Heatilator CAB50 excessive ash buildup in pot

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Straight out 3" vent less than 4' horizontal with no downslope correct?

You also had clinker issues with your other stoves.

First thing I'd do is see if there are any air leaks check all areas of the fire box for bent seams, loose bolts, and so forth. Seal and tighten .

Does your hopper have a gasket? If so test that.

Then I'd start seriously considering an OAK.

Is this stove on a lower level in the house?

Are there any fireplaces, or other heating devices that are power ventilated or use a chimney?

I'll take a look int the manual to see if I can find anything that might be a logical place to have air leaks. But that won't be tonight.
 
I tried a couple bags of I think heaters and had a lot of problems with them and it seems like that is when all my problems started but I have ten bags of the kind I've been running for the last couple years and after those are gone I was thinking of trying another brand that are a recycled wood pellet I think made mostly of pallets
 
I have the one other pellet stove that is in the existing fireplace and uses the chimney and my pipe is level abut 18 to 20" long. What is the best way to go about testing the gaskets?
 
I was having troubles with most other brands in my Jamestown stoves mostly because the holes in the pot were so small that they were getting plugged up by the little pebbles that were in them or I think some of them may have had a little sand in them
 
Check your control box to make sure the rotary switch is set on #4. Another cab50 owner received his with it set on #2, this is wrong. See your manual, page 44.
And like Dex says, I would try some different pellets.
 
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At 6000 feet you also can not tolerate much in the way of any inside negative pressure situations.

Between pellet ash content (this varies over quite a range), relatively low air oxygen levels, lack of a rise in your venting, and the venting being 3" , likely a slight negative pressure situation, even without a possible controller setting mistake I'd be expecting a possible burn issue.

Now I went through the manual for your stove late yesterday evening and have a couple of areas I'd like you to check, the first being the method that the pedestal is attached to the firebox section, the exploded diagrams are not clear as to how those two sections are joined together any bolt penetrations made to join those two sections should be checked for tightness and seal, the second area is where the drop chute penetrates the firebox at the back of the firebox, that area likely has a weld around it (or some other method of sealing) make certain if it is a weld that it goes all the way around the chute and doesn't appear to have any gaps between the back of the fire box and the chute. If there is another method of sealing used there make certain that the bolts or screws and gasket if any are tight.
 
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Now the gasket on the door can be tested by using a piece of paper the size of a dollar bill. Insert the piece of paper between the gasket and the stove (off and cold of course) close the door, and pull the paper out. It can come out but must present resistance at two separated points on each side of the door. If any of the eight places you test fails to present resistance see if the door allows adjustments to be made, if it does follow the makers adjustment instructions then retest. If you can't make any adjustments that pass or there are none that can be made, it is time to replace the gasket.
 
Check your control box to make sure the rotary switch is set on #4. Another cab50 owner received his with it set on #2, this is wrong. See your manual, page 44.
And like Dex says, I would try some different pellets.


I tried to find the rotary dial, but couldn't find it. I was too scared to open the control box.
 
I tried to find the rotary dial, but couldn't find it. I was too scared to open the control box.

You don't have to open anything to test the setting.

Page 44 under 1C/E.

c. There is also an internal blue light located in the control box. When you plug in the appliance the blue light will automatically start blinking. For model PS35 the blue light should flash 6 times every 10 seconds for the first 60 seconds after power up. For models PS50 and CAB50 it should blink 4 times.


E
A. Component Function
Example: If you are on setting 4 the control box will flash 4 times every 10 seconds for 1 minute.
See chart below for correct control box setting for your model.


Model

Factory Control Board Setting


PS 35

#6 (6 Flashes)

PS50 / CAB50

#4 (4 Flashes)


You can see the blinking blue light with the room lights turned down very easily. Just stare at the back and count.
 
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My setup is almost identical. My pipe goes straight out the back of the stove horizontal thru my brick wall and terminates a handful of inches (not home to measure). It is 3" with no vertical pipe at all.

The rod slides the pot on a little rail. Does it slide easily? Could the pot be off the rail slightly and not setting correctly in the burn position?

Being over zealous once, I removed the door for a cleaning. When I replaced it, it did not seat well and caused a vacuum issue. My stove would come on, drop pellets, those would burn out and stove would shut down. I did the washer trick on the door and now it has no issues. No idea if a vaccum issue would cause this problem for you.
 
