Pellet stoves are very active appliances and need proper cleaning and maintenance. Pellet stoves are constantly loaded with fuel pellets that keep burning. Hence proper care and maintenance will keep them operating efficiently for a longer period.

How often your pellet stove will need cleaning and maintenance depends of the type of stove you have, its use and the grade of fuel you burn. You can always refer to your owner’s manual for guidance.

I personally suggest that you inspect and clean your pellet stove’s flue before each heating season. This will ensure that the stove works efficiently and give desired heat. It is advised to do the maintenance by a professionally qualified person to inspect and service the pellet stove and the chimney. It is best that you ask for any available service contract when you buy a new pellet stove.

Below are some tips on cleaning and maintenance of pellet stoves.

1) Empty the ash trap or drawer, most often located behind the fire chamber.

2) Check “clinkers” formed when ash melts and hardens. Remove them with the help of a special rake or ash tool. This will prevent clinkers from impeding air flow and upsetting the proper mixture of fuel and oxygen to the burn pot.

3) Check any soot build-up anywhere inside surface of the pellet stove. This layer of soot can drop the heat transfer efficiency of the stove. Clean this off with a wire brush. Make sure you do not damage the glass door.

4) Referring to the owner’s manual, clean the heat exchanger.

5) Using commercial glass cleaner, clean the glass as and when required. A clean glass will give a beautiful look of the fire flame when it burns.

6) If the flame from the pellet stove looks orange or dark instead of bright yellow or white, you may have to call a professional for servicing.

7) Occasionally allow the auger tube and hopper to completely empty so that sawdust and pellet debris doesn’t build up in the fuel hopper and block the feed system.

8) At the end of the heating season, empty unused pellets from the stove hopper and the feed system. If these unused pellets are left in a stove, they can collect moisture and resulting to rust that can damage the stove.

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