Flash then fire in stove

[Stacyv38]

We got a Santa Fe quadrafire last March, never had an issue til tonight. Husband noticed a bright "flash" inside the stove then saw the pellets on fire (not a reg stove lit flame) - we immediately unplugged the unit and shut it off, fire continued to burn and if we opened the door the house would have smoke. We opened Windows and then emptied the pan into the catch basin and the flame fell in and we put it out. Very scary to say the least.
What could have caused that? We are pretty good with cleaning the stove out inside daily, as for opening the bottom to clear the old ash/burnings on the ash pot and clearing some inner ash..
We got one bag of pellets from Home Depot a couple days ago that wouldn't stay lit-- we just got them to supplement the good pellets we had ordered (I just don't want to run out as it's going to be our main source of house heat this winter) so we put one of those bags in, stove wouldn't stay lit- kept going off , didn't have that problem before - also noticed the size of the pellet was much much bigger and the colors were much different also. Don't know if that matters. So I emptied the stove of those pellets a couple days ago and put our reg ones back in, has been fine til tonight. Do u think it could have been a rare ash build up somewhere or what? As I said, I am good with emptying the burn pot daily as well as using a new small paintbrush to dust off ash and put it down the storage tray as well.
Thanks for any insight- scared the heck out of me. Am worried if that happens when we are not home!
Btw, this flame was more on the edge of the funnel that the pellets fall down on (a wet flame) vs a flame in the burn pot itself.

 

[tsmith]

My Quad Mt. Vernon does that too. Depends somewhat on the pellets used. When it is first lighting up and dumping pellets into the pot, the pellets are actualy smoldering before they lite off into free burn, this causes the burn chamber to fill with smoke and heated gasses. When the pellets actually lite up it also ignites the gases inside the chamber causing that flash you saw. Mine has done that for years It will burn normally after ignition. The only thing you can do is make sure you have the burn pot holes and ignitor holes open so it can properly ignite.

 

[Stacyv38]

thanks... i know what you are saying, i've seen that before.. this was different, the flash and fire was after the stove was running over 30min already, and the flame/fire was in addition to the fire in the pot --this flame/fire was more up towards the bottom of the chute where the pellets come down.... didn't really see exactly how it happened, but thats where the fire was when we rushed over and unplugged it and it was still burning around the end of the chute area... not down in the firepot.

 

[chken]

thanks... i know what you are saying, i've seen that before.. this was different, the flash and fire was after the stove was running over 30min already, and the flame/fire was in addition to the fire in the pot --this flame/fire was more up towards the bottom of the chute where the pellets come down.... didn't really see exactly how it happened, but thats where the fire was when we rushed over and unplugged it and it was still burning around the end of the chute area... not down in the firepot.

Perhaps the bad bag of pellets you had were chemically contaminated? Fine sawdust can also be rather explosive, so maybe a ball of fines dropped into the grate when you got the flash. I'd clean the whole thing out, I'd even consider emptying out the hopper, then reload with fresh good pellets and watch it.

 

[Stacyv38]

Thanks.. i think thats what i am going to do.. i'll admit when i emptied all the old home depot pellets out of the hopper, i noticed alot of sawdust... it honestly didn't click to me to vac it -- then reading over the owners manual last night it states to vac when changing brands or even monthly.. being that today is going to be 52 deg here, i will shut it off for the day and clean out good and vac after work today. Just a very strange occurance, and unsettling.. didn't sleep to well last night -- could hear it running and was just nervous.

 

[Stacyv38]

Have since cleaned out the hopper that night, and shop vac'd the whole unit.havemt had another fire problem . I saw a good amt of sawdust in the chute Come down and also in the hopper. I feel stupid as I didn't think of this. I noticed lots of sawdust in the homedepot brand of pellets bag. But when I emptied the hopper and filled it again - there is not much in the way of sawdust in my good pellets bags. Just goes to show.. Makes me nervous as it could have been a disaster! Glad we were home when it happened!!

 

[chken]

Have since cleaned out the hopper that night, and shop vac'd the whole unit.havemt had another fire problem . I saw a good amt of sawdust in the chute Come down and also in the hopper. I feel stupid as I didn't think of this. I noticed lots of sawdust in the homedepot brand of pellets bag. But when I emptied the hopper and filled it again - there is not much in the way of sawdust in my good pellets bags. Just goes to show.. Makes me nervous as it could have been a disaster! Glad we were home when it happened!!

Well, let's hope that solves the problem. Good luck!

 

[Lake Girl]

Besides a fines build-up, you could have had a slight jam of pellets that released with a large amount of fuel. Longer pellets could be the culprit there.

When was the last time exhaust internals and venting was cleaned?