Pellet stove help

I have no experience with them. We bought a house over the summer that has one in the basement. We've burned about 1 ton so far. It seems like lately it's not drafting well. The viewing glass gets covered in soot, the fire itself is not as intense as it was a month ago. I keep the fire box cleaned out daily. Does it sound like a blockage, where would you start looking? Thanks!

Yep..Adjust the damper for air flow...when the fire is "Dancing" in the fire grate then you have the right combustion..and that will clean up the glass window from soot

I have not seen a damper on this stove. Would it be a setting on the control panel? It's an England Stove Works stove.

Shut the stove down and pull the pipe. Pull the ash bin and make sure there isn't ash blocking any passageways in that area. Your burn pot might have an air passage under it. Look for that. Pull the cover on the back side of the unit and see if the combustion blower fan has a lint build-up. Vacuum everything you can reach once the stove is cooled. Don't use your wife's good one.

It should have a little clean out door on the 90 out of the back of the stove. Second thing to try is pulling the tiles out from inside and cleaning them and the inside well to allow air to flow,

Yep..Mine is a blade that has a pin and a knob on it..the blade will cover the "Exhaust" after the fire grate..look behind your stove near where the exhaust fan is at..this damper will be between that fan and the fire grate..Has nothing to do with the control panel..This is a mechanical blade that moves over the exhaust opening to control air flow

I have found the air passage under the burn pot, I keep that cleaned every day before starting is up. I'll rip in to it and look for ash and dust build up. Thanks for the help guys!

all good answers but I do not have a damper on my pellet stove. There is a little flapper in the combustion air intake that could be stuck. Also if you pull out your Ash pan there should be a wheel that connects to the combustion blower. That wheel could be caked with Ash and not moving enough air to properly fire the stove. I would check for all those things. Also make sure you scrape the burn pot. There could be a lot of buildup and slag on the little holes for the burn pot.

I have not noticed an ash pan, I've been scooping the ash out! I'll have to find it! Like I said, I know nothing about pellet stoves!

Yep..The ash pan should be underneath the burn pot..It will resemble a drawer..Its where the burnt pellets go after the burn pot.

It seems like the burnt pellets go off to the sides after being pushed forward to the front of the burn pot.

Search google for your model's instruction books. There are several ash doors that need clearing. Remember that the stove operates under vacuum so check gaskets.
Each stove is different

Lol. I have down loaded the manual, but it is not very detailed. I have done everything in the manual, then turned here for the experts!!

Yep..Does the burn pot have a grate in it..kinda like steel slats that catch the unburned pellets before than burn?

Yes, it's a plate with rows of holes. Probably 5"x5" with a slight ramp at the front. It lifts out so I can clean under it where the draft opening is. I keep it cleaned out every day so there is no buildup.

I'm not an expert but I was forced into learning pellet stoves by a former employer. I worked for a small oil company as a heating tech and any way to make a buck was their moto. They got into pellet stoves and pellet sales and so did I.

They all function on the same principles but they're all slightly different in how they get there. You're either not getting enough push or pull on your airflow. Obstructions can be in a lot of places and they tend to be an ongoing issue. It's the nature of the beast. It's even somewhat determined by the brand and type of pellets you burn.

Make sure to pull the stove off the wall and get directly to where the stove vents out the back. Make sure all of your pipes, including elbows are clear. Vacuum/brush that out as well as you can. It is likely going to turn out to be a simple fix.

I had an Englander corn/pellet stove. They drew outside air for combustion. Do you have a model number? Mine had a ash pan as well that pulled out the front. Check on the outside of the house most times close to the exhaust pipe. They can get covered in ice or snow.

Yup, mine drafts from outside too. It's clear all the way to the stove. I'll have to double check for the tray. The model is 25-pdv.

Yep..did you ever find the damper?..If after you find the damper and can adjust the airflow..the next step IMO would be to do what Posco says..I use a shop vacuum to get all the ash out of exhaust side of the pellet stove..

Did you recently get a new batch of pellets?

I have two different stoves in the house the upstairs stove has a pull lever on the side to dump ash into the ash drawer


The other one has a pull lever on the front.



This is the clean out on the back of my up draft stove


Also make sure the ceramic cover on the thermal couple (on the burn pot) hasn't come of

Chamacat, I'm stuck at a restaurant at the moment. I figured I'd get on here while waiting for the food to show up .... 2 hours ago!!! About to leave without eating and head back home and get back to work on the stove! Monster Tom's, I have never seen a thermal couple in this stove, do all pellet stoves have them?

Guess the next question is, is this a continuous feed stove or thermostat controlled??

I have a Harman stove. There are air passages under the ash collection bin that need to be clear for the stove to function properly. There is a passageway built into the burn pot that needs to be clear so combustion air can come in from below.

They all function similarly but they all tend to be slightly different. If the stove runs at all, the odds are good it's a residue buildup somewhere and not a mechanical issue. There's too many built-in safety features on these stoves to allow them to run otherwise. Odds are.

There is a thermostat in the room the stove is in, but I dont see where wires run to the stove. I'll look that over when I get back home. I do know, the thermostat setting has has no effect on the stove when we've tried adjusting it.

Sounds like the burn pot just has to be scraped better. All those holes in the burn pot get covered and the flame gets lazy and you have soot(incomplete combustion). I’ve known people that thought they were scraping it but they never were showed how hard they need to scrape it. Stuff is hard as rock in the pot and feels like part of the burn pot. Even knowing it a lot of times when I do my thorough cleanings I still find areas that had built up. I don’t use the factory scraper anymore and use a pry bar I can put more weight into with it bending.

https://www.hearth.com/talk/ Here is a link and saw one of the Englander factory techs was a member. I also looked up the model you have and there is NO ash pan. If you do a search of your model number on there you may find gold.

I have I think the same stove it’s a 25 something anyways and one thing is that no one mentioned is that if it is the same model as mine there is a moveable panel behind the burn pot it just hangs off the back wall of the stove and covers a recess that I think has to do with how well it drafts because if it is not cleaned our regular it doesn’t burn good and it is the one place that nobody ever seems to clean

Thanks everyone. I just cleaned it out, scraped the burn pot really well and made sure all the holes are open. Nightlife, I did remove that panel and cleaned it and everything behind it really well. I vacuumed all the ash out, pulled the flu pipe, no blockage, slapped it all back together and fired it up. We'll see how it does.

Jim I have the same stove. Do you have a fresh air line connected to the back of the stove ? All the controls are mounted on the side try adjusting the air. Good quality pellets are the key.

Saquelie, yes there is a fresh air line from outside connected. We've used nothing but tractor supply brand pellets, they've been burning well until recent. The thorough cleaning seemed to do it. I left the soot on the glass when I fired it up and it has almost completely burned off, so its definitely burning better. The manual says not to adjust the bottom 3 buttons, they are factory set. I thought about playing with the "low air" button to get more flow. Would the lower the number push more or less air?

Yep..Good for you..stay warm my friend

Will do! Thanks for the help Chamacat!

Jim when I first got mine it was so hot I thought the steel would melt. I had my heat at 3 and blower at 8 and would go thru a bag of pellets in 12 hours. I monkeyed around and found the factory settings were 6-7-1 so I searched you tube and tried 1-2-1. I now get 25 hours out of a bag with heat at 5 and fan on 9. Factory says not to play with settings guess I don't listen well. Eleven years and its still running lol

Thanks, I might try that and see how it does tomorrow!