Pellet burning heating device

A pellet burning stove designed to be coupled with a chimney having a predetermined draft, the stove comprising:

• a combustion chamber having an inlet through which combustion air may be introduced into said chamber and an outlet through which exhaust gases may be removed from said combustion chamber;
• a burn pot having an interior for supporting a quantity of pellets during the combustion thereof, said interior having a predetermined pellet level, said burn pot comprising a first plurality of apertures positioned on one side of said pellet level through which primary combustion air may be introduced into said interior and a second plurality of apertures positioned on an opposite side of said pellet level through which secondary combustion air may be introduced into said interior, said burn pot being coupled with said combustion chamber via said inlet in said combustion chamber so that said primary and secondary combustion air may be introduced into said interior through said first and second plurality of apertures solely by natural convection and pass through said inlet into said combustion chamber;
• a pellet feed assembly for feeding pellets into said interior of said burn pot so that said quantity of pellets supported in said interior may be maintained at substantially said pellet level;
• and
• wherein the number and cross-sectional area of said first and second plurality of apertures are selected so that even when said primary and secondary combustion air is introduced into said interior solely by natural convection and exhaust gases generated as a consequence of the combustion of said quantity of pellets in said interior of said burn pot are withdrawn solely by the draft of the chimney coupled with said combustion chamber, said exhaust gases will have a concentration of carbon monoxide, by volume, of no more than 0.04% when said quantity of pellets is maintained at substantially said pellet level.

A method of operating a pellet burning heating device having a combustion chamber, a burn pot having an interior for supporting pellets during the combustion process, and feed means for feeding pellets into the interior of the burn pot at a selected rate, the method comprising the steps of:

• (a) coupling the combustion chamber with a chimney having a predetermined draft;
• (b) operating the feed means so that pellets are delivered to, and maintained at a predetermined level in, the interior of the burn pot;
• (c) continuously introducing, solely by natural convection, a first volume of combustion air into the interior of the burn pot on one side of said predetermined level so as to support combustion of pellets in the interior of the burn pot;
• (d) continuously introducing, solely by natural convection, a second volume of combustion air into the interior of the burn pot on an opposite side of said predetermined level so as to support combustion of gases created as a consequence of combustion of pellets in the interior of the burn pot, wherein said second volume of combustion air is about 3.9-30 times greater than said first volume of combustion air;
• and
• (e) wherein the volume of combustion air introduced in steps c and d is such that exhaust gases discharged from the combustion chamber have a carbon monoxide concentration, by volume, of 0.04% or less.