Whitfield Prodigy 2

Does anyone have any experience with the mechanics of this particular stove. Having some problems but don't really understand the sequence of operation of blower (speeds) and auger. Paperwork is hard to find for this oldie.

rap69ri said:

Have one in the workshop that I've worked on several times. What's your question?

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I have several questions, but the most important first is about the combustion fan.

I recently had to take the top of the stove apart to replace my exhaust / booster fan. Prior to this my combustion blower would change speeds at different feed rates, or at least I thought it did. During the replacement I disconnected my control panel. When I re-attached the two plugs on the panel I noticed that my blower only worked on one speed. I went back to the owners manual and found out that if the 4 point motor plug is inserted the wrong way, the blower will only work when the heat output dial is in the #5 position. I'm assuming that the plug in inserted in the correct way because I get blower function in the #1 - #5 position but the speed never varies. If I reversed the plug I only get constant operation in the #5 position and as I move the selector to the 4, 3, 2 or 1 positions the blower initially comes on (for a couple of seconds) and shuts off.

Being an electrician (blind at this point without a complete schematic) I know that it's either the motor or the board. The motor is not the single speed as on the earlier prodigy's, but without taking the whole thing apart I don't know if its a 2 or 3 speed. I've been tossing this around in my head, knowing that I can cut the wiring harness mid point between the jack and the motor and manually splice together the different motor leads in various configurations to get the different speeds. This way I can either pin point the motor as the cause or rule it out, but again without a schematic this could be risky and blow the motor. I've rotated the blower adjustment screw on the board from one extreme to the other and didn't notice a change in blower speed. This last attempt is what is leading me to believe that the problem is at the board. The same heat selector dial that adjusts the motor speed also adjusts the auger speed. The auger does not seem to be affected at all. I can't get a replacement for this multi-speed blower motor. Only the single speeds are still available


What's your take on this?

Owners manual:

http://woodheatstoves.com/whitfield-prodigy-ii-wp3-pellet-stove-users-manual-p-710.html[/quote]

Thanks

I already have a downloaded user's manual. These are for the user and don't go into great detail about operation or repair. What I need is a service manual, which I can't find.

Owners manual:

http://woodheatstoves.com/whitfield-prodigy-ii-wp3-pellet-stove-users-manual-p-710.html[/quote]

Thanks

SmokeyTheBear said:

Has the stove exited startup and the control doesn't ramp up the voltage to the combustion blower in response to heat setting increases? Or is the stove in start up and therefor only getting enough juice to create a bit of a draft?

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I'm assuming that the stove exited start up. I could have the stove running for hours, days and the blower speed never changes. I get more than a little draft. I think the blower is constantly on medium or high. I use to be able to hear the motor vary in speed as I changed the heat selector dial. I don't any more.

SmokeyTheBear said:

Service manual: http://woodheatstoves.com/whitfield-prodigy-prodigy-ii-service-manual-p-4259.html

I hope that the control board hasn't done a magic smoke act and that the above manual is the one you need.

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Thanks for the link.

I'm hoping it hasn't either, but if it has there's still hope with a price tag. This board can be rebuilt.

Thanks Pyro, that service manual does go through alot about the operation of the stove. Helped me understand much better the wiring and sequence of the stove.

FYI for the very few that might own one of these stoves. Thank God I didn't cut and short the wiring between my board and blower motor. This motor is not a multispeed motor it's a variable speed motor. Multi-speeds have a definitive amount of speeds i.e low, med, high. A variable speed is rated to be controlled with a speed control which adjusts the voltage and in most cases gives the user a larger range of speeds. I would have turned this motor into toast.