Been lurking here for a bit and have already learned many things about pellet stoves and how they work, signed up to give a big thanks for all the info here and to share my experience with my first stove. On the advice of a local dealer i bought a whitfield, saw it running before i bought it, dragged it home and set it up with 3" pipe according to the specs in the manual. The adjustments for pellet feed (all the way down) and combustion air (turned all the way up) must have been a lame attempt to keep it running, as it was stuffed with so much ash i had to pry it out with a screw driver. Cleaned per manual and it looked like a different stove. Bought a few different brands of pellets to try from HD and found that stove chow produced the best with constant 161 degrees of heat out the tubes on lowest setting, 275+ degrees on high. Bought 2 ton of it, loaded up the hopper, used the info i learned here to set it up and get it running like it should be. I love it, stare at it all day, search the internet for pellet prices, i am hooked after 1 week of burning. 
Air and pellet adjustments are now back to factory settings, heat is fantastic, keeps my 1,200sf home at a cozy 74 degree average, oil furnace has been off for a week. Did my first 5 day clean out today and found out that if you put the burn pot in backwards and start it, it will fill the house with smoke quicker than you can say "oh sh**" lesson learned, noob mistake! Guess a new door gasket is next to do.
Question i have about the ash build up surrounding the fire pot, is this normal, should i clean this area out daily along with the ash pan? Picture is after 3 days running on low.
![[Hearth.com] Hello All Noob Here](/talk/proxy.php?image=http%3A%2F%2Fi191.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fz86%2FR-Gs%2Ffirebox.jpg&hash=7da62a4c31c25e5a964cfa0ae7e13ac4 "[Hearth.com] Hello All Noob Here")
Thanks again for all the info ive learned here, great forum!
Air and pellet adjustments are now back to factory settings, heat is fantastic, keeps my 1,200sf home at a cozy 74 degree average, oil furnace has been off for a week. Did my first 5 day clean out today and found out that if you put the burn pot in backwards and start it, it will fill the house with smoke quicker than you can say "oh sh**" lesson learned, noob mistake! Guess a new door gasket is next to do.Question i have about the ash build up surrounding the fire pot, is this normal, should i clean this area out daily along with the ash pan? Picture is after 3 days running on low.
Thanks again for all the info ive learned here, great forum!
