Gotz...Amazing what a little creativity and ad"vise" (haha) can do. I finally realized how important it is to clean the stove really really well. Might be what has been causing some of my issues. I thought I was cleaning often enough but over the weekend I took the stove appart and did a good cleaning and WOW what a difference. I have my new stove back plus everything shines nice. At least for now. I also have been trying different pellets. Found a really good pellet called "wood pellet company" they are out of western PA. Really nice burning pellets and I don't seem to use as many as I was with the fire side ultra or the barefoot. Thanks for all the advice everyone. Certainly nice learning all of this information.