Hi, I recently bought an old (80 yr) house which has a pellet stove located in the finished basement. It turns-out the stove manufacturer is out of biz. and have not had any success from the locals in finding out ANY information on cleaning it and how it was installed. The stove is a “FREEDOM FLAME”
I’ve never owned a pellet stove but have looked at many of them installed.
One of the issues is there is no outside air duct(but I imagine since the house is so old it is pulling enough air from the outside?).
The next issue is the glass gets blackened quickly after just a bag of pellets. I thought maybe because it needed cleaned. Vacuumed it out, still no better.
What it wrong?
Thanks for any info.
Replies
I am NOT a pellet expert. but - are you SURE this has no air intake???
Typically the pipe is the same one that carries the exhaust out. The cross section of the pipe would be a donut, with the inner chamber carrying exhaust out with the outer circumference containing the fresh air feed to the burn pot and keeping the thing cool.
It is possible you need a tune up. I don't see why a technition for other brands could not clean it for you. It is finding parts if they are needed that would be the tricky part.
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Thanks! The only vent in the back is a "B" vent. I notice there is a larger (5") outer collar at the back of the stove where the b-vent connects to.
I agree w/ needing outdoor air, though. I also agree w/ the possible need to have a tech come out. I just did not want some hack come out and try to sell me a new stove!
Thanks again!
I heat my house with wood stove not a pellet stove. So, my experience is from the wood stove only. The soot accumulation is usually because the fire is not burning hot enough. Also, are you using fuel pellets which would be all hardwood and burn more cleanly. It's a hard balance because once it warms up, I want the fire to burn a little slower. Especially this time of year, I usually just start the stove up in the morning, then let it die down by noon. It gets too warm othewise. I find that if I get it really hot in the morning that helps it burn off.
I just found out this year about "burn sticks" or soot buster sticks. They help to keep the soot from building up in the flue and the stove. I got some and so far the inside of my stove is staying clean.
I don't know about the outside air duct. Doesn't it have to vent outside?
"The elders were wise. They knew that man's heart, away from nature, becomes hard; they knew that lack of respect for growing, living things, soon led to lack of respect for humans, too." Chief Luther Standing Bear, Lakota Sioux
with a lot of wood burning stoves, sooting up the glass viewport is from poor interior design and the way it directs airflow. There are different theories how top do this best. His could be one that was poorly designed and that could be part of the reason they went under. A pellet stove is fired by an ignitor, so is on/off more like an oil boiler or furnace, as needed, with less flywheel BTUs dispersing over time.one other reason for excess soot could be if the pellets are not stored in a dry location.
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Buster,
Not all pellets stoves work alike.
Some are full auto some are full manual and some are manual/auto.
Most pellet stoves have on the back an exhaust port and an intake port.
Of course the exhaust port needs to go outside the home. The intake port can be plumbed to get it's air from outdoors or indoors(indoors no piping necessary).
Many stoves use 3 fans in the system. 1 for injecting air into the pellets as they burn, one to force exhaust/wash ash from window and one to blow hot air into room for heat.
There may be a damper adjustment for the amount of air that is able to blow on the burning pellets for combustion.
Some stove have an ash box that is open to the fire box and some have an ash box that is only open during cleaning and others have no ash box at all.
The stoves that do not have an ash box open to the fire box will need the glass cleaned nearly every time a fire is started. Just the nature of the beast.
Hope this helps.
Russell
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Thanks for all the info! I am burning some"PREMIUM-PLUS" pellets which are supposed to be hotter/cleaner burning. Last weekend I purchased a 6.5 hp shop vac to clean it out, I think I pretty much sucked the thing clean!
I may "dig-into" it a little deeper and see if anything is plugged. I noticed the different stages of fan...seems to have two speeds. Once the thing gets burning, wow does it heat!
Barring the issues I've written about, I love the stove/heat.
I greatly appriciate everyones input towards this stove and my issues w/ it!
Thanks
Try corn, it is an alt. fuel for them, and some folks prefer it due to the soot issue.
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