Scary Incident

Glad nothing horrible happened!! Yes, you did learn a valuable lesson!

Yes, pellet pile up and burn pot burning pellet dump-age is a serious matter, as is the back burn in the pellet chute, and I'm afraid to add so is your response of opening the the lid, you should have hit the off button on the stove.

That would have kept the fans running and the burn pot would have been burned down, the pellet flow stopped, the stuff in the chute would have gone into the burn pot, but most importantly of all, you would not have added any air into the hooper which could have made any smoky or smoldering issue in the hopper a fire issue.

I had my own scary in a hurry incident yesterday, I was rushing around getting ready for this weeks business trip, and was rushing through too many chores at the same time, The hopper was empty as I had let the stove burn out, vacuumed the hopper, and stuck the Graphite spray can tube into the auger well. Big fireball as there were some embers still in the firepot that ignited the spray when it exited the auger into the burn chamber.

No hair left on forearms! Well I took a 10 minute break and finished the rest of the cleaning and chores with a lot more deliberation and care.
Glad you and your family and home are safe, Just for reference, if there was any burn back into your hopper opening the lid could have been a bad thing,
probably better to have put the stove into auto off and let the fire go out that way.

We must always take our stoves seriously.

What becomes a very simple task can turn ugly if we don't pay attention.

My little brush with the edge of the envelope was a while back.

I had been running the little whit on Low (usual setting) for a week or more with only a quick swish of the fire pot using a putty knife.

Turned the feed back on and set it on (2) and wandered off with a cup of coffee to sit on the puter.

On (2) the fire can get going far larger than the (1) setting that I usually use.

I am sitting on the puter and about 30 minutes + - go by and I smell a nasty burnng paint smell. :bug: I jump up and go to investigate. The smell is obviously the paint that is burning off the vent pipe.

I shut the stove off right quick and grabbed a towel and soaked it in water and wrapped it around the vent, then went outside to check the vent terminus.

After grabbing some gloves, I carefully removes the vent Elbo (45 degree aimed away from the house) and peaked inside the pipe.

The low burn had left a 1/4" layer of combustible "Fluff" on the inner pipe and it was glowing red hot.

I used a long stick and rattled the burning materials loose and raked it out of the pipe.


There was no damage to anything, but a reminder that even the nut shells can leave combustible residue in the vent when on low.

Had this occured while we were away things could have gotten ugly.

Now this vent is only 2 feet long through the wall, but it was mighty hot.

The pipe had been painted with ??? before I got it, as it had been used for a demo setup at a home show and I bought it from the stove shop for a minimal cost due to the BROWN paint that they used.

The pipe had never been used, but the ugly brown paint was likely not high heat type and ws smoking BIG TIME and skunked up the house.

After a complete cool down the pipe seemed no worse for the wear. No warpage or anything else bad.

From that point on, I dont let the little stove run for more than a week without clearing the pipe too.

The large Whit never seems to get anything other than gray ash in it except right at the end screen which will see some crud.

We must always be vigilant with our stoves.

Glad all is well with you folks.

Snowy