The is my second CS in 8 years. My new 2023 model has a lot of improvements. The best one is in temp mode it shuts down and turns on automatically. It makes 50% less ash and the glass stays clean for days. Screws have been replaced by hex-bolts. It throws a lot more heat and the controller has new graphics. What a difference !! Great engineering ! A lot of pellet stoves cost 5K plus. @ 1k, the CS is a steal. I save about $2k+ a year using my pellet stove. It comes on at 0500 and shuts off 2200 and heats my 1500 cf living area on the coldest days to 72 degrees. I've had wood stoves before and feel pellet stoves are safer, Propane is one step below electric heat. No more having the propane truck showing up every week and a half @ 400 bucks a pop.
Our first Castle Serenity we had for 4 years, heated a 1700+ sqft home with 7 1/5 ft ceilings, ranch style. The only thing I didn't like is if you need to adjust the damper. You have to take the side panel off so I attached a wire that comes out the side so I make adjust if needed. I paid $899 from Ace hardware. We moved this last year to a smaller home (1240 sqft) and I got the Castle on sale again for $899. I'm sold on these stoves and they are no louder that a central heat unit.
I just bought one and I have been running my castle serenity for only about two weeks, very impressed with it so far. Very powerful stove - puts out a ton of heat.
Tip!!! to ignite faster i take a handful of pellets and throw it in the fire pot close the door then turn the unit on!! Works like a charm. 2nd season no issues 🙂
I've had a couple of these stoves, they work pretty well. Igniters seem to have a kinda short life story and they were out of stock last winter. I ran mine today on an inverter and marine battery so that's cool.
I am on my third season with this stove. Found straight softwood to work best. Only two issues. First was the stove not running after a power outage. CS was a huge help. Apparently there is a thermal safety at the hopper that the manual did not show. Clicked it and it has run flawlessly since. Only other issue was the pot warped over time and the holes got smaller. Purchased a new one and no issues. Really do love this stove. Got it for $1100 and see them now for $1600-1700.
Hello, thank you so much for this detailed video. Would you be so kind as to do a video on where the overtemp switch with manual override is located? For whatever readon, the model of Serenity that I have doesn't line up with the instruction videos on Serenity's page 😅
I have two of these My oldest one is 5 years old, they're both fantastic. I've had a brick well in Englander and a Harmon and I'll take the castles any day. They're reliable, easy to work on and throw out amazing heat.
The only week spot I found is the power outlet and fuse holder assembly did not have dielectric grease put on from the factory and can corrode and create high resistance and melt internally. I replaced this assembly on my 2019 model but my 2016 model has not had an issue.
For me it was the contacts at the blower motor and back to power. The blower motor wasn’t getting juice. At the power source a lot of dust gets in. Just unplug it + the 2 connectors and clean it off. I thought maybe it’s the connection and gave it a tap. Instantly got better. Clean this out and get the exhaust out for maintenance monthly, it really helps. Good maintenance is needed and it will help it last a very long time. If you unplug those connectors to keep the blower off the stove will Overheat and turn off.
I picked this up for $800, still in the box from an owner who decided to move and hadn’t gotten to installing it. It’s a great stove. It’s year 4 for me and still on the first igniter, but it does take longer to start. I have a new igniter on hand ready to go in. When the power goes out I use a Jackery power station to run the stove and charge our phones, tablets, laptop. I charge the Jackery with a 100W briefcase solar panel. Good to go. I also have a used Harman Accentra insert I got cheap and completely refurbished. It’s definitely more refined and the bottom feed is nice, but I still like the simplicity and modern look of the Serenity. It’s great.
Has anyone seen a precise, detailed description on how to clean this stove? I clean mine regularly but it’s still underperforming and I can’t figure out what I’m missing. Something about taking off an access panel to clean the inside? Does anybody know where there’s an access panel? Thanks!
