Fixed my first pellet stove today

[jtp10181]

Well... I have fixed some others before but warranty stuff. Mostly burnt out control boards or tripped snap discs.

This little Castile is the primary heat for single level cabin style house. Been through 2 heating seasons at least and NEVER cleaned except emptying the burn pot and the visible ash inside the firebox. The entire baffle was jam packed full of ash, I don't even know how air was getting from the firebox to the exhaust vent. Also the thermocouple porcelain cover was totally missing and because of that the thermocouple was trashed. The feed rate was totally wide open causing massive flames even on the low setting. The fans had dust/dirt caked all over them. The tennant said it was making horrible noises when she tried to use it. After getting it all cleaned up and sweeping out the short 24" chimney the thing burns like a champ again. Was very satisfied with a job well done, and the customer was glad to have their heat source back. Other then the pellet stove they only have a small LP Heat & Glo stove for backup / supplemental heat. It was in the 80's over the weekend and right now it is 50F outside. Time to BURN!

Moral of the story is... clean your pellet stove!

 

[Xena]

Unfortunately the people who need the preaching
to aren't members here so they aren't gonna get
the message.

 

[jtp10181]

Yeah I wish they would call me! Fixing pellet stoves is way more fun than boring Direct Vent gas fireplaces. More wires = more fun!

 

[Shane]

You should qualify that statement with "this year". Or atleast I assume that one doesn't manage a hearth store service dept. never having fixed a pellet stove.

 

[jtp10181]

No... not this year... ever.

I will have been in the hearth industry only 3 years this November. We have very limited amounts of pellet stoves here in WI as far as I know. We don't sell many out of our store and not many people call us for service. We are one of the only qualified Quad dealers in the area (the only one in our county). There are some other outfits in surrounding counties but.... most wont touch or don't know anything about pellet units. This year I got my Pellet NFI certification (now all I need is wood to be a MHP). There isn't much I can't fix, my quick learning and persistence helped me land the supervisor position after only being there a little over a year. I know if I don't fix it there is no one else who is going to step up and do it, so I better damned well figure it out myself. Besides all that I'm only 26...

Now I just sit back and wait, hopefully some more people will call with some fun pellet problems to solve. Can you tell I'm a problem solver?

 

[seaken]

No... not this year... ever.

I will have been in the hearth industry only 3 years this November. We have very limited amounts of pellet stoves here in WI as far as I know. We don't sell many out of our store and not many people call us for service. We are one of the only qualified Quad dealers in the area (the only one in our county). There are some other outfits in surrounding counties but.... most wont touch or don't know anything about pellet units. This year I got my Pellet NFI certification (now all I need is wood to be a MHP). There isn't much I can't fix, my quick learning and persistence helped me land the supervisor position after only being there a little over a year. I know if I don't fix it there is no one else who is going to step up and do it, so I better damned well figure it out myself. Besides all that I'm only 26...

Now I just sit back and wait, hopefully some more people will call with some fun pellet problems to solve. Can you tell I'm a problem solver?

It sounds like you will be a good technician. I'd be glad to have someone so willing to learn on my staff. Our industry needs your excitement. Keep it up.

As for getting more service calls - keep a list or a database of your stove owners. Send them a reminder card by mail and offer your cleaning and maintenance services at a reasonable cost. Many stove shops do not offer service so you could decide to offer service even on stove brands you don't sell. But make sure to tell your service customers up front how it works. They need to know your rates and agree to them. Also, make sure to leverage your NFI certification. Use local advertisement and advertise your skills. If you are willing and do a good job the word will get around.

Good luck,
Sean

 

[Shane]

Well I take that back. Good luck with your NFI certification. The wood one is the easy one. I've had all three for a couple years now, though they don't seem to want to designate me as an MHP. One of my old competitors got the MHP designation I sent an email to nfi but apparantly I'm not worthy I'm only 26 too but I went into the hearth industry fresh out of highschool. I would like to work for a manufacturer, Travis, Jotul or VC in particular.

 

[jtp10181]

To get the MHP you need to "sync" all your renewal dates. There is a special form you have to fill out and submit. Try emailing them again, if they don't respond I can try and get the form for you. I have a direct contact with someone there who is very responsive to my emails.

I have heard that the wood is the hardest because of all the room volume and air calculations and things of that sort.

-----

seaken, Technician? Been there done that, I'm supervisor now. As for the postcards, we sent out 20,000 this past spring. Mostly gas fireplace customers. The database is every address in our scheduling system since 2001. Luckily not all of them call us or we would be in trouble. Kept 4 service guys busy all summer though for the most part. Word does seem to be getting around also, we get a lot more calls to just clean up the fireplace now that we ever did. Before we started the mailing people would only call if it was broken.