New Pellet stove owner having trouble with USSC 6039 not burning well enough!

[SuperStang83]

First I'd like to introduce myself. My name is Jacob and I am from SE Pa, about 45 min NW of Philly. I just bought a house here after moving from Tucson, Az. I was stationed in Tucson for just over two years and brought my family back home to Pa. The house I bought has a USSC 6039 pellet stove and was working great the first 3 times that I lit it this year, but now isn't burning wood pellets so well.

Before I lit the stove for the first time this year I cleaned out the pan on the bottom of the stove and vacuumed behind the glass like the burn pot and the surrounding area. I lit it 3 separate times and it ran great, couldn't have been happier. I started reading on here and realized I probably should clean it more, so I did. After cleaning it that time it just hasn't been the same. It was just piling pellets in the burn pot and not burning them off, also the glass would get extremely black after almost an hour or two. It would then take about 2 hours to shut down when i turned it off, and one time the house got really smoky when it was shutting down. I have been using Stove Chow pellets this whole time, but since the second time that I cleaned it, I only burnt the stove once, cleaned it again by taking all the panels off and then lit it again and it still was burning poorly. So this past weekend I cleaned out the 3" chimney piping and lit the stove again tonight. When I lit the stove tonight the blower didn't initially come on, instead it took about 20 minutes to turn on when it usually turns on immediately. The whole time it had a lazy flame a just seemed like it was putting in more pellets than it was burning. The glass became black very quickly, within about an hour and it took 2 hours to shut down. The heat output was great and there was no smoke upon shut down.

I'm sorry this is my first pellet stove and have no experience with them at all, in fact I don't think that I have ever heard of one until I bought this house. Both my wife and I, as well as our kids love the stove, but really can't keep using it if it doesn't perform like it should. What kind of suggestions do you all have for me to try and fix this?


Jacob

 

[littlesmokey]

Welcome to the Hearth. First, you should read the threads at the top of the forum. They will help. Second get a copy of the owners manual. It's probably online for download. Third. Restart your cleaning. Everything you have said points to an air leak. Especially the low lazy flame and lots of smoke. In cleaning you may have jarred a fitting loose, or left a door, or vent not closed. Commonly the ash pan isn't closed. Don't worry it has happened to me. You also may not have your burn-pot properly seated or reversed. It can happen on a lot of stoves. I do it and open the door and reseat it with a pair of vise grips. Mine does not have a gasket to seat, it's metal to metal. And the last bit of advise after you get the manuals is to pull and clean the blower motors. While I don't think you have a bad motor, I think you might have a dirty one.

The manual will help with trouble shooting and getting back to the original settings. When I bought my stove the setting were so off, I wondered how it ever caught a flame.

Welcome, again and good luck with your new(to you) toy.

 

[imacman]

SuperStang, welcome to the forum. lot's of nice and helpful people here.

As for your stove, the key was what you said....

"I lit it 3 separate times and it ran great, couldn’t have been happier. I started reading on here and realized I probably should clean it more, so I did. After cleaning it that time it just hasn’t been the same."

Pretty obvious you did something that is causing the poor (dirty) burn. Just as littlesmokey said, go back & make sure everything is back where it was. Obviously, the burn air you had before is gone......"leaking out" somewhere besides through the burn pot. Most all of these stoves are negative draft.....the combustion blower sucks air up through the bottom of the burn pot, which is what provides the air to burn the pellets. The fact that you have lazy flames, pellets were piling up, and the window is now getting black is a pretty sure sign that the air is going somewhere else.

Go back and check the things you did on the second cleaning.....something is out of place, backward, or is missing a gasket, etc.

BTW, you might consider editing your post, and putting the brand & model # of the stove in the title "New Pellet stove owner having trouble with USSC 6039 stove after cleaning", or something like that......more people that have experience w/ your stove will see it & hopefully will respond.

 

[SuperStang83]

Thank you very much both of you! I have looked through the threads at the top numerous times, as well as the owner's manual. I will look into your suggestions. I was looking around it last night because I was thinking about being airtight like you guys are saying, and noticed that the gasket around the door looks good, but the gasket around the glass doesn't look like it is in good shape. Could this be a problem with why it is running poorly? I was thinking that if it wasn't airtight that smoke would be coming out of that area while it was burning, and the only time I have had smoke in the house is when it shut down once and it came out the blower area, not the door. Thank you again guys!


jacob

 

[schoondog]

I've got the 6039 insert. I don't want to over simplify, but since you just gave it a good cleaning, did ya put the 2 rear plates back in? They sit low in the rear on either side of the brick. Did you close both the clean out traps on floor on either side of burn pot. Try opening your air plate a little more. Does the flame dance now? If not perhaps you have a problem with yous comb. blower. I haven't had to really dive in to diagnos problems with mine yet, but am willing to help if possible. Let us know how you make out.