Always wanted to see a review on this pellet stove ,have a quadra fire for 20 years never any probs and installed a pelpro inmy basement but I tried to get that same model but did not have enough funds for it but on your pellets soft wood pellets burn with less heat compared to hard wood pellets which give a higher heat content and you use less ,I used several years ago soft wood pellets they were more ashy when burned and had to use 1 and a half amount of pellets than with hard wood also where I come from they both charge the same price for soft and hard wood and never heard of them using glue to make pellets when saw dusr or wood shavings are compressed by the pellet making machine wood has a natural glue called lingtin if I spelled it right when compressed it causes heat activating the ligden and causes the wood to stick together thats why when they come out of machine they are still steaming hot,but soft wood to me and I have tested this does not give the same heat as hardwood on my quadra fire hand book it listed best fuels to use it suggested hardwood for more better and even heat then soft wood, and I could use corn for the quadra fire the pellpro in my basement I set it to low fan speed it keeps basement at 68 or higher if I wanted it I do not mind the fan noise its better than paying for propane which is way expensive ,like you said to me pellet stoves are better all you got to do is load hopper and set it and forget mine in basement when really cold will use about a bag cause basement is not as insulated as upstairs the upstairs will use three quarter of a bag when really cold out side ,I diud have a snap diusc go on the quadra fire caused by a brown out which kept happening several times one day it saved the electronics on my pellet stove ,I know tractor supply had a pellet stove by pelpro which was smaller just like this one you show but the one you have is nicer looking but they forgot to order for me and a month later I checked on why it did not arrive it was middle of november I needed one for basement the one I had before was from us stove a wall mounted one it was more expensive but they SUCK the electronics are terrible it cost 1000.00 dollars to replace the exhaust fan do not buy U>S STOVE !!!!!! they are HORRIBLE customer service BAD !!!!!! but anyway the tractor supply in trying to help me was able to give me the larger pelpro model 2 thousand sq ft for the same price as the smaller one 1000.00 sq ft about 700.00 so I liucked out the larger model was 1100.00 but pellet stoves I love them and so far no problems with both of them
@@NickMango I have it installed now, and the stove worked great right out of the box. The only thing I’ve noticed so far is that even on the “1” setting it heats the room it’s in too much.
I had two different local Heater stores tell me that my newly purchased Castle Serenity is junk even though they had never seen or heard of it before lol,... They both told me that their cheapest Pellet Stove COSTS them twice the price of the Castle Serenity so I told them maybe they should consider being a dealer ;)
Thank you for the very informative review. I’ve been researching this brand as well as others for a couple years now. The reviews are not very great but I think there from people that don’t have common sense. I’ll be purchasing one soon, again thank you!
Had mine a few months. Fan is somewhat loud when it kicks in for heat. But not terrible, when it reaches heat settings it slows down and you can barely hear it. When I want to keep warm a little sound doesn’t bother me.
I will agree with everything that you said, however I have both a wood and a pellet stove, and the wood stove puts out a much different heat. Wood stove heat warms you to the bone, a pellet stove is like hair dryer heat, just ain’t the same. My opinion anyway.
I’m using a premium pellet but ash has forced me to keep cleaning it every other day I can’t imagine going three weeks without having to clean it.That said I’m wondering if you have your exhaust voltage set differently than mine is.And now at $6.19 a bag here in Michigan running my min-split is more economical
Every other day???? That makes zero sense. I haven’t cleaned it once this season and I’m on bag 30+. Mini splits are great. I need one in the living room.
I have that stove an din the first year I tried softwood and the stove would not start, nor burn correctly. So I changed to hardwood pellets and have had no issues since.
Well something was definitely off with those pellets. Soft wood is the better pellets. In fact, if you think about it, soft wood always lights up better than hardwood.
Ive replaced the igniter and the 52C proof of fire switch. I’ve cleaned everything I know to clean. It drops pellets. It fires up and it turns off. I don’t know what else to do. I’ve read the manual I’ve watched some videos. Any ideas
Good review - they do look a good unit for the workshop shed or garage - but the sound is the thing that puts me off one of these as I like quiet and they aint quiet. I am a bit confused about your comment on wood burning stoves having noisy fans as I just looked at like 50 stoves on a stove website over here and none of them had fans or had to be plugged into the wall or make any noise? the pellets are about the same price as wood so that's a non issue here - the price is more expensive than a wood burner over in the UK it seems. So really it's noise and price?
I just opened up 4 different stoves. 3 came with blowers and 1 said it was sold separately. Most new ones have blowers or have them as an accessory. And stoves are usually more expensive in the end because of the stove pipe. Sometimes you get lucky and you have a single floor house with a roof without much of a pitch and it’s not crazy money. But more often that not, the pipe is equal to or more expensive than the stove. I’ll do a video comparing them at some point. I like pellet stoves for large areas. Just my opinion.
Complicated answer but here it is: the room we heat is about 1000sqft with cathedral ceilings. We like the temp in the 70s. So say 75. We can run for about 18 hours on a bag. Depends on how cold it is out. Could be a little less or a little more. We don’t run at night (when it’s usually the coldest). Thanks 👍
Well if you’ve changed it 3 times it’s probably not the igniter. Dumb question, it’s dropping pellets? Like when you open the door there’s an entire mound of pellets in the pot?
Hello this is my first time using one of these. I’ve been in my house for about 6 months. Today my screen stopped displaying but right now it is on and running. The screen lights up green but no words. Any ideas? Thank you in advance.
Hey Victoria, your ribbon cable is bad or your screen is bad or your computer is bad. Ardisam.com sells parts for the Castle Serenity. I would call them or Castle in the morning and ask them what you should do. GL 👍
Hey Nick, my stove was doing the same issue. I checked everything but my pipes are not blocked. I took the stove outside and it still didn’t work. Any ideas?
