Greenstreak, barometric conditions affect air density somewhat. Colder air is denser and hence contains more oxygen for the burn. As shown here in the WIKI ( forum.iburncorn.com/wiki/index.php/BixbyFAQ#External_Factors ), a 32 degF drop in temperature will richen your flame by about 8%, or slightly more than one trim pot division. The WIKI includes a screencap of my spreadsheet that was used to calculate this from thermodynamic principles. Likewise, a drop in barometric pressure decreases air density, thus enrichening the flame somewhat.

All this said, experience has shown that a properly tuned and maintained stove can "weather" these small variations in air density without need of re-tweaking. If, however, you were tuned to the edge, then a modest change in weather could bring you to the wrong side of that edge, forcing you to re-tweak to a more optimum position in order to maintain the burn.

Does this help more than confuse?

lol, it helped a lot. its kind of like changing the jets in my snowmobile carbs to tune it for very warm or very cold riding days and changes in elevation. different air temps and air density, changes how a snowmobile will run also. unless of course, if its EFI, all those air/fuel adjustments are done by the ECU. thanks Corny!

4 years ago I ran tests using indoor/outdoor data loggers for my dealer to see if outside temperatures and humidity changes had any effect on stove output temperatures. The results seemed to indicate the stove outputs were not changing much, if at all with outside changes. Spikes and changes are at cleaning times or stove feed rate changes. The outside logger was located where sunlight wouldn't effect the logger and the inside logger was fixed at a distance from the stove so the heat wouldn't destroy the logger.

good stuff Tallcorn! interesting!


she is still running. all this time and there is only about a 1/4" of ash built up on the floor plates. I must have it right!

just thought I would post back. she is still going! I have achieved the Zen art of perfect burning I cleaned it last week and since firing it back up, there is just a micro-thin coating of ash dust on my floor plates. flame looks like a perfect vortex. not using near as many pellets and when she ash dumps, I get a nice brittle hockey puck that breaks up easy, not chunks of molten rocks from lava that cooled. I have had NO jams of the paddles! very happy! Thank you all!!!

Excellent, Greenstreak. Glad that it's working out for you. So the solution was in the air/fuel tuning? Thanks for closing the loop with us.

I have to tell you, Greenstreak, I enjoyed reading your thread. We've all gone thru it...that dreaded learning curve of tuning. But man, once you've got it, these stoves are awesome. I like your idea of using a bore brush for the tubes, will have to see if hubby will part with an old one.

Glad your stove is running well and you're happy with it. Happy burning!!

Corny wrote:
yes Corny, and BTW, that hole in the feed tube gasket. I put Duct tape on the back and filled the hole with orange hi-temp rtv and let dry over night. that was over a month ago and its still holding up. I filled the hole, let it dry over night and the next morning I refilled it where it sank and let it dry till afternoon. it worked. with that, and the air/fuel ratio being dialed in is what got her running right.

steadywoman wrote:
I'm glad my frustrations provided entertainment

We all had to learn how to finetune them so don't feel bad. I always used learning how to run a older car with a manual choke as a comparison. Its funny but a lot of people can relate to that.