Well its pretty old circa 1984.  the problem seems to be the pellets not igniting.  Im not sure if it is due to lack of oxygen of if the pellets have gone bad... is that possible?  can pellets go stale or something?? please help.

Siege:

I'm just guessing here, and I may need some more info to trouble-shoot your problem. What type of ignition system? Manual or self ignition? I have not dealt with auto/self-ignition pellet stoves (which may have a glow ignitor in the bottom of/under the pellet fire box, with a push-switch to operate). I've never seen wood not want to burn if contacted with a hot heat source...rotten wood can still burn, as it is an organic material. Provided the pellets are dry, and are not entering the fire box in the form of saw-dust or crumbs they should ignite/burn. You may have a mechanical problem with the feed system if the pellets come out of the bag in pellet form, but, drop in the box all busted to bits.

1. Assume (I know...ass-u-me...) your unit is manual ignition, start here: I used a firestarter cube (waxed/oiled compressed cellulose fiber, available in most hardware/dept. stores), placed into the pellet fire-box. Light w/match, allowing it to burn a minute or so, then slowly added some pellets by hand. Turn on the pellet feed when the pellets start to burn hot. If I wanted a fire in this millenia I used a 1lb bottle propane torch to light pellets directly in the box (probably not a recommended practice, but if the shoe fits...) Warning: DO NOT USE LIQUID STARTING FUELS...poof (maybe wumph!!!) The local Fire Departments really don't like those calls.

2. The pellet box should begin to blow sparks soon after ignition, even with the door open when the blower is operating. If no sparking, there is a lack of draft, especially if fumes are entering you house. Make sure the stove flue (chimney) damper is open and check any screened intakes (and possibly ducting) for blockage from lint/dirt/spider webs/mud daubers...? Properly installed, depending on local building codes, the stove should have external (outside) combustion air intake, which could be located in a crawl space or basement (Yeah, I've seen some strange things) or through the outside wall.

3. If self-igniting, check the element without pellets in the box (I would think it would need to glow red-hot).

Let me know what you find & how it goes, if this helps (or not). If there's something I missed, let's chat.

Eric

I had a pellet stove and it would give me a hard time if I used poor quality pellets, the ash certain brands created would plug up the air holes in the burn pot, clean the stove real ggod and make sure the air holes are not plugged, try a different brand of pellets and see how that goes. When the stoves are up and running they are great, inexpensive heat.

Chris, your mention of pellet quality brought something to my mind. The pellets I used were from a sawmill which cut mostly white-wood (fir/pine), soft wood which generates less heat & above average ash. I do recall the same problem (plugged air holes). Wood type should be listed on the product bag, depending on distributor/retailer. A blend of higher hardwood content would give the best results for BTU output/bag and less troublesome operation of the pellet stove. After all, pelleted wood is just sawmill waste which someone found a use for, instead of just burning it on site as done years ago. Wood type does matter.