Maxx problem

reg1952 said:

My Maxx is on its third year and this last week its been giving me problems. It will start and then go out. Did it again this morning and I seen that #3 light flashing on the heat indicator panel. Book says a exhaust temp sensor problem. I took side panel off and all look good. Is there a resistance reading I can take off this sensor or is it an on/off sensor. Whats the best way to check it?

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#3 flashing could be different things so you have to check each one before you go thinking it is a faulty sensor. It is a safety feature and you have to take it as telling you something else is bad. I would check the venting to make sure it is clean and not obstructed. Then check the motor, both exhaust and convection, it seems both could cause this flashing code (exhaust by not venting properly and convection by not moving enough air to transfer the heat from stove to air and the stove over heats).

Has the stove been cleaned lately? Have you tried the leaf blower trick (if you do this make sure to disconnect vacuum switch hose to the switch as it may ruin the vacuum switch)?

From the manual:

http://enviro.com/custom_content/do...truction Maxx-M Domestic Technical Manual.pdf

4. Light # 3 on Heat output bar flashing
(The Exhaust Temp. Switch contacts have opened.)
• Stove ran out of fuel - check fuel level in the hopper
• See sections
#2 - Stove will not operate when hot, #3 - The Exhaust motor will not function normally,
and #5 - Unit is on but auger does not turn at all for more suggestions.
• Severe negative pressure in area where unit is installed - Check the operation by opening a window,
does this solve the problem? If it does, install fresh air intake to unit or room. Venting system may
require vertical section to move termination into a low pressure zone.
• To reset Circuit Board after a trouble code - push the ON/OFF butto

I'm a fellow Maxx owner who had this issue my first year - as was stated earlier, this can be caused by a few situations which can be easily corrected. After adjusting some things on my end, this is no longer a problem.

During startup, if the exhaust sensor (proof of fire sensor) does not get hot enough, it will not close/contact and then the stove (thinking there is no fire) will shut down and you will see the flashing #3 light. Once scenario to check for is If your burnpot is full and/or overflowing with unburned pellets - if this is the case, I would check to make sure the ignitor is working correctly, or it may just be that there was previous ash/crud/carbon in the burnpot which prevented ignition - cleaning/scraping the burn pot should help in that case.

The sensor is located in the rear, right - on the exhaust housing. It can be removed with two screws. The sensor itself can slowly buildup with carbon / ash and therefore be insulated resulting in it not working correctly. You can try removing and cleaning it, which is what I do every season now. These sensors can also go bad (about $45.00 for the Maxx one) - you can hold a lighter to it once removed and hear the contact close if it's working correctly.

For me, once I opened up the air damper a tad the problem went away. There are also exhaust blower trim speed and pellet feed settings on the control board to fine tune everything.

I have also had a issue and it was the auger motor going bad. Would start then would not feed after some time. This would give you red # 3 light also. This happened in the winter and did not have a 3 rpm motor at the house. I replaced my enviro 3 rpm with a spare Whitfield 1 rpm I had at the house. This worked and the stove would not go out. This was a fix just to see if it would work. It worked but not good. Had to run stove on high with trim turn all the way up for pellets and down for blower. Enviro replaced the motor under warranty. I replaced the auger motor and all was good.

I since I have such a big stove want to try to save some pellets. I am currently running a 2 RPM auger motor. This has worked great for me. Since I don't need to run the stove ever on high the reduction in feed rate is good. Last winter it was way cold an never needed to burn higher then 3 out of 5. I have the 3 rpm motor as a back up.

best of luck.