pellet backup into chute

[Cheeks]

Hi, I'm in my first season with the Hampton GCI60 pellet insert. It's been really cold here in MA and last night hit single digits (F). We had the stove on heat setting #5. In the morning I realized that the room was 5 degrees below the thermostat setting but there were still flames, so I knew it had pellets left. At closer look I saw a mound of pellets up to and into the chute, on fire.

I'm not sure what caused this although it's been almost a week since I cleaned it.. so perhaps ash built up and the pellets started to pile on top of it. Anyhow, I turned it to setting #1 (didn't know if agitator would work if I turned it off), and then I opened and closed the lid every few minutes to cause vibrations, until all the pellets were out of the chute. It took a while for them to burn off. I was obviously concerned about the fire going up to the pellet storage area so I kept a close eye on it.

I'm wondering if anyone else has had this issue, might know the cause, or anything I should do differently to avoid this again? I'm using Green Supreme pellets.

Thanks

 

[St_Earl]

the basics are feed rate and air flow/supply.
is the flue clean and unobstructed? same for the stove itself. is there a damper that may be closed too much?
since the stove is designed to burn at that rate, something prevented it from burning the pellets it was feeding.
unless it was somehow feeding too much period. which would be something like an electronics issue.
best to start with basics though.

after ensuring there is no obstruction of the flue and checking the damper (if there is one) and being sure the rest of the stove's air path is clean and clear, you move on to other things. air leaks for instance.

i know a little.
there are others here who can help even better.
i'm sure they will chime in soon enough.

your manual's troubleshooting section will have information. the manual is always the best place to start.

 

[stoveguy2esw]

she got COPD, needs a good deep cleaning, running at a high rate for several days will ash up a stove much more rapidly than running at a more moderate rate. remember its the pellets consumed which generate the ash buildup , so with more fuel burned in less time , more ash builds up in less time

 

[fmsm]

And let us not miss an opportunity to slam NEWP and/or Green Supremely crappy pellets. The dirtier the pellet the more ash and the more need for frequent cleanings!

 

[Cheeks]

So I did clean it thoroughly, but I had to wait several hours for the pellets to finish burning with the stove off. I moved things around every half hour to expedite it, and the metal parts were still very hot when I removed them to cool.

Anyhow, the ash had piled up and was sort of loosely clumpy on the sides of my burn pot. If I touched the clumps they crumbled. Duly noted on the pellets... i'm not going to order green supreme again. I bought them because the guy told me they were .1% ash (later he said they were <1% when they were delivered and I pointed out the .4-.6% on the bag) and delivery was free.

Lesson learned in all regards: buy better pellets, clean more often when it's cold, keep an eye on the ash.

Thanks

 

[briansol]

My manual states specifically to NOT run on high for extended periods of time. Maybe check what yours says?

 

[Cheeks]

Mine doesn't mention that, but it makes sense since the ash will accumulate more quickly on high.

 

[fmsm]

Mine doesn't mention that, but it makes sense since the ash will accumulate more quickly on high.

Just remember; A good pellet will produce less ash. The Douglas Firs I have been burning the past week 24/7 with it cold out are producing very little ash!

 

[Pellet-King]

This stove like a harman where the pellets push out or pellets drop down a chute?, is 5 the max?, i never burn mine over a 3 out of 5, it get's too hot

 

[Cheeks]

Yes, they drop down a chute. The stove gets too hot or your house gets too hot? We have almost 3000 sq feet so the pellet stove is usually working pretty hard. We supplement it with a wood burning stove when it's cold, and have the thermostats set so if the pellet stove runs out of pellets our oil heat will kick in. So far we've barely used oil for heating.

 

[dlester03]

Hi, I'm in my first season with the Hampton GCI60 pellet insert. It's been really cold here in MA and last night hit single digits (F). We had the stove on heat setting #5. In the morning I realized that the room was 5 degrees below the thermostat setting but there were still flames, so I knew it had pellets left. At closer look I saw a mound of pellets up to and into the chute, on fire.

