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[Roger2561]

Thank you Roger, this is a great guide!  I started out removing too much ash, I think, and had multiple cases of the fire going out overnight until I allowed more to accumulate.  I think I just went too far that direction and let it get too full.  I have definitely been running the hooked poker tool through the ash bed twice a day.  You are exactly right about the air holes in the panel just below the door, mine must have the same configuration as your 550 as they are indeed much lower than the ones on the side channels. I'm so impressed at how clean the heat exchangers in the rear have been staying.

No problems hitting 1300+F now after cleaning out the firebox.  I had misread the instructions and was thinking removing ash from there was the "complete firebox cleaning" procedure more reserved for the end of the season than as a during-use maintenance.  I won't make that mistake again.

The one thing with mine, I've never had to remove any ash from the firebox, I simply put in a bit less wood the next time around and let it burn down a bit too.  It's something that takes quite a bit of trial and error.  If not enough wood is put in the firebox you run the risk of the fire going out; but if you put in too much wood, the ash gets too deep and plugs the holes.  This is my second year with the 550 and I'm still trying different things to see what works best for me.  The one thing I like right now is that it's been cold for the past couple of nights and today was quite cold with temps in the lower teens with a steady breeze out of the north.  It really makes the 550 work so I've now got a pretty good handle on how much wood to put in the firebox for a 12 hour period.  When the temps get down around zero like tonight with a 10 to 15Mph breeze, I put in 12 pieces of firewood ranging from 4 to 6 to 8 inches in diameter.  I should have a nice coal bed left at 6:00am when I put more in it for the next 12 hours.  Continued good luck with the 750.  And, Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas!  Roger 

[bjp]

Merry Christmas and happy holidays to you too!

So here's a new one that happened this morning.  I did not see it.  I loaded up a lot of wood last night since temps were around 0 with winds, pretty similar to what you described.  My wife woke up an hour before me, and when I got up she told me she thought she saw "for about five seconds, a LOT of black smoke, like the when the old boiler burned down" coming out of the vent cap.  She also says she saw smoke that appeared to be coming out the front, at the loading door.

I go out and look, no active steaming at the moment.  Check the Firestar XP logs, the max water temperature logged overnight was 196.6F (my setpoint is 190F, reaction chambers peaked up at 1710F around 5:00AM so it really managed to overshoot), so we reached the hottest water temperature and hottest reaction chamber temps I've seen since starting this 750. It was running, or had just finished, a brief pulse cycle at the time she noticed steam and/or smoke coming out of the vent.

My vent cap is askew.  I can see some very light slow evaporation of water out of the vent cap, very minor, nothing like if the water was boiling.  The sight gauge still shows the water level at the full line at 180F when I checked it.

So I'm not sure if I did partially boil the water at some point and the vent cap did its job, or what.  I've bumped my setpoint back down to 188F, and I probably won't add that much wood again for a while.  I don't get what could be exiting the vent that would be black, unless a downdraft from the pulse was just mixing with steam or there is some leftover shipping oil protectant up in the top of the water chamber that I managed to sizzle off.

I looked at the front door, everything looks fine, no evidence of a smoke leak during a burn or any smoke curling of the stickers or anything like that. I guess smoke overpressure inside could blow back through the air chamber where the fan is, as a possible source for smoke coming out the front.  I'll open that up soon and take a look.  It was perfectly clean two days ago so if it is sooty that would indicate something.

Edited again to add: Opened it up, firebox looks fine, still a little wood in it.  Air chamber looks fine, not sooty, nothing melted, no evidence of any backdraft through it.  Reaction chamber looks fine.  All door seals look fine with no apparent air leaks.  It's a mystery.

[Roger2561]

Wow!  I can honestly say I've never reached 1700 reaction chamber temps.  I think the highest reading I've had is 1600.  As for the cap - Mine has been askew a few times with a little what looks like steam escaping from the vent.  I usually see it after it's cycled.  The way I see it is if all looks good, no seals compromised or showing signs of failure, the water is at the full mark in the site tube and everything appears to be operating as it should, I wouldn't be too worried.  My best guess is a possible back draft through the reaction chamber perhaps due to a downdraft situation may be the cause.  As long as she's working well, I wouldn't worry too much about it only keep an eye on things, just in case.  Roger

[bjp]

I really appreciate your comments, just hearing that your vent cap has moved a bit makes us both feel better.  I so wish I had been able to see what she saw, but it was so brief even going to grab me from another room, I wouldn't have caught it.  This was the first 1700F+ reaction chamber temp I've seen, I think the previous peak was around 1620F or so.  I'm already running low on my seasoned wood and using a bit more greener wood than I wanted to and I'd expect that to reduce temps in the reaction chamber, not increase them, but I probably added 25% more wood than I ever had before.  More wood than usual plus a really clean firebox I guess makes for some serious heat transfer down that mixing chamber.

If you ever find yourself in northwest Vermont and want a look at a 750, give me a ping!

