How To Make A Pellet Stove Quieter

Pellet stoves are a great way to warm your home. You can use them to easily make your house comfortable whenever you need. Not only do these do a great job of heating your surroundings, but they also come with the advantage of being eco-friendly. 

As great as pellet stoves may sound, I want you to know that sometimes they start producing this weird noise as soon as they are turned on. As a result, your place will warm up, but you’ll have to pay the price in terms of bearing the annoyance caused by the pellet stove.

I once had to go through the same annoying experience. My late-night binge-watching session was completely ruined when I turned on my pellet stove, and it started making these weird buzzing sounds. The noise wasn’t too loud, but it was continuous and distracting to such an extent that no number of delicious snacks and good TV could help me ignore it. 

It was right then that I closed the show and started searching for the reasons why a pellet stove makes noises. My search went on for two long hours, and I found some results telling me how to make my pellet stove quieter.

When I tried one of them the next day, I experienced a significant reduction in the noise that my stove was making a night ago, and since then, my binge-watching sessions have been going well. 

Chances are, you’re here because you also have one such noisy pellet stove at home. Don’t worry. Keep on reading to know the reasons why your pellet stove is being this annoying and how to make it quieter. 

You may, or may not thank me later, but you’re already welcome!

Why Do Pellet Stoves Make Noises?

I know you’re looking for an immediate solution to your problem, but I’d advise you to wait a bit and first know about the root causes of this issue. Knowing exactly what makes a pellet stove scream and what parts of a pellet stove make the noise can help you understand how to make it quieter. 

Some of the most common reasons behind a pellet stove making noises include:

• Imbalanced mix-up of air and fuel inside the stove
• Debris accumulation inside the stove components
• Loose screws and other parts
• Gaps between the stove components
• Stove’s placement on an unleveled surface

What Parts Of A Pellet Stove Can Produce The Noise?

Depending upon whatever reason, your pellet stove can make a noise from either one or more of the following parts:

1. Fan

If your pellet stove is making a harsh, buzzing noise, chances are that the culprit is its fan. Almost all modern pellets stoves come with a fan fitted inside that helps the warm air circulate throughout the room.

Mind you, the pellet stoves that come without fans do exist, and noise issues with those are very rare. However, you don’t have to opt for a fanless pellet stove over one with the fan because the latter is capable of covering more area in terms of heating. 

Normally, any machine’s fan makes a very light noise. Your pellet stove is also no exception, with its fan making a noise almost equal to that made by a refrigerator when it’s working. You don’t even need to worry if the fan’s volume goes a bit up when the stove is either starting or being turned off.  

The problem starts when these fans either start making more noise than usual or produce a weird loud screech. Usually, this screech lasts no more than a second, but it repeatedly occurs at irregular intervals. The fans do this either because the stove hasn’t been cleaned from inside or because the fan itself is made from low-quality materials and cannot work perfectly anymore. 

2. Fuel pellets

It’s common for a pellet stove to make a slight hissing noise when the pellets are burning inside. However, sometimes the fuel pellets feed to the stove can start cracking, falling, and spluttering inside. In these cases, the noise made by the stove is more than just a light hiss and requires your attention, or else things can go very wrong.

I know someone who found this pellet sound coming from their stove amusing. Since the noise didn’t bother them much, they ignored it, but others who visited their home, including me, felt annoyed. Not to mention, if you don’t care about whether or not the pellets are, your stove could stop working.

My purpose of telling you this isn’t to scare you but to make you realize the dangers of ignoring such a minor discomfort. Don’t worry, I’ll tell you how to fix this problem in just a little bit.

Mostly, these pellets make noise because of the untidy interior of your stove. The debris and dirt present in the stove can clog the system, disrupting proper fuel feeding and leading the pellets to crack because the airflow towards them isn’t enough.  

3. Fuel system

Other than the pellets, the fuel dispenser of your stove can also make noise. It would be right to call the fuel dispenser a major functioning part of any pellet stove.

It is made up of a motor that diffuses the fuel to the burning chamber from where the heat is then produced. The damage or improper functioning of this motor is what can sometimes lead your stove to make a consistent noise.

To speak the truth, this motor isn’t very powerful, no matter how expensive or advanced your pellet stove is. This explains why most of the stoves start making noise once they turn a little old, even if you take really good care of them.  

It’s the motor that wears out and turns your stove into an annoying machine that you want to throw out but can’t. A working solution, in this case, is to get the motor removed. However, not everyone can get their stove’s motor replaced, and that’s where taking other measures to quiet the stove may help.

