wal-mart pellets?

[ilmbg]

Have been scouring your site- found some answers related to pellet stoves having a 'wood;, or 'smokey' odor. All the pipes are cemented- could it be the quality of the pellets? I bought Wal-Mart last time. It says 'premium' on the bag. I can see no smoke- just a 'smell'. Thanks

 

[r3vak]

Thats odd i ran walmart pellets in my 25-PDVC and never ad any isses and they atually lasted longer then the pinnacles

 

[Shane]

Premium pellets meet certain criteria set forth by the Pellet Fuels Institute. Does your stove use Duravent pellet vent? If so check the clean out tee VERY carefully. Other times pellet stoves can leak at gasket points on the transition duct and combustion blower. Another very common leak spot with very little visible smoke is the scraper rod hole. I wouldnt' think the smell would come from your pellets though.

 

[Metal]

Shane points out the major places to check. Another issue could be negative air pressure in your house. When you open the door/windows does air seem to rush in? A lot of newer homes are built very tight, and with water heaters, furnaces, kitchen fans, bathroom fans, etc. competing for air you could have pressure issues.

 

[drizler]

[quote author="ilmbg" date="1192094603"]Have been scouring your site- found some answers related to pellet stoves having a 'wood;, or 'smokey' odor. All the pipes are cemented- could it be the quality of the pellets? I bought Wal-Mart last time. It says 'premium' on the bag. I can see no smoke- just a 'smell'. Thanks[/quot


I have heard that the Chinese are real short on burial space so they tend to cremate most dead folks. Given their current issues with products they sell who knows. You might just be heating your house with good old Cousin Wo. Sorry I couldn't resist. Pellets are probably the only things not chinese they sell and only then because they are too heavy to ship. I have about 15 bags of them sitting here waiting for cold weather to come myself. I sometimes get small bursts of smoke from the joints in my stove, usually when its running poorly, probably from not enough draft. Countryside's tend to get packed with grit in the back sections and need monthly cleaning back there due to burning corn. Could it be very dirty in yours ? If you want to smell something stinky burn some cherry pits. They really do stink bad outdoors.

 

[titan]

Driz,how many btu's in a "Wo"?I'm not big on Wal-mart, they sell the* Wong* pellets to you! :coolgrin:

 

[ilmbg]

Gee- instead of burning up an old chinese fellow- what about my mother- in-law?? OK- I have a Harmon, and I will check the areas you mentioned. Also, yes, my house is tight- I had the electric company come do a pressure test with the big fan at the door, and they used the heat sensitive camera, and said my home had no air leaks. I don't remember it smelling in the past, so I will check the stove out more carefully. Thanks.

 

[drizler]

Do you have an outside air intake ? Being your house is very tight that may be necessary. Does it seem like its doing it all the time or like you got a blast of smoke all at once? It is possible to get some smoke inside the house from opening the door . With my corn eater I found it necessary to very carefully break the seal on the door then open it slowly or the pile of light ash formed along the bottom of the window gets blown around. I guess the rule is keep the door closed period and quit poking around in there. I have used Wallyworld pellets when I could get them in the past and liked them fine. I see the new ones they have this year are different in their wee wee color yellow bag. Whatever the issue I wouldn't worry about it. Keep an eye on it and see what it does as the season gets into full swing.

 

[titan]

I was working at a local Wal-mart today,noticed 20lb bags of firewood for sale....$5.96.Won't be long before they're pushin' the chinese barrel-stove knock-offs!