Afton bay smoking

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bbfarm

bbfarm

Minister of Fire
Jan 2, 2012
708
wisconsin
We just bought an Afton Bay (love it!) used and installed it ourselves on 12/23/11. It is 3 years old.

Twice now it has started smoking. It seems like the exhaust motor shut down. The first time I wasn't home but the house smelled kind of smokey. I don't remember which light was blinking on the controller, but I did look it up.

The second time was last night and I was home. Smoke was coming out of the ash tray door. Iturned the thermostat down and hit the off button, it then somehow triggered the vent exhaust fan and it started working again. the fan that blows heat into the room was still running. so I turned the thermostat back up. We were having a snowstorm and it was very windy.

We used the straight out the wall vent kit that came with it, but plan to go veritical with it outside the house this summer. I know this is why the smoke can back up into the house.

My friend with a plain wood burner said that sometimes she will get smoke in the house and the air outside gets "heavy" with a storm. I opened the damper just a smidge and it seemed to help the burn.

anyone else have any suggestions or ideas of why the vent fan shut off?
 
bbfarm said:
We just bought an Afton Bay (love it!) used and installed it ourselves on 12/23/11. It is 3 years old.

Twice now it has started smoking. It seems like the exhaust motor shut down. The first time I wasn't home but the house smelled kind of smokey. I don't remember which light was blinking on the controller, but I did look it up.

The second time was last night and I was home. Smoke was coming out of the ash tray door. Iturned the thermostat down and hit the off button, it then somehow triggered the vent exhaust fan and it started working again. the fan that blows heat into the room was still running. so I turned the thermostat back up. We were having a snowstorm and it was very windy.

We used the straight out the wall vent kit that came with it, but plan to go veritical with it outside the house this summer. I know this is why the smoke can back up into the house.

My friend with a plain wood burner said that sometimes she will get smoke in the house and the air outside gets "heavy" with a storm. I opened the damper just a smidge and it seemed to help the burn.

anyone else have any suggestions or ideas of why the vent fan shut off?
Click to expand...

I can tell you exactly why it shut off. They have thermal protection and self protect by shutting down. The wind hitting the vent prevents (or at least severely slow down ) the hot exhaust gases from leaving the stove this causes the area between the vent termination and the firebox to heat up once the combustion blower sees about 475 degrees Fahrenheit it says oops too darn hot and shuts down until it is cooled down.

Do something about it by building a wind shield for this winter.
 
Smokey's right! (Again!)

I'll add that the combustion blower itself may need cleaning, too, which could also cause it to overheat and shut down. I took mine out this spring and blew the motor itself out with compressed air. I was astounded to see all the dust and crud that came out. My stove is about 5 years old. I bought it used last year, and the dealer cleaned it fairly well, but missed the motors, the room air squirrel cages, and above the glass door. All were loaded with dust and/or ash.

I'm guessing you had a #2 light blinking - loss of vacuum. That should have shut the stove down on its own.

I have a straight-out-the-wall vent, facing into frequently strong winds, and the stove works fine. I do have an OAK, which I consider necessary.

The ash pan door has a gasket, and not much smoke should have come out of there. Check your gasket's condition; if it leaks, you're losing combustion air that should be going through the burn pot.

IMO, the Afton Bay is a terrific stove. And, like all the others, it must be kept clean, which is not at all hard on this stove.

ETA: Congrats on the stove, you'll love it. And, welcome to the forum!
 
St.Croix Stoves Rock! Welcome to the forums bbfarm!!!
 
The strangest case of combustion blower overheating I've seen on here is in a post that includes participation by Mike Holton the head tech at England Stove Works, the stove was a Breckwell IIRC, the cause of the exhaust restriction that started the thermal shutdown of the blower was a dip in the horizontal venting.

Venting is a very serious issue and the manuals should be followed to the letter. Bad things can happen if you fail to pay attention to venting.
 
