New house, new pellet stove. Lots of questions.

[gfreek]

There are and were many different brands of stove pipe,just buying a part without knowing what brand would not be smart.
Also be aware, as not in your manual(stove manufacturers want you to use a certified stove repair/cleaner), is a few things, once a year,or more, remove the combustion blower,and clean it and inside the cavity.Clean the room blower. On your stove,remove the pot assembly,clean and lube.
As winter is here, My recommendation would be-read manual well. I would buy some silicone sealer,perhaps some foil tape. Defiantly buy a flue brush kit. Remove the pipe from the stove, and from the wall,take outside and clean well. Reinstall and seal,at stove and wall. Before doing this, take out all removable panels,clean stove.You will be able to reach inside where the flue pipe goes on. Wacking with a mallet is also fine,I prefer a rubber one. It can knock loose stuck on chunks. Then I would see how it runs. All this is only a little bit of work, and if you seal the pipe properly, you may not have to remove it till summer. Also doesn't hurt to have a dryer cleaning brush,to stick in places. Strong shop vac., brushes and sealer would be my purchases today. Tape if you think you need it.
That's my 2 cents. A little bit of proper work,and see if stove functions well/ok.

And be sure to use a good filter for your shop vac, fine dust filter, ash filter, etc..

 

[coffeecup86]

You will be appalled at what I found inside the stove pipe. The first image was coming off the pipe leaving the pellet stove. The second was the bottom elbow and the last was the pipe that is the top connection going into the exterior wall.
So looks like almost a full blockage at the elbow. We will be installing a tee joint asap! I’m waiting on the part to come in. I’m so glad this was discovered….I emailed this to my husband at work and he applauded me and is very impressed and appreciates the help from everyone.

 

[johneh]

A clean stove is a happy stove

 

[Mt Bob]

You will be appalled at what I found inside the stove pipe. The first image was coming off the pipe leaving the pellet stove. The second was the bottom elbow and the last was the pipe that is the top connection going into the exterior wall.
So looks like almost a full blockage at the elbow. We will be installing a tee joint asap! I’m waiting on the part to come in. I’m so glad this was discovered….I emailed this to my husband at work and he applauded me and is very impressed and appreciates the help from everyone.

View attachment 289545 View attachment 289546 View attachment 289547

Wow,the worse I have ever seen. Good job gal. Got a sister?

 

[coffeecup86]

Wow,the worse I have ever seen. Good job gal. Got a sister?

Hahaha. You are a funny guy. I do, she is engaged and 22 years old.

 

[Mt Bob]

Hahaha. You are a funny guy. I do, she is engaged and 22 years old.

Way too young!!

 

[coffeecup86]

Way too young!!

Hahahaha. Yeah she's a baby.

I'll be getting my parts tomorrow. I'm hopeful to get the stove up and running after -8 degrees over the past couple days. My poor pooch has been curled up into a ball missing his warm heat!

 

[gfreek]

You are off to a good start.. Pellet stove maintenance is a learning curve . Operating it, cleaning routine, troubleshooting, general maintenance, comes with time...

I'll be getting my parts tomorrow. I'm hopeful to get the stove up and running after -8 degrees over the past couple days. My poor pooch has been curled up into a ball missing his warm heat!

My spoiled pooch had a heated bed !!

 

[Nitro-Fish]

I believe I would find a new chimney sweep! Maybe you didn't ask for a complete cleaning inside & out? I would have reservations about the boiler venting too after seeing what you discovered. I would also make sure to do a deep clean on the stove especially the combustion blower housing & blade. If you use a vacuum or compressed air to perform the stove cleaning, make sure your vacuum switches (if so equipped) have the hoses disconnected until you are finished to avoid damaging the diaphragm (and don't forget to reconnect them).

Either way, once the piping is cleaned (with or without the new tee in place of the 1st elbow) the stove should run the way it is supposed to, good find.

 

[coffeecup86]

I believe I would find a new chimney sweep! Maybe you didn't ask for a complete cleaning inside & out? I would have reservations about the boiler venting too after seeing what you discovered. I would also make sure to do a deep clean on the stove especially the combustion blower housing & blade. If you use a vacuum or compressed air to perform the stove cleaning, make sure your vacuum switches (if so equipped) have the hoses disconnected until you are finished to avoid damaging the diaphragm (and don't forget to reconnect them).

Either way, once the piping is cleaned (with or without the new tee in place of the 1st elbow) the stove should run the way it is supposed to, good find.

Well after he told us we needed to replace the liner on our boiler chimney, which will cost us somewhere around 2750.00. He evaluated the brick chimney that vents the pellet stove and said it should just be removed. Our inspector said the chimney just needs to sealed with something you can paint on....I've been researching that and am still scratching my head.
So at that point, we said if we decide to take it down and direct vent it we are not wasting the money to have clean the entire thing. I think he way have seen the set up and ran. Seeing that there wasn't a clean out. It would have been a lot more work for him.
Either way, we did see the damage that was in the boiler chimney so he was honest about that, I don't get the impression he was a lying person. Or at least I pray he wasn't. I don't like thinking that way.
I do believe we will have him come clean it entirely in the spring. The chimney itself is not nearly as bad as the pellet pipe. How? Not sure!

