How did your pellet stove start up go this year?

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mainegeek

Member
Dec 6, 2008
202
Central Maine
I just fired the Mt. Vernon AE up for the first time this season. It spent the summer unplugged. Earlier today I did my inspection of it -- All looked good.

I filled the hopper, plugged it in, after auto-clean placed a handful of pellets in burn pot. About 10 min later she was burning wonderfully.

I had a bit of a scare though when she then decided to throw a low burn pot temp. Luckily I retried, she restarted, and has been burning great since. It seems I either didn't place enough pellets in the burn pot to get it started or the feeder tube just needed to prime with pellets (or a combo of both).

So, how did every one else start up go?
 
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Mine went flawless but I did pretty much a complete overhaul on my stove a few weeks ago.Took it out of the house blew it out with a leaf blower,replaced combustion blower,convection blower,2 new auger motors and bearings,replaced burn pot gasket,cleaned everything real good and repainted.hopefully I'm trouble free for a few seasons now.
 
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Bad ignitor as suggested by prevoius owner. The acetylene tourch got the pellets started in a jiffy though. First year with the p61a but always burned coal growing up.
 
With todays temp not even hitting 60ºF and tonight might go as low as 36ºF wifey said I better see if it fires. Removed cork in vent and OAK. Dumped some fresh ones in the hopper. Gave the blowers a quick spin to see if they were free(they were) and hit the go button. Fire in 5 minutes and she's a blazin heat to get the house to 72ºF(was at 69ºF to start). I'd say business as usual and I need to get some more pellets! Ahh wait, I always need more pellets. ::-)
 
Both of ours started up just fine this year. Both of 'em are burning right now.
 
Ran good right off the bat! Ran it two hours last weekend to see if it was ready. Had it going today for longer. Looks like it ay be a daily occurrence.
 
Well I unplugged the OAK and vent, re-attached the termination cap, loaded the hopper, plugged it in, and hit on. Had a fire in short order. It has been on twice the first time was a test burn and the second was to save precious bodily fluids (household revolt was in process). It takes two nights down in the low to mid thirties before the troops get restless. Last night was one such night. Maybe tomorrow morning it will be on again. I've got to finish my interior storms (no matter how fast I go I always get further behind).
 
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no fire here yet.the new vf55 was installed last weekend with the help of our fellow forum member ,Nailer.we went thru the roof and nailer made it look so easy.thanks again Mike.no need for fire just yet here.hopper is filled with trebios and ready to go if ,and thats a big IF, the stat calls for heat.lookin forward to burnin with this monster this year
 
Smooth as silk
smiley-happy096.gif
 
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I drifted over toward the stove....the power cord magically plugged itself in....I gently pushed the power button and .......POOF .....I woke up from my dream.

Nope, didn't turn the stove on....yet.
 
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Fired the Fahrenheit up for the first time this season today. High temp stayed under 50°F, so a bit too chilly inside the house for comfort. No issues at all. Furnace fired right up as good as new. I always end my burning season with a complete clean-out (furnace and PL vent), so the first burn is always a good one (aside from the smell from the dust, etc. burning through the vents which always subsides within an hour or two). Still looking around for good pellet deals. Everyone seems to have Nation's Choice which I have read and heard is terrible.
 
Filled the PF100 furnace hopper with 4 bags of MWP softies and turned on the circuit breaker. Went upstairs and turned the T stat up.. Waited for the tell tale sign of smoke out of the vent to confirm pellet ignition and saw none after quite awhile. Went outside and I could hear the combustion fan running out the vent pipe. I said..."Here we go.... problems on the first day". Went to the basement to find I forgot to close and latch the hopper cover. The hopper pressurizes and with the lid open, it couldn't. Closed the lid and within a few minutes....ignition...liftoff of the 2012 -13 heating season........Damn it!
 
Last spring I moved the pellet stove out of the fireplace (25' chimney w/stainless flex liner) to a through-the-wall install with OAK. Temps have been real marginal here so far, so last week I put the Efel solid fuel burner that the pellet stove displaced back into the fireplace and have been burning cord wood here and there as needed (like today) - still have a couple of cords hanging around that are over two years old now and really DRY - nice! It's been running great :eek:. Now if the wife will let me have two stoves in the house at once, I won't have to take the Efel out when the pellet stove comes in at the end of the month... I like options. Wish me luck!
 
Test burn last week after a quick paint job. Unplugged oak and vent, fired up with the pellets that were in the hopper all summer: no issues. Let it burn for a while to empty the hopper and cure the paint.

Tonight, fresh bag of Firesides and the first real heating burn is underway. Toasty 70 deg upstairs, 62 deg starting point. Just turned off the stove...warm enough for the evening.
 
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Started my stove to take the chill off the porch this morning, it worked as expected. All I did was clean it and perform the leaf blower trick, this summer. I used some of last year's left over pellets, they worked just fine.

No need to unplug the OAK, as it is the dog door, just six feet from the stove.

Dave
 
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Test burn last week after a quick paint job. Unplugged oak and vent, fired up with the pellets that were in the hopper all summer: no issues. Let it burn for a while to empty the hopper and cure the paint.

Tonight, fresh bag of Firesides and the first real heating burn is underway. Toasty 70 deg upstairs, just turned off the stove...warm enough for the evening.

G, Let me know how you like them firesides?
 
Just fired up the new Harman tonight, all is well. I will probably wait till it gets a little colder to light up the AE downstairs though.
 
G, Let me know how you like them firesides?

Hey J

Bough 2 bags to test out. Burned for two and a half hours, brought upstairs from unfinished basement to above 70 and nice warm floor-enough to shut it down for the night. Burned clean, little ash, no temp reading but the hand in front of blower test was "ouch" in a few seconds. Early to tell but cant complain so far. Will let you know more after both bags are burned.
 
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All ended up good thanks to my friends at Hearth.com!

Looks like I will wake up to about 82 degrees on the first floor! At least the wife will be happy, I will be sweating.

Too funny...and oh so true ! ;lol
 
Quad started as usual. Fahrenheit was plugged in and Exhaust unplugged.

The woodstove has been crankin since yesterday. Its 76° upstairs and 91° down!!! Yeah. The Wife is pissed!
 
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