St Croix Hastings #2 light blinks, won't start

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FireBurn

Member
Dec 19, 2009
25
Upstate, NY
It's been having a lazy fire when it did start. So we cleaned the heck out of it today, vacuumed, used a compressor to blow it out (the room it is in is now black), chimney swept, still no go.
We replaced the ash pan's rope liner a month ago & that helped for about 2 days.
 
Did you clean the vent as well?

You might have blown some crud into the vacuum switch line.

Did your combustion blower start up?
 
it won't complete it's initial startup, within 20 seconds it shuts off & the #2 light blinks....we can get it going by hooking a vacuum up to the air intake & allowing it to suck until it completes it's initial startup, then we shut off the vacuum & remove it.

yes the vent has been cleaned
 
You might have blown some crud into the vacuum switch line.

Clean it out along with the barbs.

You may also have a pile of crud in the combustion blower cavity (possible, not likely considering the use of the compressor).

You may have also destroyed the vacuum switch (possible, not likely) or plugged it up.

You also could have missed the termination screen on the venting.
 
Is the combustion motor running when you initialy start the stove?If yes has it been pulled out and cleaned?The hose from the vaccum switch is it clear also check the nipple on the stove that the hose attaches to and make sure it's clear.
 
mnkywrnch said:
Is the combustion motor running when you initialy start the stove?If yes has it been pulled out and cleaned?The hose from the vaccum switch is it clear also check the nipple on the stove that the hose attaches to and make sure it's clear.
Click to expand...

I hear it at first for the first 5 seconds, then it goes off. We have taken it apart & cleaned it...each time it's got some serious shiny & hard creosote on it.
Hubby's going to take it apart again tomorrow--recheck vacuum line & motor...right now we're keeping it on since it's on & it's evening.

I'm sure whatever is gumming up the works is also keeping it from running on #4 & #5 properly (burn pot overflows, big lazy flame)
 
FireBurn said:
It's been having a lazy fire when it did start. So we cleaned the heck out of it today, vacuumed, used a compressor to blow it out (the room it is in is now black), chimney swept, still no go.
We replaced the ash pan's rope liner a month ago & that helped for about 2 days.
Click to expand...
There is a very good chance that the stove is plugged and the combustion chambers are not letting enough vaccum to get to the vaccum switch. I have seen this many of times with St.Criox stoves at least 8 or 9 stoves a season. The chambers are very small areas and it does not take alot of ash to fill them up.
 
Your stove is dirty.... clean out behind the firebox... use a small hammer to tap the ash out and vacuum it thru the clean-outs.

Use a leafblower hooked to the vent to suck the remaining ash out of the stove...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aLRfu4WNaR8
 
FireBurn said:
it won't complete it's initial startup, within 20 seconds it shuts off & the #2 light blinks....we can get it going by hooking a vacuum up to the air intake & allowing it to suck until it completes it's initial startup, then we shut off the vacuum & remove it.......
Click to expand...

WHAT? You hook a vacuum to the air INLET on the stove? If i read that right, you are stopping the fire from starting.
 
imacman said:
FireBurn said:
it won't complete it's initial startup, within 20 seconds it shuts off & the #2 light blinks....we can get it going by hooking a vacuum up to the air intake & allowing it to suck until it completes it's initial startup, then we shut off the vacuum & remove it.......
Click to expand...

WHAT? You hook a vacuum to the air INLET on the stove? If i read that right, you are stopping the fire from starting.
Click to expand...

Yep, some of those puppies also act as blowers. Sort of like geek discovered when he went to suck the soot out of his system and instead hooked it up to the blower connection.
 
Ok so we got around to cleaning the vacuum hose today..it started right up....but here's the thing with this one...it won't do settings #4 & #5 without over filling the burn pot...setting #1 is a weak flame, setting #2 is like how setting #4 should be...then #3 is hit or miss, oh & if it's on #5 when the burn pot starts overflowing, you can't change the heat setting or turn it off..it's stuck on #5, so you have to unplug/replug. Now this stove today was taken COMPLETELY apart, blown out, vacuumed, scraped, brushed, fans/blowers/hoses/chimney cleaned....
WHY IS IT STILL ACTING UP?? Oh on setting #1 it drops pellets every 9 seconds, on every other setting 7 seconds. I don't know if that holds a clue or not.
 
