Having trouble with my quest pellet stove. I can get it running and everything seems to work fine but it seems that A there is not enough "hot" pellets in the stove to keep the new ones burning, or B there is not enough air to keep the fire going in the grate. Its frusterating because it starts well but then peters out. Any help would be appreciated.
Quest pellet stove
- Thread starter Sam333
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I have a Quest in my office, which is in the lower level of our home.
Not enough air would cause the flame to go out and pellets would pile up in the burn pot before the fire finally went out. It sounds like you have the opposite problem, of the fire just going out because not enough hot coals are left to keep the fire going. Pellets will continue to be fed and build up there as well, until the low limit switch shuts off the stove due to low temp.
IF that is the case, and assuming pellets are being fed at a reasonable rate, the answer is likely simple: Increase you pellet feed rate. Depending on the pellet (and it really does matter) I can't go below the line between L to M. And with a lesser quality pellet like Green Supremes (my opinion there, but based on recent experience as I burn through my box store pellet experiment) I can't go below M. I've heard there is a different burn pot / grate for these stoves, but I can get enough heat from this stove to move upstairs that I just burn it at these settings all the time (i.e., I don't get too hot). A smaller room or warm days might force me to just turn off the stove.
Experiment with this while at home so you can watch the stove and understand the situation better for several days / burns (to be safe). I thought I had a problem as well but once I figured this out it has been fine. Assuming a clean stove, you likely just need to make sure you have enough pellets going in to maintain a healthy fire. I call this stove my little pellet pig because it burns more per hour than my fancy, newer, expensive Quad MVAE. No ignitor or thermostat and older technology will do that. But at almost 20 years old it still does a great job and is a fun little stove to own.
Not enough air would cause the flame to go out and pellets would pile up in the burn pot before the fire finally went out. It sounds like you have the opposite problem, of the fire just going out because not enough hot coals are left to keep the fire going. Pellets will continue to be fed and build up there as well, until the low limit switch shuts off the stove due to low temp.
IF that is the case, and assuming pellets are being fed at a reasonable rate, the answer is likely simple: Increase you pellet feed rate. Depending on the pellet (and it really does matter) I can't go below the line between L to M. And with a lesser quality pellet like Green Supremes (my opinion there, but based on recent experience as I burn through my box store pellet experiment) I can't go below M. I've heard there is a different burn pot / grate for these stoves, but I can get enough heat from this stove to move upstairs that I just burn it at these settings all the time (i.e., I don't get too hot). A smaller room or warm days might force me to just turn off the stove.
Experiment with this while at home so you can watch the stove and understand the situation better for several days / burns (to be safe). I thought I had a problem as well but once I figured this out it has been fine. Assuming a clean stove, you likely just need to make sure you have enough pellets going in to maintain a healthy fire. I call this stove my little pellet pig because it burns more per hour than my fancy, newer, expensive Quad MVAE. No ignitor or thermostat and older technology will do that. But at almost 20 years old it still does a great job and is a fun little stove to own.
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