Looking for a easy clean pellet stove.

[smg64ct]

I have a Quadra-Fire cb 1200 freestanding and I find it a pain to clean. It takes the stove a long time to ignite if you don't clean the burnpot everyday. The manuel says to pull the handle to clean it daily, but I need to turn it off and srape the burn pot because of the clinkers. Do they make a pellet stove that can go a week before cleaning? I had a Harmen at my old house which was a bottom feeder and it wasn't easy cleaning that either. Thick carbon that I had to clean out with a chizel. Thanks for any info.

 

[summit]

sounds like you have a pellet quality issue... the harmans are usually not to bad to clean, especially the p series, usually a weekly scraping of the pot is all that is required for proper operation.

 

[summit]

i would check the cumberland stoves, they have a handy pull rod that slides the pot out and drops the clinker... i have not experience running them, but have seem them in action and they seem like a pretty good setup

 

[imacman]

I have the same question as Summit....what brand of pellets are you burning? I have an Astoria, and can go EASILY one week without cleaning, and the stove will still light. And I don't scrape the burnpot everyday.

Again, the pellets may be the problem.....or not.

 

[pastera]

Lenox Traditions Stove - came with house approximately 6 years old.

With cheap pellets, I need to scrape out twice a day and the glass is black within two days. Adjusting air does little to nothing.
With decent pellets, I don't normally need to scrape and the glass is ok for about a week

I also only run the stove when I am home, so a weeks worth of fuel is only 2-4 bags.

Aaron

 

[smg64ct]

I have tried many different brands all high quality hard wood with the same results. It seems to be burning well all the ash is a nice light color. It just makes me nervous when I'm not home running the stove. I clean it all the time and I even replaced the gasket around the door every year. It always seems to have a hard time lighting the stove fills up with a lot of smoke and when it does light a big puff of smoke comes out. Then it seems to run fine. I have to burn pellets because I have electric heat.

 

[summit]

I have tried many different brands all high quality hard wood with the same results. It seems to be burning well all the ash is a nice light color. It just makes me nervous when I'm not home running the stove. I clean it all the time and I even replaced the gasket around the door every year. It always seems to have a hard time lighting the stove fills up with a lot of smoke and when it does light a big puff of smoke comes out. Then it seems to run fine. I have to burn pellets because I have electric heat.

I would give some softwood pellets a try as well... I have too many customers who get hung up on burning hardwood pellets.. usually (with one notable exception) the 100% hardwood pellets are not as good as the mixed pellets or softwoods. I have seen crap softwood pellets as well, but so many producers like to plaster hardwood all over because people think you have to burn hardwood cause grampy did in the woodstove. try some corinth softwood, eagle valley softwood, or okanagan softwood pellets. even the new englands burn pretty well. when the wood is pelletized, what it was before it was a pellet makes no difference. its all about density, and when sawdust is all compressed at 42lbs sqin, there is no more difference in density; I am sure there will be the hardwood burning hard-ons out there that will dispute this, but i've been at it a while. the difference comes from the stock material (lots of chewed up bark/dirt=bad... kiln dried dust from lumber processing = good), and manufacturing standards, not from what breed of tree it was when it was growing

 

[imacman]

.......I clean it all the time and I even replaced the gasket around the door every year. It always seems to have a hard time lighting the stove fills up with a lot of smoke and when it does light a big puff of smoke comes out. ..........

Well, first of all, I don't know that you need to replace the door gasket every year....that sounds excessive unless you know for sure that it's leaking. And if it is, and you are the person replacing the gasket, then you're doing something wrong on the install. I used to have a wood stove and only replaced the gasket every 3-4 years, and have only done it once (middle of this past winter) on my '05 Astoria.

Secondly, if you're getting a BIG puff of smoke out of the exhaust pipe when it finally lights, it sounds to me like the combustion blower isn't pulling enough air through the burnpot.......you say that you "clean it all the time"......have you removed and cleaned the combustion blower? If so, does it seem to be running at full speed?

I get a little smoke....just enough to start to fill the combustion chamber just before the pellets light....but nothing I'd call excessive.

 

[cncpro]

I get a little smoke....just enough to start to fill the combustion chamber just before the pellets light....but nothing I'd call excessive.

My CB1200 fills with smoke and lights with a noticeable POOF and even belches a bit of visible smoke into the room.

It is alarming at first but I have gotten used to it. I run 24/7 unattended anyway.

This situation seems to occur most often when the stove has just shut down and the thermostat calls for more heat... At the end of last year I finally figured out how to reduce the number of "cycles" with my programmable thermostat. It will be interesting to see if the thermostat adjustment helps.

I must say that Quad could have done a better job designing the door seal. It is strange but the sealing rib seems to hit the gasket centrally in some areas but barely touches it in other areas. I have always assumed this is where the leakage occurs but it seems to me that it couldn't be improved without completely reconstructing the door... Anyway, it has never seemed dangerous to me and I trust the safety devices on the unit enough to not worry about it at all.

 

[ylomnstr]

Look at the St. Croix models. I have the Hastings which has a versa grate motor which basically is a small motor that rotates to keep the pot scraping which really helps eliminate clinkers. I can go a week without emptying the pot with no problems. The only downfall is it's just another part to go bad, and there is some extra noise to it, but worth it in my opinion.

 

[mnkywrnch]

Look at the St. Croix models. I have the Hastings which has a versa grate motor which basically is a small motor that rotates to keep the pot scraping which really helps eliminate clinkers. I can go a week without emptying the pot with no problems. The only downfall is it's just another part to go bad, and there is some extra noise to it, but worth it in my opinion.

I agree my st croix will go atleast a week without touching anything ,besides the little extra noise its a very well built stove.I also believe a little smoke on start up is normal.

 

[ylomnstr]

Look at the St. Croix models. I have the Hastings which has a versa grate motor which basically is a small motor that rotates to keep the pot scraping which really helps eliminate clinkers. I can go a week without emptying the pot with no problems. The only downfall is it's just another part to go bad, and there is some extra noise to it, but worth it in my opinion.

I agree my st croix will go atleast a week without touching anything ,besides the little extra noise its a very well built stove.I also believe a little smoke on start up is normal.

I actually have to empty the ash pan more often then I need to clean the actual stove!

 

[mnkywrnch]

Look at the St. Croix models. I have the Hastings which has a versa grate motor which basically is a small motor that rotates to keep the pot scraping which really helps eliminate clinkers. I can go a week without emptying the pot with no problems. The only downfall is it's just another part to go bad, and there is some extra noise to it, but worth it in my opinion.

I agree my st croix will go atleast a week without touching anything ,besides the little extra noise its a very well built stove.I also believe a little smoke on start up is normal.

I actually have to empty the ash pan more often then I need to clean the actual stove!

The ash pan on the prescott is huge I could go a month without emptying it,but out of habit I do every week when I clean the stove. :coolsmirk:

 

[smg64ct]

I replaced the combustion blower this year. As far as the door gasket goes everytime you close the door the gasket gets compressed and you need to tighten the door latches so it closes tight, but I don't go to tight. This stove has the orignal igniter and its about 7 yrs old. Do the igniters ever go bad or do they just quit working?

 

[smoke show]

This stove has the orignal igniter and its about 7 yrs old. Do the igniters ever go bad or do they just quit working?

go bad, quit working is the same thing in my book.
7 yr old igniter, yeah your on borrowed time.