I'm not sure what caused this although it's been almost a week since I cleaned it.. so perhaps ash built up and the pellets started to pile on top of it. Anyhow, I turned it to setting #1 (didn't know if agitator would work if I turned it off), and then I opened and closed the lid every few minutes to cause vibrations, until all the pellets were out of the chute. It took a while for them to burn off. I was obviously concerned about the fire going up to the pellet storage area so I kept a close eye on it.

I'm wondering if anyone else has had this issue, might know the cause, or anything I should do differently to avoid this again? I'm using Green Supreme pellets.

Thanks

I have the same insert. I was having a similar problem with mine. The slider/damper was not open enough to allow a clean burn of the pellets. The slider/damper is on the left side of the insert. You do not need to pull the insert out of the fireplace to access it. Just take off the side cover on the left side and use a small flathead screw driver to move the damper lever out about 1/2 way. Start the stove and watch to see how the flame burns. Adjust the damper accordingly until you get a full sized fire in the burn pot that neither looks like a torch flame or a lazy burn. If your glass is getting covered with soot after about 2 hours, then you need more air (open damper). I learned all this stuff the hard way.

I don't know what size space you are heating but I never run my stove on high in thermo mode. It's really not recommended, especially if you are going to be in bed or gone out of the house. I have a 2700 sq ft home and on 3, it will run you out of the living room and the rest of the first floor of my house stays in the low 70's while the 2nd floor is about 65. Also, different pellets will require different settings on the slider damper. More or less air depending upon the pellet. I use New England, Energex Premiums and Cubex depending upon what's available locally. They are all a little different and require different settings.

 

[Cheeks]

dlester,
Previously, me pellet stove wasn't starting up. The folks that installed it came back and said that my slider/damper had moved. They adjusted it, measured the pressure inside the stove and then marked it with white out so if it moved again I would know where it should be. I checked and it's in the right spot, and my flames are quickly moving (not lazy), but not like a blow torch.

However, my glass does get soot on it (usually when it's on low burn and over several days).

Our house is almost 3000 sq feet and with it set on 67 at night it's about 60 upstairs. unfortunately, one side of the house is separated from the other by just two doorways, so the heat goes upstairs but doesnt spread throughout the house (we have one doorway fan too). I'm guessing between our house layout and the Green Supreme pellets that it makes the difference. REgarding running it on high...we only did that over night once or twice. Usually 4 does the trick and it can keep up.

Thanks for you input and suggestions!

 

[dlester03]

dlester,
Previously, me pellet stove wasn't starting up. The folks that installed it came back and said that my slider/damper had moved. They adjusted it, measured the pressure inside the stove and then marked it with white out so if it moved again I would know where it should be. I checked and it's in the right spot, and my flames are quickly moving (not lazy), but not like a blow torch.

However, my glass does get soot on it (usually when it's on low burn and over several days).

Our house is almost 3000 sq feet and with it set on 67 at night it's about 60 upstairs. unfortunately, one side of the house is separated from the other by just two doorways, so the heat goes upstairs but doesnt spread throughout the house (we have one doorway fan too). I'm guessing between our house layout and the Green Supreme pellets that it makes the difference. REgarding running it on high...we only did that over night once or twice. Usually 4 does the trick and it can keep up.

Thanks for you input and suggestions!

Cheeks,

It sounds like you have a good rapport with the installer. That's awesome. Too bad about the way your house is separated though. I guess that makes it hard to get good circulation between all the rooms. I installed a ceiling fan in my kitchen which really helps a lot with circulation. The soot on the glass thing was driving me crazy for the longest time until I discovered the slider damper adjustment. Now I usually go about the same length of time as you without getting much soot at all on the glass.

One thing I'm curious about since you have the same stove that I have is, do you use high/low mode or auto/off mode with the thermostat? I've been playing around with both modes because I like to turn my stove down at night since we sleep in a different section of the house than where the stove is installed. In auto/off mode, the stove stops and starts more than I would like. However, in high/low, I burn more pellets.

 

[Cheeks]

It took many phone calls and asking for my money back before they came over and addressed the problems I had. But I like to think I have a good relationship with them.

