Whitfield Pellet Stove

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Suzanne2847

New Member
Dec 10, 2010
1
Philadelphia Pennsylvania
I have a Whitfield Pellet stove about 20 years old. We have had it serviced a few times. The last time was in December 2009, but it's still not working properly. When I start it up, I always have to have the heat output switch set to the highest position to make sure there's enough air flow. Once the fire is going for a while, I can't turn the switch to a lower position because the flame turns orange (not a bright yellow) & eventually goes out. I've had the house fill with smoke also.
 
#1 Is the stove squeaky clean?

#2 Have you adjusted the damper properly?

There's more, but this is a good start. :)
 
Suzanne, welcome to the forum.

It sounds like you have classic "dirty stove" syndrome. The stove innards are clogged with ash in places that you and the "service" person just aren't getting to, therefore restricting the amount of air available to the burn pot.

Your description of "the flame turns orange (not a bright yellow) & eventually goes out" I think confirms this.

Only solution is to have the stove taken apart as much as humanly possible, including both blowers and the exhaust pipes, and vacuum everything......make sure that any ash traps are opened & cleaned.

Depending on the way your exhaust piping is set-up, you may be able to also use a leaf blower to extract the remaining ash. Take a look at this thread that also has some pics & video.

www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/forums/viewthread/64138/

Also, have the door and/or window gaskets ever been replaced? Could be air leaks there. Try the dollar bill test while stove is cool....open door, place dollar bill in between door edge and stove, and shut the door as you would normally to run it. If the bill slides out easily w/o much or any resistance, the gasket may need to be replaced, or door adjusted.
 
Welcome

Which model of Whitfield do you have ???

Th larger ones have a set of easily removable as baffles right behind the firebrick pieces.

Its takes ony a few minutes on a COLD stove to get at this area.

There should be two screws on each side of the outer firebrick area that retains the two pieces of sheet metal that retain the brick/backing

Remove the firepot
Remove/loosen the two scews on either side and then remove the metal retainers.
Remove the fireback/brick pieces
Vacuum the ash out thats behind the brick pieces.
There are two more screws inside the little channel (primary ash trap)
Remove these screws and then slide the baffle inward toward the center of the stove.
These items are like a Chinese puzzle so take note how they come out (do one side at a time.

Vacuum this area good.
Removing the exhaust fan and vacuuming the cavity all out is a good idea too.

I use an air compressor and direct the nozzle into the inner passageway (with stove exhaust fan ON)

This blows out all the crap thats in there.

If the stove is direct vented, the pipe can be vacuumed out easily with a long hose.

If this has a stack vent then the cleanout cover needs to be removed and the pipe cleaned or at least checked.

Keep us posted

Snowy
 
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