My paranoid wife who's afraid of everything is being ridiculous about leaving the pellet stove on when we're sleeping or going to work. I thought this was the whole idea of having one. Anyone else have this to deal with? Any advice on how to convince her its as safe as can possibly be? Also, if anyone has ever heard of a fire from a pellet stove incident, please post it here. I'm guessing the newer models have come a ways in safety features. I know my Accentra has a lot of them. Thank in advance. B-
How to Convince the Paranoid Wife the Pellet Stove Is Safe??
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Branson4720
Burning Hunk
My Accentra has run 24/7 during the cold months since 2005 with no issues at all. My wife and I feel that it is perfectly safe.
IHATEPROPANE
Minister of Fire
Myself and my wife were nervous at first....but now no worries at all and it runs 24/7 in the cold.
Yes there are instances where fires can happen. Proper installation, operation, and maintenance should make the chances of this happening very small.....plus there are built in safety features to minimize the chance as well.
Yes there are instances where fires can happen. Proper installation, operation, and maintenance should make the chances of this happening very small.....plus there are built in safety features to minimize the chance as well.
Bioburner
Moderator
Unlike a gas appliance it won't blowup. Smoke and CO detector close to stove and by bedroom. It's not made in China like those window units that have been problematic. I've lived with pellet stoves since 83 and was in a active Fire Dept of a major metro area and have only heard of two pellet stove related fires.
I think most people are concerned at first. That is normal. Try running it longer and longer until you are comfortable letting it go all night.
EastMtn
Burning Hunk
- May 19, 2013
- 205
The pellet stove is a heater just like a boiler or furnace. All of these types of equipment that use combustible fuels whether it be oil, natural gas, or pellets have been designed to be self contained and operate within specific parameters. Tell her that a pellet stove has limit switches and a fan to blow out exhaust just like a furnace does. They operate on thermostats just like a furnace. I doubt she's afraid of a furnace or a boiler. If the unit operates outside its designed parameters it is designed to shut itself off. Perfect example is the problem you just had with your auger motor. It was shorting out so a small $2 fuse prevented the stove from operating due to the abnormal symptoms it was receiving and rightly so.
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reallyte
Feeling the Heat
People are often less afraid of a furnace because it is down stairs hidden away. I can see the concern but after understanding how most pellets stoves work, they are much safer than any furnace/boiler. As others have stated, proper installation and care make it extremely safe, just like any other combustion device (Tell her the car is much more dangerous because it is true).
dlehneman
Member
Last year was our first year with a pellet stove. Took the basic precautions with building a hearth pad the correct size, vented according to recommendations and installed a CO2/ detector near the pellet stove and swapped out the old one near the bedroom. I got up at least once a night to check on it at first but soon got comfortable with it and the associated noises. I think it's one of the safest ways to heat as long as you follow basic safety guidelines and clean it on a regular basis.
jtakeman
Minister of Fire
Many of us went thru this. It will pass in due time. Be patient grasshopper!
john193
Minister of Fire
As others have mentioned, do it right and you will minimize your risk. We extended the base of our fireplace with a large piece of slab and installed a CO detector. Me, the lady and the dog sleep like babies.
turn off your furance/boiler so she freezes at night..
MountainSean
Credo Quia Absurdum
Markus38
Member
My wife was worried at first also. She would tell turn off the stove during the night. After a few weeks, she started understanding and eventually trusting the stove. I also had all the thermostats in the house set low 58-65. After a few nights of it being really cold, she let me crank the stove day and night. We burned 6.5 tons the first year. She started loving he stove about mid January but still calls it my girlfriend.
Yep... give it time... Then let her see your still wasting money on another fuel (more expensive to use) to heat the joint while your away or sleeping.
More money saved using pellets and your warmer.
Today's stoves have just as many safety devices (some more, depending on the type and age of you unit) as there fossil fuel counterparts.
Nicholas440
Feeling the Heat
If I leave the house I turn mine off... when I go to bed I turn it off..... I've had a few middle of the night wakeups due to my Quad running wild on the feed and over fed and smoked up the entire house... I sleep a lot better when it's off...
MommyOf4
Feeling the Heat
I am a wife with 4 young girls and a husband. I was at first EXTREMELY nervous about leaving it on at night and while we were away. I would even wake up in the middle of the night to make sure no one died of carbon monoxide poisoning and there was no fire in our basement. After about a week in a half of doing so, I found that I was 1) way too tired to do anything, 2) being ridiculous, and 3) it was extremely safe.