It seems to run perfect on med never run it on low it doesn't heat my house on low I can't imagine the door gasket is bad the stove was installed in October and has only had about one ton burned through it as for the brand of pellets they are in a clear bag and I was told the brand last year but can't remember the name ill have to ask again the next time I buy them


Do not imagine, takes a minute to check. You would be amazed at how a gasket can crush.

Eric
 
OK folks please pay close attention to the OPs location he is over a mile high and all pellet units have issues if they are not properly vented, built, and delivered without loosening up any fasteners even at sea level.

What might not matter at my location 284 feet above mean sea level is going to completely mess up his burn.

A messed up burn leaves behind a pile of ash in the venting and stove that would have exited the system normally, even the normal clean this one every ton or two tons can be quickly reduced to every 1/2 to 1 ton using a decent premium pellet let alone a marginal premium pellet.
 
My setup is almost identical. My pipe goes straight out the back of the stove horizontal thru my brick wall and terminates a handful of inches (not home to measure). It is 3" with no vertical pipe at all.

The rod slides the pot on a little rail. Does it slide easily? Could the pot be off the rail slightly and not setting correctly in the burn position?

Being over zealous once, I removed the door for a cleaning. When I replaced it, it did not seat well and caused a vacuum issue. My stove would come on, drop pellets, those would burn out and stove would shut down. I did the washer trick on the door and now it has no issues. No idea if a vaccum issue would cause this problem for you.

Vacuum issue would mean Zero Pellets....

Sounds like the Thermocouple isn't touching the inside of the ceramic cover and/or the ceramic cover isnt sticking into pot the correct distance.

Your stove is not sensing the heat. It senses vacuum because it feeds the initial start up sequence. But when its time to start feeding again, the t/C has to see 200°… Its not seeing that. Check to make sure its touching and sticks out into pot, so fire can hit it.

If the T/C doesnt touch the cover, it doesn't read the right (high) temp it needs
 
Ok checked the door gasket it was good the drop tube seal looks intact to me and as far as I can see the pedestal section does not have any bolts going into the fire box the control box is set correctly. At this point I think I'm going to try some other pellets and see if that's the problem ill keep you guys posted I only have one other idea that I would like to try if possible I read on another thread that it may be possible to reduce the pellet feed through the control box settings. I'm just wondering if maybe it is just dumping enough pellets that the ash is not able to come out of the pot before it gets hurried by new pellets also I am going to try to hook up the OAK system that is already in place from my Jamestown stove since my exhaust is currently going through the hole that it used and I really would hate to have to try to cut a new hole in my house and I personally think the Jamestown system is a lot better than heatilators
 
My setup is almost identical. My pipe goes straight out the back of the stove horizontal thru my brick wall and terminates a handful of inches (not home to measure). It is 3" with no vertical pipe at all.

The rod slides the pot on a little rail. Does it slide easily? Could the pot be off the rail slightly and not setting correctly in the burn position?

Being over zealous once, I removed the door for a cleaning. When I replaced it, it did not seat well and caused a vacuum issue. My stove would come on, drop pellets, those would burn out and stove would shut down. I did the washer trick on the door and now it has no issues. No idea if a vaccum issue would cause this problem for you.

trick on the door and now it has no issues. No idea if a vaccum issue would cause this problem for you.
The same thing is happening to me right now. Which washer trick did you do? Add another or move it to the other side of the lug?
 
The same thing is happening to me right now. Which washer trick did you do? Add another or move it to the other side of the lug?
Moved it to the other side. No issues since.
 
Check your control box to make sure the rotary switch is set on #4. Another cab50 owner received his with it set on #2, this is wrong. See your manual, page 44.
And like Dex says, I would try some different pellets.

I'm under the impression the control box should indeed be set to #2. Have they made changes? Should I change mine to 4?
 
I'm under the impression the control box should indeed be set to #2. Have they made changes? Should I change mine to 4?
There are two boxes. Each one has it's own setting. SRV7058-188 should be on #2 fir PS50 and CAB50
 
There are 2 control boxes? ?? I only see one.:oops:
 
Or. (duh!) You mean there are two versions of the box. I can be dense sometimes.
 
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Or. (duh!) You mean there are two versions of the box. I can be dense sometimes.
I emailed them asking what was the difference, I have the original, and was told "They are exactly the same except the newer control box has some slight exhaust blower voltage setting changes."
 
I emailed them asking what was the difference, I have the original, and was told "They are exactly the same except the newer control box has some slight exhaust blower voltage setting changes."

Thanks.
Do you know what the different setting on the box mean? What each of them do?
 
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