Winston Pellet Stoves

[imacman]

And macman, I hope the rear pic explains the 4" intake and 2" exhuast, you can see how one is inside the other.......

yep M-M, I did see that in the pic....weird!

 

[man-machine]

So what about sealing some of these mating surfaces, like the combustion fan housing to it's related components?

I take it high-temp red silicone isn't a good idea? The stuff does easily withstand the temps on the exhaust flange of my liquid cooled two-stroke engine, which is probably well below 400F. But this application on a pellet stove, I dunno. The reason I ask is these are complex die-cut shapes from the oem out of the white fluffy material I mentioned earlier. They would be a major hassle to cut out by hand from bulk material. They probably arn't available from Edwards & Sons who took over from when Winston went out of business. I could call and find out though.

No point in doing it in an insane and rediculous manner (using high temp silicone) if that's not going to work.
I will also ask Vern at E&S what the btu rating is on this stove also. He told me last time but I forgot.
And the 4" intake is strictly for the combustion fan, nothing else. Room fan uses static air from inside the cabinet.

 

[imacman]

So what about sealing some of these mating surfaces, like the combustion fan housing to it's related components?

I take it high-temp red silicone isn't a good idea? The stuff does easily withstand the temps on the exhaust flange of my liquid cooled two-stroke engine, which is probably well below 400F.

We use the red Hi Temp silicone on our sprint cars headers to seal against the cylinder head, and that's WAY hotter than the pellet stove comb. fan housing, so if you don't mind having to scrape it off and re-apply each time you clean the blower, go for it. It DOES make sealing irregular surfaces much easier.

 

[man-machine]

Ok, I'll try the red RTV high temp silicone as a sealer, thanks.

 

[man-machine]

temp switches, with the variable one on the left

 

[man-machine]

Part way through the teardown, hopper removed, comb fan assembly removed (LH vacancy) room fan (right)
Grey insulation on bulkhead (firewall thingy) is all falling apart.

 

[man-machine]

Heat exchanger, pre-sandblast

 

[imacman]

Heat exchanger, pre-sandblast

How big is that heat exchanger? It looks small in the pic, but I can't be sure. If it's the size I think it is, and only 3 tubes, I can see why you get no heat....

BTW, it doesn't look all that dirty to begin with, IMO.

 

[man-machine]

How big is that heat exchanger?

11" x 6" x 6" overall ... the tubes themselves are 9" long, 1" diameter ... 3 rows 5 tubes deep per row = 15 tubes.

I got the BTU rating. They said 9,000 to 32,000 BTUs. (low to high variable, right?)

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

How big is that heat exchanger?

11" x 6" x 6" overall ... the tubes themselves are 9" long, 1" diameter ... 3 rows 5 tubes deep per row = 15 tubes.

I got the BTU rating. They said 9,000 to 32,000 BTUs. (low to high variable, right?)

Which means you can use the firing rates I mentioned and a bit more.

macman,

That exchanger may look small but it really isn't. As long as the fan can move the right volume of air that should suffice.

 

[Ronniebabe]

Hi guys! first time on the forum....A friend bought some winston stuff, I have some and have been selling it on ebay, blower motors, auger motors, auger screws, etc....I thought he bought all of winstons stuff...I don't know about Edwards and Sons...I still have a few circuit boards left, and they'er 2 diff. boards...auger motors are 6 rmp, but I found a few reverse auger motors too...I got the stove that was used for ul.. testing and it cooks! can't use it on high, too hot..I also got a small stove but have problems getting it up to par...I know nothing about stoves, but have a lot of parts.....If I can help let me know, I sold all the motors, over 2,000 of'em...some at $10.00 each..but still have about 100 augers left, my stove has no chain drive auger, its direct, but I have chains and gears...
thanks
and let me know if I can help..P.S. I'd love to have a manual...I thought the stove was called a Weston, mine has no labels or badges...

 

[man-machine]

Cool deal Ronnie. Edwards & Sons: Lucy and Vernon are very helpful. 540-249-4241

Mine has no labels or badges either. Look on the back panel, ID plate should be riveted on.
Freestanding stoves I only know of the WP24 and the WP18.

The "Installation & Operating Instructions" arn't much .. 21 pages 8-1/2" by 5-1/2" .. better than nothing.

I do have three supplemental service pages faxed to me by E&S which cover the fuel feedrates via the dipswitches.

Send your file requests to me so I can bounce it right back (well, soon anyways) at:

[email protected]

 

[imacman]

macman,

That exchanger may look small but it really isn't. As long as the fan can move the right volume of air that should suffice.

OK, I see the extra rows of tubes behind the front ones. Still, doesn't seem great design wise. I would think that since the convection air flows from back to front, that the front 2 or 3 rows would be somewhat "shielded" by the previous rows, and not allow the air to fully circulate around them.

I would think that staggering them, one up, one down, etc, would have forced the air around them more.

 

[man-machine]

Sorry macman I didn't show the top and bottom cover plates. Each one has a baffle piece welded to it in a staggered layout. The fire's heat does a series of u-turns, kinda hard to explain but it goes up between two rows of tubes, makes a u-ey, goes down and does it again. And again.

 

[man-machine]

Okay! All done and put back together. O-M-G what a difference. Even with the damper all the way closed the thing still rages big time. I'm still dinkering with it, but this is low burn, 50% damper closed, 30 seconds off and 6 seconds of feed.

