Change in reliability
I'm back looking for a little help. I have a 2006 Mount Vernon AE that I just changed out the combustion blower with the advice of the good people of this forum. All worked well for a couple of weeks. Now I have a new problem.
After running well for a couple of weeks, my burn pot seems to be getting full span clinkers that make the self cleaning function not dump into the ash pan. The clinkers bridge the entire burn pot and occlude air flow and eventually clog with unburned pellets above. In addition to this I'm having heavy soot build up on my glass and in the actual combustion chamber.
Other small variables include, when the burn pot is able to dump into the ash pan, it often includes partially burned pellets which smolder and stink up the entire house. When burning, the flame is not the crisp and dancing flame that it usually is, not to say that it's entirely a lazy flame either. It's just not quite what it once was. I'm using premium pellets, Hamers Hot Ones, and have used them successfully for almost a decade.
Any thoughts?
Posted Mar 30, 2022, 2:04 PM UTC
My Mount Vernon AE gives me all of these symptoms if the unit needs a good clean out.
You may need to adjust your flame height settings after installing the new blower. Lower settings will reduce the amount of pellets fed and will stop the burnpot from becoming too full and creating large clinkers/ dropping unburnt pellets.
The burnpot should not get more than half full when burning. If it does it needs a cleaning. If it is happening a lot then again I would look at the flame height.
If it is a 10 year old unit it is probably worth changing the springs in the auto-clean mechanism. If they are worn, the bottom of the pot may not be seating properly and giving you bad burn characteristics as well.
Funny you mention it, I am soot-handed as I read this thinking "a full-blown thorough cleaning won't hurt" but I had not thought about the flame height adjustment. Thanks.
At the end of the season (three weeks or so), I pull and service my burn pot. I'll replace the springs then.
Thanks