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[willowbk]

fireman,
im also a new 250 owner/operator and had alot of the same frustrations as you. this site is a great help as well as talking w/ slimjim who is a dealer/trouble shooter for p/m.  i do agree strongly it would be nice to have a quick video on the workings of the stove for a new owner.  it doesnt have to be fancy, but something is needed to help people, which in the long run would avoid some heated emails and phone calls. from previous stories it seems like the first season w/ the furnace is all learning and gets easier after that.  somebody did post an excellent saying on the board for this stove, "i need to remind myself daily not to mess w/ the stove, just feed,talk nice to it nicely and walk away" it does seem to work pretty well.  there are many 250 owners on this site, so just post a question or concern, someone will be able to help.  good luck.

[slimjim]

Thanks willowbk, looks like we got the issue solved in allentown without me having to go there, Thanks Karl K , I will call you when I know more about a trip your way.

[hondaracer2oo4]

Slim, why does the green wood work well in the wood gassification process? Does it slow down the unnecessary off gassing of the wood during idle times? A lot of the 'smoke' you are seeing when green wood is off gassing is steam( or water) which is not burnable gas.

[jrider]

This is my 3rd year with this unit and I love it.  I did have one little issue the first year with it not gasifying correctly but it was just operator error and it was solved the day it was discovered.  I have actually found the more I leave it alone, the better off it runs.  Outside of brushing the tubes every few weeks, I just throw wood in it and forget it.  Letting it burn to the point of no recovery is the best method for consistent burns.

[slimjim]

Hondaracer, you hit the nail right on the head, the wood does not charcoal as much with greener wood so it does not build that bed as deep.

[loneranger]

Brian told me to keep my PH at 9. My stove came with 1 bottle of stove chemical. I added that to my rain water and the ph came up to 8.9 and I have tested it yearly and has stayed the same. Brian said to send a sample in yearly but I have a tester and don't think that I want to spend the money every year for shipping. With my stove cleaning the vertical tubes and creosote build up especially in the fan box are the biggest problems. A blast of fire and smoke when filling with wood also not nice at all.

[loneranger]

Check my posts. You likely have a sticking air intake. I would suggest taking your box cover off about a dozen 5/16 screws, mine gets water and creosote build up and won't work properly or not at all. Moist air causes the water to condense in the heater right around 0 C If not that is your refractory clean and your pipes all clean. If I where to do this again I would buy a updraft heater.

[slimjim]

How many years have you been running the 250? Have you not seen the posts about air leaks and upgraded rope gaskets/ reasons why manufacturers require a water sample each year.