cdherman I have had similar problems with whole pellets in spiral.
Mine was like this:
b7f0d82c-69b2-45ac-9499-c865b5db3a9f-image.png
So I got one of these so it had gaps between the channels and had trouble keeping the whole pellets lit:
db5a354d-f3a3-4c4e-83c2-d03317bd1352-image.png
Maybe I should be using sawdust like you, but in the one with gaps instead.