Thanks so much for all your help! We have not had this happen since. This spring I will take out those motors and blow them clean. ash pan gasket in fantastic shape.

It is located in an outside corner and gets swirling winds so I think this is the reason it happened. Will switch to a rising exhaust in spring so it is out of those swirling winds.
 
Interesting post....my Afton Bay has been running fine for 6-years and then all of a sudden this year the exhaust fan seems to turn off after it has been running for a while and it smokes out the entire house. And I mean A LOT of smoke! If I was a first time owner it's enough smoke to call the Fire Dept. The thermal protection seems like a possibility, but it will do it when there is very little wind and when the outside temp. is not that low. Plus, the fan won't kick back on even after enough time has passed for everything to cool down. Did it a few times last month, worked fine for a few weeks, then did it again last night. I've cleaned all the parts, etc., so I am at a loss. Any other suggestions.....i.e., troubleshooting the thermal protection system? Thanks in advance!
 
cssulliv said:
Interesting post....my Afton Bay has been running fine for 6-years and then all of a sudden this year the exhaust fan seems to turn off after it has been running for a while and it smokes out the entire house. And I mean A LOT of smoke! If I was a first time owner it's enough smoke to call the Fire Dept. The thermal protection seems like a possibility, but it will do it when there is very little wind and when the outside temp. is not that low. Plus, the fan won't kick back on even after enough time has passed for everything to cool down. Did it a few times last month, worked fine for a few weeks, then did it again last night. I've cleaned all the parts, etc., so I am at a loss. Any other suggestions.....i.e., troubleshooting the thermal protection system? Thanks in advance!
Click to expand...

The clincher for the first case was it only was happening in the windy situation and the stove was cranking.

If it happens other than that the usual issue is a failed, or failing bearing, the blower motor needs oil if oil able, or the small cooling fan and/or the motor shell is full of crud.

The stoves normal thermal protection system is the over temperature limit switch which leads to no fuel for the stove.

Whenever an exhaust blower stops the issue is to find the possible culprits and rule them out one by one. I just had to replace my combustion blower as it was acting erratically and sometimes howling like a banshee. It might or might not turn when power was applied, you could usually get it to spin if you gave it some help. Cleaning it didn't do a bit of good, trying to get some oil into the sealed bearing only worked for a very short time. Some of those St.Croixs as I understand it have oil able combustion blowers and must be periodically oiled, they also need cleaning.
 
My afton bay works great, clean, clean and then cleAN AGAIN. Then try again, also unplugging for 5 minutes allows it to reset and may help you. I'd check the exhaust blower for proper fuction and replace if need be. I have done this... www.autorain.com for parts
 
Have you blown out the motor windings themselves? When I blew mine out last spring, I was astounded at the amount of dust, etc., that came out of the windings. Dust in there means the motor doesn't get cooled, and the thermal in the motor shuts the motor off.

I tried to buy from Autorain, and won't deal with them again.

Beware - some replacement motors don't have the rubber isolation bushings on them. There's one of them in my stove now, and it is quite noisy. I have a brand new spare just like it, and both fans are out of balance. That and the lack of the bushings makes the stove vibrate and makes noise. I don't know just where my motors came from (new from the dealer for free), but they are junk. My advice is to go with the OEM style. I would expect the vibration to shorten the bearing life. One of these days I'm going to see if I can balance one of the fans on my own.

I don't know which motor Autorain sells - a phone call to ask would be a good idea.
 
It has been a few weeks since my original post. it has not done this since. I believe it was the safety too hot shut down.

could the thermostat temp be telling it to shut down?

I have noticed that my thermostat that is attached to the pellet stove will be set on 68 degrees, but the lower reading (room temp) says it is 85 - 90 degrees in the house.

the room temp reading on our furnace thermostat reads 73 - 75.

When the pellet stove thermostat gets to read close to 90 I back off the temp to about 65 degrees.
 