 

[coffeecup86]

Well folks, I tore this thing apart this morning after doing some more research on cleaning the parts. I called around to make sure I’d be able to get the replacement gasket. There are not a lot of places that specialize in pellet stoves. I guess I have a paper option, which is what was on this thing and it was in rough shape anyway, which indicates it hadn’t been serviced in a few years. It was wore out in multiple areas, which could be another reason why were were getting dust.

I do believe it looks a lot better. Here are some before and after shots.I hope I did alright, I’m open to critics! I’m so thankful I found hearth.com! You guys are awesome! Hoping I can make some friends on here in the long term. :D

 

[Mt Bob]

Not bad,for a combustion blower. But clean is always better. Good work.

 

[Mt Bob]

BTW, most remove it and clean it once a year,some more often. There are reusable silicone gaskets for this,very handy. But sometimes you have to use longer screws, which can be had almost anywhere.

Heatilator Eco Choice Round Silicone Combustion Blower Motor Hub Gasket (6"): 812-4710

This Heatilator Eco Choice 6" round combustion motor hub gasket is made from 100% silicone and has been designed to outlast typical gasket material; allowing for servicing of the combustion motor area and flue (removing the motor) without the expense of purchasing a new gasket each time. Great...

pellet-stove-parts-4less.com

 

[kchace]

That combustion blower wasn't toooo bad. Certainly nowhere near as bad as the pipe. Its usually a good idea to clean that at the end of the heating season when you do the rest. BTW - the combustion blower gets very hot. I doubt a paper gasket would work. The fiberous gasket that you found is not paper. There are several great on-line sources for pellet stove parts. I very much like pellet-stove-parts-4less.com they usually have most parts in stock and ship quickly.

Ken

 

[Washed-Up]

The “paper” gasket that’s been mentioned is lytherm, I’ve given up on using them, too fragile…I order sheets of 1/16in silicone when I need them,
Here’s what the “paper” gasket material is
(broken link removed to https://www.specialtygaskets.com/lytherm-1535-gc-paper-sgi-310-0370)

 

[coffeecup86]

Next problem. We got the tee, same brand as the pipe we have now. How does this seal to the pellet stove. The inner pipe is the same size as the pellet stove pipe. The putter pipe is the same size as the rest of the stove pipe we have.
:sigh: this is a lot of fine tuning!

 

[Washed-Up]

Hate to say it….Looks like new a new style Selkirk(T) and and older Selkirk appliance Adaptor that’s on the stove

 

[johneh]

You also need a stove adapter
You must have removed the old one when you took the pipes apart
you should be able to reuse it. If it is not damaged

 

[Washed-Up]

Does the T screw into the old pipe male end? I could be wrong johneh, but I think the appliance adapter is on the tailpipe.

 

[Mt Bob]

I would guess the appliance adapter is still attached to the old piping 90.
What brand pipe is it?

 

[johneh]

Does the T screw into the old pipe male end? I could be wrong johneh, but I think the appliance adapter is on the tailpipe. Hear is. the part numberfor the pipe I see….if it is 3”

I think you are right the new style is a push on and turn to lock
for 3 inch it is a PL3Upa

Selkirk EnergyVent Versa-Liner Stove Adapters

These are official OEM parts from Selkirk Corporation. These are adapters that will allow your stove to be connected to a PL Pellet Vent Pipe (see

friendlyfires.ca

 

[Washed-Up]

Here is a blown up shot of the existing pipe from another photo she posted

 

[gfreek]

Selkirk has the VP branded pipe and the PL pipe, it looks like.. Pic above shows VP..

 

[Washed-Up]

Curious how you are making out?

 

[coffeecup86]

Curious how you are making out?

Well, got the piping all figured out. Just had to use the old elbow but made it strait, it just pushed the stove more forward on the hearth.
Got it all up and running a couple nights ago, the flame was incredible! Best I've seen it since we've owned this house. Didn't matter if it was on high, med or low. The flame was consistent. Before it was all over the place, lazy or just plain low.

We let it run out of fuel during the evening, I will note that it ACTUALLY heated our upstairs and beforehand it never warmed our upstairs. Our home is only 1250sq ft. This stove is def rated to heat this home.
Anyhow, it ran out of pellets and our boiler kicks on as usual. I woke in the am and my husband went to get it running and it was acting WEIRD. He didn't have it on high nor did he pull the lever did clear the fire box. So once that was all done I figured it would be all set. Nope, still being weird. Found out the auger was not drawing in the pellets. Emptied the pellets and found a clog. Nothing. It kinda started to work, heard some pellets drop, but it stopped working. Eventually I took the entire auger out and apart and found that someone had greased the entire thing with some black grease, it was so tacky. I found a YouTube video on this and found that that grease is bad? So I got it all cleaned up and re greased it with powered graphite and some 3 in 1 oil. NOTHING. Beyond frustrating. I checked all wiring to be sure it wasn't anything that got knocked loose. But that didn't make sense as it was working the night prior.
I was so sad. After all the things that have popped up in 7 weeks of owning this house, it was just frustrating. I ordered the part and it'll be here today. I am praying it will get the stove up and running....we are in the dead of winter up here in Maine and its freezing. With windchill its currently in the 20s but tomorrow we will be back into the negatives.

I really really hope this stove is up and running today, because I'm kinda getting stick of fiddling with it. I'm trying to re do my bathroom and just ripped up the floor today and have a lot of other things to do besides tinker on this stove LOL. I'll let ya all know how it goes once that auger motor comes in later today! XD