firing up cold stove???

How cold is cold?

I have the same problem. My chimney Is on the outside of the house A lined cindre block chimney. When It is cold out and I have not used the stove for a day I do get a lot of smoke in the stove at start up.
When my old wood stove was hooked to the same chimney and the conditions were right I would have to open the house door to help the draft to start moving up the chimney
Not a big deal with the pellet stove as the blower will eventually get the fire going.

From what I have seen on the forum most pellet stoves do that. My pellet furnace puts out a lot of smoke at start up. Same with a camp fire or wood stove. Once you get a good bed of pellet coals, hot burn pot and so on, the draft and fuel should settle into a self sustaining balance. Before that the draft and fuel ratio are probably all over the place causing smoke. Some of it may also be steam from moisture in the cold stove especially if you are using an OAK.

yooper81 said:

Yeah I think it is a combination of several factors. Going to try something this afternoon when it gets turned on. Reduce the amount of pellets in the pot, and open the nearby door as I don't use an OAK.......

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The best way I found to reduce the start-up smoke is not using the igniter and manually start it. Manual start reduced the amount of start-up smoke by around 80% and it quit smoking much quicker. I never use the igniter; always manually start mine and keep it in a low burn 24-7.

yooper81 said:

Just curious as to why my stove generates so much more smoke when lighting off cold? Only thing I can suspect is the pot takes longer heat up, thus more smoldering going on, possibly a few to many pellets? The actual point of "ignition" is a bit louder and the blower can't move all that smoke so I get a little pass-by at my seams in the venting. No big deal, was just curious is all......

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When was the last time your vent was cleaned?

The ash trap on the bottom right hand side cleaned out?

And all 8 small holes (and ignitor slot) all at the bottom base (flat area) of the pot cleaned out?

Also fuel quality plays a big part. A smaller, better quality pellet seems to light exceptionally well. Where a longer, lower quality will smolder more.

My Quad when cleaned out will start up almost smokeless (cold or hot). And if its hot and shuts down for anything less than 30 min, the stove is still warm enough that it almsot overfeeds and creates an insane fire. (I run a large swing now because of this) Another reason why I prefer to run it constantly, when temps permit.

Last year it ran 24/7, shutting down on Sunday for a cleaning. Starting up and running straight another week (Low 90% of the time). This year we use the furnace (pellet furnace) most of the time. But the Quad still gets used when its 35°-40°. Run it on the stat with a 2° swing, so it shuts off for a good amount of time.

What stat are you using? The Quad Smart batt? What brand pf pelletz?

I light mine with propane torch all the time and very little smoke at start up.

yooper81 said:

Just curious as to why my stove generates so much more smoke when lighting off cold? Only thing I can suspect is the pot takes longer heat up, thus more smoldering going on, possibly a few to many pellets? The actual point of "ignition" is a bit louder and the blower can't move all that smoke so I get a little pass-by at my seams in the venting. No big deal, was just curious is all......

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My GF had this happen to her, the pot filled up with pellets and the ignitor lit the bottom, oxygen-starved pellets. Being in an oxygen-starved environment, as is well known on these forums, wood burns poorly. Hence the smoke.

That's my guess.

yooper81 said:

I just got things started for the evening cool down and I let it auto start, but I stopped the feed early, waited for ignition, then started feed again. Virtually no smoke. I think I may be getting a bit to many pellets for the "cold" start. It's fine when running off T-stat. Going to try the manual light tomorrow after cleaning.

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What do mean by stopped the feed?

Our stoves have a timer at start-up. They start for 95 sec (1 min 35 sec) with the auger turning constantly. They always start on High. And any adjustment you make to the feed gate, wont be seen for a few minutes (10-15) after start-up.

Are you intervening somehow to stop the flow of pellets (opening.door?)

Otherwise, its start on High, 95 sec feed, ignition, thermocouple senses heat, stoves starts to feed more pellets after fire, then stove drops to selected heat setting.

Please explain..

Can't you lower the feed gate in the the hopper?

My quad smoked and had explosive starts when the burnpot holes got plugged with carbon. I used a drill bit to cleaned them out. Some use gun brushes to get them open again. THe holes just above the igniter where the ones that made a big difference, But I always got them all cleaned for the near no smoke starts.

yooper81 said:

Yes, I let it start and after a minute or so I opened the hopper to stop the feed and waited about the same amount of time, then closed the lid. dropped a few more pellets, lit off and then took off as usual with no fuel until the auger started again. So, I basically reduced the amount of fuel in the pot. Didn't seem to affect anything else. AND my fire was no where near as high from all the extra fuel. My guess is it just might be getting a bit to much fuel initially. Again, this is just when the cast iron pot is cool. I have no issues when it is hot.

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After you close the feed gate (make an adjustment), it takes "Minutes", before you see those changes. Like 10 minutes. So when you close it all the way, its really doing nothing. That auger shoot, is already full of Pellets. Even the full start up cycle wouldnt be affected if you closed it 100% of the way right at the beginning. There is enough pellets in there for the entire start up.

Any adjustment made takes at least 5-10 minutes to see the change. The auger only spins so much per cycle. On high its 7.5 sec, Med 6 sec, and Low is 4.7 sec (On auger cycle time).

The only way to ensure the "Proper" amount (being vague, because Quads are not very High tech) is to set your flame height. Page 24 of the manual talks about a flame 4"-6" above the pot on high. It tells you in the manual to wait 15 minutes before another adjustment (because it takes that long before the pellets at the top of the auger shoot, are uniform to that gate setting). It does not happen right away. That auger shoot is pretty long, and the auger only spins so much per cycle. Takes time.

Smoke is just a product of ignition. Sometimes it's more. Sometimes it's less. Sometimes it's immediate because a pellet goes right into the slit and its like clockwork. Other times, its a smokey mess and you cant see the firepot. As long as it starts. I see no problems. ;-P

Mine never smokes when cold or at any other time. I don't have an ignitor, I use a egg carton cup filled with sawdust and paraffin wax to start the stove.

I light the wax soaked edges of the egg carton cup, like a candle. The fire spreads across the waxed sawdust. I start the stove on the lowest setting and it fires off smoke free every time.

Dave

For me, the more smoke at startup the quicker the glass gets dirty. My totally unscientific opinion is that once the glass get crap on it from the dirty startup, I leaves a base for more stuff to easily build up on.
One start with a long burn time leaves the glass fairly clean. Multiple starts over the same burn time mucks it up pretty good.