Based on what I read in this forum, and also what the dealer suggested, I use the HI/LO. Apparently if you use the auto/off too much it can burn out the starter, and they're expensive. It also makes sense to me because if your stove is hot and kicking out heat, wouldn't you rather just have it reduce the heat for a bit instead of going cold and then restarting? I sometimes turn it off if it's a relatively warm day and I know the temperature might drop to only 60 by the time I get home. I also try to set the heat setting so that it keeps up but doesn't go to LO too often. I wouldn't want it on 5 if it is 40 outside and it runs on 5 for five minutes and then LO for 30 minutes. I would set it on 3 and see how that works. My theory here is that it keeps the noise and heat output more steady.

If I were to use auto/off, I would use the highest swing temperature as I could deal with so that it would go on and off less often. I have a wireless thermostat with +/-4 degrees. So if i set it on 67 it would kick on at 63 and heat until 71.

 

[heat seeker]

Cheeks, that's exactly how I run mine, since it makes the most sense to me.

 

[dlester03]

It took many phone calls and asking for my money back before they came over and addressed the problems I had. But I like to think I have a good relationship with them.

Based on what I read in this forum, and also what the dealer suggested, I use the HI/LO. Apparently if you use the auto/off too much it can burn out the starter, and they're expensive. It also makes sense to me because if your stove is hot and kicking out heat, wouldn't you rather just have it reduce the heat for a bit instead of going cold and then restarting? I sometimes turn it off if it's a relatively warm day and I know the temperature might drop to only 60 by the time I get home. I also try to set the heat setting so that it keeps up but doesn't go to LO too often. I wouldn't want it on 5 if it is 40 outside and it runs on 5 for five minutes and then LO for 30 minutes. I would set it on 3 and see how that works. My theory here is that it keeps the noise and heat output more steady.

If I were to use auto/off, I would use the highest swing temperature as I could deal with so that it would go on and off less often. I have a wireless thermostat with +/-4 degrees. So if i set it on 67 it would kick on at 63 and heat until 71.

I have a Skytech wireless thermostat on mine. I have the swing temp set to +/- 2 degrees. I'm going to leave mine on hi/lo from now on because I agree with you that it makes the most sense and I don't want to burn out the igniter on mine either. Thanks for the feedback.

 

[Cheeks]

I also have a skytech wireless, but i leave my swing on +/- 1 degree since, as far as i know, there is no downside to the transition from LO/HI and HI to LO.

I got a Dremel for an early CHristmas gift so I'm going to try using that with a wire brush attachment for my agitator and burn pot... usually I have to use a screwdriver to chip off the caked on soot.

 

[dlester03]

I also have a skytech wireless, but i leave my swing on +/- 1 degree since, as far as i know, there is no downside to the transition from LO/HI and HI to LO.

I got a Dremel for an early Christmas gift so I'm going to try using that with a wire brush attachment for my agitator and burn pot... usually I have to use a screwdriver to chip off the caked on soot.

I just use the scraping tool that came with the stove. It works for my purposes.

Merry Christmas!

 

[smwilliamson]

Try turning your fuel selection down to ultilty grade pellets of multi fuel. Do this when the unit is off by selecting the fuel type. Sounds like you need more agitation or a pellet with lesser ash content.

 

[Cheeks]

Merry Christmas! Happy new year.

Scott, would increasing the agitation rate (by lowering pellet setting from premium) push burning pellets into the ash pan quicker? Why would premium need less agitation anyhow? Thanks for the info.

 

[Cheeks]

Update:
I opened the air flow up a little by pulling out the slider on the left side of the stove about 1/2 inch. It definitely made a difference because the stove keeps up on a lower setting and there seems to be less ash and window soot.

With that said, i tried pulling the rod out all the way, and I hardly noticed a difference in the flame. I ran it on high for 15 mins first. It is a little less orangy (it's brighter) and the flames seem to move quicker but I cannot seem to get a "blowtorch" type flame even with it open all the way.

And my ash still builds up on the sides. It is very fluffy but it just piles up on the sides. See pictures attached (this is after about 5 days, before i cleaned it). I'll start reading some other forums for ideas to make sure i'm getting maximum efficiency. Next step is to do a full clean since i'm almost through 2 tons.