Stove went out

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rehabbingisgreen

rehabbingisgreen

New Member
Sep 29, 2010
130
Missouri
It hasn't been super cold but cold enough to make a fire. So I burn my little guy with about half a hopper full of pellets. I'm burning OHP brand from Orschelns. Normally I vacuum the ash each day but the one day I only scooped the ash and lit it before bed. Well evidently it smothered out or something because it has nonburned pellets piled up in the burn pot. So I guess my question is does this stove have to be vacuumed each day or is this brand of pellets high ash? I'm worried if I ever have to purn a whole hopper this winter it might burn out again. Appreciate any insight!
 
Is this the first time you burned OHP? It's been my experience that OHP does have a lot of ash. Maybe you could try adjusting your air so they burn better?
 
pellets may have "bridged" in the hopper , kinda formed a self supporting dome over the top auger , eventually the dome collapses but if too long passes the fire goes out before the new pellets eventually arrive , so the stove feeds until the stove sees the drop in temp and shuts down
 
fishsniffer said:
Is the stove getting enough air?

IE. do you have a nice healthy flame going?
Click to expand...

X2

Sounds like lack of burn air, IMO.
 
I'm new to this whole thing. Our first pellet stove and it is used so someone else got to break it in lol. These are the only pellets I've ever burned but they do seem to put out quite a bit of ash. I've burned about 5 bags so far I guess. This is the first time it's done this and it was the only time I didn't vacuum it all out after burning half a hopper. My thought was that it died out from too much ash piling up so lack of air but wow this is after not burning much and I did scoop just not vacuum.
 
A "pellet bridge" in the hopper is possibility. Check the pellet load in the hopper and give it a gentle nudge now and then. Regarding pellet stoves, you really can't clean a pellet stove too much.
Well some can.
 
If we knew exactly what the settings were at when it went out it would be easier to diagnose (educated guess from this distance) the problem.
 
That's what I was thinking. We need to know the settings.

Methinks he isn't getting enough air to keep the fire going, or he is getting too much air and blowing the fire out.

Seeing as how he is satisfied with the burn rate before this debacle, I think he needs to turn his air up.
 
stoveguy2esw said:
pellets may have "bridged" in the hopper , kinda formed a self supporting dome over the top auger , eventually the dome collapses but if too long passes the fire goes out before the new pellets eventually arrive , so the stove feeds until the stove sees the drop in temp and shuts down
Click to expand...

But there are unburned pellets in the pot. Not enough air and too many pellets. Sounds like they are bridging in the burnpot. ;-P
 
I'm thinking too much ash. I don't know another brand of pellets close enough to buy to try a different brand. Had a fire this morning after a vacuum again and burned oh prob 3/4 of a hopper full. End of fire I had a pretty good size mound of ash and some unburned pellets at the end of the fire but not a whole lot. The rather large mound of ash is what concerns me. I'll try to get a pic next fire out to see if it an unusual amount of ash or normal. Of course I only thought of that after I just cleaned it again. The fire is a good sized during the rest of the burn. I don't know how to find the settings other than what I have it set on for heat which was 3 and 3. I have a pic of the fire. I'll try to figure out how to post pics here.
 
daydreamer said:
Is this the first time you burned OHP? It's been my experience that OHP does have a lot of ash. Maybe you could try adjusting your air so they burn better?
Click to expand...

That might be the ticket, I think there was a thread recently on adjusting the settings here somehwere so I will look see if I can find it. I've no idea how.
 
Here is a pic of the flame. Excuse the dust and things please, it is a project rehab house.
 

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Ok this is what I am left with in the burn pot after burning about half a hopper full of pellets. This had been vacuumed before start up.
 

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Just a ton of ash in there! I've have never seen ash like that in my stove, evah.
I do a clean & vac every Saturday whether or not it needs it. The stove I mean.
 
rehabbingisgreen said:
Ok this is what I am left with in the burn pot after burning about half a hopper full of pellets. This had been vacuumed before start up.
Click to expand...

I have found that when I have had pellets left over like that on My quadra Fire, the feed rate was too high.

As the stove cycles on and off, the remaining pellets in the burn pot need to be burned completely before the next fire cycle begins.

Try lowering your feed rate if it is adjustable.
 
Bucktail said:
rehabbingisgreen said:
Ok this is what I am left with in the burn pot after burning about half a hopper full of pellets. This had been vacuumed before start up.
Click to expand...

I have found that when I have had pellets left over like that on My quadra Fire, the feed rate was too high.

As the stove cycles on and off, the remaining pellets in the burn pot need to be burned completely before the next fire cycle begins.

Try lowering your feed rate if it is adjustable.
Click to expand...

Ok I will see if I can find the info on how to adjust that anywhere.
 
nosaudioil said:
Just a ton of ash in there! I've have never seen ash like that in my stove, evah.
I do a clean & vac every Saturday whether or not it needs it. The stove I mean.
Click to expand...

I have to vac it out after every burn and no way it's going to burn a hopper full going like this. Just wrong.
 
Wow that is a lot of ash especially after only one bag. I have never had that much ash build up even after 2 weeks of burning pellets and not vacuming.

<<<------- Happy Halloween

Fish sniffer I love the avitar
 
Bucktail said:
rehabbingisgreen said:
Ok this is what I am left with in the burn pot after burning about half a hopper full of pellets. This had been vacuumed before start up.
Click to expand...

I have found that when I have had pellets left over like that on My quadra Fire, the feed rate was too high.

As the stove cycles on and off, the remaining pellets in the burn pot need to be burned completely before the next fire cycle begins.

Try lowering your feed rate if it is adjustable.
Click to expand...

What model Quad do you have, mine never has left over pellets, just a bigger fire.
 
slls said:
Bucktail said:
rehabbingisgreen said:
Ok this is what I am left with in the burn pot after burning about half a hopper full of pellets. This had been vacuumed before start up.
Click to expand...

I have found that when I have had pellets left over like that on My quadra Fire, the feed rate was too high.

As the stove cycles on and off, the remaining pellets in the burn pot need to be burned completely before the next fire cycle begins.

Try lowering your feed rate if it is adjustable.
Click to expand...

What model Quad do you have, mine never has left over pellets, just a bigger fire.
Click to expand...

Quadra-Fire Castille
 
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