Help - pellets in a Harvester

[skilborn]

Have run out of corn for the year, and have switched to pellets. Am burning good hardwood pellets, and having problems with a coating building up on the burn pot bottom - it closes off the holes and builds up. This happens about every 24 hours. I'm about maxed out on air in. Any ideas to try - less air? I could go for at least for a month with corn without major cleaning.

[skilborn]

Oh, and I GOT MY CLOWN!!!

[Hamster]

I haven't burnt straight pellets in mine for a couple of years but don't remember having this problem. Have you tried the less air yet? Maybe that would give them a chance to burn more completely at a slower rate? Seems like the more air going in it would also push the ashes out better.

One thing that I do occasionally is take the burn pot out and the hole you see in the plate behind it, (not where the ashes drop) take a small tip for your vacuum and stick it in there and suck all you can out. Mine seems to like it when I do that. The hole is maybe 1 1/2" tall by 2 1/2" wide.

Don

[skilborn]

OK - for future reference here's what I have found with experimenting:

Burn pot cleaned completely and start fresh. Cut air down to about 1/2 shut (I use a 'Banjo' style ball valve to control air as my air is ran outside via 1 1/2" PVC pipe). Set on level 3. Flame is very 'wavy'.

In about 24 hours pot is full of 1/2 burnt pellets. Open air fully, leave on level 3. Almost instantly pot starts to burn down, and 3 hours later it's completely empty. Flame is now almost straight up and down. Of course now temps have dropped 30 deg, so I need more heat. Have increased to level 4.

Theory at this point is that the stove can't get enough air at least through my 12" of 1 1/2' pipe to handle running on the higher levels. Once it warms up again (2 days) I can return to level 3 and see what happens.

[tallcorn]

Adjust the draft air to try to get the burning in the burn pot hotter so the soot is burned off the burn pot.
_________________
Countryside 3500P (pedestal version) used 8-9 yrs, 24/7 during days requiring heat. All original motors. Burns moldy corn, and pellets equally well. Burn it if you got it.

[skilborn]

This is my 4th year with this stove and I'm still learning things! I do think although the stove burns better with outside air (and it is the only way the stove would have ran last night with 40 mph NW winds) it limits my overall air intake capacity. The restriction of 12-18" of 1 1/2" pipe doesn't allow me to get as much air to the stove as pellets need to run on level 5. Ran all night on 4, and burn pot has no buildup. It's been so long since I had the air shutter thing I don't remember much about how it handled pellets - only ran that the first winter.

So how do I know if I have too much air?

[Hamster]

Does your stove have the slide air adjustments on each side of the burn pot? I would think that if you getting an air shudder the intake air is restricted to tha point of the fan is trying to pull more air in than what it can.

Can you open your air intake all the way and then run your slides about 3/4 way open so its not pushing so much through the burn pot? I have to regulate these depending on which way the wind is blowing and how hard.

[skilborn]

I guess I could try that. We're back to building up in the pot with air fully open & heat on level 4. Did get it to burn the pot down by leaving the ash pan door open for about an hour this evening, but as soon as I close it the pot starts filling back up. I think opening the ash dump slides will make it worse - more air will shortcut the pot. Will play more tomorrow.

[Hamster]

Odd the way that works with yours, maybe it's different with pellets but if I have my ash door open, or the dump slides (term I looking for in my last post) open the pot will fill up due to less air going through the pot. If it starts filling up I close the dump slides some to make it burn hotter. Depending on the wind direction if I have the dump slides closed the fire will usually go out due to burning down and it runs out of corn. I typically run on medium setting and I turned up the rheostat some to try to put more in but it still does it. Don't seem to have a problem on anything above medium. Other days I can run on medium with the dump slides all the way closed.

My exhaust vent is on the east side of the house and I am using house air for the intake, I don't have the option of outside air and making it look decent anyway. I would have to run about 5' or so of pipe to do so.

[skilborn]

Back to corn - I give up on pellets. Got a couple bags at Theisen's farm store, and will haul the grain wagon to town tomorrow to get another 40-50 bushels.

[rivet]

[wes]

Personally, I have never seen a pot fill up because of too much air. Unless of course, the pot goes empty and the fire goes out.
I would tend to look closely at ways to get more air into the stove. Skilborn, the 'wavy' flame is a strong indication of too little combustion air. Try going out the wall with a 3" pipe instead af 1 1/2". Even though the opening into the stove will be smaller, this provides more available air. The other possibility is a clogged airway somewhere on your stove.
Good luck!
_________________
3500P clinker pot in house. 3500P stirrer pot and baby countryside with cast iron pot in shop.


If we forget that we are one nation under GOD, we will be a nation gone under.-Ronald Reagan

[trudd321]

Issues with the burn pot overflowing are my concern now that I have the stove running with the new auger. Hasn't happened to me yet but seeing as my auger is now feeding pellets correctly I am concerned. The new auger's flitting is 3/4" wider than the corn auger so I think its going to drop more pellets much faster than the corn auger would. I'll take this problem, if it arises, over my old one any day.

I'm experimenting, seeing how far I can push the stove. I ran it on level 2 last night for about 5 hours and the air 90% open, I have outside air, and there were no sign of the pot filling up. It's supposed to get colder here in the next week so I'll be able to run the stove longer and I'll test it on level 3. The fact that I'm already opening the air up almost all the way makes me think I'll have problems on level 5.

For me personally, I think that if I find the stove can't burn on level 4 or 5 I'll turn the rheostat down. Level 3 is probably plenty of heat for my home. I want to be able to run on level 5 so that the room blower is on its max setting. I wish there was a separate control for the heat level and blower level. I used to think it was unnecessary on the stoves that I've seen with it but now wish I had it.

[leerocker]

I am literally having this same problem. I've been running my stove on 2 or 3 so that the ash doesnt pile up but it's getting cold here in NH. I need more heat!

Anyone have any recent luck with this?

[skilborn]

I burned pellets for about a month due to the late harvest. Trick is just to never run above level 3. I can run on pellets forever at 3 with the air wide open. Of course, I do have about 12" of 1 1/4" PVC pipe as my air inlet, with a Banjo valve to control air. Have to run air wide open to run corn at level 5. Only downside of level 5 is I have to leave the control board side of the stove open about 12" to keep the control board from overheating. Other than that stove is working ok this year (musn't jinx it!)