New to pellet stoves, smoked out trying to evict bees

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kyguylal

Member
Oct 6, 2018
103
New Hampshire
Hello Everyone,

I just bought a house in Southern New Hampshire and it has a pellet stove. This is our first house and I've only dealt with oil before.

The stove is an Englander 25-PDVC 38,000 BTU stove by England Stove Works.

I tried to start the thing up, but I had no idea what I was doing.

I have (had) a colony of yellow jackets living in the stove pipe outside. I gassed them and had cleared the pipe, but had a few stragglers trying to get in. So I had the idea to light the stove to evict them. I lit the pellets and it ran for all of three minutes before I shut it down because I realized that I was in over my head. Smoke bellowed out of the fresh air intake, which is not piped outside. Would this have happened because it was shut down cold, so the chimney pipe wasn't drafting yet? I don't want smoke in the house every time I shut down in the winter.

My next question is about the sizing of the stove. Our house is a tri-level split and the stove is on the main (middle) level in an open concept floor with vaulted ceilings. Being a split, there is a half stair case going up, and a half going down. The house is 2,500 SF of finished area of heating. Very good insulation.

I know that the Englander is rated for 1,500 SF. Is running this stove a waste of money? being that it is trying to heat too large of an area, or will it still help keep out oil cost down? I contacted the oil company and they told me that the house used very little oil for its size and location, so I figure the stove helps a good amount. We have zoned oil heating.

I have three tons of pellets on hand which were the ones which were previously used by the old owner. As I know very little about pellet stoves, I figure I will have a professional come in to service and clean the stove and teach me how to break it down. Luckily in NH, there are plenty of people who service these things.

Thank you for anyone's help with this. I'm new to pellet stoves and I'm hoping that I can learn a lot before the heating season starts up. Already had a night in the low 40s, so its close!
 
Smoke should not come out of the air intake - that is a definite issue that will need to be solved before trying to run it again. Are you sure it is the air intake and not the exhaust? IDK much about that stove and hopefully others with that one will be by to help you try to figure it out.

You should download the manual for your stove - that should have a lot of good information on running it. An installation manual could be some help too so you can make sure it is hooked up properly.

Will the stove heat your whole house? Probably not. But it will help and having zones will help by only directing oil fired heat to the areas that need it.

Good luck!
 
https://www.northerntool.com/images/downloads/manuals/49333.pdf

Your going to need more than 3 Tons of Pellets I bet. There should be video's on how to clean the stove too. I am also new to pellet stove. I figured 3 Tons and after couple of weeks of burning at night know that they will runout come end of Dec. So going to get 2 more tons. (Lots of Storage Space). I rather deal with it with no Nasty 4 Letter Word around.

https://heatredefined.com/


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im betting that smoke coming out of the fresh air intake was due to a nest left behind from the yellow jackets. The stove is going to need a good cleaning from one end to the other. I would also recommend getting the OAK set up so its drawing from outside. Did you talk to previous owners about how the stove heated the place? They probably used the stove to heat the main floor and oil to offset the temp in the other areas. If its insulated well im betting that it will heat the main and eventually the upper floors quite well... I saved huge on my utility bills last year About 100-200 on my hydro and about the same on my gas. Using less that half to heat with pellets and have a much more comfortable heat...
 
Well, I got the bees out for good.

Had a guy come in to inspect the stove today. Looked good and he didn't bother doing a full cleaning. Didn't need it.

Its running strong now. Already brought the house up by 4 degrees.

Looking forward to running it this season. We have some nights in the low 30's this week coming up.

Luckily, my garage is big and we drive small cars, so I have the room to easily fit 5-6 tons. I'll probably burn through half of what I have before worrying about it.
 
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