I recently decided to take it upon myself to give my whitfield pelletstove a complete cleaning. Due to the fact it stopped working efficiently. I took it out of the wall, took it apart, and cleaned essentially everything. From the combustion blower, to the convection fan, and everyplace in between(i also sweeped the chimney). I noticed when I put it back in and started it up that smoke would leak from the door. particularly on the side closest to the door handle. I then took the door off and replaced all of the gasketing around the glass and along the door trim as well. But when I tried to light the fire this time, the pellets will light, but as soon as I close the door the fuel will seep under the burn grate into the ash tray putting out the flame. I did the dollar bill test and it is tight all the way around, until I get to the side where the door latches the dollar bill will come right out. Any recommendations? Also my door is apart of a hinge bracket, so I am not able to directly adjust the settings of it. (Also referring to the picture with the plates that holds the firebrick wall into place where do i line up the screws in the plate?) Thank you!
haha I wouldn't be in this situation right now if i wasn't a 21 year old college student living in their moms basement
I'm surprised Snowy Rivers hasn't chimed in yet. She's the Whitfield expert here. Jared, maybe send her a PM.
I do not think it does. I light it by covering the pellets in a layer of firestarter gel from fleet farm and using a match. Ill shut the door and wait for a few minutes before turning on the auger. That worked fine until I cleaned it out and all.
Now that you have a much better door seal and like most stoves, you should keep the door open for a minute or 2 until the pellets get red hot so when you close the door, the fire will not go out. Try that.
Should I have the unit on while the fire is going? or should I light it wait a minute or two and then shut the door and turn it on. Also would the better seal be whats causing the gel to get sucked down into the ash tray? it basically gets stripped from the pellets when i close the door with the unit on.
Squirt the gel on and let it soak in a bit, then turn the stove (exhaust fan) on, leave door open some, and light the pellets. When they're burning good, slowly close the door......
Is it still a problem that the dollar bill test doesn't work on the latch side of the door? However the stove ran poorly prior to me cleaning it. It never leaked smoke out of the unit. I know its supposed to work like a vacuum and bring air in(from my understanding)
Well, ideally, the door should be sealed all the way around, and the only air "leak" on some stoves is an air leak "air wash" for the window. Yes, the majority of pellet stoves work on negative pressure, so if the door leak is small, you may be able to adjust feed to compensate, but again, Snowy Rivers is the expert on these stoves.....surprised she hasn't chimed in yet. Hope all is well w/ her.
Ok I'm thinking after my finals are over on friday I will reassemble it and make a youtube video of the problem and post a link in here.
WHAT MODEL ??? Did you oil the exhaust fan motor bushings ???? Blue top 3 in 1 works great. There are two (2 oil holes) in the exhaust fan motor...they may have rubber plugs in them. The holes are located as shown in the piccy If the holes are not aiming up then rotate the motor so they are up... Where is the draft control set ????
