This is my first season with a pellet stove, a Lennox Bella that vents through a 4" pipe, 5' vertically then 2' horizontally and exits 5' above a wood deck. I have used 4 different brands of pellets this year and found 3 of them to be unsatisfactory for a variety of reasons. The one pellet I really like, Vermont (softwood), shoots fireworks out of my vent pipe.
I've read archived posts on this forum from people who would not accept sparks out of their vents, and those who say they wouldn't be concerned, but not many posts from those who do shoot embers out of their pellet vents and don't have any issues. These are the people I would like to hear from. From what I can gather this doesn't seem to be a very unique problem.
When burning the Vermont brand softwood pellets the stove will vent embers at an average rate of a half dozen a minute. The average ember glowing for a few seconds (3'-5') after exiting the vent, some longer. I only notice this on occasion while burning other pellets, but it seems almost constant with the Vermont pellets.
I have reduced the draft setting to a point where my fire is borderline lazy, and I have double vacuum the fines from the pellets before I use them to no avail.
How concerned should I be? I would like to purchase all of my pellets for next year this spring, and would like to go with the Vermont pellets as they are shorter, cleaner and hotter than the others I have used, but the fireworks are a little troubling.
-Gary
I've read archived posts on this forum from people who would not accept sparks out of their vents, and those who say they wouldn't be concerned, but not many posts from those who do shoot embers out of their pellet vents and don't have any issues. These are the people I would like to hear from. From what I can gather this doesn't seem to be a very unique problem.
When burning the Vermont brand softwood pellets the stove will vent embers at an average rate of a half dozen a minute. The average ember glowing for a few seconds (3'-5') after exiting the vent, some longer. I only notice this on occasion while burning other pellets, but it seems almost constant with the Vermont pellets.
I have reduced the draft setting to a point where my fire is borderline lazy, and I have double vacuum the fines from the pellets before I use them to no avail.
How concerned should I be? I would like to purchase all of my pellets for next year this spring, and would like to go with the Vermont pellets as they are shorter, cleaner and hotter than the others I have used, but the fireworks are a little troubling.
-Gary