Well there’s a couple possible things. Could be the hopper lid button, or maybe the fire sensor. I would call Castle and talk to an expert. They will have you do a couple tests and I bet they solve it. Also I just took the stove to the garage to work on it easier. Not sure if you thought going outside would help or not.
Hey I have a off-grid property that I want solar. I have a 48 volt off grid system my inverter is 3000 Watts you think I'll be more than good to run this type of pallet stove because I have heard these things are better than wood stove?
There’s a guy in the comments that said he runs it off a jackery. So I assume you’ll be ok. I would check their website and see what kind of amps it draws. I know when I’m on the generator it works fine. It really only needs to power a couple of fans and a small auger motor.
@@NickMango hey thank you brother for writing to me yes absolutely I'm going to check it out. By the way we're 40 lb of wood pellet. How many hours he gives you without adding if you will follow up
So this is a tough one to answer. The room we heat is about 1000sqft with cathedral ceilings. We like the temp in the 70s. So say 75. We can run for about 18 hours on a bag. Depends on how cold it is out. Could be a little less or a little more. We don’t run at night (when it’s usually the coldest). It really all depends on how cold it is out, and the size of the room. Especially the ceiling height. We have cathedral ceilings, which definitely hurts us heat wise.
So I’ve heard issues with using this in a garage. Check the comments. But I just don’t think garages are insulated enough. Like the doors. But beyond that, if the unit is in temps that are well below freezing you could see the auger motor not work too well during start up. This is why I use a wood stove for the garage.
I have used a pellet stove for 15 yrs now .I will tell you soft woods put build up in your flue will cause a fire in your pipe!! Which will burn your pipe up,hard wood does not have the sap left over in pellet after processing processing. Just trying to help you.
The CS burns the soft wood pellets so hot there is absolutely no creosote whatsoever. I have been using softwood pellets for years and I have seen the inside of my pipes...absolutely no creosote. In a wood stove it's a different story.
We have hade out castle pellet stove 3 yrs now. No real issues until now. Soot is building up bad. We cleaned it from stem to stern. What’s causing this? The pellets maybe?
Soot in the exhaust pipe? Or you’re saying it’s in the back of the stove where all the electronics are? If you mean pipe, it could be the pellets. If you’re not using a good quality pellet. But if it’s in the back behind the covers, there’s got to be a leak. Maybe where the exhaust pipe meets the stove. It’s tough to say. But there should be zero soot where electronics and wires are located.
@@NickMango I use ligentics pellets. The soot is in the box itself (the burn area) and the pipe. I just cleaned it and when we used it again it was covered again. I also noticed a burnt smell in the house
Ok yeah the pot. Some people call those clinkers. That’s normal. I clean the pot each morning before starting the stove. I keep a flathead screwdriver by the stove to clean it. Pull the pot out, clean, put it back. Now as far as smell. Couple things. You could have smoke escaping the exhaust pipe. Especially if it’s not a straight shot out the wall. Shine a flashlight on it when you see smoke coming out. You could also have some smoke escaping the door. Maybe you need to check your seal. I have a video on that. Hope that helps.
It all depends on how big we’re talking. If you have a small room and no insulation between rooms, yeah you’ll get heat to transfer, but that main room will be unusable. It’ll be so hot you’ll melt.
The reason softwood pellets are better in a pellet stove is not intuitive. Hardwood pellets and softwood pellets have similar density but the huge difference is that softwood pellets have more resins in them, and the resins are very flammable (similar to fatwood).
I’ve had mine four years and had no issues but twice now the burn pot has filled up with pellets and it shuts down.If someone knows what’s going wrong please let me know
So this might sound crazy but this happens to me when I’m running out of pellets. When you are very low on pellets there’s not enough pressure in the hopper and the unit starts to drop pellets extremely slowly. Then the flame goes out and it still keeps dropping pellets, which fills up the pot till the unit cools down enough to trigger the auto shut off feature. The best way to know if you’re running out of pellets is when you’re in the Temp mode, where you set a temperature you want to keep, the fan will slowly go up to level 5. The unit is trying to heat up the room cause the temp is dropping, but it can’t cause the flame is small or out completely. Hope that helps.
Hey Kyle, right now I’m using Barefoot, but that’s only because the place I get my pellets stopped selling American Wood Fiber. If you can find AWF that’s the best of the best. I need to find a dealer for next year.
I just started using AWF out of necessity because my supplier didn’t have the usual brand he’s carried for years. What a difference burning AWF! These pellets seem to burn longer and hotter. Using the previous brand pellets, the auger in my Castle Serenity would sometimes stick open shutting down the stove. I will only be using AWF from now on.