Step By Step: How To Make A Pellet Stove Quieter

Anyone can figure out when their pellet stove starts making an abnormally loud noise. The actual tricky part is fixing this noise issue. Realistically speaking, most of us are no experts in dealing with pellet stoves and understanding their anatomy.

In some cases, this lack of technical awareness makes it hard to figure out where exactly the noise is coming from. Even if you’re lucky enough to point out the exact part of your stove that’s causing the problem, you can’t be sure of the exact reason that’s making that particular part lightly scream its little lungs out.

This is why it’s better to stick to a generic method of dealing with your pellet stove to make it quieter. If you have a pellet stove that’s making a noticeably loud noise and you don’t know the exact reason or point from where the noise is coming, don’t worry.

Given below are all those steps that you need to take to make it quieter. Doing all of these things one-by-one results in a quieter stove in most cases. So, without further ado, let’s begin.

Now that we’ve all things ready, let’s start with the process:

1. Shut down and unplug
2. Cleaning the heat exchanger
3. Cleaning the pot
4. Clean the blower and fan
5. Tighten everything
6. Tapping the stove

Step 1: Shut down and unplug

I would never advise you to start working on your pellet stove if it’s even minutely warm. The best way to go about the stove silencing process is to let it cool down for a few good hours. You should shut down and remove the plug of the stove at least 2 hours before you want to begin working on it. 

Step 2: Cleaning the heat exchanger

If you look inside your pellet stove, you’ll notice a rod. This is known as the heat exchanger. It heats up once you turn the stove on and then transmits the heat all over. It’s best to start by cleaning this rod because debris and dirt stick on it can cause a lot of disruption and noise. 

Try to move the rod up and down repeatedly. Try moving it with a stroke-like force so that the deposits and debris can be forced out of it. The things stuck inside and around this rod can either be ash or debris. You can figure out what kind of stuff it is, and depending on what you find, you can take the following steps:

• Use a paintbrush and brush the debris ash from the rod with soft strokes
• If this doesn’t work, try using a vacuum cleaner to suck out the dirt
• If there’s any tar left sticking to the rod even after cleaning, turn the stove on for half an hour. This will convert the tar into ash that you can remove easily following the same steps described above.

It’d be better if you could clean the rod regularly, depending upon how much you use your pellet stove. This can help prevent a lot of other stove-related issues that, otherwise, require you to consult professionals and pay them hefty maintenance amounts.

Step 3: Cleaning the pot

Once the rod is all clean, it’s time you focus on the burn pot that rests inside the stove. Take it out and, using a scraper, remove all the dirt that’s on it. The pot is often laden with ash and dirt so make sure you clean it somewhere outdoors and not inside your room or on a carpet.

You may need a flathead screwdriver for this step too. To go deeper inside the pot, you can cover the screwdriver with a cloth and clean the narrow corners with it. Take as much time as you need doing this step because a cleaner pot elongates your stove’s life in many ways.

The blockage in this burn gate is often what leads the stove to make hissing sounds, and, therefore, you’d want to clean it with utmost perfection.

Step 4: Clean the blower and fan

Here comes the step that needs extra softness on your part. Brush off whatever is sticking on your stove’s blower and fan using a paintbrush or any other soft yet pointed cleaning tool. Make sure you clean everything that’s there to ensure that the fan makes no noise at all the next time you turn the stove on.

However, don’t damage anything in the process. If the fan seems deformed or burnt a little, it’s better to stop there and take the fan to a professional who can better advise you on what step to take next.

Step 5: Tighten everything

This is another important step that needs to be done as perfectly as you can. There can be a lot of loose tied inside the stove, leading it to make vibratory noises while working. It’s best to tighten as many of these as you can.

Taking a screwdriver, begin with the plastic points that fasten the motor. These are often loose and, therefore, must be your first target to tighten. Then start from any point on the stove you like, looking at every screw that comes in your way. Check all the screws and tighten them if needed. Don’t go over-board with tightening as it can break something inside the stove.

Step 6: Tapping the stove 

Most of your stove’s noise is because of the vibration of its components that is very easy to get rid of. The best way to treat these vibrations is to use a gasket tape and tightly wrap it all over, focusing more on the pedal area. Try to cover every hole and creak visible and also fill the spaces between the stove and hearth with small folded gasket tape pieces.   

Now, you’re done! Enjoy your time beside a quieter and calm stove however you like.