Giving up on pellet stoves

[at78rpm]

Quadrafire, Harmon, Heatilator: they all fail. And when they fail, it's on a Saturday night, or Christmas, or Easter, or Thanksgiving. Or when it's minus 35 out. For 8 years, I've had pellet stoves and for 8 years, I've been damning myself for this foolish choice. If it's not a pipe obstruction, it's wet pellets. If it's not wet pellets, it's a bad augur motor. If it's not a bad augur motor, it's a faulty vacuum switch. In short, there are far too many things that can, and do, go wrong.

Give me a propane furnace any day, and a little wood stove for some extra heat and for local color. But anyone who asks me about a pellet stove will get a very definite negative answer from me.

 

[ps50]

Maybe you should have cleaned your stove.

 

[at78rpm]

I wrote my post after having spent the entire day today doing just that. And I had vacuumed and scraped the entire chimney system in late October. If it's not working because of a clogged exhaust, believe me, it requires more work than any typical homeowner would want to put into it.

 

[Dr.Faustus]

Sorry to hear this. My PDVC has been very good to us. I was down once due to an auger motor and even so i was able to limp it along until a new part arrived. Other than that i've been running just as long if not longer with no problems. Pellet stoves are not for everyone. The extra work you put into it is supposed to save you some money (perhaps not this particular year with pellets sky high), maybe add some nice extra heat - so you can run the propane a lot less. Or even enjoy a nice fire but still get heat out of it unlike the average fireplace which sucks out more heat that it puts in the house.

People always ask me about my stove, and i tell them the truth. It has been great for me, however the cleaner it is the better it runs, should not be your sole source of heat (although mine is) and you shouldnt mind occasionally having to get a bit dirty and or grab a wrench or multimeter and get behind the stove.

 

[Cedarjunki]

Pellet stoves do require more attention than any other heat source. They are not everyone. Myself, i dont mind the extra work. Woodstove is out of the question for me. Getting the same heat from a propane or oil forced air burner is almost impossible without costing a fortune in fuel. I like the constant warmth. I dont mind getting my hands dirty unlike 99% of the people who swear pellet stoves are junk..and i have noticed most people who ditch the pellet stove due to maintenace requirements and problems are people who have more money than they have in mechanical skills. But i dont blame most of them since when they go shopping for a stove the seller stands there and explains how simple pellets are and require no attention.. heard it too many times.

But since im fairly close to you at78rpm... what do you have for sale???

 

[bogieb]

Sorry it hasn't worked out the way you would like and certainly sounds like you will be happier without pellets in your life. I find my pellet stoves less work than wood stoves. Although if I had someplace to store wood and it wouldn't cost an arm and a leg to put in a chimney, I might have placed one in the basement for the sole fact that during power outages I would still have heat without having to go with a generator backup.

I went the pellet stove route specifically because it fit my circumstances better. I haven't had many issues with the pellet eaters - and what issues I have had were pretty much self induced (except that 25-PDVC thing - that was the stove).

If it isn't working for you, move on and good luck.

 

[Bioburner]

As Rodney Dangerfield used to say "if it weren't for bad luck I would have no luck at all"
Same can happen to a ownership of a car etc. Couple of my best buys on stoves were from such people.

 

[alternativeheat]

Quadrafire, Harmon, Heatilator: they all fail. And when they fail, it's on a Saturday night, or Christmas, or Easter, or Thanksgiving. Or when it's minus 35 out. For 8 years, I've had pellet stoves and for 8 years, I've been damning myself for this foolish choice. If it's not a pipe obstruction, it's wet pellets. If it's not wet pellets, it's a bad augur motor. If it's not a bad augur motor, it's a faulty vacuum switch. In short, there are far too many things that can, and do, go wrong.

Give me a propane furnace any day, and a little wood stove for some extra heat and for local color. But anyone who asks me about a pellet stove will get a very definite negative answer from me.

Well have a Merry Christmas anyway !

3rd year heating with the Harman P61 ( well less use this year for the low oil prices), I clean it every couple of weeks, I brush out the 4 " venting twice a year, scrape the pot daily. That's all typical requirements of pellet burning. So far so good. No question wood stoves are simpler devices. Good luck with the Propane bills.

 

[Bioburner]

Found a propain bill for everyones enjoyment

 

[johneh]

Pellet stoves are not for everyone.
They are not plug and play
Good luck with what ever you use
Just one thing you say the stove always breaks down
My youngest son is an HVAC Teck . who does Oil, NG ,Propane
Wood and pellet appliances and this time of year he is run off
his feet with Propane and NG stove and furnace repairs so what
ever you use there are bound to be break downs

 

[Tonyray]

"Set it and Forget it" is the sales pitch..
and it is Correct as long as you maintain it periodically.
drive and forget it as long as you maintain your Car periodically. The List goes on....