Not having the same results as you all. I have this in a roughly 1100 sqft open shop with insulated walls and ceiling. Using hardwood pellets from TSC. It has been running since 3pm yesterday set at 75 degrees and has already burned through 3 bags of pellets. So far not happy because at that setting the wall thermometer hasn’t hit 70 degrees yet
I tried several softwood pellets, they are the worst pellet to use. I used 100% hardwood pellet that burns way way cleaner then any of your softwood crap plus it burns hotter.. I will never use ny softwood pellet ever again.. It gummed up the hopper. It filled up the ash tray 4x faster then hardwood pellets and cause a build up of crap on the exhaust fan... In a matter of 1 month it caused so much problems.. I should send repair bills to all who recommend softwood pellets. They are a total wast of money, time and lots of frustration
I used 100% softwood pellets and they were absolutely the best pellet to use. I assume the brand you got was just bad. I use a mixed pellet now and it’s ok, but American Wood Fiber was by far the best and I’ve tried close to 10 premium pellets. Never had to clean the pot, and virtually no ash.
I have been fighting with mine for 5 years since it was installed. The controls on this unit SUCK SO BAD! There is zero information on how to tune the settings & what nobody tells you is if you change the type of pellet, the tuning is out the window. If the moisture content of the pellets changes, the tuning changes. If you get "licky" like I did last spring & buy a skid if leftover pellets at the end of the heating season, you need to figure out how to store them. You can judge the pellet "quality" by the amount of ash it produces. Woukd i leave it & go out for a couple of hours? No way! I simply do not trust it. The bottom line, I am done with it after this winter. Luckily the serenity is expensive so I can sell it for good $ then buy a wood stove instead.
Pellets skyrocketed, like everything. All pellet stoves need backup power to shut it down so insurance would accept them more. Insurances wont allow any kind of wood flame in many cases and with consolidation(due unfair tax system) not many choices out there.
Agree no USA wood stove.......Mercedes company makes a mass heater that burns clean and uses a wheelbarrow of wood a month, or less. No power needed. Cooking. All kinds that will cost less to heat,,,,NO noise....NO smoke and panic when the power goes out....and fun restarting////300$$$ circuit boards and more.....cleaning, dust.......BUt yes you are right,,,these pellet piles of burning noisy stoves are MUCH greater than anything out of the good ol USA....we have to go 0 to 60 to knowhere,,,to support the big oil man and poison carbon for the medical machine
Ours ran until the warranty expired. Then died. We've replaced the vacum sensor ( three times) the fire sensor ( twice) the exhaust motor, the main control panel. Complete and utter waste of money.
This video is the best of its kind on the subject. Nicely done.
The is my second CS in 8 years. My new 2023 model has a lot of improvements. The best one is in temp mode it shuts down and turns on automatically. It makes 50% less ash and the glass stays clean for days. Screws have been replaced by hex-bolts. It throws a lot more heat and the controller has new graphics. What a difference !! Great engineering ! A lot of pellet stoves cost 5K plus. @ 1k, the CS is a steal. I save about $2k+ a year using my pellet stove. It comes on at 0500 and shuts off 2200 and heats my 1500 cf living area on the coldest days to 72 degrees. I've had wood stoves before and feel pellet stoves are safer, Propane is one step below electric heat. No more having the propane truck showing up every week and a half @ 400 bucks a pop.
Our first Castle Serenity we had for 4 years, heated a 1700+ sqft home with 7 1/5 ft ceilings, ranch style. The only thing I didn't like is if you need to adjust the damper. You have to take the side panel off so I attached a wire that comes out the side so I make adjust if needed. I paid $899 from Ace hardware. We moved this last year to a smaller home (1240 sqft) and I got the Castle on sale again for $899. I'm sold on these stoves and they are no louder that a central heat unit.
Just got ours Feb 2023. Amazing! We love it.
I just bought one and I have been running my castle serenity for only about two weeks, very impressed with it so far. Very powerful stove - puts out a ton of heat.
Tip!!! to ignite faster i take a handful of pellets and throw it in the fire pot close the door then turn the unit on!! Works like a charm. 2nd season no issues 🙂
This is my 1st winter with this unit and so far it's great .
I've had a couple of these stoves, they work pretty well. Igniters seem to have a kinda short life story and they were out of stock last winter. I ran mine today on an inverter and marine battery so that's cool.
I am on my third season with this stove. Found straight softwood to work best. Only two issues. First was the stove not running after a power outage. CS was a huge help. Apparently there is a thermal safety at the hopper that the manual did not show. Clicked it and it has run flawlessly since. Only other issue was the pot warped over time and the holes got smaller. Purchased a new one and no issues.
Really do love this stove. Got it for $1100 and see them now for $1600-1700.
