Hi all!
I've been away from here for quite awhile, burning pellets and wood without incident.
Last weekend, I went away, but didn't clean the firepot on Friday per my usual routine. Tenant was left in charge. Bad idea. He knows little. He can fill the pellet stove. He has been taught to push the reset button twice in 5 minutes if he forgets to fill it and it runs dry. However, some people believe that if some is good, more is better. Problem was, the firepot had clinkers and needed to be cleaned. So, it stopped running. Tenant kept pushing reset. I returned on Sunday night to find a note from tenant, pellet stove not running, firepot overflowing with unburned pellets.
I cleaned out the mountain of pellets, cleaned out the clinkers. (okay, my fault for neglecting maintenance before I left, but he had my phone number.) Pushed reset, and got no pellets. Strange sound from auger (or from somewhere deep in the stove.) Unplugged it and started over. Fan was running, igniter loop was nice and red. Still, no pellets. It was very late and I was too tired. Went to bed. Next day, boyfriend arrived to take apart entire stove. He emptied it, shop-vac-ed out the auger and feed tube. Completely empty now, but auger still won't turn. Tried to reset snap disc #2, but not sure if we found the right one. Also wondering if there is a vacuum issue, but only because I just bought a door gasket because the old one is fraying, but haven't installed it yet. (Yes, I have learned to never use Windex to clean the glass.) Still, things were working fine when I left on Friday.
It has been a week. Weather has been pretty warm. Got sidetracked by my new Nissan Leaf. Need to get back to fixing the pellet stove. Does anyone have any experience with this?
I've been away from here for quite awhile, burning pellets and wood without incident.
Last weekend, I went away, but didn't clean the firepot on Friday per my usual routine. Tenant was left in charge. Bad idea. He knows little. He can fill the pellet stove. He has been taught to push the reset button twice in 5 minutes if he forgets to fill it and it runs dry. However, some people believe that if some is good, more is better. Problem was, the firepot had clinkers and needed to be cleaned. So, it stopped running. Tenant kept pushing reset. I returned on Sunday night to find a note from tenant, pellet stove not running, firepot overflowing with unburned pellets.
I cleaned out the mountain of pellets, cleaned out the clinkers. (okay, my fault for neglecting maintenance before I left, but he had my phone number.) Pushed reset, and got no pellets. Strange sound from auger (or from somewhere deep in the stove.) Unplugged it and started over. Fan was running, igniter loop was nice and red. Still, no pellets. It was very late and I was too tired. Went to bed. Next day, boyfriend arrived to take apart entire stove. He emptied it, shop-vac-ed out the auger and feed tube. Completely empty now, but auger still won't turn. Tried to reset snap disc #2, but not sure if we found the right one. Also wondering if there is a vacuum issue, but only because I just bought a door gasket because the old one is fraying, but haven't installed it yet. (Yes, I have learned to never use Windex to clean the glass.) Still, things were working fine when I left on Friday.
It has been a week. Weather has been pretty warm. Got sidetracked by my new Nissan Leaf. Need to get back to fixing the pellet stove. Does anyone have any experience with this?