FireBurn said:
Ok so we got around to cleaning the vacuum hose today..it started right up....but here's the thing with this one...it won't do settings #4 & #5 without over filling the burn pot...setting #1 is a weak flame, setting #2 is like how setting #4 should be...then #3 is hit or miss, oh & if it's on #5 when the burn pot starts overflowing, you can't change the heat setting or turn it off..it's stuck on #5, so you have to unplug/replug. Now this stove today was taken COMPLETELY apart, blown out, vacuumed, scraped, brushed, fans/blowers/hoses/chimney cleaned....
WHY IS IT STILL ACTING UP?? Oh on setting #1 it drops pellets every 9 seconds, on every other setting 7 seconds. I don't know if that holds a clue or not.
Click to expand...

Can you tell us where your damp is set? Do you have outside air hooked up to the stove?
 
Once again I shall repeat...THE WHOLE STOVE HAS BEEN CLEANED THOROUGHLY..there's nothing left in it..bare metal people. Chimney too!
 
msmith66 said:
FireBurn said:
Ok so we got around to cleaning the vacuum hose today..it started right up....but here's the thing with this one...it won't do settings #4 & #5 without over filling the burn pot...setting #1 is a weak flame, setting #2 is like how setting #4 should be...then #3 is hit or miss, oh & if it's on #5 when the burn pot starts overflowing, you can't change the heat setting or turn it off..it's stuck on #5, so you have to unplug/replug. Now this stove today was taken COMPLETELY apart, blown out, vacuumed, scraped, brushed, fans/blowers/hoses/chimney cleaned....
WHY IS IT STILL ACTING UP?? Oh on setting #1 it drops pellets every 9 seconds, on every other setting 7 seconds. I don't know if that holds a clue or not.
Click to expand...

Can you tell us where your damp is set? Do you have outside air hooked up to the stove?
Click to expand...

There's no outside air hooked up to the stove. The damper is at it's original placement--the "pencil eraser" width.
 
When you cleaned the stove did you have the stove unplugged and did you get the termination cap?

Recheck that vacuum line and the barbs ... if the vacuum switch is directly connected to the auger then it can impact the pellet feed, by slowing it down.

Just in case you weren't aware of this https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/forums/viewreply/596351/ and yes that is a Prescott but ISTR it applies just about across the St. Croix line.

ETA: If you have an automatic shaker grate operating check that for problems they can act like an additional combustion air damper.
 
SmokeyTheBear said:
When you cleaned the stove did you have the stove unplugged and did you get the termination cap?

Recheck that vacuum line and the barbs ... if the vacuum switch is directly connected to the auger then it can impact the pellet feed, by slowing it down.

Just in case you weren't aware of this https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/forums/viewreply/596351/ and yes that is a Prescott but ISTR it applies just about across the St. Croix line.

ETA: If you have an automatic shaker grate operating check that for problems they can act like an additional combustion air damper.
Click to expand...

Smokey: I was looking for this thread.

This is the best way to show someone about the venting in a St Criox stove. The #5 and #6 areas are very TIGHT. You will need a 1/4" flexable cable to get into those areas.
 
msmith66 said:
SmokeyTheBear said:
When you cleaned the stove did you have the stove unplugged and did you get the termination cap?

Recheck that vacuum line and the barbs ... if the vacuum switch is directly connected to the auger then it can impact the pellet feed, by slowing it down.

Just in case you weren't aware of this https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/forums/viewreply/596351/ and yes that is a Prescott but ISTR it applies just about across the St. Croix line.

ETA: If you have an automatic shaker grate operating check that for problems they can act like an additional combustion air damper.
Click to expand...

Smokey: I was looking for this thread.

This is the best way to show someone about the venting in a St Criox stove. The #5 and #6 areas are very TIGHT. You will need a 1/4" flexable cable to get into those areas.
Click to expand...

Or a very strong leaf blower in vacuum mode to suck the crap out of the stove.
 
Versa grate moving? If not that would explain
burn pot overflow on higher settings.
 
just cleaned st criox auburn now light says auger running but it isn't also have greenfield same prob thought needed new board but did I do something cleaning them?
 
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