Does anyone have any issues with their pellet stove tunneling straight down to the auger? I have a USSC 6039 and the pellets tunnel straight down leaving everything on the sides. I have tried furniture polish which helped a little, wiped with damp cloth and out talc powder down. Not sure what else to do?? We can only leave the house for a few hours when it's cold or it goes out and has 3/4 of an auger full once you move the pellets back.
Pellets tunneling
- Thread starter janicevet
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Ranger72
Minister of Fire
Hello janice,
Seems to be a pellet specific thing - some pellet compositions have a higher coefficient of friction with the hopper walls. Various suggestions have included silicone / teflon / dry lube sprays, car wax, rub with wax paper, etc - anything that decreases the metal-to-pellet friction factor. I found Protect-All carnuba wax spray from the Walmart* RV section worked well and lasted longer in my hopper.
Vacuum all the fine dust out well before you apply anything, and for any product you use that's flammable, make sure you wipe it dry real well before you dump more pellets in or they can absorb the propellant residue. Someone just had a post about rubbing graphite onto the hopper walls, available apparently at feed supply stores in quart bottles, that can also be used in the fire pot to reduce carbon build-up on the clean-out plate, so I'm going to try that next.
Good luck ! DK
Seems to be a pellet specific thing - some pellet compositions have a higher coefficient of friction with the hopper walls. Various suggestions have included silicone / teflon / dry lube sprays, car wax, rub with wax paper, etc - anything that decreases the metal-to-pellet friction factor. I found Protect-All carnuba wax spray from the Walmart* RV section worked well and lasted longer in my hopper.
Vacuum all the fine dust out well before you apply anything, and for any product you use that's flammable, make sure you wipe it dry real well before you dump more pellets in or they can absorb the propellant residue. Someone just had a post about rubbing graphite onto the hopper walls, available apparently at feed supply stores in quart bottles, that can also be used in the fire pot to reduce carbon build-up on the clean-out plate, so I'm going to try that next.
Good luck ! DK
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Bioburner
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Tonyray
Minister of Fire
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