True North 40 Pellet Stove goes out or reignites over and over

[RyanA]

This is my first pellet stove.

I had a TN40 installed 1 month ago and I have been having issues since day 1.

The fire will periodically go out on level 1 after burning for a while, ie after 12 hours of operation. Upon inspection, when it goes out there is lots of fuel in the pot. Increasing the auger trim to max does seem to help but I have two scenarios.

1) The fire goes to embers and goes out and there is unburnt fuel in the pot.
2) The fire burns down to just a couple embers. More pellets/fuel are dumped on top of the embers and it eventually reignites which puffs white smoke from the exhaust. This reignition of pellets over embers happens over and over again, once or twice an hour. The repeated reignition of the unburnt pellets which causes a lot of smoke is making a mess of my exterior siding and soffit. The damper is at the manuf default which is close to closed, I opened it a bit but it was much worse. The flame is active and dances and is not lazy.

Additionally, I have noticed that if I add pellets to the hopper when the unit is running I only have a few seconds to add the fuel or the fire will go out. It's a full-on sprint to add pellets and close the hopper before it goes out.

The stove does perform much better on level 2 and symptoms 1&2 noted above rarely happen.

The installer is coming back to vent the intake outside as they thought it may be negative pressure as it's a new build, however, I'm not convinced that's the main culprit.

I'm keeping up with my cleanings.

I would love some suggestions or advice as this is truly frustrating & the repeated smoke from the exhaust is causing build-up on the exterior of my house.

 

[Cincinnati Kid]

This is my first pellet stove.

I had a TN40 installed 1 month ago and I have been having issues since day 1.

The fire will periodically go out on level 1 after burning for a while, ie after 12 hours of operation. Upon inspection, when it goes out there is lots of fuel in the pot. Increasing the auger trim to max does seem to help but I have two scenarios.

1) The fire goes to embers and goes out and there is unburnt fuel in the pot.
2) The fire burns down to just a couple embers. More pellets/fuel are dumped on top of the embers and it eventually reignites which puffs white smoke from the exhaust. This reignition of pellets over embers happens over and over again, once or twice an hour. The repeated reignition of the unburnt pellets which causes a lot of smoke is making a mess of my exterior siding and soffit. The damper is at the manuf default which is close to closed, I opened it a bit but it was much worse. The flame is active and dances and is not lazy.

Additionally, I have noticed that if I add pellets to the hopper when the unit is running I only have a few seconds to add the fuel or the fire will go out. It's a full-on sprint to add pellets and close the hopper before it goes out.

The stove does perform much better on level 2 and symptoms 1&2 noted above rarely happen.

The installer is coming back to vent the intake outside as they thought it may be negative pressure as it's a new build, however, I'm not convinced that's the main culprit.

I'm keeping up with my cleanings.

I would love some suggestions or advice as this is truly frustrating & the repeated smoke from the exhaust is causing build-up on the exterior of my house.

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Perhaps the stove is getting too much air at the lower heat setting.

 

[johneh]

The stove does not feed enough pellets to keep the fire going on #1
There is an adjustment. It is in your manual maybe you should read it
If you don't have one see page 10 in this
one.

https://www.northweststoves.ca/public-documents/412-true-north-tn40-pellet-stove-manual-sept-2016/file

There is a switch in the hopper that will shut the auger off when the hopper door is open
Again I strongly recommend that you read your manual.
I don't mean to sound condescending but both your problems are covered in the manual
Welcome to the forum.

 

[RyanA]

I do appreciate the response and if I'm doing something wrong I'll take constructive criticism and be happy the issue is solved. I have read the manual several times. I mentioned that I increased the auger trim speed to max on level 1 which helps but doesn't cure the issue.

I realize that there is a switch on the hopper door that turns off the auger while open but if I don't close the door within 15 seconds of opening it the fire goes out. Doesn't seem right as less than 15 seconds is not a lot of time to fill the hopper.

 

[ARC]

The installer is coming back to vent the intake outside as they thought it may be negative pressure as it's a new build, however, I'm not convinced that's the main culprit.

If you don't want to wait for the installer to install OAK (outside air kit) you could slightly open a door or widow while stove is running to see if the negative pressure is the cause.

Could you post pictures or a short video of your fire while running on 1. Pictures of the fire burning not the smoke problem. Which mode are you burning in, manual, high/low or auto?

 

[johneh]

Auger Feed TrimThe controls allow you to adjust the Fuel Feed Trim slightly. [Factory setting is number 3]- For low-quality pellets where the unit goes out during long periods on the Low Heat setting, you can increase the amount of pellet feed across the whole heat range. Hold down the Auger button and the display will change to four lights on and one-off, press the UP arrow for the Heat Output to increase the auger on time

 

[RyanA]

Thanks for your reply ARC.

I have cracked a window and I do believe there is negative pressure. There was a steady flow of air coming from outside inward. After 2 hours of testing the cracked window was cooling the house faster than the stove could keep up with. With that being said the performance didn't seem to change much. Hard to say when you sit there staring at a flame, you can trick yourself either way.

I'll post a short video later today of the flame on level 1.

I'm currently running on manual

 

[RyanA]

Please see the attached video of the flame on level 1.

damper default
combustion fan default level 3
auger trim maxed to level 5

* For clarification, the stove does not go out with auger trim maxed to 5, however, the flame still dies to embers and will eventually reignite once the pellets on top of the embers catch causing smoke. Rinse and repeat.

 

[ARC]

I'm currently running on manual

Just to make sure I get this, problem occurs even in manual mode? Hard to tell from any video(fire always looks strong on video) but setting 1 appears to be burning a little strong to much air, not by much but maybe lower draft just a little. You could be burning all the pellets in the pot to fast and when more feeds it suffocates the fire

 

[RyanA]

Correct, I only have run this stove in manual mode and I only have issues on level 1.

Perhaps I should try and close the damper just a tad?

With the season upon us, I'm sure I'll be running on level 2 all the time. Frustrating as level 2 is too much in late spring / early fall.

I have the same belief as you, it may be burning too fast resulting in the undesired suffocation.