Quadra-fire Mt Vernon Sparks coming from heating tubes

[Jimteacher]

How did that get broken? That shouldn't make any difference, it just opens into the heat exchanger back there, sparks normally are pulled in there.

I'm wondering if you really had sparks coming out of your heat exchanger tubes or if some dust came off your blower and faked you out in the lighting or something?

If you had sparks flying out... You'd have all the exhaust glasses/ smoke too. There's not a lot of ember's in a pellet stove compared to the mouth of smoke/ gasses. Your room would be filled with pellet stove exhaust immediately if it was venting ember's out the exchanger tubes.

What exactly did you see? Are you sure? And was there detectable smoke/ odor in the room with this event?
I think we all want to know if this is real what's going on because it could be a safety flaw that affects all of us.

But this doesn't seem possible based on the physics?

Thanks for your input. It's fun to interact with people who know more about shoes.
I've been using it for a long time, without sparks...
The sparks were continuous in the spring, just before I stopped using it.
They were like little bullets, coming right out of the exchanger tubes... straight out, as I was scared I was going to burn down my house !
They were very small, as I put a screen in front of the exchanger to hopefully stop them, but it didn't stop the little sparks at all. They came right through the screen, even when it was doubled.
Good point that something more than sparks might come out... but NO smoke odor... no smoke coming coming out, just intermittent little fast sparks. Interesting question.
A lot of embers are charging around, but pretty big ones, when it starts. ...not something tiny enough to go through a screen.
I wonder if something could heat up dust or something in the tube system that might get heated that much? ....doesn't seem possible, but who knows.
It broke because I had to drill out the old screws to get the back and sides out a long time ago. They were rusted in. But I can put something there that would block it... like the angle iron, if that was part of the problem.
Good point about the laws of physics, which I definitely agree with.
Hmmm.... sparks but no smoke...
Wow... keep thinking...
Thanks...
jim

 

[Jimteacher]

Starting to look more like just crap from inside the tubes. Yes, they can get that hot. Bugs, spiders, pet hair,etc.
The burn pot gasket will keep stove running properly, it is a maintenance item.
A long hot fire, where everything expands, should be a good test for you,

Thanks...
I'll blow the whole system out with a leaf blower or a backwards vacuum ...that isn't full of ashes!
I'll do that again, like I did the other night... just let it run and sit in front of it and see if anything comes out.
It could be that all of my playing with it might have blown some of that out.
I'll make a point of blowing stuff backwards through the tubes (even though it might dust up the basement...
Thanks for your input!
jim

 

[Mt Bob]

You should be able to look in the top of the tubes. You also could take a semi-stiff wire, like a section out of a copper house wire, wrap a soft rag around it, and push down the tubes,pull back out, look for anything strange, like creosote or burnt stuff. Others use a brush to occasionally clean those tubes out.

 

[Jimteacher]

You should be able to look in the top of the tubes. You also could take a semi-stiff wire, like a section out of a copper house wire, wrap a soft rag around it, and push down the tubes,pull back out, look for anything strange, like creosote or burnt stuff. Others use a brush to occasionally clean those tubes out.

Thanks... I'll try that...

 

[Jimteacher]

Thanks... I'll try that...

Sadness... cleaned / painted / blew out the tubes... started a fire... still sparks... MUST be coming from above the pot, as I opened the ash door while it was burning, and no sparks were going down... sparks ONLY going up above the pot, out channel to the right to the fan which blows the smoke, etc up the chimney, so there's something with a hole that's leading to the tubes. We'll work on it again this weekend.
Thanks for your advice...

 

[Mt Bob]

Smoke bombs may help, and HVAC ones don't stink up house. (well, a little). Were the sparks coming from a specific hole/tube?

 

[Jimteacher]

Smoke bombs may help, and HVAC ones don't stink up house. (well, a little). Were the sparks coming from a specific hole/tube?

Good question... I think there's a long passage that's open at the end... I'll start it up and see, but I think sort of the middle...not at the far left or right. I'll see if I can find an HVAC smoke bomb. My son works with air conditioning.
Thanks...