Big E delayed ignition this morning...

[flamegrabber]

Shutdown my Big E this AM for a quick cleaning and when I restarted it it tool a long time to light back up.

I started watching it and the chamber completely filled with white smoke and after a while it lit up with a poof!

It's never done that before. Usually starts up quickly with very little smoke.

I gave the stove a thorough cleaning last Friday ( blowers, etc. ) and it burned fine all weekend through this morning.

Burning Lignetics pellets that look to be ok.

I had the damper all the way in. Could this be the cause? Should I pull it out some at startup?

Any advice would be much appreciated.

Thanks alot,

FG.

 

[ronlat]

Do you have an outside air source to the stove and is it cold out? With the damper 1/2 open or more and cold outside air will cause a delay in ignition. This is because the air is so cold the ignitor takes a while to build up enough heat to cause the pellets to reach auto ignition temps. Try closing the damper to almost closed until the fire actually lights then open the damper to normal setting.

Ron

 

[flamegrabber]

Thanks alot for your suggestion Ron. I will remember that tip.

It's a pretty drafty room, no outside air source, and it was warm in the room so I'm not sure that was the problem.

I just talked to Eric at Kinsman Stoves and he told me to pull the damper out 1/2 way during startup. I had it all the way in and it was starving the chamber of oxygen, so the pellets just smoldered for a while.

Half way out for startup then re-adjust when it's running.

I'm hopeing that ends up being the problem because it's easy to fix.

I went through a ton of Maine Woods pellets, 80/20 hardwood/softwood and those seem to light up easier than these Lignetics hardwood, which are much harder and more dense, and heavier too.

So I think with these Lignetics pellets the stove needs more air to light up.

Thanks again.

FG.

Do you have an outside air source to the stove and is it cold out? With the damper 1/2 open or more and cold outside air will cause a delay in ignition. This is because the air is so cold the ignitor takes a while to build up enough heat to cause the pellets to reach auto ignition temps. Try closing the damper to almost closed until the fire actually lights then open the damper to normal setting.

Ron

 

[ronlat]

Hardwoods are definitely harder to light. my Breckwell manuals said to leave dampers nearly closed until ignition then open to 1/2 to 3/4 to speed up ignition times.

Thanks alot for your suggestion Ron. I will remember that tip.

It's a pretty drafty room, no outside air source, and it was warm in the room so I'm not sure that was the problem.

I just talked to Eric at Kinsman Stoves and he told me to pull the damper out 1/2 way during startup. I had it all the way in and it was starving the chamber of oxygen, so the pellets just smoldered for a while.

Half way out for startup then re-adjust when it's running.

I'm hopeing that ends up being the problem because it's easy to fix.

I went through a ton of Maine Woods pellets, 80/20 hardwood/softwood and those seem to light up easier than these Lignetics hardwood, which are much harder and more dense, and heavier too.

So I think with these Lignetics pellets the stove needs more air to light up.

Thanks again.

FG.

Do you have an outside air source to the stove and is it cold out? With the damper 1/2 open or more and cold outside air will cause a delay in ignition. This is because the air is so cold the ignitor takes a while to build up enough heat to cause the pellets to reach auto ignition temps. Try closing the damper to almost closed until the fire actually lights then open the damper to normal setting.

Ron