Output temp is hot. Way hot, I'm guessing like 140-150F ... No more 97F! ... Looks like I got my 50% improvement and then some.

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

Okay! All done and put back together. O-M-G what a difference. Even with the damper all the way closed the thing still rages big time. I'm still dinkering with it, but this is low burn, 50% damper closed, 30 seconds off and 6 seconds of feed.

Output temp is hot. Way hot, I'm guessing like 140-150F ... No more 97F! ... Looks like I got my 50% improvement and then some.

Now you can understand why the folks here hit you hard with the clean the stove routine, just wait until you change the firing rate a bit.

That reminds me, I should up mine for a bit considering it is 7°F and gusting to 23MPH.

 

[imacman]

Okay! All done and put back together. O-M-G what a difference. Even with the damper all the way closed the thing still rages big time. I'm still dinkering with it, but this is low burn, 50% damper closed, 30 seconds off and 6 seconds of feed.

Output temp is hot. Way hot, I'm guessing like 140-150F ... No more 97F! ... Looks like I got my 50% improvement and then some.

Yep, that looks good! As Smokey said, these stoves need to be kept clean.....you now have first hand experience what a real deep clean will do for you.

Good luck, and enjoy the heat (finally! LOL)

 

[man-machine]

Yeah well please 'scuse my ignorance but I kept reading and reading the manual over and over and all it said was to keep the burn pot clean and to clean the heat exchanger once in a while. That's all. And I've had this thing all the way apart before because I think the former owner was beating on the heat exchanger with a hammer. Seriously. He was doing it from underneath and couldn't see the damage he did to one of the heat exchanger tubes. It was collapsed in split down the middle.

Fortunately I was able to take the box out, clamp it to my milling machine table and mill the bad tube out and leave nice square sides where it was. Then I got an accurate measurement and faced a new piece of stainless tube for a .003" interference fit, tapped it in postion and brazed it in place. Machine tools at home is like having a magic wand. He-he

But yeah, whoever said earlier on to pay paticular attention to the fan blades was right. The comp fan impeller didn't seem all that dirty but it only takes a little bit of crud for the blades to lose their right angles and sharp corners and not work nearly as well. Fact noted. There's still an issue with the door not closing perfectly and needing to get the hinges adjusted just right. There's a tiny, tiny gap along the front. And a weird new-kinda smell that is burning off. Getting the draft and fuel feeding right is sort of fun, like jetting a dirtbike for a lovely dry dark brown plug color. Now I'm an "emberneck" like the rest of you mugs. Can't thank you enough gentlemen.

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

Hey, that's what all us pellet stove crazies are good at.

Remember we ain't there so we can't peek up inside the little beasties and say hey, gov, you have a big pile o crap in your flue, best ye clean it out.

Some folks are hard on their things and some like a lot of us baby the devices since we want them to work and we are a little (except for macman who is a lot) crazy ;-) .

With these things one glaring problem or a lot of unseen little things can cause them not to function correctly if at all.

As near as most of us can tell most of the manuals were meant to send you back to the dealer for simple service tasks. Most folks on here think they are less than useful at times.

Now when are you going to put the pellet afterburners on that dirt bike ;-P , no pellet afterburners no extra Mod points :lol: ?

Enjoy the heat and remember to drop in and say hi from time to time.

 

[man-machine]

Whodda thunk there would be forums for pellet stoves? Usually forums are for important stuff, you know, like vintage Corvettes, antique aircraft, and 500cc 65hp two-stroke dirtbikes. lol, j/k. Of course keeping warm is important, let's not be silly.

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

Whodda thunk there would be forums for pellet stoves? Usually forums are for important stuff, you know, like vintage Corvettes, antique aircraft, and 500cc 65hp two-stroke dirtbikes. lol, j/k. Of course keeping warm is important, let's not be silly.

Whoa, hold on now being silly is a required non optional part of using these interweby thingys call forums. Otherwise peeps think you are uptight.

Have a good one man-machine. I just finished cleaning my beast (sorta weekly ash removal from all of the easy places) and as soon as it finishes its startup I've got other things to do.

 

[man-machine]

Btw fwiw I did buy one bag of those "Nature's Heat" pellets from WalMart just to try them out. They were cheap, like $3.74 a bag and they're pretty darn good, I was suprised. I dunno if I'll be around long enough to be picked up by the Hearth.com Gulfstream corporate jet for the moderator's convention in Vegas. With a "burning chunk" status I may have to ride in the wheelwell.

So should I leave this thing with a 30 second off time and just keep tapping up the feedrate or shorten the off time to say like 18 seconds and have it feed fuel for a shorter time but more often? What's that insider term again? "Striking sequence" or something? It sounded cool, like the assualt rifle thing where the "mission profile" is shooting at beer cans.

 

[imacman]

....and we are a little (except for macman who is a lot) crazy ;-) ......

Hey Smokey, I resemble that remark! :lol:

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

man-machine, how about emailing me the scanned manual and that dip switch data and I'll send you some firing rates with pellet consumption estimates.

 

[man-machine]

Ok Smokey I'll try ... yahoo isn't letting me login as of right now.

Overnight test results were inspiring. 7F temp overnight, used low burn, variable room fan speed set medium, draft 50%, feed set 6 on 30 off, went from 39F at 8pm to 68F at 8am ... PERFECT. Used way less than 20 lbs. Wow, am I pleased.