So the holes in the pot got smaller and it wouldn’t light the pellets up? Wonder how heat did that. Crazy. Thanks!
Hello, thank you so much for this detailed video. Would you be so kind as to do a video on where the overtemp switch with manual override is located? For whatever readon, the model of Serenity that I have doesn't line up with the instruction videos on Serenity's page 😅
I have two of these My oldest one is 5 years old, they're both fantastic. I've had a brick well in Englander and a Harmon and I'll take the castles any day. They're reliable, easy to work on and throw out amazing heat.
Without a doubt! Thank you 👍
The only week spot I found is the power outlet and fuse holder assembly did not have dielectric grease put on from the factory and can corrode and create high resistance and melt internally. I replaced this assembly on my 2019 model but my 2016 model has not had an issue.
Thank you a very informative video lots of information you answered a lot of guistions.for me
Nice review nice stove/price....but like to know HOW MANY bags it uses at high to low settings.
For me it was the contacts at the blower motor and back to power. The blower motor wasn’t getting juice. At the power source a lot of dust gets in. Just unplug it + the 2 connectors and clean it off.
I thought maybe it’s the connection and gave it a tap. Instantly got better.
Clean this out and get the exhaust out for maintenance monthly, it really helps. Good maintenance is needed and it will help it last a very long time.
If you unplug those connectors to keep the blower off the stove will Overheat and turn off.
I had mine 3 years second year I had to replace the ignitor but been going good
I picked this up for $800, still in the box from an owner who decided to move and hadn’t gotten to installing it. It’s a great stove. It’s year 4 for me and still on the first igniter, but it does take longer to start. I have a new igniter on hand ready to go in. When the power goes out I use a Jackery power station to run the stove and charge our phones, tablets, laptop. I charge the Jackery with a 100W briefcase solar panel. Good to go. I also have a used Harman Accentra insert I got cheap and completely refurbished. It’s definitely more refined and the bottom feed is nice, but I still like the simplicity and modern look of the Serenity. It’s great.
$800 is a great deal. I’m still on my first igniter too. Powering it on a Jackery that’s awesome. 👍
Has anyone seen a precise, detailed description on how to clean this stove? I clean mine regularly but it’s still underperforming and I can’t figure out what I’m missing. Something about taking off an access panel to clean the inside? Does anybody know where there’s an access panel? Thanks!
Can you show your exhaust flue outside the building? How high up does it go? Also, do you have an air intake inside or outside?
Thanks for the detailed video! How long does a full hopper of pellets last on the lowest setting?
Long time. Probably 24 hours plus
Top vid, thank you very much.
Always wanted to see a review on this pellet stove ,have a quadra fire for 20 years never any probs and installed a pelpro inmy basement but I tried to get that same model but did not have enough funds for it but on your pellets soft wood pellets burn with less heat compared to hard wood pellets which give a higher heat content and you use less ,I used several years ago soft wood pellets they were more ashy when burned and had to use 1 and a half amount of pellets than with hard wood also where I come from they both charge the same price for soft and hard wood and never heard of them using glue to make pellets when saw dusr or wood shavings are compressed by the pellet making machine wood has a natural glue called lingtin if I spelled it right when compressed it causes heat activating the ligden and causes the wood to stick together thats why when they come out of machine they are still steaming hot,but soft wood to me and I have tested this does not give the same heat as hardwood on my quadra fire hand book it listed best fuels to use it suggested hardwood for more better and even heat then soft wood, and I could use corn for the quadra fire the pellpro in my basement I set it to low fan speed it keeps basement at 68 or higher if I wanted it I do not mind the fan noise its better than paying for propane which is way expensive ,like you said to me pellet stoves are better all you got to do is load hopper and set it and forget mine in basement when really cold will use about a bag cause basement is not as insulated as upstairs the upstairs will use three quarter of a bag when really cold out side ,I diud have a snap diusc go on the quadra fire caused by a brown out which kept happening several times one day it saved the electronics on my pellet stove ,I know tractor supply had a pellet stove by pelpro which was smaller just like this one you show but the one you have is nicer looking but they forgot to order for me and a month later I checked on why it did not arrive it was middle of november I needed one for basement the one I had before was from us stove a wall mounted one it was more expensive but they SUCK the electronics are terrible it cost 1000.00 dollars to replace the exhaust fan do not buy U>S STOVE !!!!!! they are HORRIBLE customer service BAD !!!!!! but anyway the tractor supply in trying to help me was able to give me the larger pelpro model 2 thousand sq ft for the same price as the smaller one 1000.00 sq ft about 700.00 so I liucked out the larger model was 1100.00 but pellet stoves I love them and so far no problems with both of them
I just ordered this stove for my 960sq ft house based off your recommendation. I should have it sometime next week.
