Pellet stove roll call!

[Wayne M.]

Well, it did it again!
This morning I did a clean out of the “deck “ as I call it, where the thermocouple is, and I fired it up. It cycled and ran all day until a little while ago, when I lowered the thermostat to go to bed. Inside 20 minutes I got a report of smoke, and sure enough, there were smoldering ashes in the pan.
I’m starting to think it’s the pellet quality or composition. I have the stove set to hardwood and maybe this is wrong. I will do some research on these tractor supply pellets and report back.

 

[NIsaacs]

Was the stove still in shutdown mode (you lowered the t-stat) or was it trying to restart? I am not in favor of a pellet stove on a t-stat. That would require several shutdown/restarts per night. I always monitor a start, I don't ever push the start button and walk away. Too many things can go wrong.

If it was in shutdown mode, pellet quality wouldn't matter since the flow/auger is stopped. If it was in restart mode, then yes, pellets can play a big role.

 

[Wayne M.]

I’m guessing it was shutting down since the flame was waining away when I lowered the stat for the night. It obviously dumped way before The pellets died and that’s why I’m questioning the quality/ moisture content etc.

 

[NIsaacs]

Something is not making sense here. When you checked on the stove, was it still running? As in, the combustion and convection blowers still running? In shutdown mode, the auger is stopped, no pellets are flowing into the fire pot. When the two blowers stop, it is in full shutdown, cold stove/fire pot.

If the blowers were stopped and you still had hot coals/smoke, the thermal shutdown switch may be bad.

Is your stove completely clean? The horizontal exhaust pipe can fill up with ash, the flue needs to be clean all the way to the intake of the combustion blower. Even the fan blades can plug up with burnt ash/creosote. Especially if the pellets cause a less than ideal flame during start/run. If your stove has a pressure switch the hose, fitting or switch itself might be plugged with ash.

PS, here is a link to your stove parts, it should help you trouble shoot.

https://www.stove-parts-unlimited.com/mt-vernon-parts/

 

[Wayne M.]

Yes, I heard fans still going and I believe it was on its way down/ auger stopped. I need to find out what makes it decide to dump. Maybe it’s a time delay and these pellets aren’t cooled yet? Thanks for the link and I do have a book as well.

 

[AH64ID]

Is it possible it was trying to relight?


I love having mine on a thermostat, but I did have to add a delay on break relay to the mix. Not for smoke issues, but rather residual heat was keeping the brain from using the hot rod if the call for heat came too quick. The 10 minute delay on break is perfect and really improved ignition success.

 

[Wayne M.]

This is my model. Lots of ash dump parts. Looks like I’ll need to get in there to check function.

https://www.stove-parts-unlimited.com/mt-vernon-ae-parts/

 

[Wayne M.]

It’s just that I didn’t have a problem until I got to this batch of pellets. Since I wasn’t able to properly prepare for winter, I’ve been scrounging like 5 bag batches. This batch is from TSC. The Walmart Pennington stuff worked way better!

 

[AH64ID]

It’s just that I didn’t have a problem until I got to this batch of pellets. Since I wasn’t able to properly prepare for winter, I’ve been scrounging like 5 bag batches. This batch is from TSC. The Walmart Pennington stuff worked way better!

It could just be that then. I've got specific pellets I don't like for bad burning.

 

[Dan_69GTX]

As you know I'm new to pellet stoves as well.

My stove doesn't dump anything. Pellets go into the burn pot and stay there until burned. The ash drops through into the bottom container.

I put a thermostat on my stove. The stove has 2 options - one that starts and stops it (not doing that). One that it is always on - but at the "low" setting. If the thermostat calls for heat, it bumps it up to level 2 or 3 (settable), then back down to low when the themostat set point is reached.

I've never tried unplugging the stove mid burn - will now need to try that.

I'll also check to see what the power usage is (watts/amps) to see if a UPS could be used.

If I turn the stove on, let it start to light, and turn back off, I get smoke inside from the inlet pipe. Never from when I turned it off after it was running for a bit and warmed up. The smoke issue happened when I was trying to seal the pipes back up after moving the stove. I turned it on, saw smoke, turned it off to add more sealant to the pipe.

 

[Wayne M.]

Here’s the pellet in question. I’m considering changing the fuel type.

 

[Wayne M.]

Another shot of the MSDS. It’s a blend. I really don’t know which fuel type to pick.

 

[JR]

Are all pellets a hardwood/softwood blend?

The moisture content is interesting. Generally for wood burning anything under 18% is recommended. I've tested 2+ year old split hard wood and it was still around 13%. I know, apples and oranges I'm learning too.

 

[Wayne M.]

The bag that’s under this bag is this stuff.
https://woodpelletreviews.com/la-crete-wood-pellets/

I was told by the last house owner that these are the best he’s used, and they’re specifically softwood- not a blend.

 

[JR]

Hmm. We don't have a lot of spruce here locally but from what I have seen it burns clean. Quite a bit lower BTU compared to hard woods tho.

 

[NIsaacs]

That's the same company we use but ours are from the Hood River area, Douglas Fir. It is interesting to note, there is no soy added to ours.

 

[AH64ID]

Ours don't have the specs on them, unfortunately, but they are 100% douglas fir so all softwood. A lot of that is probably due to the fact that they are local and local wood is doug fir.

The brand we buy, American Eagle, is exclusive to a local chain D&B Supply. It's all local, which is great, but missing some of the specs from larger companies.

The only pellets I have had any issue with were labeled as softwood, but that was about it in terms of tree type or fillers.

 

[NIsaacs]

It’s just that I didn’t have a problem until I got to this batch of pellets. Since I wasn’t able to properly prepare for winter, I’ve been scrounging like 5 bag batches. This batch is from TSC. The Walmart Pennington stuff worked way better!

Pellets and pellet stoves are like vehicles and tires, some combos just don't work. When Forest Energy built their pellet plant here (mid '90's) they hired me to haul/deliver 6-ton loads to new customers. Most were reluctant to take a chance (pellet quality) on a full semi truck load. The stove manufactures blamed the pellets and the pellet plants would blame the stoves, for burn issues. I heard these type discussions all the time. I think that is sill true today. You have to find a pellet that "your" stove likes.

I ended up getting sucked into the stove v/s pellets with the plant manager one day and I made the mistake of siding with the stoves and got fired

 

[Wayne M.]

I dug out the book on my stove last night, and in the fuel section, they kinda say to use a “utility” setting for pellet types that are vague in description or have a higher ash content, so that’s what I did. I also read an advisory about the fire pot auto-clean and the springs that hold it together. That they might loose tension due to heat and usage.
I switched the fuel type and ran it up for a cycle of about 2 hours and shut it down without a problem. Next, I’ll open it up to inspect those springs. So far so good.

 

[Dan_69GTX]

We have now lived at the new place for 6 days. Have used the pellet stove all the time. Found out if you forget to put pellets in the stove before bed it gets cold in the house. . (I only fill it once a day). We have left it on all the time since my folks live "upstairs" and it helps them run the heat pump less. Found out several neighbors also have pellet stoves for main heat.

Emptying the last bit of the bag into a sifter to remove the fines has eliminated the feed issue.

So, what is a good thing to place around the stove to keep a toddler from leaning against it? Trying to figure out something or to just go back to propane when the grandson is around.