[Roger2561]

Where are you located in VT?  I purchased a Honda Goldwing last summer (pre-owned but new to me) and I'm planning some rides.  Perhaps I can make a day trip up your way.  But, it's a bit on nippy side to that right now.     Roger

[bjp]

St. Albans, up in the NW corner, just about 15 miles south of the Canadian border and about as far from upstate NY.  Cold, but the lake moderates it, and the last couple years the southern part of the state has had it worse than us on cold and snow pretty frequently.

[Roger2561]

I've been to St. Albans before, beautiful area.  My younger brother's in-laws used to own a camp on Lake Champlain, we used to go to get away from everything and do a bit of fishing.  It's been approx 20 years since I last visited St. Albans. 

[slimjim]

I’ve been up that way many times Roger, it would be an awesome road trip on the bike in August but not so much right now.

[Roger2561]

I’ve been up that way many times Roger, it would be an awesome road trip on the bike in August but not so much right now.

   I don't mind ice skating but I rather not do it on my motorcycle...   

[duramax]

I have the 1450 so I am not sure how the 750 fire box is. I used to wait until I had a lower reaction chamber temp and let the fire go out overnight and clean it then. Now I go in the reaction chamber 3-4 weeks and shovel it out with the fire going. I kill the power for a few min but thats it. My heat exchanger tubes are  clean with just some fly ash  Like Roger I do a full clean  mid season. So far this year I have a 30 min pulse cycle that lasts 50 seconds. My heat exchanger tubes are  clean with just some fly ash 

[Roger2561]

I have the 1450 so I am not sure how the 750 fire box is. I used to wait until I had a lower reaction chamber temp and let the fire go out overnight and clean it then. Now I go in the reaction chamber 3-4 weeks and shovel it out with the fire going. I kill the power for a few min but thats it. My heat exchanger tubes are  clean with just some fly ash  Like Roger I do a full clean  mid season. So far this year I have a 30 min pulse cycle that lasts 50 seconds. My heat exchanger tubes are  clean with just some fly ash

duramax - Yesterday I decided to do a cleaning on the Edge 550, I was pleasantly surprised to find no creosote build up whatsoever.  I removed the primary air elbow and put it back, no creosote in there either.  I know of others who pulse for 50 sec every 30 minutes.  I wonder if that would work for me?  I pulse for 50 secs every 10 minutes, perhaps its a waste of firewood doing it so often.  I think I'll give it a try.  Another thing I tried yesterday is I used a paint scraper, the pull type to remove the creosote build up that I found in the corners and the mating surface on the door and that worked great!  It's much easier scraping the stuff than trying to push into it with a putty knife.  Roger

[duramax]

I get away with long idle time but I also split wood to small pieces. Like you Roger  I find that it reignites on a bead of coals allot quicker. I am sure I have some creosote built up in my primary tube so my next clean will be the 1st full shutdown cleaning this year .  For the creosote in the corners I use an ice chipper and the" Wonder Bar" that came with it.

[Roger2561]

I get away with long idle time but I also split wood to small pieces. Like you Roger  I find that it reignites on a bead of coals allot quicker. I am sure I have some creosote built up in my primary tube so my next clean will be the 1st full shutdown cleaning this year .  For the creosote in the corners I use an ice chipper and the" Wonder Bar" that came with it.

I was getting bored the other day so I decided to do some reading of the operator's manual.  I learned that the floor pan is removable.  It will be much easier to clean it when it isn't in the firebox.  In the Spring I'm going to remove it and remove whatever there is in the space.  I'll then coat everything with new motor oil before putting it back.  Due to neck and lower back problems I'm unable to crane my neck around to look at the area inside the firebox to the left and right of the door opening.  My manual says to scrape these areas, but I can't due to my neck and back problems.  I'm thinking of asking one of my nephews if I pay him a few bucks to scrape it for me.  When you say you split the wood to small pieces, what is "small pieces" by your definition?  Roger   

[duramax]

I guess the average size would be like a 2-3. It is hard to remember that this fire is only going as needed, the old school me is so used to wood stoves that burn all the time.
Don't get me wrong I have some big pieces I toss in if we are going to have a cold night. Some of them are ends that I toss aside as I cut if they are to short.

[bjp]

Well, time for my first attempt to see how good my dealer is.  My combustion air fan died overnight.  It was running when I loaded it at 1:00AM, wake up at 7:00AM and I see the boiler says it has been running for 5 hours, and is sitting at 160F.  I figure all my wood burned faster than I expected, but then I walk out there and it is quiet.  Opened up the airbox and no obvious issues there, the fan looks clean, hasn't melted, no wires are loose, airbox not full of soot.

So I have it sitting there, bypass open, for now, while I've got a message in to my dealer via the Central Boiler support site.  Unfortunately no spare fan onhand and I guess this could be the firestar controller itself, rather than the fan.

EDIT: They'll be here Thursday morning.  A few more days than I'd hoped for for service, and Wed night will be pretty cold.  But I've got heating oil for backup.  Looks like ordering a spare fan would be $190 or so after shipping based on my first few checks so I think I'll let warranty play out here and see if they can hook me up.