Pellet Stove Problems

Crappy pellets = Excessive ash & lousy heat

100% Correct!

You need to use quality oak pellets (i.e., Pennington). Those generic pellets are not worth using.

Also, they need to be dry. If they get moist they will not burn effectively because you need a lot of the generated heat to boil off the water vaper.

I would say excess moisture content is the key reason a stove would put off less than "normal" heat. Maybe your pellets are old or wet. Some pellets can lead to big clinkers and high levels of ash, in this case cleaning would be required more frequently for peak efficiency.

I have limited knowledge of pellet stoves, but I am aware that wood can be hydroscopic and attract moisture from the air. Will the way pellets are stored cause an increase in pellet moisture content? Are pellets stored in a sealed container?

Pellets are usually stored in plastic bags and sold by the pallet full. Most pallets are wrapped in shrink wrap and stored in a dry area. I usually store two-three tons at a time in my garage. I've had pellet stoves for close to 15 years and never had any problems with them pellets being wet.

When a pellet gets wet you know it it expands and falls apart. You have to let them soak a while to get to that point.

I suspect you cannot count on a pellet stove as the only heat source given this kind of attention Good to know

Not really. I use a pellet stove for 100% of my heating needs. And it is many times less work than a coal or wood stove. Daily maintenance, including loading the pellets, and a quick scrap of the fire chute takes less than 10 minutes. The once a week cleaning requires the stove be cut back for about 30 minutes.

It is however, nice when you get a relatively warm day when you can shut it down for several hours and do a complete cleaning, with an internal vac job.

I operate much the way Bricktop does with my pellet stove. Cleaning is important. Don't forget the exhaust lines. They will get coated inside with ash. You will need a special brush for flue cleaning to get most of it. I go up on the roof, take the wind deflector off and stick a long articulated rod with the brush on the end down into it and scrub. Actually the worst ash buildup is usually right at the top end,

My pellet stove has a rear horizontal pipe that goes directly into a tee with the vertical chimney going up through the roof and a cap on the down side of the tee. About every ton of pellets I have to clean the chimney and also remove the cap from the bottom of the tee to clean the ash out. If I don't do that the ash will build up and start to block the center of the tee, resulting in reduced flow and a lot of efficiency loss. A good vacuum cleaner is a must to deal with these things. We have a builtin vacuum system in the house for heavy stove cleaning and I use a small handheld car vacuum for everyday minor cleanup around the outside of the stove. The ash does tend to fly around a bit.

Ed Weldon

I disagree, I ran my stove starting in October this year for 100 % of our heat using a thermostat hook up so far I've used only two tons where last year I used over three tons with my older stove without a thermostat. It also dropped my electric usage by 60%.

Cleaning is very important also. Once every day I clean out the fire box there is a lever on my stove that allows us to drop the ashes into a pan maybe a minute to do. Once a week usual Saturday I shut it down and clean it out with a shop vac and clean the windows maybe 15 minutes tops. You have to make sure all the panels and back compartments are open and give them a good cleaning also, along with the vent pipes.

I agree with your comments completely...

Pellet stoves are really great and the small amount of maintenance is easy....we have reduced our heating costs inspite of increased costs of fuel.....

Some good points already made that should be followed up. Also, check for air leaks as your combustion air might be reduced for some reason.....

Mine uses the "forced exhaust" fan to suck air through the firebox for combustion....no fan for air supply as many others have....

I forgot to mention my reasoning, which is:-

By the way, it does sound as though you have incomplete combustion, which causes more ash to be left...

I must stress that when you vacuum your pellet stove it must be stone cold, as in being off for about 4 or 5 hours. I've heard stories that people have burnt up and melted their shop vac. The ash is a very good insulator, and embers can stay glowing hot for hours.

There are vacs made for pellet stove, being fireproof. I have one like this:

http://www.sweeper-city.com/lovelessashvac.html

I aggree I usual shut it down around 10 AM then vac it out around 12 PM. That way I know that won't be any issues. I figure if I can handle the ash in my bare hands its safe for the shop vac.

Mention was made of knowing who your supplier is. How True!!! It may go beyond knowing the brand name. Pinnacle built a pellet plant just down the road from me. They use saw dust from a local sawmill and they do dry the sawdust before pelletizing it.

However! The plant was built to service a contract to supply a large volume customer and pellets are shipped in bulk using 100 Ton railcars. Loading goes on by auger pipe directly into the rail cars day and night, despite rain or snow. I suspect some moisture can get into the bulk cargo this way. Secondly, nearly all the pellets produced in this region is from beetle kiled pine. So yes, its pine pellets but beetle kill pine has a lot less BTU per pound than pine pellets from healthy wood.

I'm told this stuff is then trans shipped by freighter, still in bulk, to some distant destination. Who knows how far and under what conditions these pellets travel before reaching final destination and end user. Bulk shipment pretty much preclude keeping it as dry as when they are bagged and sealed right at the pellet machine. If the bulk pellet buyer is bagging and sealing these pellets someplace else to gain some kind of tariff relief or benefit due to being "packaged locally" the end use consumer may not be getting prime pellets. Sometimes this globalization of the economy is not always for the best.

I get all my pellets from New_England_Wood_Pellet_Co. A local supplier for me.

I would try to avoid big retailers price war pellets.

We use some pellets and get them direct from the mill.

I did hear talk that this new plant might be supplying pellets to Europe.

At a trade show I worked, we spoke to a Dutch engineer who worked for a power utility. They needed 100 tons per day for their thermal electric generation plant.