Pellets that miss or bounce out of the Ultragrate

[jjdesch]

Hi all,

I have a Whitfield Profile 30 free-standing that I had installed this past August, and this newb has a few questions:

1) I originally hooked it up to the honeywell thermostat that the stove came with, but was told that this thermostat was junk and that it was generally a bad idea to use a thermostat anyways because it causes premature wear of the igniter. I was advised that it was better to let the stove run on a low setting than to have it cycle on and off. But wouldn't letting the stove run continuously eat up more pellets and thereby offset the cost of igniter wear?

2) I have noticed that pellets sometimes completely miss or bounce out of the ultragrate, and after a while (say, overnight) start forming a layer on the bottom (maybe 20 or thirty pellets). One time this layer actually caught on fire (actually, it was a small pile left by a tech after a tuneup), which kinda freaked me out to the point where I now periodically open the front and use long metal tweezers to pick up the errant pellets and throw them back into the ultragrate. Am I being overly cautious or is this buildup normal? By the way, to this untrained eye the pellets don't seem to be bouncing out like popcorn because the fire is too hot, thou I could be wrong. The flame on low seems good, extending two to three inches from the top of the ultragrate, but periodically higher right after a pellet feed cycle. Some pellets just seem to miss and/or bounce out by chance, and this builds up over time.

i am using country boy white lighting oak hardwood pellets.

Comments?, suggestions?

thx!

 

[Xena]

imo a tstat is handy if nobody is home & you wish to raise or lower temps automatically- otherwise manual mode works for me. Some pellets will wind up in the ash pan & it varies with each stove. Your manual should have info about that.

 

[jjdesch]

Thx for the reply - the manual says bupkis about pellets collecting in bottom of the firebox. the section on damper adjustment does speak to the issue of pellets flying out like "popping corn" because of excessive air, but I do not think that is the issue in my case.

 

[Xena]

The damper issue is what I was thinking. Even if you don't
think it's the problem you may try adjusting?
I know my manual says a small amount of pellets in
the ash pan is normal.

 

[chanlon1974]

That happens with mine all the time. I have had mine for 3 years. i have a ton of overflow ash. I guess it depends on the pellets and the stove, but it seems like these Whitfields do not burn the pellets as fast as they feed.

 

[Jims]

My Profile 30 does the same thing. I have seen the pellets bounce out of the ultagrate. I let them burn when they catch on fire, but it is usually only one or two pellets burning at a time.

 

[jjdesch]

On low heat I am finding that the pellets may char but do not burn. They will build up to form a solid layer over a few days of continuous use if left unchecked, which seems like a waste of fuel because pellets sitting in the ash pan while the stove is running probably degrades the burn characteristics of these pellets, and may present a safety concern if they caught on fire out side of the grate. This happened to me once and the resultant lazy burn on the floor of the ash pan did a nice job of sooting up the firebrick, along with freaking me out. On the medium heat setting I am finding the pellets that miss the grate will lazily burn up or eventually char to dust- again a waste of fuel that also dirties the stove, but at least the pellets do not appreciably build up outside of the ultragrate.

It seems to me that the ultragrate needs a slightly taller backsplash to better trap the pellets. As anyone experimented with this?

 

[chanlon1974]

Im not sure why you think that is a waste of fuel. It is still burning and causing heat. Yes, it might make more of a mess, but in the end it...its still making heat. Im also not sure why you think it is a safety hazard if they burn outside the grate? Its a fire box.

The grate does seem like it needs a taller backsplash, but you will see after running it all day, that ash does build up in the grate and it will eventually overflow out of it. Not sure if is the stove or the pellets. I burn hammer's hot ones premium pellets. Red oak less than 1/2 ash. I have adjusted my damper every which way. It still happens.

 

[jjdesch]

Because I think the pellets probably burn hotter and completely -- and therefore more efficiently -- inside the grate than out. I would think any fuel spillage outside the grate (where the fuel is designed to burn) would decrease the stove's overall efficiency.

 

[chanlon1974]

Not sure about your stove, but even the overflow burns out completely in my stove. I wish there was, but there is no way too keep every single pellet in the grate. Just a design flaw I guess. I don't believe it affects the overall performance of the stove. It heats my house fine.

 

[Jims]

I have never had more than a few pellets bounce outside the ultragrate. There may be 10-20 pellets during a weeks burn that land outside the ultragrate (I clean my stove once a week). The pellets never build up in the ash pans.

The ultragrate burns the pellets very efficiently, so pellets do not build up in the ultragrate either. On high burn there may be a single layer of pellets burning in the ultragrate after the initial startup phase. On the lower burn setting there is only a small amount of pellets burning in the ultragrate. The ultagrate does fillup during the startup phase on any of the settings, but it burns down to the bars withing a few minutes. The only time pellets build up in the ultragrate is if the damper is not open far enough to allow enough air for an efficient burn. Since the pellets do not build up in the ultragrate the chances of them bouncing out are minimized.

The Profile 30 does seem to be finicky about the type of pellets. My dealer told me to burn only 100% cedar or fir pellets, which is what I burn. I have tried burning a few bags of pine pellets, but they built up in the ultagrate to the point where I had to empty it daily to prevent it from overflowing. Adjusting the damper helped some, maybe if I burned more bags I could have found the damper setting that would allow the Pine pellets to burn efficiently. But I returned the Pine pellets to Lowes and went to Home Depot which sells cedar pellets.

I should say this is only my second season using a pellet stove, so my experience is limited.