Dovetec Corn/Pellet Stove Burning Troubles

[Justin1376]

I recently purchased two dovetec corn/pellett stoves, one for my fater-in-law and one for myself. They were both new stoves still in the plastic that had been sitting around in someones garage for about 20 years but never used. I have them both installed and could not get either one to stay burning for more than 24 hrs without clogging up at the corn chute with partially chared corn. I also have trouble with both of them putting off black residue, they turn the glass door black and at time blow black dust throught the house. I had someone suggest a fresh air vent, so I installed one on mine and it now seems to be burning alot better and hotter but still turns the door black. Has anyone had any experience with these or know any solutions? Thanks in advance.

Justin

[SidecarFlip]

I believe the Dovetec is positive draft, that is, the combustion air is forced into the buun area and then exhausted, unlike more modern units where there is a draft inducing fan on the BACKSIDE of the combustion area, drawing out the products of combustion and venting them. That's why you are getting charred corn in the auger tube. If you were burning pellets, you'd have a full fledged burn back. Corn don't combust as readily as pellets do.

I understaand that some manufacturers offer a retro fit kit to go from positive draft to negative but Doveteck is a long deceased manufacturer so any refit would be a crapshoot.

The black glass is a result, in part, from either too little combustion air, an ineffective air wash system (if the Covetec even has an air wash system), or a combination of both. All an air wash system is, is a fancy name for some pre-combustion air being directed over the glass area to help keep it clean. I say help, because all of these units dirty the glass. It's just a fact of the combustion atmosphere. Some dirty more than others, but thay all do it.

Dirty glass becomes part of the cleaning ritual. Myself, I clean mine every 2 days.
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Flipmeisters Specialty Products, LLC
www.flipmeisters.com

[mustang00]

Do you have any pics of your stove....
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Live from Dalhousie Station, Quebec, Canada

1989 Dovetec Corn Heater(was free)
...loving this heat...
..Not just another pretty face
Best lil loghouse north of the Border lol!!

[tallcorn]

The Dovetec is a "clinker" style stove and the burn pot requires regular removal of the "clinker" or the corn will backup into the corn chute. Try cleaning it every 12 hours and see what happens. Depending on what you have the burn rate the burn pot may need cleaning sooner or later. You will find what the requirement is and then make sure you clean the burn pot before, not after it needs it.
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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.

[bluewolf]

Not too familiar with this stove but it sounds like you would need to open up your draft to add more combustion air. Did it come with a manual? If not I found one at the link below for a 1987 model. You need to install Adobe reader to view it.
http://stove.ldfarms.com/home/manual

You might also be interested in the pictures I found here.
http://s135.photobucket.com/albums/q149/northwind_canada/dovetec/?action=view&current=SSPX0082.jpg&newest=1
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[Corny]

Handsome looking stove. Decent of you to look it up, Blue.
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Bixby 115 MaxFire.
My motto: "If it doesn't fit, make it fit."
My mantra: It's in the WIKI!: http://forum.iburncorn.com/wiki/index.php/Bixby

[SidecarFlip]

Lots of good information in the pictures and the explainations. The 'manual' leaves a bit to be desired.
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Flipmeisters Specialty Products, LLC
www.flipmeisters.com

[tallcorn]

Good find bluewolf. The manual does tell about the klinker (clinker) and the need to remove it at regular intervals.
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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.

[Justin1376]

Thanks for all the replies, i did realize after reading some other post on this site that my timer settings were adjustable from hours to seconds, i changed it from minutes to seconds and it has been burning for over 12 hours and i can actually still see the flame. As for the clinker, I have been cleaning that out from time to time but was not sure if I was supposed to or not. I am pretty happy with the way that it is burning right now, may just tinker with it a little more to get it to get a little hotter.

[mustang00]

My Dovetec was broke....down for a month...back on track now...love it.
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Live from Dalhousie Station, Quebec, Canada

1989 Dovetec Corn Heater(was free)
...loving this heat...
..Not just another pretty face
Best lil loghouse north of the Border lol!!

[birddog]

Justin,

Had my Dovtec for 6 years now. Tallcorn is right, dump the clinker every 12-15 hours. If you don't, corn will back up into the chute and snuff the fire. Also, every time I dump the clinker I wipe off the glass. Mine gets dirty too, so don't worry too much about it. Every month give it a good cleaning. I also turned the horseshoe shaped collar that sits on the fire pot to the right to force the fire away from the chute. If fire starts following that chute, you will have smoke in the hopper, and thus in the house.

These are VERY simple stoves, with every part being available at Granger. Tinkering is a must.
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An old school dovetec...plain and simple