.

 

[Czech]

If your feed gate is shut all the way down, it is a combustion air issue or vent issue. It is not getting enough air to fully combust. I'd check anything that has to do with that: Is the vent clean (from the cumbsution fan all the way out!)? Burn pot holes clear and gasket good? Door gasket good? How about the fuel? Wet? Has it burned well before? Just some thoughts.

 

[slls]

Check to see if the combustion temp sensor is pushed all the way into the ceramic holder, that's all I can think of right now.

 

[4124elad]

Your control board might have had a voltage spike or some other problem.

The Santa Fe has no way to adust the auger, combustion, or convection fan. Everything is factory set through the control board.

Here is a discussion about a problem simular to yours http://www.hvac-talk.com/vbb/archive/index.php?t-68742.html the control board in this instance was bad and caused the auger to feed constantly.

Hope this helps.

 

[Shortstuff]

I have a Castille which has nearly identical workings, just the exteriors are different and I think I know what he is referring to. When I first setup my stove and ran the first bag of pellets through, I actually had to raise (open) the feed gate about 1/2" above the factory setting to get the proper flame. That first bag of pellets was Energex that I got from the dealer.

I have since received my 3 tons of Barefoot Premium Hardwood pellets and have since had to lower (close) the feed gate as far as it would go and I still get a tall flame on medium but only for a short period of time after initial startup, and then it settles down perfectly. There are no other adjustments in the Castille except for the low-medium-high switch.

I'm very content with how my stove is working.

Steve

 

[tempmntllady]

I want to thank everyone for all of their suggestions. The combustion, venting and control box all seem to be the very things everyone agrees on could be the problem. We are going to check out all of the above. Thank you for the web address for the person who had the same problem as we have. It really helped to read that he had the same problem as us and that the control box was the problem. Again, thank you all for your helpful information.