Awesome hope it works out well for you 👍
@@NickMango I have it installed now, and the stove worked great right out of the box. The only thing I’ve noticed so far is that even on the “1” setting it heats the room it’s in too much.
Great Video
Does it need an exhaust vent added and vented outside or does it not produce smoke
I had two different local Heater stores tell me that my newly purchased Castle Serenity is junk even though they had never seen or heard of it before lol,... They both told me that their cheapest Pellet Stove COSTS them twice the price of the Castle Serenity so I told them maybe they should consider being a dealer ;)
Yeah they’re clueless haha.
Thank you for the very informative review. I’ve been researching this brand as well as others for a couple years now. The reviews are not very great but I think there from people that don’t have common sense. I’ll be purchasing one soon, again thank you!
Where did you see the reviews? I’d like to read them. Thanks Julian 👍
@@NickMango all over the inter web and tractor supply site. Especially the Pelpro brand and grand Teton.
Thank you
It tells you when you're out of pellets or if it's jammed or something
We have a Duravent pro 3” exhaust on our pellet stove it has a built wire block at the opening so that things like happened to you don’t happen.
Had mine a few months. Fan is somewhat loud when it kicks in for heat. But not terrible, when it reaches heat settings it slows down and you can barely hear it. When I want to keep warm a little sound doesn’t bother me.
Check if the fan is tightened down and/or check the fan that it's clean. Can of keyboard duster works good, but brush the fins if they're dirty.
I will agree with everything that you said, however I have both a wood and a pellet stove, and the wood stove puts out a much different heat. Wood stove heat warms you to the bone, a pellet stove is like hair dryer heat, just ain’t the same. My opinion anyway.
I’m using a premium pellet but ash has forced me to keep cleaning it every other day I can’t imagine going three weeks without having to clean it.That said I’m wondering if you have your exhaust voltage set differently than mine is.And now at $6.19 a bag here in Michigan running my min-split is more economical
Every other day???? That makes zero sense. I haven’t cleaned it once this season and I’m on bag 30+. Mini splits are great. I need one in the living room.
I have that stove an din the first year I tried softwood and the stove would not start, nor burn correctly. So I changed to hardwood pellets and have had no issues since.
Well something was definitely off with those pellets. Soft wood is the better pellets. In fact, if you think about it, soft wood always lights up better than hardwood.
@@NickMango probably they got damp??
probably the pellets where damp or got wet and swelled?? I agree the softwood pellets are the better pellets 🙂
Ive replaced the igniter and the 52C proof of fire switch. I’ve cleaned everything I know to clean. It drops pellets. It fires up and it turns off. I don’t know what else to do. I’ve read the manual I’ve watched some videos. Any ideas
I think you should call castle and let them diagnose it. Let me know what happens. GL
Good review - they do look a good unit for the workshop shed or garage - but the sound is the thing that puts me off one of these as I like quiet and they aint quiet. I am a bit confused about your comment on wood burning stoves having noisy fans as I just looked at like 50 stoves on a stove website over here and none of them had fans or had to be plugged into the wall or make any noise? the pellets are about the same price as wood so that's a non issue here - the price is more expensive than a wood burner over in the UK it seems. So really it's noise and price?
I just opened up 4 different stoves. 3 came with blowers and 1 said it was sold separately. Most new ones have blowers or have them as an accessory. And stoves are usually more expensive in the end because of the stove pipe. Sometimes you get lucky and you have a single floor house with a roof without much of a pitch and it’s not crazy money. But more often that not, the pipe is equal to or more expensive than the stove. I’ll do a video comparing them at some point. I like pellet stoves for large areas. Just my opinion.
@@NickMango Interesting mate - over here in the UK no fans in wood stoves from what I can see. If you do a comparison I'll watch it :)
You have that set on 3 which increases the size of the flame.
That’s the start up sequence. I don’t have it set to anything other than temp.
For how long does a load last for your pellet & at what temp? Thanks very much.
Complicated answer but here it is: the room we heat is about 1000sqft with cathedral ceilings. We like the temp in the 70s. So say 75. We can run for about 18 hours on a bag. Depends on how cold it is out. Could be a little less or a little more. We don’t run at night (when it’s usually the coldest). Thanks 👍
@@NickMango Thanks very much - I was discussing with my husband and we were wondering about it.
Depends what the ambient air temperature is.
I cant get mine to light. Igniter gets hot but not hot enough. I changed it 3 times. Any ideas please.
Well if you’ve changed it 3 times it’s probably not the igniter. Dumb question, it’s dropping pellets? Like when you open the door there’s an entire mound of pellets in the pot?
I can agree with you from first hand experience, that’s a great pellet stove!
Hello this is my first time using one of these. I’ve been in my house for about 6 months. Today my screen stopped displaying but right now it is on and running. The screen lights up green but no words. Any ideas? Thank you in advance.
