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Fri, Sep 17, 10 at 3:32
| Hi - we had our chimney cleaned last year by some pretty shady looking characters. After they left our pellet stove started sending smoke into our house every time we lit it. It didn't stop after a few minutes or a few tries and only got worse. We called them back and they said it was nothing that they "did" - sure - and just couldn't figure out what the problem is. Any ideas? My husband called one local place and they want $300+ to come out and clean it. We really don't have that kind of money to spend right now. Hubby usually can fix anything but he seems to be intimidated by the "seals" in the stove - something about silicone caulking or something that holds things together? Please excuse me for not knowing any of the actual terms. Thanks! |
Follow-Up Postings:
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| It's likely that they pushed some flyash accumulation into places in the pellet stove creating a blockage. Unfortunately a proper disassembly and thorough cleaning is the only way to be sure the blockage(s) are removed and that it will be safe to operate. This is why I don't like pellet stoves and if you're looking for an automatic solid fuel heater (not a hand-loaded woodstove for example) I would always reccomend looking at coal stoker stoves. automatic coal stokers look much like a pellet stove with a few benefits; they require much less frequent attention and cleaning and in most cases they are a much more straightforward design - easier to clean when it needs it. Additionally, coal in most areas (ie eastern US) where it's available will cost about 1/2 what a pellet stove costs to operate - coal is much less expensive for the amount of heat produced, the fuel is about twice as dense as pellets. |
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