# How smokey is your wood pellet stove when it starts up with the auto ignitor? What model stove? See



## Don2222 (Dec 8, 2011)

Hello

I was wondering how much smoke you have on startup when using the Auto Ignitor startup?

I have seen a Harmon PF100 and they through out alot of smoke on startup.

Do you have any smokey pictures you can post please?

Here is a good video of smoke at startup


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## imacman (Dec 8, 2011)

Some smoke.  Englander 10-cpm

EDIT:  Just looked at the video....WOW...that's a lot of smoke.  I have to really look hard to see the smoke from the pipe on my stove.....maybe 1/8 the amount I see in the video.


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## livefreeordie (Dec 8, 2011)

Not enough to black out the neighborhood but a fair amount. It depends on the pellets and how fast they start, my stove chow start slow which makes more smoke; my greene teams start fast so less smoke.


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## livefreeordie (Dec 8, 2011)

Just watched your vid, my smoke is always blue, never black


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## fidiro (Dec 8, 2011)

I get moderate.

Now a story of the heavy smoke situation.  Everytime my stove runs out of pellets and shuts itself off I have to then have to fill hopper and reset stove for it to start again, but for it to ignite I first have to stop and start a second time so that it sends pellets up the auger and into the burn pot.  Instead of restarting a second time I just fill the burn pot by hand and turn it on once.  S0, the last time I did this I filled the hopper way too much and I knew it, and I'm surprised the fire dept didn't show up because of so much smoke.


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## St_Earl (Dec 8, 2011)

very little.
the firepot remains visible through the glass and then poof, flame on.
heatilator ps50. the firepot has lots of big holes. 
plenty of air for combustion.


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## 343amc (Dec 8, 2011)

Light to moderate smoke from mine for the first few minutes, bluish smoke, never black.


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## DexterDay (Dec 8, 2011)

Quad and Fahrenheit both start pretty quick. About as soon as you see smoke in the firebox, the flame boosts into action. 

Quad when dirty (after 1 ton without doing deep clean and 2 weeks no regular cleaning or pot scraping) will smoke like a HOG. Cant see the firepot its so thick. Only did this once last year towards the end of season. Not good. Smoke poured out the front of the house. (Direct vent).


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## jdempsey (Dec 8, 2011)

johnnycomelately said:
			
		

> what's really funny is in Don's video, with all that smoke, you can hear the fire trucks responding in the background! LMFAO!



Yeah. That was classic.


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## Xena (Dec 8, 2011)

I've noticed with my stove it depends on which pellets I'm burning.
Sometimes it smokes up like yours. Sometimes a fraction of that.
Once the pellets ignite there's zero smoke so I was never worried.


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## woodburning 2EZ (Dec 8, 2011)

That is a lot of smoke... 2units I have Osburn and Enerzone on t/stat...startup is quick with very little smoke ..as soon as the pellets begin to smoke within split seconds i have combustion and no smoke. both burn pots have a good volume of air holes


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## twojrts (Dec 8, 2011)

Ya'll got me curious!!  I never checked to see how much smoke I get at start up.  Bet I will now!


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## checkthisout (Dec 8, 2011)

Depends on the type of pellet, how full the burn pot is and how far the damper is opened. 

I had mine get so smokey one day that it completely smoked out the front yard and then lit explosively pushing smoke out of the airwash vents in the door. 

Typically it just has light smoke for a minute or two and then starts.


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## aburress1223 (Dec 8, 2011)

moderate to heavy. Whitfield Profile 30


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## jtakeman (Dec 8, 2011)

My 3 stoves were all different.

Quad smoked a little until it was dirty(burnpot holes plugged) and then it would smoke like a steam engine! Quad was insane when dirty, Used to fill with smoke and then explode on ignition when dirty. Scared the beans out of the Mrs.

BigE smoke a bit every time, Even when clean. But not bad.

Omega, Hardly smokes at all. Just a light haze until ingintion. Never see smoke clouds like I did with the other 2. Selfcleaning burner keeps the burnpot clean.

