# Burn Pot filling with ash over night



## Fish MT (Oct 15, 2007)

I could use some advise on how to get some new pellets to burn better.  I have an Enviro Meridian pellet stove that is 1.5 years old.  

I bought a ton of pellets that I had never used before, and I am having trouble with my burn pot filling up with ash and some clinker overnight to the point where it is almost over flowing.  I have tried to put more air to the stove, but it does not seem to help.  

To me this causes two problems, the pellets do not burn properly once the ash builds up because it can't get enough air, and if the pot overflows it seems as if this could be a hazard.  

If anyone has any suggestions I would appreciate it.

Thank you in advance.


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## hearthtools (Oct 15, 2007)

Be sure your ash pan is shut good
Have you serviced/Cleaned  the stove for the new year.
Clean Flue
Clean BOTH BLOWER
Clean the Ash trap area behind the Firebrick

If all this is good and clean then it is the pellets
The Energex and ProPellets We shipped in from BACK EAST crap we got at the end of year we would have to clean our burn pot every day.

Enviro does have a Low Grate fuel burn pot.
it has larger holes


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## begreen (Oct 15, 2007)

If the problem persists after following Rod's advice, go to a local store that sells a premium brand and try a couple bags. It could be the pellets are damp or of poor quality. What brand are they?


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## Fish MT (Oct 15, 2007)

Yeah I did all of the cleaning last spring (everything that you mentioned) and checked everything again this fall.  I do think it is the pellets, because lignetic pellets seem to burn just fine.  

The dealer said they are a premium pellet with low ash, and there is little to no ash in the bags.  They just don't burn good.  They don't have any moisture.  The brand is Presto Flames from Kleentech Industries out of Calgary Canada.  I think they will work for this fall and the spring, but when it turns really cold in Jan and Feb I am going to have to switch to a better pellet.  

Does the low grade fuel burn pot help a lot?


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## hearthtools (Oct 15, 2007)

Fish MT said:
			
		

> Yeah I did all of the cleaning last spring (everything that you mentioned) and checked everything again this fall.  I do think it is the pellets, because lignetic pellets seem to burn just fine.
> 
> The dealer said they are a premium pellet with low ash, and there is little to no ash in the bags.  They just don't burn good.  They don't have any moisture.  The brand is Presto Flames from Kleentech Industries out of Calgary Canada.  I think they will work for this fall and the spring, but when it turns really cold in Jan and Feb I am going to have to switch to a better pellet.
> 
> Does the low grade fuel burn pot help a lot?


The pot helps with t he clinkering 
BUT NOT much better


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## Stevekng (Oct 21, 2007)

The best pellets to use are soft wood pellets. I use Energex brand and have had no problem with my Enviro Flame VF-100, which is the smae as the Meridian. A good way to tell if the pellets are any good, is to smell them. If they smell like wood, the pellets are probably O.K. Stay away from hardwood. The word Premium doesn't insure that you are getting good pelletts. There is no oversight to the pellet makers using this term.


 Also, you may not be geting complete combustion of your pellets. This could happen if you are using a thermostat and the stove is shutting off before the yellow stove ready light on the control panel stops blinking.


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## GVA (Oct 21, 2007)

Stevekng said:
			
		

> The best pellets to use are soft wood pellets. I use Energex brand and have had no problem with my Enviro Flame VF-100, which is the smae as the Meridian. A good way to tell if the pellets are any good, is to smell them. If they smell like wood, the pellets are probably O.K. Stay away from hardwood. The word Premium doesn't insure that you are getting good pelletts. There is no oversight to the pellet makers using this term.
> 
> 
> Also, you may not be geting complete combustion of your pellets. This could happen if you are using a thermostat and the stove is shutting off before the yellow stove ready light on the control panel stops blinking.


I'll respectfully disgree here....  Hardwood over softwood I'll take softwood They have a bit more BTU and are less damaging to the auger if the bind on a long pellet...
BUT
The problem is Premium or standard grades.
Energex as well as lauzon and others have premium and standard grades  and the difference is mainly ash production......  Simple as that.
How does one know that the manufacture is adhering to the standards of the PFI?????(or at least hopefully they are)
Look for the PFI member tag on the bag.....  At least the brands that I have tried Non members seem to be the worst...
Energex just happens to be the PFI....


