Newbie with Questions?

[tmyers]

OK here it goes! My husband and I are really new to the pellet stove thing. So please take that into consideration. Don't beat me up to bad!!
We bought a used Pelpro FPP......that is what the manual calls it. I know it is not the best brand out there. But the issues we are having I don't get. Vented it the way the manual says, cleaned it well....but we are running into a problem. This stove has been used since 2004(roughly).
The pot where the pellets burn starts to overflow after a few hours of operation. At first it runs great....then dies down and over goes the pellets. The air is then only "luke warm". It does this on all feed rates and blower settings. Seems to be alot of black soot on the glass also.
Common sense is telling me it needs more intake air but the fresh air vent is all the way open. I have also tried this in every position....from closed to all the way open. The manual states to check the main and ash door gaskets for both burn pot over flow and black soot on the glass. The one on the door looks fine, I guess..... but I dont think there is supposed to be one on the ash droor. I looked at a new one of this model in the store and there is NO gasket on the ash pan. Do you think putting on a new door gasket will help this problem?
The burn pot looks to be in the proper position and is clean. The fresh air intake and exhaust pipe is all new so I know that is not plugged. Really went over the entire stove and cleaned everything including heat exchanger tubes with the heat tube scraper rod on the stove.
The pellets are newly bought from the Home Depot. Which leads me to another question......I keep the bags of pellets in my garage. Do you think they could be drawing moisture?
Sorry for all the questions......I just am confused as what to do next. I am thinking my next step would be to install a new door gasket? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
Just thought of something else too......maybe I should try another brand of pellets. I have Penningtons natures heat pellets. I think I will try a bag from my local feed mill.

 

[lpgreg]

If you still have your manual read how to test your door gasket. I also like you said would consider another brand of pellets. My grate was overflowing when using pro pellets and I had to return them, but I didn't get the rest of your symptoms. I would agree with what you describe it appears to need more air. The following is from another post
took the whole thing apart today. What a job… and messy. But, I found that in the 3 months or so that I’ve been using these pellets, there has been enough fines spill out the bottom of the auger channel to completely clog the intake vent INSIDE the pellet stove. I have never had that happen with other pellets. So, it may be just a coincidence that it clogged about the same time I changed the grate out. Or the old firebox having a pipe that goes into that intake channel and past the flange may keep them from getting clogged more efficiently. Either way, there are apparently lots of problems with the Pennington pellets according to other posts. The stove is lit again and now I’m working on adjusting the damper to see if I can get it burning properly. I’m hoping that this has fixed the problem. It has to help at least SOME!

Of note, does anyone know why there isn’t just a straight shot from the air intake pipe to the firebox rather than having the intake opening to the inside of the stove and then a second opening a few inches away to the channel into the firebox. It seems strange to engineer something that way.

Thanks everyone for your advice.

 

[tmyers]

Well I took it all apart AGAIN and cleaned it really well. I got a bag of pellets from my niece next door. These pellets burn great in her stove. Just fired it up again so we will see. I did notice that the new pellets are much lighter in color than the Penningtons I have. Keeping my fingers crossed to see what happens in the next few hours. Thanks.

 

[tmyers]

WOW what a difference!
The other pellets I got from my niece are doing just fine. 5 Hours and no build up in the burning pot. Neer could have gone this long with the Pennington pellets. Wont be buying that brand again. My husband is returning them today and getting some differnt ones. It's much warmer too!! Before it would not go above 60F, now it is 67 and climbing set at feed rate of 3 and fan on high. Thanks

 

[CygnusX1]

The quality of the pellets is a huge factor. Don't buy them in bulk until you've tried about 4-5 bags first to see how they burn.

Once you find what brands works best in your stove, you'll be fine.

I made that mistake when I was new to pellet stoves. I thought pellets were pellets ~ bad mistake!