New to pellets - pp130

[Vsantoro]

Hi everyone. Just signed up.
I live upstate NY, pretty chilly up here.
Just bought my first pellet stove and having some issues.

I have been burning wood in a wood stove for years and still do. I replaced a coal stove with pellet because I hated dealing with the large amount of daily ash.

I bought a pelpro pp130 from tractor supply. Got it all hooked up, exhaust and fresh air intake.

It runs fine and puts out tons of heat, I'm happy with that and the auto lite with thermostat is great.

Issue I'm having is right from start glass gets black after a few hours, the flame is really pushed up against glass.
I adjusted trim and it hasn't helped, I tried each of the 1 to 4 settings for trim.

My exhaust config is as follows,
Back of stove is kiddycornered.
A 90 and 45 go into a straight pipe through wall then straight out of exterior wall about 4 ft to an end cap pointing down.
I read I don't need to go up the side of the house in the manual.

Also, tonight I noticed the flame was huge for some reason, no changed to the controls were done so I restarted stove seems ok now. I have it running on low now. No thermostat.


Any ideas are appreciated.
Thanks
Vic

 

[Connecticut Yankee]

I am new to pellet stoves myself, but I learned the hard way that the black soot buildup means your fire needs more air. Is there a damper control? If so, opening the damper a bit should help. Otherwise, try increasing the combustion blower speed slightly. The trick, as people here explained to me, is to make changes in small increments and wait a while to see what happens before making another change.

Be aware that if you switch to a different brand of pellets, you may have to tweak your stove again.

BTW, you will always get ash buildup on the glass over time, but ashes are either white or grey, and on my stove the buildup happens over days, whereas the soot got very thick in a few hours.

 

[tsimons22]

Yes I have the same stove and same issues . looks like I'm going to be returning it to tractor supply. I have contacted the company and they sent me a mother board. No change. I have been messing with the trend , no change. I did not install air intake so it looks like it needs more air. I'll try the air intake before returning it. But this stove by far is the worst I have ever owned. You cant adjust it. Goes up goes down , burns clean then dirty , black glass. Pain in the ass.

 

[tsimons22]

Vic did you install air intake?

 

[Ssyko]

Just to test you can open a window a bit and see if your stove picks up more air and burns better. If it does install the OAK

 

[tsimons22]

Just to test you can open a window a bit and see if your stove picks up more air and burns better. If it does install the OAK

I was going to see what it would do my forcing air into intake. Fan or vacuum. Its suffocating

 

[SidecarFlip]

I cannot say I've ever seen any pellet or corn/ pellet appliance that didn't get the view glass dirty. What manufacturers say about 'glass wash' is advertising hype. Looking right at mine as I type this. It's dirty too.

I will say that the curtain in the OP's picture is way too close to the backside of the appliance and the floor protector should be larger as well.

Far as quick accumulation of ash / soot in the view glass, it's caused by a lack of combustion air or a clogged exhaust or both, but by the pictures posted and the color of the ash on the glass, I'd say it's running fine. It's not black, it's dark tan...

If it'a an agitator stove (looks to be in the pictures), an agitator (rouser) rod in the firepot will cause the flame to change in intensity and height as it stirs the pellets. Just how it works.

Not like a coal stoker where you have a fuel bed, the fire bed in a pellet stove is constantly being stirred so the flames rise and fall with the stirrer action.

I didn't know you could return a unit to TSC once you fired it but then I've never been in that situation.

All looks pretty good to me other than the curtain and tiny floor protector. Don't forget to follow the cleaning regimen outlined in the owners manual. Biofuel appliances like to be clean and ash free inside.

 

[SidecarFlip]

I was going to see what it would do my forcing air into intake. Fan or vacuum. Its suffocating

DON'T DO THAT. You will overfire it and warp the sheet metal. It's not suffocating though adding an OAK will probably be beneficial. I recommend that anyway. Why use heated air for combustion. Use outside ambient temp air instead.

 

[tsimons22]

I cannot say I've ever seen any pellet or corn/ pellet appliance that didn't get the view glass dirty. What manufacturers say about 'glass wash' is advertising hype. Looking right at mine as I type this. It's dirty too.

I will say that the curtain in the OP's picture is way too close to the backside of the appliance and the floor protector should be larger as well.

Far as quick accumulation of ash / soot in the view glass, it's caused by a lack of combustion air or a clogged exhaust or both, but by the pictures posted and the color of the ash on the glass, I'd say it's running fine. It's not black, it's dark tan...

If it'a an agitator stove (looks to be in the pictures), an agitator (rouser) rod in the firepot will cause the flame to change in intensity and height as it stirs the pellets. Just how it works.

Not like a coal stoker where you have a fuel bed, the fire bed in a pellet stove is constantly being stirred so the flames rise and fall with the stirrer action.

I didn't know you could return a unit to TSC once you fired it but then I've never been in that situation.

All looks pretty good to me other than the curtain and tiny floor protector. Don't forget to follow the cleaning regimen outlined in the owners manual. Biofuel appliances like to be clean and ash free inside.

I've tried everything. The flame goes way out of control then almost out then blazing then low. After just a few hours of running soot , lazy flame black glass. I'm drilling air intake this weekend see if that helps.

 

[tsimons22]

One more question how far from exhaust should air intake be

 

[Ssyko]

What heat setting are you on and where is the trim set to

 

[tsimons22]

I'm on 4 and trend is on -3. It wont adjust with moving trend.

 

[tsimons22]

Manual says to adjust counter clockwise to fix lazy flame issue. I'm not having any luck. I've cleaned the pipe stove. ‍♂️

 

[Ssyko]

Is your home sealed up pretty tight? Tried opening a window a crack and see if it makes a difference?

 

[tsimons22]

Pellet stove is in basement and its finished. Does seem stuffy. Needs to breath. I'll try it thanks