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## stoveguy2esw (Oct 21, 2007)

might be moisture, to test , take about a half a cup , put in a glass (definately not plastic) bowl ,and cover with a lid, nuke em in the microwave for about 45 seconds, remove immediately, lift lid and look for moisture, though some steaming will occur with any pellet, if enough is on the lid that you can turn it on end and it runs down easily , wet pellets. no cure for them , just gotta burn em or return em


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## GVA (Oct 21, 2007)

enord said:
			
		

> but
> maybe the pellets can be stacked like a woodpile for drying!


I just tried but they keep rolling away......
Maybe I should split them first.


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## JohnnyBravo (Oct 21, 2007)

GVA said:
			
		

> enord said:
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you should just give them a lap in the clothes dryer.


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## GVA (Oct 21, 2007)

enord said:
			
		

> JohnnyBravo said:
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Glad it's not raining today......
Still taking a while to dry them.. ;-P
EDIT..... I just noticed that half the clothespin are seasoned.....Can I burn these?


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## Mrs-GVA (Oct 21, 2007)

GVA said:
			
		

> enord said:
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Thanks guys, GVA just ran to the store to buy more clothesline and clothespins  I told him we are leaving for Charlotte next Saturday, but he is bound and determined to get a bag of pellets seasoned in time! >:-(


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## eernest4 (Oct 22, 2007)

Actually, there really is a cure for wet pellets. It involves spreading them out to dry on a newspaper, a large newspaper, in the grague or basement or on the front or back roofed pourch and probably all 3 areas considering the amount of pellets in just 1 bag and let them sun dry for about 2 weeks.

    Last year I had a hardware store sell me 4 bags of wet pellets. I dryed then out and burned every last one of them.

   Hardware store was 70 miles one way, not worth 140 mi ride to exchange wet pellets.

   If your pellets get really wet, not just damp,they disintergrate, but they can still be dried out and burnt , kinda like burning saw dust, which works, in a pinch.

Also, you can mix 25% bad pellets with 75% good new pellets and burn them that way.
You will get less ash than the bad pellets gave you but more that using just the good pellets.

Hint: make sure cold air intake is not clogged or restricted and  ash trap under fire pot is well cleaned.
Hint:
Clinkers need to be removed as soon as possible because they block air flow through the fire pot grate.
Hint: use a shop vac with a paper bag type of filter to clean out stove. 

Only vacs that have paper bag filters can be used to clean out cold dead ashes.The ash will fry

(abrasive clogging)  the motors on all other types of vacs.


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## Gooserider (Oct 23, 2007)

Tip - before using vacuum cleaner to remove ashes, make sure they really are THOROUGHLY dead and cold - the airflow through a vacuum cleaner will wake up any embers or coals and bring them back to enthusiastic life, leading to the demonstration of how vacuum cleaners make great flame throwers....  :red: 

Gooserider


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## eernest4 (Oct 23, 2007)

I never lost a vac to embers burning out/up the interior of the vacuum cleaner, but then , I always wait 3 days downtime or longer on pellet stoves before vacuuming and run my hand thru the ashes, looking for any warm spots.

    With my wood dragon smoker, I wait 2 weeks downtime to vacuum , otherwise, I use a big ash shovel
bolted onto the end of a broom stick because the firebox 3 feet deep x 2ft high x2 ft wide.

But yes , i guess it could happen, It would sure be a cool sight to see, as long as it was not my vacuum cleaner.


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## Gooserider (Oct 23, 2007)

eernest4 said:
			
		

> I never lost a vac to embers burning out/up the interior of the vacuum cleaner, but then , I always wait 3 days downtime or longer on pellet stoves before vacuuming and run my hand thru the ashes, looking for any warm spots.



Sounds like you have the idea, but I just figure it's worth the warning whenever a using a vac on a stove is discussed...



> With my wood dragon smoker, I wait 2 weeks downtime to vacuum , otherwise, I use a big ash shovel
> bolted onto the end of a broom stick because the firebox 3 feet deep x 2ft high x2 ft wide.



Seems reasonable - I also shovel out everything I can, and just use the vac for the final cleanup at seasons end.  I don't see a real need to ever vacuum a wood stove during the season, as most function better with some ash in them, and none are really hurt by it.  Pellet stoves may be different, but even there it sounds like if you keep them cleaned out fairly well by hand the vacuuming isn't all that critical during the season.



