Drolet Eco-45 Lazy Flame , Heavy Sooting, Burnpot overfills

[Eco-45 User]

Hi, I've had this pellet stove for about 8 years. Recently we changed to a different pellet supplier as Rona no longer wished to carry pellets. Since then I have had black soot, clinkers and now the stove is acting up. Before that we were using Premium White Pine pellets and were the nicest burning pellets we had ever had in this stove.
I cleaned the whole exhaust venting, fan blades and the port for the pressure switch, so I do not believe that is the problem. I either have an obstructed intake or the top of the stove where the tubes are is obstructed.
I also checked the intake electric fans and they seem to be working fine. The blower fan was changed a couple of years ago and the new one has ball bearings in it instead of bushings.
I have a lazy flame and when I start the stove it puffs smoke out around the glass and door sometimes. I have to turn the intake vent almost closed to stop it. The burn pot fills up in 4-5 hours and I have to shut it down and clean it out.
I came across a posting back in 2009 on another site where a guy was having the same problem, but I could not find where it was resolved.
Does anyone know what is causing this?

 

[johneh]

The short answer is lack of combustion air
Also known as hidden blocked exhaust passages
Try the leaf blower trick
Could also be a blocked combustion air intake
If you use the leaf blower trick make sure you open
the stove door so as not to damage the vacuum switch

 

[zrock]

Different pellets burn different that is for sure.. I get my pellets at Canadian tire as they are $3 a bag cheaper than rona. But they have 2 different brands of hardwood, 1 burns perfects and lots of heat, the other plugs up the burn pot within a few days, still burns hot but their seems to be a lot of minerals in the wood or something. pellets i used to get from rona when i had to i actually found they did not burn as hot and lots of ash. Point being maybe go grab a few different test bags of different brands..

 

[Eco-45 User]

Well, here's an update of what I found. The top of the stove above the tubes was pretty much full of ash. I used a piece of aluminum to get between the tubes and scrape it off and now it is working like it should. Maybe better than I remember as we bought the stove used. A lot of ash came off as there looks to be about an inch above the tubes that was full.
For anyone with one of these stove, I've found that softwood burns the best in the Eco-45. Especially White pine and spruce pellets. The white pine pellets we were burning were from Canadian Tire.