EF3 Shutting down

How old is this stove? Is this the first time that you have fired it up? What Brand name are your pellets? There are several things that can cause the stove to go out. We will need some answers first from you.

I would check to make sure that the auger is working at the different speeds that the dial-a-fire is set to first, if it seams to change the speed of the feed OK you just eliminated the dial-a-fire switch, and the timer for the auger.I would next open the side door with the damper adjustment and disconnect the vacuum switch hose from both ends and blow through the hose to make sure it is not plugged. Then check the barbed end on the exhaust blower to make sure it is not plugged. If it is clean it with a drill bit the same size as the hole, reconnect the hose and try to run the stove.If it still doesn't burn right then disconnect the 2 wires to the vacuum and jump them. If the switch is bad it will operate and burn like normal. These steps will get you started in figuring out the issue with the stove. Keep us informed of the results.

I have an EF2 that is 9 years old and went through this very issue last season. The vacuum switch was the culprit in my case.

Yes that switch could be dirty, It wouldn't hurt to take it out and check it,clean it and re-install it. That vacuum switch should be on the left side of the stove as you look at it. Just look for the orange colored hose if it is still the original hose in it.

No Problem. Good Luck

OK, You jumped the Low Temp Sensor? Did you try to jump the Vacuum Switch yet? Reconnect the sensor and jump that Vacuum Switch and see what it does. As for the damper, Yes it should move about 1,75" -2.0" Mine moves about 1.75", I would worry about getting the stove to stay lit first then we can figure out if there is an issue with the damper.
If the stove stays lit with the Vacuum Switch jumped you should be able to Dial Down the feed rate to the lowest setting and it should stay burning. If it doesn't then it has a double failure, The Vacuum Switch & the Dial-A-Fire Switch. When I was thinking about your stove I remembered that I also had to replace my D-A-F switch 2 years ago. Wouldn't stay lit at a lower setting.

What does the fire when it is burning look like?
With the dial afire set above 2 o'clock does the fire keep burning ?
and if it does is it a brisk fire or one with black tipped flame ?
When was the last time you did a complete clean including removal of back panels
inside the stove? I suspect that your exhaust port at the draft gate is plugged !
Here's a link to the service manual.
http://www.hearthtools.com/parts/2004enviroTrouble.pdf

I have a 2001 EF-4 but from what I see, we run off the same system. The first thing is how long does the auger stay lit? If you have the old timer (1 second) then you will never get enough pellets to feed to keep it going if below 2 PM of the D-A-F, if the light stays on for 3 seconds then that is not the issue.

I would also suggest removing the combustion blower from the housing and really cleaning the hell out of the whole exhaust path. The low limit sensor (on mine at least) is attached to the housing and is very easily covered with soot if I have been burning a while. With the motor off of the housing, take a snake brush and clear the path from the fire box all the way to the clean out tee and vacuum out all the debris.

Do you get a few cycles with no pellets dropping then get a large surge of pellets on one auger cycle? Any fines in the hopper or bridging pellets? the only reason I ask is because I have been fighting the same problem all season on my Enviro and these all have seemed to help alleviate the shutting down of the stove.

The damper only moves 1.5 inches? My EF3 did that and then once I had it cleaned, the rod would move about 4.5"-5" from open to close. I would look into cleaning that and try to free it up. I was there when the tech cleaned mine and it took them a while to get it to break loose.

Gordy said:

It was cleaned last in April or May (whenever we stopped using it for summer) .. set at 2:00 it is a nice looking flame about to the chute for pellets. I took out the low limit switch in the exhaust blower and it was only a tiny bit of soot on it, cleaned it anyway but still no difference.

Any lower than 2:00 is where I get the lack of flame, seems like what I read is that it is getting too much air and burning the pellets too quick.

Click to expand...

Do you have an OAK installed?

What brand of pellets are you burning? I found with a poorer quality pellet that my EF 2 would not burn at all below the 11:00 o'clock position. I hope that you are not burning Greene Supreme Pellets.....

RE: Damper slider impeded:

This was covered recently, but for a EF2. EF3 is similar, if not identical.

Refer to
https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/lazy-flame-on-enviro-ef-ii.118170/#post-1582146

Gordy said:

Alright, got the stove working ALOT better but still I don't think it is 100%.

Took it all apart and got the damper sliding all the way closed (removed the exhaust blower and scraped it out inside).
Now the stove works at about 1 o'clock, but still any lower and it turns off due to lack of heat (I am guessing) because if jump the switch it stays on, only problem is it will never shut off and would burn the auger out if the fire were actually out.
But atleast now, I am only burning about 1 bag a day versus the 2-3 per day I was burning.

Click to expand...

So with the damper closed all of the way, what does your flame look like with it set at 1 o'clock?


Thinking a couple of things here:

1.) Have you checked all of your seals? Especially around the ash pan? I was unaware until someone pointed it out to me that the ash pan actually needs to be "locked in" by turning the fastener in the center of the pan (located behind the decorative outside of the pan)

2.) If all of the seals check out fine, then I would base my next thoughts in regards to the flame characteristics. If the damper is closed, auger set at 1 o'clock and you are still getting that blow torch flame, then air has to be getting past the damper somehow. I would pull the damper assembly out totally and inspect for any damaged or potentially rusted areas that might be letting air through.

3.) If with the damper closed, auger set at 1 o'clock, you have a tall, lazy flame, then try opening the damper only 1/2" at a time, waiting at least 15 minutes between changing settings for the fire to stabilize again.

4.) Another thing you can experiment with is to try shutting the blower fan off while starting it and just letting the heat build up in the stove at first before attempting to lower the feed rate. The manual actually suggests that you do this every time you start the stove. It helps me when I use hardwood pellets.


Let us know what you find out

Good job on fixing the damper.

If everything else checks out OK, and the fire looks good, you may be dealing with a sluggish Proof Of Fire snap switch; the ceramic one on the side of the exhaust blower housing (low-limit switch).

Yep, When you are getting black soot deposits, then you need to open the damper. My EF3 is really touchy. I open my damper about 1/2" at a time until the flame loses that laziness and brightens up a bit. More like a bright orange/yellow color.