Hey Victoria, your ribbon cable is bad or your screen is bad or your computer is bad. Ardisam.com sells parts for the Castle Serenity. I would call them or Castle in the morning and ask them what you should do. GL 👍
How do you contact Castle directly?
How high up did your stove pipe have to go outside your house?
Nothing pretty much. Maybe 3-4 feet. It’s not like a woodstove pipe. You don’t need to clear the roof. It’s basically just a vent with a clean out.
Hey Nick, my stove was doing the same issue. I checked everything but my pipes are not blocked. I took the stove outside and it still didn’t work. Any ideas?
Well there’s a couple possible things. Could be the hopper lid button, or maybe the fire sensor. I would call Castle and talk to an expert. They will have you do a couple tests and I bet they solve it. Also I just took the stove to the garage to work on it easier. Not sure if you thought going outside would help or not.
@@NickMango I took it outside because I have a vent through the two floors and then the roof and it’s hard to inspect.
Hey I have a off-grid property that I want solar. I have a 48 volt off grid system my inverter is 3000 Watts you think I'll be more than good to run this type of pallet stove because I have heard these things are better than wood stove?
There’s a guy in the comments that said he runs it off a jackery. So I assume you’ll be ok. I would check their website and see what kind of amps it draws. I know when I’m on the generator it works fine. It really only needs to power a couple of fans and a small auger motor.
@@NickMango hey thank you brother for writing to me yes absolutely I'm going to check it out. By the way we're 40 lb of wood pellet. How many hours he gives you without adding if you will follow up
So this is a tough one to answer. The room we heat is about 1000sqft with cathedral ceilings. We like the temp in the 70s. So say 75. We can run for about 18 hours on a bag. Depends on how cold it is out. Could be a little less or a little more. We don’t run at night (when it’s usually the coldest). It really all depends on how cold it is out, and the size of the room. Especially the ceiling height. We have cathedral ceilings, which definitely hurts us heat wise.
So you use this in your house? You do not use this in your uninsulated garage? How do you think this would work in your garage or a average garage?
So I’ve heard issues with using this in a garage. Check the comments. But I just don’t think garages are insulated enough. Like the doors. But beyond that, if the unit is in temps that are well below freezing you could see the auger motor not work too well during start up. This is why I use a wood stove for the garage.
Good
I have used a pellet stove for 15 yrs now .I will tell you soft woods put build up in your flue will cause a fire in your pipe!! Which will burn your pipe up,hard wood does not have the sap left over in pellet after processing processing. Just trying to help you.
The CS burns the soft wood pellets so hot there is absolutely no creosote whatsoever. I have been using softwood pellets for years and I have seen the inside of my pipes...absolutely no creosote. In a wood stove it's a different story.
We have hade out castle pellet stove 3 yrs now. No real issues until now. Soot is building up bad. We cleaned it from stem to stern. What’s causing this? The pellets maybe?
Soot in the exhaust pipe? Or you’re saying it’s in the back of the stove where all the electronics are? If you mean pipe, it could be the pellets. If you’re not using a good quality pellet. But if it’s in the back behind the covers, there’s got to be a leak. Maybe where the exhaust pipe meets the stove. It’s tough to say. But there should be zero soot where electronics and wires are located.
@@NickMango I use ligentics pellets. The soot is in the box itself (the burn area) and the pipe. I just cleaned it and when we used it again it was covered again. I also noticed a burnt smell in the house
Also we noticed a little smoke condensation from the front of the unit where the heat comes out. Not the door
Ok yeah the pot. Some people call those clinkers. That’s normal. I clean the pot each morning before starting the stove. I keep a flathead screwdriver by the stove to clean it. Pull the pot out, clean, put it back. Now as far as smell. Couple things. You could have smoke escaping the exhaust pipe. Especially if it’s not a straight shot out the wall. Shine a flashlight on it when you see smoke coming out. You could also have some smoke escaping the door. Maybe you need to check your seal. I have a video on that. Hope that helps.
@@NickMango Thank you Nick. I will check that out. I appreciate the tips greatly
Is this only good for one room or will it radiate to other rooms?
It all depends on how big we’re talking. If you have a small room and no insulation between rooms, yeah you’ll get heat to transfer, but that main room will be unusable. It’ll be so hot you’ll melt.
@@NickMango The house is 1100 sq ft and the main room is 600
The reason softwood pellets are better in a pellet stove is not intuitive.
Hardwood pellets and softwood pellets have similar density but the huge difference is that softwood pellets have more resins in them, and the resins are very flammable (similar to fatwood).
Mine is 3 days old. It runs, reaches temps, then shuts down. Takes forever to restart, which means it gets cold
I’d return it.
