Pellet Stove Doesn't Burn Pellets Completely? (We Have a Fix!)

Pellet stoves are meant to be super easy to use and clean-burning. That’s why pellets are made. They’re supposed to burn entirely, leaving nothing but a small amount of ash to clean up. It’s simple, sweet, and works wonders, right? Well, that’s only if your pellet stove actively works well. If it doesn’t, your pellets won’t burn well. Are you stuck feeling like you wasted a bunch of pellets? Well, there are some reasons behind it that could explain everything.

A pellet stove that doesn’t burn fuel completely often has an issue with airflow. In most cases, you may have an air leak, bad settings, blocked vents, or a bad set of pellets. In some cases, it could be a broken part like a bad inlet cap or a poorly cleaned burn spot. When in doubt, ask a professional for maintenance help.

If you have a pellet stove that isn’t burning correctly, you need to figure out how you can fix this issue, pronto. We’re here to help you with a tried-and-true troubleshooter.

Bad air flow doesn’t always mean a leak is somewhere in your stove. Blockages happen too! To fix this, open up the vent portions of your stove and take a damp rag to them. Clean out the area, making sure to manually remove any blockages that your vents have. If you had a larger chunk of soot or slime in your piping, this could be what made your stove burn dirty.

You should also check to make sure that your vents are properly installed. They should be at a 90-degree angle and should have a maximum horizontal length of 10 inches. If your vents aren’t properly installed, alter them so they can do their job right.

Pellet stoves work by getting air in their inlet. When the air inlet cap is blocked, your stove will not be able to burn the pellets properly. You will have to check the inlet cap to see if there is a problem. If you notice a crack, a leak, a major blockage, or similar faults, the inlet cap will have to be replaced.

Inlet caps are pretty affordable to replace, and while it’s not fun to do so, replacing them is a quick way to make your pellet stove burn more efficiently. It’s worth noting that air leaks and bad inlet caps both are considered the top two most common reasons for an inefficient burn.

Every pellet stove will have a burn spot. As the name suggests, this is the area where the pellets get burned. Believe it or not, this is pretty easy to diagnose in most stove models. Burn spots that are faulty will produce soot and smoke when you are trying to make some pellets burn. The moment you see smoke, it’s safe to assume your burn spot is at fault.

The good news here is that you don’t have to replace the burn spot. (I mean, not that it’d be easy to do that anyway.) To fix this issue, simply give your burn spot a thorough cleaning.

In the vast majority of cases, you should be able to fix your pellet problem by thoroughly cleaning your stove and maybe switching to a different type of pellet. However, there are exceptions to the rule. If you notice improper installation, need to replace a part, or just don’t know how to fix an air leak, it makes sense to call a professional.

For the most part, it’s unlikely that you will need to replace the entire stove if you notice that the pellets you have aren’t burning well. This is generally a fixable issue. However, if you notice that you’re having uneven burns as well as a number of other issues, you might want to get a new model. After all, pellet stoves are meant to be easy!

Related Questions

How do you adjust the airflow in a pellet stove?

Most pellet stoves will have a handle that you can pull in order to open up the vent system. Pulling this handle will help you get a bigger flame by opening up the airflow more. To get your pellet stove to have a slower airflow, simply push the handle back into place. This is often called adjusting the settings by some users, though this is a rather informal take on it.

What causes a lazy flame in a pellet stove?

A lazy flame is a low-burning flame that may have soot or puffs of smoke arising from it. This type of flame usually indicates that you need to have more air in your stove. You can usually adjust the airflow through the use of the handle to make things easier. If that doesn’t work, a thorough cleaning of your pellet stove usually will.As long as the pellet stove itself is clean enough, you shouldn’t have to worry about a lazy flame. It’s actually fairly rare as far as pellet stoves go.

Why does my pellet stove produce so much ash?

Pellet stoves are not supposed to produce a lot of ash. If you notice that your pellet stove is ash-producing, it probably has something to do with the feed rate of your pellets. An unusually high feed rate will cause your pellets to turn into ash, reducing the clean-burning abilities that pellet stoves are famous for.Thankfully, this is a fairly quick and easy fix as far as stoves go. To make sure that you avoid a lot of ash, reduce the pellet feed rate of your stove and clean out the burn spot.