Strange burn pattern in pot (Quest Plus)

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Ro3bert

Member
Dec 4, 2010
81
New Fairfield, CT
I admit I haven’t been religious about cleaning my stove. I mentioned before except for daily pot, window and ash cleaning (sides of pot) in ten years only once has a “professional†crew come to do a deep clean (I’m not convinced they actually did a complete job).

All this time it has been burning merrily along without fuss or bother until, that is the last day of December. On that day I put in the first bag of Kentucky Kernels which seemed to burn hotter than the Cleanfire’s . However, the next bag was an entirely different matter. Early in the evening I noticed there was a pile of pellets at one end of the pot that weren’t burning just turning into charcoal while the other end was burning furiously. Way back when that had happened and when I opened the door to stir the pot everything seemed to go back to normal. Not this time. No matter how I stirred or moved the pellets around the same condition prevailed. Eventually I turned the stove off.

When I opened the door the next day to try to determine the cause of the odd burn pattern I stirred the unburned pellets around and found some chunky matted material of a dark tan color. Upon poking them with a screwdriver they easily fell apart. Odd that they didn’t burn but clumped together cutting off the combustion air.

It took me a while to figure what the problem was. I noticed there was an excessive amount of dust on the pellet chute and realized an awful lot of dust was being fed into the burn pot along with the pellets.

That being the case I decided to remove all the pellets I could get and do a through vacuuming of the front end including the hopper and combustion air opening.

Upon checking the rest of the pellets in that bag it was full of dust. The pellets looked normal, hard and shiny but still had considerable dust with each pan full I removed.

I have no idea if more bags are in the same condition so decided to make one of those dust separators. Went you know where (HD and L) to pick up the necessary parts, came home and made it up. By the time I was finished I was tired and sore so left the first test for the next day. I made some minor mistakes which will be rectified tomorrow (wrong size wire mesh and dowels too close together).

So today (Monday) I sifted one whole bag using a colander with very little dust, or fines for that matter, to show for it.

So I’ve learned a lesson. I will do a through cleaning of the hopper and front end once a month and a complete maintenance in the spring.
One thing I found today, after the cleaning and removal of all(?) the dust from the stove we have a hotter fire on a lower setting and are using fewer pellets.
Boy, am I glad I found this forum, it’s been a godsend for me. Didn’t realize how little I knew about pellet stoves their care and operation.

Thanks to all you pellet stove guru’s my stove is running much better (and I have a much better idea how to care for it).
 
imacman said:
Don't forget to post some pics of the pellet cleaner.

Well, here goes. Hope the images are posted. Couldn't find a sutiable hopper so got a flue adaptor. Works fine.

Had to make some adjustments, close all the dust holes, and break off some of the dowles as they were too close together. Otherwise it is pretty much the same as the original one posted.
 

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Very nice job on the pellet vacuum, it's nice to see others making and using them. There are a few things the dealer doesn't tell you when you are about to purchase a pellet stove and one of those things is that owning and using one does involve some maintenance. Myself, I try to at a minimum catch my stove when it is off between heat cycles and quickly scrape and vacuum the burn pot to keep all the air passages clear and provide a clean efficient burn. Then every 3rd day I shut the thermostat off (between cycles) and give it a good thorough vacuum along with cleaning the glass, emptying the ash pan underneath, wire-brush the burn pot and if needed I run a small round brush through each of the air passages in the pot and vacuum thoroughly. About every 10 days I also remove the cast iron back panels in the stove and vacuum all behind it and the combustion blower assembly.

I continue to use my homemade pellet vaccum each and every bag and have yet to find any notable pellet dust or fines at the base of the auger/pellet bin. The required maintenance is very quick and easy and I can enjoy all the benefits of owning a pellet stove with very little work. I just called my local oil company and the current price per gallon is $3.08 so I know I'm saving some money. I use my pellet stove to heat 1/2 half of my house, approximately 820 sq.ft. and the burner still heats the other half, about 1300 sq.ft. so I still need oil until I put another pellet stove in.

Good luck with your stove and you are right, this is a great forum to learn from!
 
That pellet vacuum is a godsend. It only takes about 5 minutes to clean a bag as opposed to the back breaking job of sifting with a collendar which I only did after saving the last pound or two from each bag. I'd save the remains until there was about a half bag before the sifting job. It took a half hour or so but didn't get all the small stuff from the whole bag like the vacuum does.

Actually there isn't much dust in a bag of the Kentucky Kernel's (except for an occasional bag) but it sure collects in the hopper and auger. The vacuum has made all the difference in the burn quality and pellet consumption. That has been obvious even with two bags, not to mention the through cleaning of the front end. I'm eger to see what the season end cleaning will bring for next winter. Everything I can take out of the stove will be gone over with a fine tooth comb (in a manner of speaking), vacuumed and blown out (whatever needs it) by the time I'm finished it will be sparkling new, like out of the factory.

I've been exceedingly lucky with this stove as nothing has failed (so far), both fans, the auger motor and the control panel continue to provide the service intended with absolutely minimal maintenance over the ten years we've had it. My only complaint is it isn't big enough to heat the whole house, but as I've said before that probably has more to do with the layout of the house and the age of the original building (one room seasonal cottage) than the capabilities of the stove.

If I had my way (money) I'd have a wall mounted unit in both bedrooms (in spite of the warning not to). That would almost do away with the need for oil except for hot water. Oh, well, beggers can't be choosers, can they?

Now if someone would come up with a pellet stove that would heat the water supply, provide heat for the clothes dryer and have a cook top and oven I might bite the bullet and get one, but not being the greatest inventor I'll have to pass on that one.

Aside-I did know a family who had a wood fired stove with four burners on the top that used kero. The major adjustment one had to make was adjusting to the kero smell.
 
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