A t-stat by itself will not cause what you had happen. It might indirectly contribute to it happening but it would also mean that you have issues with the convection side for it to be a contributing factor, in this case the the convection fan might not be keeping up with the heat produced so the exhaust temperatures go up past the magic number. This would normally cause a high temperature (over limit) shut down of the stove (instead of what you saw) or with some stoves just disrupt the fuel feed to the point the fire goes out and the stove shuts down due to being out of fuel (the hopper may even be full).

Temperature reading comparisons between uncalibrated measuring devices in different locations mean nothing to the stove. the stove is going to answer to its t-stat. Now if you go around the area and discover that your t-stat is always lower than all of the other thermometers in the area, you might consider dropping the t-stat's set point or moving it to where it shows a more representative temperature. A t-stat in a cold spot (like a Harman room probe sitting on the floor) makes the stove run harder.
 
I am wondering why the room temp showing on the 2 different thermostats would show a different room temp.

could the pellet stove thermostat just be a cheap junky one? It is just a simple slide one.

they are mounted on the wall, one right above the other with about 6" in between them.

there is no way it is 80-90 degrees in the house like the pellet stove one is showing. we would have to be running around in our underwear and the dogs would be panting.

Our other thermometers in the den and living room and upstairs are showing 65 - 68 degrees, which is reasonable at a 70 - 75 reading on the furnace thermostat in the dining room where the pellet stove is located. .
 
bbfarm said:
I am wondering why the room temp showing on the 2 different thermostats would show a different room temp.

could the pellet stove thermostat just be a cheap junky one? It is just a simple slide one.

they are mounted on the wall, one right above the other with about 6" in between them.

there is no way it is 80-90 degrees in the house like the pellet stove one is showing. we would have to be running around in our underwear and the dogs would be panting.

Our other thermometers in the den and living room and upstairs are showing 65 - 68 degrees, which is reasonable at a 70 - 75 reading on the furnace thermostat in the dining room where the pellet stove is located. .
Click to expand...

What is the t-stat you are using and what set point did you set the t-stat at?
 
I will have to look when I get home. I don't know what a set point is.
 
bbfarm said:
I will have to look when I get home. I don't know what a set point is.
Click to expand...

Set point the temperature the t-stat is supposed to maintain .... the temperature setting you want it to heat to.
 
so how do you adjust a set point? I thought they were all preset.

it is a White - rodgers thermostat.
 
Mine came with a mechanical thermostat, which sounds like yours. The "swing" was 4 or 5 degrees, which means the temperature would have to drop 4 or 5 degrees for the 'stat to call for heat again. I replaced it with a digital model with a 1 degree swing, and the stove and I are much happier. We get more constant temps in the room, and the stove doesn't idle for so long before going to a higher heat. This isn't related to your original problem, I'm just putting it out there FYI.

The set point is the temperature you want the room to be, the one you adjust with the little lever. For example, I would set my set point at 75º, which is where I wanted the room to be. When the 'stat was satisfied, the stove would idle until the room hit 71º or even 70º, then it would crank up the stove (with the mechanical 'stat). Now, with the digital 'stat, the room stays within a degree of my desired temp (the set point).

Hope this long-winded explanation helps.
 
yeah, that helps a lot.

can you just buy any programable thermostat? or does it have to be for pellet stoves?

I have the top lever on mine set at 68-70 degrees and the reading below it says 80-90 degrees
 
bbfarm said:
yeah, that helps a lot.

can you just buy any programable thermostat? or does it have to be for pellet stoves?

I have the top lever on mine set at 68-70 degrees and the reading below it says 80-90 degrees
Click to expand...

Where is the stove and where is the t-stat?

What mode are you running the stove in?
 
I got mine at an Ace Hardware. Any 'stat suitable for, say, an oil heat system will work. All you're looking for is a set of contacts that open and close to control the stove. Mine cost $27.00, and is not programmable; some people like the programmable units. I can't find my sheet for the 'stat, or I'd give you the model # and brand. The 'stat has no name or # on it.
 
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