I Had A Smoke-Out Today + ?'s New Serenity

[Hiskid]

I did a cleaning and put the pot back. I hit the start and pellets drop and drop but no fire. All of a sudden smoke fills the stove and is bellowing out the exhaust hood. O-no, thankfully it was getting dark and the smoke went south away from the neighbors. Was like having a wood stove. I quick shut it down but it ignited with a puff that blew smoke at the door and filled the room. I turned on the fan and opened one window. It cools off and look in. Turns out I didn't have the pot in it's correct spot. I re-lit but still get what seems a lot of smoke before it ignites, but it did ignite. Would the air gate affect the lighting, I have it at 1/3. Also, do all stoves have interlocks that turn the auger off ? I forget while I'm filling and almost have the fire going out. I was going to try a magnet to hold the switch down. Also I bumped the exhaust up a notch but am get a white coating on the inside surfaces. Is that good ? Thanks for the help. GBY

 

[alternativeheat]

I think I mentioned in your other thread when investigating using a pellet stove, that they tend to smoke on startup but not during the burn. My Harman fills with smoke most times too, it goes out the vent visibly but doesn't last very long. Different than a wood stove starting, they can smoke up a neighborhood, a pellet stove maybe 10 ft of a more wispy plume that doesn't last.

Additionally I get a little wood smoke odor at times in the yard with the right wind direction. My vent outlet is 35 ft up in the air so I need a downdraft to smell it but do smell it fairly often..

Given the nature of your community I believe I'd have put a gas stove in that room and saved the worry and hassle. I mentioned that in the other thread too, that they have gas stoves that look like wood stoves these days. No cleaning, no neighbor worries, no smoke outs, no need to hide bags of pellets or sneak around in the dark.

 

[rich2500]

not having the pot in correctly is the cause of the delayed ignition ( pot not sitting around the igniter properly ) yes the airgate can have an affect on ignition, you need air for ignition and if the gate is too far closed it may not supply enough air for the ignition, Like Alternative said all auto ignite stoves are going to build some smoke in the firebox until the fire starts. If your concerned with the smoke because of the neighbors you may be better off lighting it manually. If it were me I would open the airgate to about half and turn the blower back down and see how that does. I know many Serenity owners are running the airgate at about a third but that don't mean that's going to work for you.

 

[Deezl Smoke]

I did a cleaning and put the pot back. I hit the start and pellets drop and drop but no fire. All of a sudden smoke fills the stove and is bellowing out the exhaust hood. O-no, thankfully it was getting dark and the smoke went south away from the neighbors. Was like having a wood stove. I quick shut it down but it ignited with a puff that blew smoke at the door and filled the room. I turned on the fan and opened one window. It cools off and look in. Turns out I didn't have the pot in it's correct spot. I re-lit but still get what seems a lot of smoke before it ignites, but it did ignite. Would the air gate affect the lighting, I have it at 1/3. Also, do all stoves have interlocks that turn the auger off ? I forget while I'm filling and almost have the fire going out. I was going to try a magnet to hold the switch down. Also I bumped the exhaust up a notch but am get a white coating on the inside surfaces. Is that good ? Thanks for the help. GBY

The OAK design will effect the inlet gate setting needs as well. Like Rich mentions, you can light it manually and reduce or eliminate the start up smoke. But on automatic ignition, a glowing stick of metal to heat the air up past the pellet ignition temp will cause the pellets to char a bit first, before flame burn appears. This will smoke. If you have one of those extended butane lighters or even a small propane torch, you can drop a small hand full of pellets into the pot and light it. The stove dont care how the flame gets there, only that flame is sensed in order for it to continue on with operation.

What you just had happen is the very same thing that happens tome a couple times a season. The smoke from charring the pellets before ignition fills the chamber. Smoke is actually particulate matter, not just gases. The particulates on the smoke are unburned fuel. Once the pellets reach ignition and flame develops, the particulates in the smoke ignite, often rapidly and violently.

Your comment about the auger turning off is a concern. You have a short time to load the hopper while the stove is running. If you can not fill the hopper within the controllers time frame, the open lid will set the stove to shut down. The shut down sequence will be the same as if you hit the button on the control panel. I would not recommend doing any bypassing of switches. Maybe Rich has an idea of whether or not the lid switch stops the auger or not?

 

[JRemington]

What pellets are you using and how old are they?

 

[Hiskid]

Man, I sure appreciate all the help here. The pellets are Lowe's $5.19 bag. Not sure of the date but I'll see if a bag has a date. They keep a skid a skid between the doors on the way out. We really enjoy sitting around the fire. The stove really burns clean once lit. I bumped the exhaust up a notch and the flame is really crisp/clear but does take a little more heat at the stack. If I get the lighting bugs out I should be good to go, Lord willing and the creeks don't rise. I'm going to go half on the air gate. I did read a thread where people use gel for a quick start. I thought it gets a collection of pellets till the igniter starts I could use a piece of starter pellet that would ignite the pellets quicker when the igniter heats up. Manual lighting, do you do that before the stove gets turned on ? You can't do that one you hit the "on" button can you ? The first start with the TSC pellets had just 30 seconds of smoke and it was gone. They were setting outside also. Come to think of it, it was after that bag when I closed the gate from half to third. As for the pellet door switch, the stove doesn't seem to start the shut down but just stops dropping pellets and the fire goes down I have a pasta strainer and shake the fines out for a bit then pour it in the hopper. I just ordered a magnet to keep the button down while I fil it. Just a couple minutes and I'm done. Thanks GBY