Hello,
I had a HF60 installed a few months back. It is plumbed into our existing oil boiler. Seems like problematic from the start.
I just cleaned the pellet boiler and turned it back on. Temp min @ 170, max @ 185, feed @ 6, ignite @ auto. Feed motor ran continuous for 16-1/2 minutes. I was watching it closely - it never stopped or shut off even momentarily. Then it blinked a few times - shaking the pellets I guess. By this time the pellets were long since been dumping. They started dumping at the 7 or 8 minute mark. Obviously way too many pellets. When the feed motor finally stopped after 16-1/2 minutes then it started to produce smoke. Lots of smoke. The burn chamber became totally obscured - couldn't see the pellets anymore of the burn pot - totally smoke filled. Now the smoke is in the basement and pretty smelly - actually you can smell the smoke in the entire house including ground floor. At the 18 minute mark, the feed motor turns back on. At 18-1/2 minutes, it finally ignites with a POP. There had been a HISS from the back of the unit the entire time. The HISS turns off now. The ignite lamp turns off. The flame is a lazy not good flame. There are too many pellets in the pot. The pellets are still dumping although at least they are starting to burn now. Feed motor keeps running and pushing pellets much faster then they are being burned so still dumping pellets. Feed motor is NOT cycling at this point - just running all out. Watched it for at least 3+ minutes and it ran solid with no cycle. At the 24-1/2 minute mark, the feed motor stops and cycles a few times on a 15 second cycle. It is not until maybe 30 minutes from starting that there is finally a good flame and normal amount of pellets with feed motor cycling properly.
At other times, I have seen this ignite properly in 3 or 4 minutes. The installer did swap the electronics board which did not seem to change anything. Seems like the issue is the feed motor doesn't shut off. The couple times I watched when the feed motor DID shut off - it ignited with no problem. At least twice I watched with a watch that it took about 20 minutes to ignite and the problem seemed to be the feed motor never stopping. Other times not watching but smelling the smoke upstairs - I assume same thing happened. When it ignites in 3 or 4 minutes there is minimal smoke in the burn chamber - almost none and it is not able to be smelled upstairs. So I assume that if I smell the smoke (strong) on startup that it was a bad startup.
At this point, I mostly run in manual mode so it doesn't shut off and have to re-ignite. First - it is cold outside (13 degrees F right now) so makes sense to just keep the pellet boiler running as we need the heat. Second the auto ignite is sporadically working/not working so I don't want to have it doing poor ignition. But that means I don't have a good feel for how often it would ignite proper and how often it would ignite improperly. Come springtime - I had certainly intended on putting it into AUTO mode and have it shut down and re-ignite as needed.
Burning Turman Hardwood Pellets. Length of pellets is around 1-1/4 inches. Seems fairly consistent length with broken pellets down to maybe 1/2 inch?. Don't see any pellets at 2+ inches. However I would not think the type of pellet (hardwood or softwood) would have any impact on how long the feed motor runs or doesn't run.
Dip switches have 5 and 8 on (up). Installer set them that way - I have not changed the switches. Burning outside air. The connector for outside air temperature "set back" is NOT installed. Exhaust direct vent maybe five feet straight run through the wall. Screen on the end of the vent was removed as it seemed to clog up fast.
Thoughts?
Thanks.
Tim.
I had a HF60 installed a few months back. It is plumbed into our existing oil boiler. Seems like problematic from the start.
I just cleaned the pellet boiler and turned it back on. Temp min @ 170, max @ 185, feed @ 6, ignite @ auto. Feed motor ran continuous for 16-1/2 minutes. I was watching it closely - it never stopped or shut off even momentarily. Then it blinked a few times - shaking the pellets I guess. By this time the pellets were long since been dumping. They started dumping at the 7 or 8 minute mark. Obviously way too many pellets. When the feed motor finally stopped after 16-1/2 minutes then it started to produce smoke. Lots of smoke. The burn chamber became totally obscured - couldn't see the pellets anymore of the burn pot - totally smoke filled. Now the smoke is in the basement and pretty smelly - actually you can smell the smoke in the entire house including ground floor. At the 18 minute mark, the feed motor turns back on. At 18-1/2 minutes, it finally ignites with a POP. There had been a HISS from the back of the unit the entire time. The HISS turns off now. The ignite lamp turns off. The flame is a lazy not good flame. There are too many pellets in the pot. The pellets are still dumping although at least they are starting to burn now. Feed motor keeps running and pushing pellets much faster then they are being burned so still dumping pellets. Feed motor is NOT cycling at this point - just running all out. Watched it for at least 3+ minutes and it ran solid with no cycle. At the 24-1/2 minute mark, the feed motor stops and cycles a few times on a 15 second cycle. It is not until maybe 30 minutes from starting that there is finally a good flame and normal amount of pellets with feed motor cycling properly.
At other times, I have seen this ignite properly in 3 or 4 minutes. The installer did swap the electronics board which did not seem to change anything. Seems like the issue is the feed motor doesn't shut off. The couple times I watched when the feed motor DID shut off - it ignited with no problem. At least twice I watched with a watch that it took about 20 minutes to ignite and the problem seemed to be the feed motor never stopping. Other times not watching but smelling the smoke upstairs - I assume same thing happened. When it ignites in 3 or 4 minutes there is minimal smoke in the burn chamber - almost none and it is not able to be smelled upstairs. So I assume that if I smell the smoke (strong) on startup that it was a bad startup.
At this point, I mostly run in manual mode so it doesn't shut off and have to re-ignite. First - it is cold outside (13 degrees F right now) so makes sense to just keep the pellet boiler running as we need the heat. Second the auto ignite is sporadically working/not working so I don't want to have it doing poor ignition. But that means I don't have a good feel for how often it would ignite proper and how often it would ignite improperly. Come springtime - I had certainly intended on putting it into AUTO mode and have it shut down and re-ignite as needed.
Burning Turman Hardwood Pellets. Length of pellets is around 1-1/4 inches. Seems fairly consistent length with broken pellets down to maybe 1/2 inch?. Don't see any pellets at 2+ inches. However I would not think the type of pellet (hardwood or softwood) would have any impact on how long the feed motor runs or doesn't run.
Dip switches have 5 and 8 on (up). Installer set them that way - I have not changed the switches. Burning outside air. The connector for outside air temperature "set back" is NOT installed. Exhaust direct vent maybe five feet straight run through the wall. Screen on the end of the vent was removed as it seemed to clog up fast.
Thoughts?
Thanks.
Tim.
