Pellet Stoves - Cleanliness

The stove has been givin us fits for awhile. The igniter went out and it faults out after 30 min. Otherwise worked great. They recommend cleaning the stove at least annually after the season is over. The igniter has gone out before and I payed someone to come out and replace it. Also had a guy come out and do a service on it...a few years ago...like 3?

Well needless to say, I ordered a new igniter.

Since I had to tear into it, I decided I should also do the maintenance on it. You wouldn't believe all the crap that gets into them. The tough part is finding the crap as it's not obvious as to the airflow route. The igniter only took a few minutes to install but I spent most of the day (after my nap) tearing things apart, cleaning, vacuuming etc.

So far the igniter works and I have good exhaust and flame color...still shutting down after 30 minutes though. that's partly because I removed and cleaned the exhaust fan and cleaned the ducting to the outside. Plus I found a couple of access ports in the firebox to get stuff that falls down from the convection tubes.

What I need to do tommorrow is keep troubleshooting the 30 minute problem. What I didn't do today is remove the fresh air fan from the housing and clean that fan out. There are 2 High limit switches aand was able to bypass one today to see if that was the problem. I'm not sure where the second one is but I'm sure I'll find it tomorrow after I disconnect the stove and swing it around and open up the back panel. Maybe I'll find how to take out the photoeye and clean that also while I'm at it.

I can't be positive, but I am likely doing a better job than the guy I payed to clean it before. If I need a new high limit switch it's only around $20.00 including tax and shipping. If cleaning the fan doesn't fix the problem I'll just bypass the second high limit switch and order a new one and then keep the fire on low for a few days.

Some heat is better than no heat!