I’ve had mine four years and had no issues but twice now the burn pot has filled up with pellets and it shuts down.If someone knows what’s going wrong please let me know
So this might sound crazy but this happens to me when I’m running out of pellets. When you are very low on pellets there’s not enough pressure in the hopper and the unit starts to drop pellets extremely slowly. Then the flame goes out and it still keeps dropping pellets, which fills up the pot till the unit cools down enough to trigger the auto shut off feature. The best way to know if you’re running out of pellets is when you’re in the Temp mode, where you set a temperature you want to keep, the fan will slowly go up to level 5. The unit is trying to heat up the room cause the temp is dropping, but it can’t cause the flame is small or out completely. Hope that helps.
It’s been 3/4 full when it happened
Never tried the soft pellets but around here they’re pricey $11 a bag!!
This stove Ok for mobile homes?
Like a single or double wide? Definitely. If you mean a travel trailer, I wouldn’t do that. Meaning I wouldn’t try and pull this while it’s hooked up.
What brand of pellets do you run?
Hey Kyle, right now I’m using Barefoot, but that’s only because the place I get my pellets stopped selling American Wood Fiber. If you can find AWF that’s the best of the best. I need to find a dealer for next year.
How many pounds of pellets do you use during your cold time of winter. Do you have a video that you talk about that?
I just started using AWF out of necessity because my supplier didn’t have the usual brand he’s carried for years. What a difference burning AWF! These pellets seem to burn longer and hotter. Using the previous brand pellets, the auger in my Castle Serenity would sometimes stick open shutting down the stove. I will only be using AWF from now on.
Not having the same results as you all. I have this in a roughly 1100 sqft open shop with insulated walls and ceiling. Using hardwood pellets from TSC. It has been running since 3pm yesterday set at 75 degrees and has already burned through 3 bags of pellets. So far not happy because at that setting the wall thermometer hasn’t hit 70 degrees yet
I heat a 1000sqft space with cathedral ceilings so hot I need to turn it off sometimes.
tractor supple pellets are junk. Try agway's. Ive gone that route and my burn time went way down burning TSC's
Wow
Ever tried cherry pits?
Hey Paul, never tried them. Have you?
No, not yet but I'd like to try some after I get my stove installed. I hear they burn hotter than pellets.
Let me know how it goes!
No electricity here, I chain saw my wood and I do have trees where I live
need filter on blower ....blades are caked up...common prob with pell stoves
Cheap wood stoves are $1,000. Quality ones are a lot more
Should be enclosed so you can filter the air......dusty fan blades burn motors and dont move air. Unless you have a maid...
I tried several softwood pellets, they are the worst pellet to use. I used 100% hardwood pellet that burns way way cleaner then any of your softwood crap plus it burns hotter.. I will never use ny softwood pellet ever again.. It gummed up the hopper. It filled up the ash tray 4x faster then hardwood pellets and cause a build up of crap on the exhaust fan... In a matter of 1 month it caused so much problems.. I should send repair bills to all who recommend softwood pellets. They are a total wast of money, time and lots of frustration
I used 100% softwood pellets and they were absolutely the best pellet to use. I assume the brand you got was just bad. I use a mixed pellet now and it’s ok, but American Wood Fiber was by far the best and I’ve tried close to 10 premium pellets. Never had to clean the pot, and virtually no ash.
I have been fighting with mine for 5 years since it was installed. The controls on this unit SUCK SO BAD! There is zero information on how to tune the settings & what nobody tells you is if you change the type of pellet, the tuning is out the window. If the moisture content of the pellets changes, the tuning changes. If you get "licky" like I did last spring & buy a skid if leftover pellets at the end of the heating season, you need to figure out how to store them. You can judge the pellet "quality" by the amount of ash it produces. Woukd i leave it & go out for a couple of hours? No way! I simply do not trust it. The bottom line, I am done with it after this winter. Luckily the serenity is expensive so I can sell it for good $ then buy a wood stove instead.
Pellets skyrocketed, like everything. All pellet stoves need backup power to shut it down so insurance would accept them more. Insurances wont allow any kind of wood flame in many cases and with consolidation(due unfair tax system) not many choices out there.
Agree no USA wood stove.......Mercedes company makes a mass heater that burns clean and uses a wheelbarrow of wood a month, or less. No power needed. Cooking. All kinds that will cost less to heat,,,,NO noise....NO smoke and panic when the power goes out....and fun restarting////300$$$ circuit boards and more.....cleaning, dust.......BUt yes you are right,,,these pellet piles of burning noisy stoves are MUCH greater than anything out of the good ol USA....we have to go 0 to 60 to knowhere,,,to support the big oil man and poison carbon for the medical machine
Ours ran until the warranty expired. Then died. We've replaced the vacum sensor ( three times) the fire sensor ( twice) the exhaust motor, the main control panel.
Complete and utter waste of money.