Stove shutting off then restarting

Sounds like the flame could be drafting off of the thermopile. Can you see the entire pilot flame when the unit is burning? I'd be curious to know if it was blowing off the thermopile or going out for a few seconds at a time. Could certainly be the other suggestions you posted as well, but I'm thinking its more of a pilot flame/thermopile issue.

Some questions:
- How old is the unit?
- This is a new problem correct, or has it been an on and off issue for a while?
- What is your vent configuration like? Lots of horizontal?
- Do you have a multi-meter?

Brogsie,

No danger that I can think of. Now if the burner starts turning on and off rapidly you should turn it off and call a dealer because its hard on the burner. From looking on the Travis website I see that it uses the SIT 820 valve and pilot. I'm pretty familiar with that valve.

Here is a link to the manual although I'm guessing you have one.

http://www.lopistoves.com/TravisDocs/100-01142.pdf

If you want to rule out the switch you could always make a jumper with 1/4" female connectors and plug them into the valve. You'll plug them into the "TH" and "TPTH" leads on the valve. See page 17 of the manual for a picture of what I am talking about.

Also note the pilot and what it should look like on page 26. I'd confirm that the thermopile (left side of the pilot) has a good flame going to it. The thermopile is what powers (opens) gas to the main burner, while the smaller thermocouple keeps the pilot burning. If you need to turn the pilot up, you can adjust it by turning a screw on the valve.

Since your unit is brand new I really doubt it's a bad thermocouple, and your vent configuration looks like it would produce plenty of draft. IMO one of 2 things is happening, air is blowing the flame off of the thermopile, or the flame on the left side of the pilot is going out intermittently. So its either getting too much air, or not enough.

Some things I would try:
- When the stove acts up, see if you can view the pilot flame. If so is it lifting off of the thermopile? Does it look hyper/over active?
- If you have metal tape or even tin foil you can make a shield on the left side of the pilot to block air coming from the left side of the firebox. Block the path between the back of the firebox and the back of the log from the base of the pilot to about 1" above the thermopile.

One of 2 things will happen with the pilot shield, it will either solve the problem, or it will get Way worse. If it gets worse then I'd try opening the flue restrictor to allow more air into the firebox. If the shield solves the problem, you can leave it be, or try closing the restrictor more slowing the air flow into the firebox.

I hope this helps, you can always try calling the mfg and ask for their tech support guys. I'm willing to bet they have a pilot shield for your unit. Maybe some of the other guys on here have suggestions too?

Here is a link to a similar problem on another thread although his was much more obvious IMO.
https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/forums/viewthread/28858/

Sure sounds familiar.

Is the stove vented straight out by any chance, I.E., no vertical rise?

Hey Tubbster,

Sounds like he has plenty of vertical to me.

brogsie said:

Hi R&D;Guy,

The vent goes vertial thru wall 3ft to 90 then 10 ft up.

Click to expand...

Well I'm glad I could help someone around here.

Hopefully the logs aren't too far forward (like an inch or something). Keep an eye on how clean it burns, if you have to start cleaning the glass a lot then you might want to put the logs back and look at another idea like adjusting the restrictor, or a pilot shield. Otherwise what will happen is that you'll go out to the side of your house in a few weeks and notice a bunch of black soot depositing on the siding.

Good luck, and enjoy your purchase!

Wow! Just found this thread today. I've been using my new Sturbridge this Fall/Winter and have had the identical experience, including discovering the log position is quite crucial and finicky, and unfortunately realizing today that the brick on my new den addition is indeed black and sooty.

I would love to solve this but there aren't a lot of experts in this part of the country. I did close down the air damper and reduce the flame size to hopefully cut down on the sudden soot buildup. I have a easy situation where the stove vents straight back a foot or so through the external wall. Thanks in advance for any help!

-steven

Thanks for getting back to me. In the week or so that the sootiness happened, the flames were extremely tall and extremely yellow and I had the shutter in the middle position. Didn't notice black tips.

There was one flame that was very prominent that was occasionally touching the top of the firebox and when I opened it up that is where most of the soot had built up on the upper surface.

Should I be trying to retain the yellow flame but just make it smaller? Between trying to keep this thing from constantly restarting and keeping the soot level down, I'm surprised how difficult this has been.

Thanks again.