> But yes , i guess it could happen, It would sure be a cool sight to see, as long as it was not my vacuum cleaner.



Agreed, not my vac, and not in my living room (which is what I see as the real problem...)  If one had a vac that was going to be tossed anyway, might be fun to try a simulation outside in a safe space...

Gooserider


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## begreen (Oct 23, 2007)

Several days wait seems like serious overkill. I would clean my pellet stove a couple hours after shutting it down. The ash is not like wood stove ash and there are no coals. I manually pulled any clinkers out of the burnpot. They were never more than slightly warm. 

A wood stove is a different beast, but 2 weeks? I usually clean mine out after the stove has cooled down to just warm to the touch (maybe 105 degrees). The ashes go directly into a metal ash can, then I clean the glass and vacuum the ashlip and hearth.


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## Gooserider (Oct 23, 2007)

BeGreen said:
			
		

> Several days wait seems like serious overkill. I would clean my pellet stove a couple hours after shutting it down. The ash is not like wood stove ash and there are no coals. I manually pulled any clinkers out of the burnpot. They were never more than slightly warm.
> 
> A wood stove is a different beast, but 2 weeks? I usually clean mine out after the stove has cooled down to just warm to the touch (maybe 105 degrees). The ashes go directly into a metal ash can, then I clean the glass and vacuum the ashlip and hearth.



Cleaning out with a shovel, no problem, I do that with the fire still going even.   Cleaning around the outside of the stove, again, no problem if careful.  But NO WAY am I sticking a vacuum in the firebox unless I'm 100% certain that anything resembling a fire is completely out, dead, kapuut, and stone cold...  

No comment on the pellet stove timing - as I've said before, I burn cordwood, I'm not a pellethead...

But having found live coals in my firebox when shoveling DAYS after it felt like it was out, seems like a couple of weeks wait is not unreasonable to vacuum...  

Gooserider


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## begreen (Oct 24, 2007)

I go back to the previous comment. Why would you be vacuuming the interior of a wood stove mid season? A little ash bed is not going to hurt. Some stoves work better with a nice ash bed. 

But being without flame (and heat) for a couple weeks is a serious issue for a fire bug.   So I shovel, not vacuum my wood stove interior, except off season. 

Pellet stoves are a very different animal. They need frequent cleaning, but create a fly ash of a different kind, almost like sand in our stove. It cools down quickly. But perhaps cherry pit burners are different.


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## Gooserider (Oct 24, 2007)

BeGreen said:
			
		

> I go back to the previous comment. Why would you be vacuuming the interior of a wood stove mid season? A little ash bed is not going to hurt. Some stoves work better with a nice ash bed.
> 
> But being without flame (and heat) for a couple weeks is a serious issue for a fire bug.   So I shovel, not vacuum my wood stove interior, except off season.
> 
> Pellet stoves are a very different animal. They need frequent cleaning, but create a fly ash of a different kind, almost like sand in our stove. It cools down quickly. But perhaps cherry pit burners are different.



Agreed. If you look a couple posts back, you will notice that I said EXACTLY that same thing...  I will vacuum (AFTER SHOVELING) the remaining ash from the stove a couple weeks (or more) AFTER I have finished burning for the season, rest of the year I shovel as needed to get rid of excess ash buildup - at least I did with the smoke dragon, with the new Encore I'm going to learn the joys of dealing with an ash pan system, which can't be any worse, and will amount to the same thing.

Pellet stoves might be different, but I'd still be paranoid - at the very least I'd want to have removed everything I could get with a brush or other tools before breaking out the vac, which would minimize the potential for any hidden embers.  (Of course that makes the assumption that I'd ever want to be in the position of cleaning a pellet stove...)

Gooserider


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## ScubaSteve (Oct 27, 2007)

If your pellets are soaked in water and have not turned to sawdust then you have a pellet that has additives and adhesives to keep it together and that makes for a bad pellet as you want a pellet chemical free.


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## stoveguy2esw (Oct 28, 2007)

normal hardwood and softwood pellets should not need a binder. 

the two most plentiful components of wood are cellulose and lignin, the lignin is a natural adhesive, was used for years and probably still is ,as a bookbinder. it is however water soluable , which is why pellets swell and debond when they get wet.

 although i cannot discount the possibility that pellets with chemical binders may exist, i have never seen any.


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