Member of The Shaw Group

Troubleshooting

Here are some of the common wood pellet stove problems and suggestions on what to consider next.

The pellet stove is giving less heat than usual

  • Have the heat exchangers been cleaned routinely?
  • Are the wood pellets particularly long (longer than 1.5”)? Long wood pellets don’t feed well. An inconsistent feed will provide inconsistent heat. Some types of wood pellet stoves are more sensitive to long wood pellets.

The flame goes up and down; the flame dies out

  • Like the above, check to see if the wood pellets are particularly long.

The wood pellet stove is burning dirty and/or sooty

  • Has your stove and chimney been professionally cleaned recently?
  • Is your burn grate free from clinkers and ask?
  • Is your combustion air turned up high enough? If your wood pellets are burning with a lazy, orange flame, it indicates insufficient combustion air

There is a build-up of crusty ash in the burn gate

  • Are the wood pellets getting enough combustion air?

  • If the problem persists, test another brand of wood pellets

There is a lot of sawdust in my wood pellet bag

  • A bag of wood pellets should have no more than about ¼ cup of sawdust in total. If you are seeing consistently more than this, it may indicate a pellet quality issue.

  • If you see large amounts of coarse or clumping sawdust, it indicates the bag has absorbed water

My furniture is covered with a fine-black residue

  • Do not open the stove door while the fans are running

  • Do not vacuum the appliance with a household vacuum cleaner

  • Have a stove technician check for improperly sealed venting