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What are some reasons a stove kicks out a weaker flame?

Post in 'The Pellet Mill - Pellet and Multifuel Stoves' started by jbrogley, Feb 12, 2008.

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  1. jbrogley New Member

    joined: Nov 10, 2007
    31 posts
    WI
    When it was 35 below we just turned the stove off and closed up the room. When it's not heated that room drops to almost the same temp outside (sunroom...way too many windows). I started the stove up tonight (it's about 20 degrees out) and it's been burning an hour and a half and the stove is just okay...I can still touch all parts of the stove and the air being kicked out isn't that warm.

    I truly think I've cleaned it out nicely. And I've read the manual. It makes no mention of weak flame in the manual.

    What are some reasons for a weak flame?
    When a stove is that cold, does it just take THAT long to warm up?
    jbrogley, Feb 12, 2008
    #1

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  2. webbie Administrator

    joined: Nov 17, 2005
    11,035 posts
    Western Mass.
    I can answer the second part. It takes the air and the walls and the floors, etc a LONG time to warm up in that weather. I use a pellet stove in my shop, so I tend to start it from scratch when it is very cold in there. For many hours afterwards the air comes out fairly lukewarm. The reason for this is that the air GOING IN is freezing. This is the concept of "temperature rise" that I tried to explain in another post here. This means that, for example, the pellet stove may heat up air going through it 25 degrees. So if the air going in is 50, the air coming out may be only 75, which feels quite cool (that is the temp of most air conditioned rooms). But once the room temp gets up to 65, then the air coming out is 90.

    These numbers are just guesses, the actual rise is probably greater, but the theory still holds.

    A weak flame, if that is truly what is happening, could have many causes....or a combination of more than one.

    The vent or heat exchangers - both in the stove and the piping.
    the burn pot not being properly positioned
    and even the blower or controls.
    webbie, Feb 12, 2008
    #2

  3. buildingmaint Feeling the Heat

    joined: Jan 19, 2007
    459 posts
    Oil City PA
    So why have an outside air kit installed ? If inside air is better , and easier to heat ?
    buildingmaint, Feb 12, 2008
    #3

  4. webbie Administrator

    joined: Nov 17, 2005
    11,035 posts
    Western Mass.
    Good point, but a properly designed stove would not use the outside air to send back into the room - only to burn the pellets. I think that is how the better designs work.

    If a stove pulls the regular blower air from the outside - that would cause terrible total efficiency in colder climes.
    webbie, Feb 12, 2008
    #4

  5. jbrogley New Member

    joined: Nov 10, 2007
    31 posts
    WI
    We draw air from the outside...so the air outside is 20 degrees TOPS. The air inside is the same. So it's probably just taking forever to warm up ("I think I can, I think I can!"). We'll watch it. The room is warming up, but we're going on the 3rd hour...oh well...it's okay.
    jbrogley, Feb 12, 2008
    #5

  6. webbie Administrator

    joined: Nov 17, 2005
    11,035 posts
    Western Mass.
    Again, keep in mind that the pellet stove uses two sources of air

    1 for the burning of the pellets - combustion air - from the combustion blower
    then then some for the convection blower- the room air blower

    In most stoves, the outside air only feeds the combustion blower, so that cold air gets burned and goes back outside.

    The other blower takes regular room air, warms it some, and then returns it to the room.
    webbie, Feb 12, 2008
    #6
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