Pellet Hopper lid opening itself? XXV Harman

[TedNH]

This happens randomly to me.
It happened again last night. I went to bed with the stove off and when I checked it this morning the lid was open. Not like open to fill with pellets but it just jumped the latch.
Any ideas?

 

[HarryBack]

I havent heard anything like that Ted....Gremlins?

 

[Corie]

Very strange.................

 

[GVA]

I've seen that, but always thought it was one of the kids opening the hopper to swish pellets around... But this was while it was running.Was yours off when you filled it and started itself in the middle of the night? If it was it could be the "pyrosomethinorother" ....Harry can explain.
When your stove fills with the combustible gasses at startup and when it finally ignites theres a big pop and whoosh etc.

 

[HarryBack]

yeah...upon startup, just before ignition, there are alot of flammable gasses in the burn chamber. WHen you get fire, they suddenly combust, creating somewhat of a pressure wave....although this would be hard to allow in the hopper, as the pressure wave would have to go thru the full auger AND hopper to pop the lid. oh...the "pyrosomethingorother" is the process of combustion, or pyrolysis. As for the unburned gas combusting suddenly, this tends to be an issue of a stove thats wanting to be cleaned, particularly the ignitor. Cleaner ignitors tend to do this alot less...maybe not your case, Ted, but just a suggestion. Good observation too, GVA....plausible, I guess, and probably the best explanation so far, especially if the hopper was close to empty.