 

[bogieb]

Found a propain bill for everyones enjoymentView attachment 169825

I would have loved it if the last delivery of 150 gals of propane was the total price you show. Still wouldn't be worth me running the propane boiler, but at least it would save me money on DHW

 

[TimfromMA]

Quadrafire, Harmon, Heatilator: they all fail. And when they fail, it's on a Saturday night, or Christmas, or Easter, or Thanksgiving. Or when it's minus 35 out. For 8 years, I've had pellet stoves and for 8 years, I've been damning myself for this foolish choice. If it's not a pipe obstruction, it's wet pellets. If it's not wet pellets, it's a bad augur motor. If it's not a bad augur motor, it's a faulty vacuum switch. In short, there are far too many things that can, and do, go wrong.

Give me a propane furnace any day, and a little wood stove for some extra heat and for local color. But anyone who asks me about a pellet stove will get a very definite negative answer from me.

Goodbye, good luck and don't let the door hit you in butt on the way out.

 

[womaus]

Goodbye, good luck and don't let the door hit you in butt on the way out.

What did I miss? I see this in the upper right:

TimfromMA, 10 minutes ago
Last edited by a moderator: 2 minutes ago

 

[TimfromMA]

The word butt used to be the same word that means donkey.

 

[womaus]

The word butt used to be the same word that means donkey.

Ahhh....very incendiary language there...

 

[Bioburner]

No need to insight harm or insult the intelligence of a farm animal here

 

[BrotherBart]

 

[jatoxico]

wow

 

[LocustPocust]

My father bought a Quadra-Fire pellet stove in 2003 and it's been good to him. It's more maintenance intensive than a wood stove, but cleaning isn't an issue. 10 minutes with a vacuum once a week and cleaning the vent pipe in the fall and that's about it. People who have issues with them from my experience usually:

-Don't clean it enough
-Install the ventilation system improperly
-Buy junk pellets
-Buy a $700 Tractor Supply special

The Quadra-Fire my father bought was almost $2,000 when it was new. He's yet to even replace the blower though after 12 years it's nearing time for one. Basically, you get what you pay for.

 

[Bioburner]

There's is always exceptions.
I spent a night trying to get someone's stove running that had been having issues for many years. Issue, the house wiring, not the stove.
Sometimes you have to get someone with a better or different understanding of things to get a handle on things and not throw out the baby with the bath water.

 

[FirepotPete]

View attachment 169843

Hey! Everyone likes a little xxx! I'm with the OP. No pellets stoves for me, only corn burners.
I just find it weird that someone would join a forum and only post 6 messages in the last year. None of the posts were asking for help or questions about getting any stove running. I understand that not all people are mechanically or electrically inclined, but, that's where a forum such as this one comes into play.
Most here will bend over backwards to explain, post photos, PM or even call on a phone to help someone.
It's mind boggling to me how many people come to these forums unprepared to give basic information of their stove/furnace/type/model/year, exhaust setup and expect to magically make the appliance work properly.
I know that some sales people are to blame for this happening, we have a dealer in the area that is terrible about that, locally called the pellet Nazi.
I just wish I knew where all these used but not used stoves end up.

 

[shtrdave]

I have had mine for close to 3 years now no problems yet. I am not the clean freak. I do a fairly thorough cleaning once a year about once a month I brush the insides down and vacuum it out when I empty the ash pan. I scrape the pot every couple of days to get the carbon build up off and that is about it. Should I be doing more, probably but it works well and keeps me warm.

 

[rich2500]

I can understand the frustration as my first stove in the 10 yrs. I had it I spent more on replacement parts then I payed for the stove new and it would always quit during the night,it started the first year I bought the stove and continued until I got rid of it.Stove was shutdown and cleaned daily and venting cleaned twice a year and I only burn 2 ton a year,so it wasn't lack of maintenance and cleaning causing the problems.It,s replacement has been flawless for the 3 yrs. I have had it .

 

[alternativeheat]

We started out burning wood in this house, went about two seasons and I converted the stove to a coal burner and more than three decades later we bought the pellet stove. You just need one really good raging chimney fire to aid in a change of mind re wood.. Gets the heart really pumping I'll tell ya when you think a train is coming up your driveway and you realize "oh no" !! It popped mortar in the chimney too, had to re-point it and re-line it but it was salvageable structurally.. Today's chimney codes for wood burning are pretty severe for a reason and that kind of venting will cost way more than pellet venting. And you still get to clean it a couple of times a year too. One clue, never choke down a wood stove, give it some air let it run hot ! You're gonna get sick of tending it too. I found coal to be super reliable and super safe ( anthracite) by comparison.

Coal is still my preferred secondary heat , even though we went with pellet heat but that has more to do with regional problems with coal availability than anything else. Pellets have worked fine for us at any rate. All Stoves Take Attention And Work LOL !! Just it comes in different forms. There is one kind of fuel for stoves that requires very little work though, Gas. You don't get the heat of wood or coal but it takes little work.