Somerset are the best! I do not run them down the screen... I have hardwire cloth setup over 2) 30 gallon trash cans and I run the pellets down it to remove the dust. If the dust biulds then I have poor feed. Pennywise are the next in line. Pennigton just plain sucks! I had dust big time and the moisture level was way too high...32 percent. I have a tester and I have not heard too many say they test for that.

I use my hay probe, works great. I also setup to make pellets, that is another thread! I grow corn and it is too expensive to burn. I have burned straight and pelleted oats, nice heat too much ash! Soybeans are like gasoline on a fire! I only use then as an aditive to a mix that "is a bit wet" lots of soot.

If the place I'm getting pellets from store outside... I take my moisture probe with to test the pellets, I'm not buying water! Yeah I'm the one who puts holes in the bags... so if you find a whole and I have been around they are to wet to burn well.

My 2 cents!

Sounds like we have very similar setups.... but you have a different board than I do. I have changed the factory settings so I can get both fans to come on right away and have the stove's physical temp up pretty high. I get a pretty constant heat and can do well down to outside of 20. If I use the house blowers/fan, I want to use the AprilAire unit that is part of that system to get the humidity up, really makes things more comfortable. BUT the house fan, for me, requires a complete rebalancing do to the fact it can really cool the stove down quickly. YES you need to find a way to over temp the stove some. It does work. On the farm the wind will be 30 mph and a negative 20.... lucky to keep the 1862 farm house at 68 I settle for 62 before I light the fireplace. The humidity is the trick. Dry heat is work and you usually need more of it.

Hope that helps!

Northwest Ill;... I have a Menards superstore and we mostly get Somerset. I like them but they are tough to make big moves with. I set my 6220 at drf1 and the agitator at zero. No movement in the pot! When I want to add a bit more for those 20 degree drops I try to make the temp move 24 before... if possible. I only up the feed rate by 10's when somerset is in the machine. If I need more than 20 I have to up the drfan to 2. I have the breather/vent from the manufacturer and it is more or less closed at drf1 and ever so slightly opened at drf2. Our stoves might be/are different but the burn of the pellet is the same got to give more breath if there is going to be more pellets to burn. I watch the pot and not the pile on top the more I can get the pot to glow the better. I am happy when the air puffs give me a small blue flame. I have a airvent gauge in the plentum which helps me a lot.

Hope that helped.

Never saw the replies... bet they were good though!

The CB guy studied the circuits. Sayed to pull a transistor and check it. He figured it was damaged and it was. My board had a CTA12-600B...some have BTA12-600B same properties, 600v 50ma 12a. We looked up and got cross references for it. It was suggested to try a NTE56008 which was 600v 50ma 15a...would of worked but the 600v is what runs the motor more or less I am not wiz at this stuff! We put in a NTE56010 which is 800v 40/70ma 15a rating. So it is in the stove and I feel (lived with machine since 2006) that I have more control over the feed rate.... remember this is the upgrade board for the 6220 not the one that came with the 6100... I did trick that board as well.

6100 board was another trail.... I mounted the exhaust sensor to a piece of sheet metal... the 3 folded strip that connects ductwork... used about an 8 inch piece mounted the sensor at one end.... an 1 1/4 way down drilled hole and mounted to original location on exhaust laying the rest across the exhaust and what ever was left hang over the other side. Sensor is closest to the circuitboard/control side of the machine. Had to redo c codes 13 to about 30 changed c19 to a 10 min setting and c20 to 40 min. The complete c code list is downstairs if we all really need to know!! I'll get it if someone asks. Pictures would be nice but I'm not using that setup right now... next time. I have had a few owners scrap the units when the boards went bad so I grabbed the boards...good friends with the local scrap yard and he would give me the heads up.. you need to be dedicated to this type of heat process, most arn't!

That's about it!

AC...

Well....

I talked to my local CB repair guy and he looked at the board for my stove. He simplified it quite a bit and figured that a transistor went bad as well. He studyied it for a bit and asked if i wanted "MORE" heat out of it....duh!

So we changed the transistor to a different one that what was in there. WOW!
It is the same board as the 6500 uses I think! And now I am off topic!!! Here is what we did... CTA12-600B that is what was damaged changed it to NTE56010.

The nuts and bolts...CTA12-600B 600v 50ma 12a, NTE56010 800v 40/75ma 15a... the words auger control massive. I say Cool Beans but!!! It is up and running 1.25 lbs and rf2 set to 160 and it "pulses" just perfect.

Thanks to all!

Well....

I talked to my local CB repair guy and he looked at the board for my stove. He simplified it quite a bit and figured that a transistor went bad as well. He studyied it for a bit and asked if i wanted "MORE" heat out of it....duh!

So we changed the transistor to a different one that what was in there. WOW!
Since no one reads this I'll wait till someone asks what I put into it. It is the same board as the 6500 uses I think!

I have one of those chinese machines and it seems to do ok. I made pellets out of mixes... I have used oats fine chopped hay and high oil soybeans. I get alot of ash but I set the clean out blast to run with my rf2 on my 6220/6100. That stopped the plugging. I have a "T" clean out at the back of my stove and I have it hooked up to my ashvac. The ash pot still gets checked morning and night...retired and on the farm, it gives me something to do. Biomas its a life style.

Have been running my 6100 with the 6220 upgraded board, very happy until an auger motor wire touched/melted/shorted. Blew the fuse! Board does everything but the auger is on all the time, even when it is supposed to be off. A new board is just not in my budget. Does anyone have a used one? I would even use a fix/idea like a way to slow down the auger. If power is on all the time, would a good old dimmer switch work? I don't wander to far from the farm so I can and do hover over this stove a bunch!

Mike

Have been running my 6100 with the 6220 upgraded board, very happy until an auger motor wire touched/melted/shorted. Blew the fuse! Board does everything but the auger is on all the time, even when it is supposed to be off. New board is just not in my budget. Does anyone have a used one? I would even use a fix/idea like a way to slow down the auger. If power is on all the time, would a good old dimmer switch work? So this could split out to be a post as well, sorry just didn't figure the best way to post on this Site!!