Stove running but burning bad, not like before, mine is fixed +

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Doug Doty

Burning Hunk
I am only re-posting this sense there has been a rash of people saying there stove burn quality has went to crap recently and with a little help at least mine was a simple fix. I don't know why mine changed, maybe a bit dirty, that did help, but I think My pellet quality went from bad to worse too. But here is what fixed mine.

All mine took to fix it was for me to quit being hard headed, shut it down, clean the dog dodo out of it ( not a quicke ) and feed it good pellets. I was getting aggravated, since is had changed to making those ash bricks I mentioned in the other thread about every 16 to 24 hours. In fact it had shut itself down before the 24 hour mark once recently.

I took some sound advice from someone who has years of experience and not a new guy trying to figure it out. Side car Flip commented in F4jock's, Indek's thread that he has flawlessly ran Somersets for at least 3 years now. He has been heating with pellets and I assume wood too back in the day ?? for 30 years in his signature so I think that qualifies as sound experienced advice. All I had to do was spend 30 seconds on Somersets website and drive an hour to their nearest retailer and get some to try. That was Sunday night reading, got the new pellets Monday as I was luckily driving by there headed to a meeting anyway. Cleaned my burn pot Monday night, made a clean switch to the GOOD pellets and have not had to clean since. I have even mixed in a couple of bags of the crap Easy Heats along the way and the Somersets have carried them through. I have only been on high setting the first night for a bit and I my stove top temperature was 100 degrees hotter than the EasyHeats average. For me this was the answer. They just burn so much hotter and completely that the stove is staying clean. No black on the glass, until I mixed in the old stuff.

I am sure there are others pellets out there that can run the same so just read the threads and don't focus on just trying different pellets. Instead, focus on the optimum pellets you read about and that other users attest to using long term and that you never see a bad or average word written. Keep looking until you can source one of those and never look back. I think there is a few other brands mentioned that might fit into that category. I just got lucky with sourcing and that Side Car was willing to take the time to once again chime in and tell us what he knows instead of growing weary of answering the same old questions. I am 3.5 days and my fire pot is burning even across and the flames are all licking the heat exchangers this morning. Thanks S.C.F.
 
According to their website, I would have to drive all the way to CT for pellets - ain't happening. I will continue to clean the stove.
 
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I agree pellets make a world of difference. Local Oschelns store here gets whatever crap they happen to get and it is what I have had to burn. Hoping to get out of town this weekend to check see if Lowes has anything decent left by then. CV axle scheduled repair tomorrow finally. They were carrying somerset there so hopefully they still have some. Will call before I go. Also I will tell you I have had decent luck burning Greenway pellets in my little Englander. Have Hearth Wood pellets here and I hate them.
 
Doug - forgot to add that I am happy that you were able to try some out, and hopefully that you can keep getting great pellets!
 
Ya, good pellets only work if you can get them !!

If your stove don't run like I described above, you may not have ever experienced good pellets.

I think it is a combination of things watching the diff. Pellets burn. I at least believe the much hotter pellets draft their ash out better and I see lower vacuum reading the hotter it runs. Crappy pellets are just lazy burners and my stove don't like em.
 
Really weird, my strove always runs the best Sunday morning around 9-9:30. Oh wait, that's right after the weekly cleaning!!
 
I highly recommend a good cleaning when you have time to shut the stove down for a day/several hours. I know that's not always an easy feat for folks in much colder climes than here in the Mid-Atlantic. That has been the best thing I've done even when running "cheap" pellets.

I know some people get a good pellet and stick with it. That's great and works well if you can store plenty of the pellets you like or they are available if you are a person that just gets bags as needed. I've found that several brands work well and others not so much. But I don't have the storage to keep a ton or more on hand. So knowing how various brands will work is good for me. I always try to get brands that I like but some times they are sold out at more than 1 location (for good reason).

Keep it clean and let er rip!
 
The through cleaning made my stove throw more heat like when it was new, but the ash clumping in less than 24 hours from lousy pellets was just lousy pellets so the cleaning made no difference in that.
 
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I've been burning Somersets, so unfortunately my problems are more than just pellets.
 
Doug,
I'm betting the clumping issue is something that impacts your stove more due to the design of the burn put and how the pellets are fed. Though honestly I'm not familiar with your stove. I think with the Harmon I have that any ash or build up that may clump is pushed out of the burn pot as new pellets are fed in from the auger.
 
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