Like some say, Some pellets were worse than others. Inferno's even made the Qmega smoke and it seemed to take longer to get ignition. Mini explosion once they did ignite! 

Keep the burnpot holes clean and it reduces the smoke and mini explosions! There's a video on youtube! I got to find it. If your stove is doing that! Clean the burnpot hehe


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## 76brian (Dec 8, 2011)

Mine pretty much looks like the vid. I've watched it in the stove too, as soon as there is flame, the smoke in the stove just goes WOOSH and disappears.


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## exoilburner (Dec 8, 2011)

Mine is  very smokey.  A couple of times my neighbors thought my house was on fire.  The stove shop service tech worked on it quite a while to get it to ignite efficiently but it still smokes a lot.  Never use the igniter anymore.  I manually light it and run it 24-7.  Manual lighting is just as fast or faster than auto lighting it.  And very little smoke when igniting it manually.


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## dmaclaren (Dec 8, 2011)

PF100 on a cold start.

My neighbor came over as he thought my house was on fire.


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## Don2222 (Dec 8, 2011)

Hello

Here is the poll question chart so far with 35 participants!

Very interesting. Let's keep it going!

See chart below
Click to Enlarge


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## hoverfly (Dec 8, 2011)

I would say moderate with the my Mini, though a bit more with hard wood pellets than the soft wood.


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## ghandy131 (Dec 8, 2011)

Almost no smoke with my Englander 10-CPM.


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## Charlie500e (Dec 8, 2011)

Moderate blue smoke for like 10-15 seconds...clears right out after ignition.  St. Croix Hastings


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## JoeS (Dec 9, 2011)

Not nearly as bad since the new burn-pot was installed.


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## dmaclaren (Dec 9, 2011)

exoilburner said:
			
		

> Mine is  very smokey.  A couple of times my neighbors thought my house was on fire.  The stove shop service tech worked on it quite a while to get it to ignite efficiently but it still smokes a lot.  Never use the igniter anymore.  I manually light it and run it 24-7.  Manual lighting is just as fast or faster than auto lighting it.



I posted the same, neighbor thought house was on fire.  This is when I can find any leaks in my windows around the house.


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## TLHinCanada (Dec 9, 2011)

I would have to go outside and look, that sounds like a lot of work.


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## jtakeman (Dec 9, 2011)

In December of 05, My neighbor's wife called the fire department on us the first year they moved in. Never seen a pellet eater and when she saw the smoke cloud from my due to be cleaned quad. She freeked out! Not a good feeling coming home to see 4 fire trucks parked in the road and several firemen standing in your yard.  Lucky for us the Chief had a cool head and by the time they arrived the stove was lite and the smoke was gone. They just waited to talk with us and see if we needed some assistence(like a chimney sweep). I shutdown the stove and tore into cleaning it and the ventpipe. He hung around and watched it light when I was done. Little to no smoke once cleaned. He had not seen a pellet eater before that and was thrilled with what I knew. But did scold me for being lazy with my source of fire! No fines or anything, But a good verbal warning. I learned my lesson and was scared straight! I never let the stove get that dirty again. And also started doing some looking into a new stove. Keep them stove's clean!


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## Idahokid (Dec 12, 2011)

That's a lot of smoke.Mine smokes  for 15-30 seconds then stops.


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## Murphy118 (Dec 12, 2011)

If I get white smoke does that mean I have to make a pilgrimage to Rome to see a new Pope??

John


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## dhungy (Dec 13, 2011)

When my avalon will occasionally smoke so much and then "pop"  and start. one time my neighbor came over he was worried the house was on fire. it does it more often then i would like this year its been going it with the few bags of green supreme or green team ( i forget) pellets i had laying around.


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## Levamealone (Dec 13, 2011)

One small puff and done!


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## jmcp (Dec 13, 2011)

I think the pope has finally been elected


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## Levamealone (Dec 13, 2011)

jmcp said:
			
		

> I think the pope has finally been elected


Thanks for the laugh!  
PS:  I'm Catholic!


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## jamesdjs (Dec 13, 2011)

Some smoke until the fire gets going.
I would have to be outside and watch it to really notice.


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