When the first chill of winter sets in, a pellet stove can provide you with quick, efficient warmth—that is, if you know how to light it up. While lighting a pellet stove is a simple process, you will need to know your hopper from your ash pot before you can get started. Read on to learn how to light a pellet stove, from filling the hopper to cleaning the ash pot to getting a fire to keeping it lit.
Prepping to Light a Pellet Stove
Before you start figuring out how to light a pellet stove, it’s important to determine what type of pellet stove you have. Many models today are automatic, so after you fill the hopper in the back of the unit with pellets, you can use a control panel on the stove to set your ideal temperature and start the stove. From there, you can use a button to turn on the stove’s fan for safer, more efficient burning.
But if you have a gorgeous vintage pellet stove that still provides you warmth yet requires more work via manual lighting, there are a few more steps to take in order to get the fire roaring. Fortunately, it’s still a quick and easy process to bring more warmth to your home.
How to Light a Pellet Stove
Make sure to follow your pellet stove’s user manual for any tips and safety precautions to take before you get started. If your pellet stove manual is lost in the shuffle of papers in your junk drawer, you can often find it by searching for your model’s manual online. Once you’ve familiarized yourself with the parts of the pellet stove and all safety precautions, you’re ready to start lighting your manual pellet stove.
Make Sure the Stove Is Off
Always make sure the pellet stove is off before you start the lighting process. This will help minimize the risk of burns, fires, or smoke that could hurt you or damage the area around the pellet stove.
Remove Old Ash
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In the front of the stove, where the fire will burn, there is an ash pan or burn pot. Unless this is your first time using a new pellet stove, there will be ash in the pan from your previous burn. Use a small shovel to remove the old ash before starting a new burn. Otherwise, the ash buildup can make it harder to light a fire and control the temperature.
At the back of the pellet stove, you’ll find a hopper. This is where you can pour in store-bought pellets, which are a form of biomass that are burned for fuel for the fire. The hopper may hold between 35 and 170 pounds, depending on the model you have. No matter the hopper’s capacity, fill it with pellets until it’s 75% full, then replace the lid.
Add Pellets to the Burn Pot for Ignition
The pellet stove doesn’t just need pellets in the hopper. The ash pan also needs a small amount of pellets to help start a fire. Add a few scoops of pellets until the ash pan is full.
Use Ignition Gel
Ignition gel, or starter gel, is a handy product that can help you ignite the pellets faster. You can find ignition gel at a home improvement store or online. This material has a thick consistency, so it’s a safer option to use for a pellet stove than lighter fluid that you might use for a grill. Add enough to cover the top of the pellet pile in the ash pan, then mix the pellets together with a small shovel.
Light a Match
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Pull a match from your candle stash to help light the pellets inside the ash pan. Hold the lit match to the pellets in the ash pan until they ignite, which should be a short wait thanks to the ignition gel.
Wait a Few Minutes Before Shutting the Door
Your fire will roar to life pretty quickly, but let it build up for a few minutes before you close the door of the pellet stove when lighting it manually. If you close the door too early, you’ll undo your work so far, and the fire will fizzle out.
Turn on the Pellet Stove Fan
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To make sure your pellet stove burns safely, turn on the fan attached to the pellet stove. Your user manual can help you locate and turn on the fan if you don’t see it right away. Don’t skip this step, or you risk waking up to a house filled with smoke.
Adjust the Temperature as Needed
Once you’ve lit the pellet stove, you may notice a few hours later that you’re breaking a sweat or you’re still shivering. A pellet stove includes a temperature gauge and a damper to help control the temperature. However, adjusting the damper to cool or warm the temperature isn’t always the same process for every pellet stove. Check your model’s user manual for the specifics on adjusting the temperature.
DIY vs. Hiring a Pro
If you have a pellet stove, knowing how to light it is essential for generating warmth in your home. You’ll spend $8 to $30 on 40 pounds of pellets (or you can save on the cost of a pellet stove by purchasing one ton of pellets for $350), $8 to $20 for ignition gel, and about $1 for matches. Luckily, you won’t need to buy these products every single time you light your pellet stove. Most homeowners stock up on pellets and starter gel before the cold weather sets in.
By comparison, hiring a pellet stove pro to light the stove every time you want extra warmth would cost about $35 to $55 per hour, or they may charge a flat fee for each visit.
However, if you’ve followed the steps on how to light a pellet stove and it just isn’t igniting or maintaining a flame for longer than a few minutes, you may need to call in a local stove company to help troubleshoot any pellet stove problems. The pros can help get your pellet stove back up and running so that you can kick back and enjoy the fire.
Frequently Asked Questions
If your pellet stove isn’t igniting, it could be because the ash pot is too dirty or full of ash. However, you may also find that the damper is not open enough or there’s an issue with the igniter on an automatic stove. You may also have trouble lighting the pellet stove if you don’t use the right pellets for your specific pellet stove model or if the pellets get damp from storage in a humid area.
You can control the flame on a pellet stove by using a damper, often located on the back of the pellet stove. While the damper function varies by model, you can open the damper slightly to let in more air or close it slightly to provide less oxygen, with the ultimate goal of providing a steady flame.
Yes. It’s okay to leave a pellet stove on overnight, and these stoves can provide 24 to 48 hours of warmth from one ignition. However, you should practice proper pellet stove maintenance, like cleaning the burn pot before each use, deep cleaning the unit at least once per year, and running the fan when the stove is lit.
Paige Bennett is a professional editor and writer with experience covering design, DIY projects, food, health, and travel, and holds a bachelor's degree in journalism from Ohio University.
Paige Bennett is a professional editor and writer with experience covering design, DIY projects, food, health, and travel, and holds a bachelor's degree in journalism from Ohio University.
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