Pellet Buildup

[FightingthePelletStove]

The stove in question: 1990 ish Whitfield Advantage

As I've posted before, I bought this stove used and cant seem to figure it out. I have had other, more pressing issues with it up until this point and finally have those dialed in (I think). The stove burns alright but needs to be cleaned multiple times a day. I'm typically emptying the bottom fire box 3-4 times per day and it is full of un burnt or semi burnt pellets. The burn grate fills up with the same semi burnt pellets on heat setting 2 in about 4 hours and needs to be emptied. I am under the impression that when burning correctly, pellets burn all the way down.

I have the manual pellet feed switch turned all the way down. I can't really leave it on heat setting 3 or higher because it fills up and smothers the flame. The vent pipe is straight back with no rise to an elbow outside of my house. I just took apart the combustion blower and cleaned it out and cleaned out the air room blower as well. I'm also having dirty gooey buildup on the heat exchanger tubes, and glass.


Any thoughts???? Help would be much appreciated Thanks in advance.

Ann Marie

 

[imacman]

Sounds like a VERY dirty stove...and i'm not talking about the exhaust pipe.

Unburned pellets, gooey buildup all result from lack of combustion air. Also is probably the reason the pot fills up so fast....no way you should have to clean the stove 3-4 times a day.

Cleaning the blowers is a good start, but there must be other areas of the stove that are plugged. If you have access to the exhaust pipe outside, the leafblower trick may help a lot.

 

[OldScrap]

Did you run a brush through all of the passages in the heat exchanger? I had a similar problem until I cleaned out all the passages in my stove. I had to remove a couple baffles to find some of the passages - and to do that I had to unstick two 1/4" phillips head screws to get back there. It seems that creosote really builds up once airflow is compromised.

 

[FightingthePelletStove]

MacMan- I haven't tried the leaf blower trick yet? Not quite sure what it is to be honest. Directions would be much appreciated?


OldScrap- I have run brushes on the bottom of the heat exchanged tubes but not anywhere else. I'll get the wire brush out again and start exploring.

 

[imacman]

MacMan- I haven't tried the leaf blower trick yet? Not quite sure what it is to be honest. Directions would be much appreciated?......

Ann Marie, here's a link to one thread that has a video included, plus some discussions. Forum member "Krooser" was the original poster that got people turned-on to this method. It should be mentioned that the BEST way to use it is AFTER a complete cleaning of the stove is done.

www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/forums/viewthread/44392/

Using the "search" feature of the forum will result in many other threads about using the leafblower.

 

[rickwa]

there should be 3 fake brick boards that are held in with metal bars on each side of the inside of the stove. you probably need a 5/16 nut driver to remove the screws (2 on each side). take the panels out and your problem will be evident.

 

[FightingthePelletStove]

THANK YOU!

I took the firebricks out as I had before and there was no ash buildup. I didn't realize that there was another "secret compartment" behind those bricks. I took the baffles out and whew...it was ugly. I felt like a coal miner chiseling out all of the thick chunks of buildup. Once I got it all cleaned out I started the stove back up and it is burning like never before.

Thanks to all for the input, you saved me from hauling my pellet stove up a hill and rolling it down!!

I'll be trying the leaf blower trick here on my next day off. Thanks again.

Ann Marie

 

[krooser]

Congrats... a clean stove is a happy stove.

 

[maglite67]

I think you have a gasket leak causing the burn chamber temp to drop and losing the temp causing creosote formation. Check the glass to see if the gasket is intack. The air is somehow getting least amount of resistance after the burn pot meaning a leak in the stove causing air to not be pulled through the pot. If your glass is loose theres your leak it should be tight. Another problem is your not getting rpms out of your combustion blower.

 

[FightingthePelletStove]

Maglite- I just changed out the gasket last week, before I found the hidden creosote gold mine. Maybe that's what started this all?? Good to know in the future though. Thanks!

 

[maglite67]

Maglite- I just changed out the gasket last week, before I found the hidden creosote gold mine. Maybe that's what started this all?? Good to know in the future though. Thanks!

The Rpms out of the combust blower would cause real black fluffy build up and not creosote. Another way to check the stove body is to take a match of lighter around the stove body if the flame gets sucked in then you found a leak.

 

[imacman]

.....I didn't realize that there was another "secret compartment" behind those bricks. I took the baffles out and whew...it was ugly. I felt like a coal miner chiseling out all of the thick chunks of buildup. Once I got it all cleaned out I started the stove back up and it is burning like never before. .......

Ann Marie,

now you know why we preach "knowing your stove inside & out".....so many pellet burners, (newbies that don't know, and "veterans" that THINK they know), have no clue about all the places in a pellet stove that hide ash. Yet, on a daily basis, we get forum members who can't figure out why their stove isn't working well "all of a sudden", even though they say "I know I cleaned my stove completely!"

Scraping the burn pot, vacuuming the ash out of the firebox, emptying the ash pan, and emptying the cleanout T just isn't enough.

As Krooser's signature says, 80% (or more, IMO) of stove problems are caused by dirty stoves.....now you understand.

BTW, make sure you do the leaf blower AFTER cleaning the rest of the stove, and have someone bang on the metal firebox walls with a small hammer to loosen up more hidden ash while the blower is running.