Smoke in Hopper 25 pdv

Ok so I think I did something stupid. Came home from work and started scooping ash out from the left and right sides of the burn pot while stove was running. I had quite a bit of ash on the right and left sides of the burn pot. I had the door open for an extended period of time. After closing the door I opened the hopper and had smoke. It was really low on pellets and so i'm letting them burn off and doing a full clean. I've opened the hopper a few more times since and no smoke.

I normally do a full shutdown at least once a week and a thorough cleaning of the heat exchanger and venting but i haven't done that yet this week. I also will scoop out the burn pot 2-3 times a day depending and dump the ash on to the right and left sides of the burn pot.

Will have having the door open for an extended period while running cause smoke in the hopper?

rich2500 said:

do you have the vacuum switch bypassed that the stove is not shutting down when the door is open for this extended period of time.

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No not that I'm aware of...

Harvey Schneider said:

On the PDV and on the PDVC the vacuum switch stops the upper auger when the door is open. That won't stop smoke from drafting back into the hopper if there is an air leak at the hopper lid seal.

OP make sure that the hopper lid latches pull the hopper lid firmly closed against the gasket.
What happened also indicates that the vent didn't have or lost it's draft. Do you have a vertical section in your vent or is it straight out?

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The auger stops turning when the hopper is open...I have venting that is through the wall and runs vertical. I'm thinking because I had the door open to scoop out ash for an extended period that it may have caused smoke in the hopper?