I hope this helps your wife.
I hope this helps your wife.
I am a wife with 4 young girls and a husband. I was at first EXTREMELY nervous about leaving it on at night and while we were away. I would even wake up in the middle of the night to make sure no one died of carbon monoxide poisoning and there was no fire in our basement. After about a week in a half of doing so, I found that I was 1) way too tired to do anything, 2) being ridiculous, and 3) it was extremely safe.
I hope this helps your wife.
Bioburner
Moderator
If I could not get the Quad to work properly this biped would be giving it the boot.
john193
Minister of Fire
Have you had it looked at? This isn't normal operation at all and is the exception rather than the norm.
briansol
Minister of Fire
This fear is one of the reasons why I got an insert over a free-standing unit elsewhere.
The insert gave me piece of mind that if it ever caught fire, its where a fire should be.... in the fire place. lol
going on 6 years later, it still hasn't caught on fire.... lol and I wish I had gotten a free-standing unit so that I could use my fireplace for a wood fire in the case of a power failure, etc.
Just keep it clean, and install it to code and proper, and never skimp on anything safety related like a thimble or exhaust pipe, and you should be just fine.
The insert gave me piece of mind that if it ever caught fire, its where a fire should be.... in the fire place. lol
going on 6 years later, it still hasn't caught on fire.... lol and I wish I had gotten a free-standing unit so that I could use my fireplace for a wood fire in the case of a power failure, etc.
Just keep it clean, and install it to code and proper, and never skimp on anything safety related like a thimble or exhaust pipe, and you should be just fine.
DuelburnJake
Burning Hunk
Maybe introduce her to a few online resources about the use of wood heating like http://woodheat.org/? A proper install and inspection and you should be good to go. It took about 30 mins to convince my better half we were safe to go! (she had never been around wood/pellet stoves/heat before we bought our house) After showing her the safety features of our stove and some guide lines on line she was all set.
stoveguy2esw
Minister of Fire
i have gotten up and went to work with my pellet stove up and running and my wife and child sleeping in their beds for years.
full disclosure , i build pellet stoves for a living and have for just over 20 years. now i do not build the Harman stoves but as a competitor i will say that they are among the very best in the industry in making a quality safe to operate unit.
as for reassurance , (and we should have them anyway) smoke and CO detectors are a MUST, regardless of what is being used for heating, no matter who built it or what it burns, if it makes a fire GET THEM, TEST THEM REGULARLY AND REPLACE THEM AT THE PRESCRIBED INTERVAL. this is insurance against somthing which could happen with any heating appliance even a central furnace.
full disclosure , i build pellet stoves for a living and have for just over 20 years. now i do not build the Harman stoves but as a competitor i will say that they are among the very best in the industry in making a quality safe to operate unit.
as for reassurance , (and we should have them anyway) smoke and CO detectors are a MUST, regardless of what is being used for heating, no matter who built it or what it burns, if it makes a fire GET THEM, TEST THEM REGULARLY AND REPLACE THEM AT THE PRESCRIBED INTERVAL. this is insurance against somthing which could happen with any heating appliance even a central furnace.
Sounds like the stove did a Hot restart. Quads need time (even after they fully shut down) to cool. If the thermocouple still is hotter than 200° (it sits on a Thick Cast pot that keeps a lot of heat) then when it goes to restart, the auger doesn't wait for ignition to start feeding more pellets. After the initial 60 sec auger dump, the stove thinks its lit and just keeps feeding more to the pot. This makes for a smokey start and also a HUGE flame for several minutes until it burns down.
Normal operation: stat calls for heat
Combustion blower starts and auger feeds 60 sec worth of fuel into pot and ignitor comes on. Fuel is ignited. Thermocouple recognizes the fire (200°) and auger starts to feed again.
Hot start: stat calls for heat (not long after stove last shut down), combustion blower starts and auger feeds 60 sec of fuel into pot and ignitor comes on. Immediately after the 60 auger feed. The auger goes right into dumping how ever many seconds worth (based on your heat setting) and you wind up with a very full pot before ignition. Smokes like crazy because the pelletstthay are trying to ignite are under a deep pile of pellets.
What type of stat do you have? What type of swing are you using? And is the feed gate set properly? Those would be the 1st 3 questions I'd have to solve the issue.
If the stove is starting up less than 30 min after shut down? Did it really need to shut down at all? Maybe run a lower heat setting than what you run now?
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