Schoondog

 

[cmsbruce]

I have this stove, on mine in the front center is a air flow slide. If you do not open the slide the lack of air flow only allows for a lazy burn. The two outer slides are for ash to dump into the ash tray, they need to stay closed.

 

[daydreamer]

Are the holes in your burnpot clogged up? Even if you pull the slide out you will still get a lazy flame. Sometimes mine will get the holes clogged up with a thick black coating, then I have to chip it out with a screwdriver or piece of metal I have.
Also try going to forum.iburncorn.com and scroll down to the US Stove Company forum. There are a lot of 6039 owners over there and a lot of info on the 6039.
Do you have the A-B-C buttons on the side? If you press the C button it will stop feeding pellets for about a minute, useful when trying to get a fire started.

 

[SuperStang83]

I have this stove, on mine in the front center is a air flow slide. If you do not open the slide the lack of air flow only allows for a lazy burn. The two outer slides are for ash to dump into the ash tray, they need to stay closed.

That could very well be the problem. I had no idea that I was supposed to keep this one open! I think that I shut it after my first time cleaning, but am not sure. How far do you leave it open? Or does it just depend on how the flame is burning?

I don't have the ABC on the side, I have On, Off, Auger delay, Mode, Heat Range, Room Fan, Draft Fan, and Aux. I just leave all the settings on auto though. Thank you for all your help, I'm gonna light it up now and open that door about halfway to see if that helps.


Jacob

 

[daydreamer]

You have a never control board. Forget what I said about the C button. It just depends on how its burning. If the middle slide is pushed in too far you will have a lazy flame, if it's too far out you will get a blow torch looking flame. You just have to adjust it according to your fire.

 

[woodsman23]

Try www.iburncorn.com they have many users of this type of stove. I have a friend that has that same stove and it likes pellets and man is it noisy. He will stop using it after he burns through his 2 tons then sel it, he is not happy with it.

 

[SuperStang83]

Well I pulled that middle slide out and it seemed to help a lot. The flame was a lot stronger, and it wasn't just piling up pellets in the burn pot. When I shut it down it only took 40 minutes, as opposed to 2 hours, but when I shut it down it didn't burn all the pellets off??? I only had it running for about 2 hrs and 15 minutes, and the glass took longer than it has to become black, but eventually it did turn pretty dark.

cmsbruce and day dreamer do you guys think that these remaining problems have to do with the middle slide needing to be adjusted properly? Because just today with pulling that slide out about half way it ran 100% better!

woodsman, I really have nothing to compare this stove to at all, but so far we absolutely love it. It's a lot like a fireplace, without near the hassle! I won't replace this stove here, but if we ever move will more than likely take this one or purchase a better one!

Thank you for all of your help guys, I really appreciate it!


Jacob

 

[schoondog]

superstang,
I usually have my air slide out about 1 inch or so. If you see a build up of pellets open it up a little. I also will open it all the way up once a day or so ( really just open and close it quickly several times)to allow ash to fall into the pan. Experiment a little and see what works best with your setup and pellets. I never have it 1/2 way open for any length of time. If you have some sparks coming off the burn pot you are getting enough air.
I like my stove.... heats my home nicely. Play around a little and get used to yours and I think you'll be fine. If you don't have the owners manual you can download it at www.usstove.com. You should read it, lots of info. Good luck and welcome to the forum!!

Schoondog

 

[schoondog]

superstang,
I usually have my air slide out about 1 inch or so. If you see a build up of pellets open it up a little. I also will open it all the way up once a day or so ( really just open and close it quickly several times)to allow ash to fall into the pan. Experiment a little and see what works best with your setup and pellets. I never have it 1/2 way open for any length of time. If you have some sparks coming off the burn pot you are getting enough air.
I like my stove.... heats my home nicely. Play around a little and get used to yours and I think you'll be fine. If you don't have the owners manual you can download it at www.usstove.com. You should read it, lots of info. Good luck and welcome to the forum!!

Schoondog

 

[woodsman23]

Type in your 6039 stove and hit search there are plenty of ideas for you.,


http://forum.iburncorn.com/search.php?mode=results

 

[daydreamer]

I don't know if I should post a link to another forum so I sent you a PM.

 

[SuperStang83]

Awesome, thank you daydreamer. I don't have a chance to check it out now because I need to head to work in a min, but I'll check it out this afternoon. Thank you!

Jacob

 

[cmsbruce]

You should adjust the center for a good strong flame. I leave the setting the same most of the time about 1 to 1.5 inches out. When i shut the stove down i just turn the switch on the side off. as far as noise/ What noise, this stove in my opinion is a great stove based on price and ability to burn almost anything. If you have an early model and it whistles you need to get a vent front gasget that quiets the blower down, that the only nosie i have ever heard. I also have a Englander stove that makes about the same amount of noise, its a great stove so enjoy!