Austroflamm troubleshooting

[Jantmack]

I woke up this morning and my stove is acting up. It starts burning freely then dies down and it keeps repeating. The fan isn't blowing either. I'm assuming it's getting to hot and shutting its self partially down.

Prior to this when the fan was running it was making a horrible noise like it was falling apart and a loud vibration noise.

Any thought?

 

[RKBAGUY]

Well, if your fan was making a horrible noise and now it's not working, it doesn't take a lot to connect the dots. However you didn't say which fan it was. I'd let the stove cool completely and do a cleaning. Test each fan by powering it directly to see which one it is, and then go from there.

 

[Jantmack]

I should have clarified. I didn't know if it was the fan, just when the fan kicked on I heard it and it was a vibration noise, not like a fan squealing getting ready to seize. But after I have taken it apart to look at it better the fan that I thought it it was is the convection fan, the long one on the front bottom. As I was looking at it the high limit switch at the end of the fan, it was not secured all the way and was about to fall off.

Could this be it? The fan moves freely and isn't seized. I am just waiting until a local shop is open so trying to see what I need to test or trouble shoot more. Thanks

 

[RKBAGUY]

A loose limit switch would definitely be the cause of the stove shutting down. If the switch by the convection fan doesn't stay hot enough (120), the stove will 'assume' that it ran out of pellets, the auger will stop feeding, the stove will burn down, and the combustion blower will eventually stop.

My guess is what you were probably hearing was the screw that holds the limit switch rattling around in the fan. If you can locate it without removing the convection fan, reinstall it to fasten the limit switch to its mounting, and you should be good to go. If you can't find that screw, here's what I suggest to ensure that the loose screw isn't stuck in the convection blower housing (since you've already removed it once, much of this will be familiar to you):

**POWER DOWN THE STOVE AND LET IT COOL, UNPLUG THE STOVE**
1) Get a set of male/female 'handclasp' crimp connectors from a hardware store. This step will help with future maintenance.
2) Install the connectors ~3" before the convection motor so that you can easily remove and replace the convection fan without having to pull the stove out from the fireplace to access the connectors at the terminal block at the back.
3) There are two sets of sheet metal screws holding the convection fan assembly to the bottom of the stove. Two screws hold the bracket that the fan itself is mounted on, another two screws hold an air guide plate on, and you'll see that they're slotted to allow the plate to move. Loosen the air guide screws (but don't remove them), and wiggle the plate forward to allow enough clearance so that you can then remove the screws holding on the fan assembly and slide the entire convection fan assembly (housing and the bracket it's attached to) out by way of the left hand side.
4) Check the convection fan assembly for the loose screw that was holding the limit switch on. If it's not there, check the bottom of the stove and elsewhere. Shake the convection fan assembly to be sure the screw didn't actually fall inside the 'squirrel cage'.
5) If you have found the limit switch mounting screw, reinstall it on the right side of the stove to re-mount the switch. If you have not found it, go to the hardware store and buy a replacement, using the remaining screw that's still there as an example of what you need to find. It's a machine screw that (if memory serves) is 8x20 or something like that. Lowes or Home Depot will have what you need.
6) Re-mount the limit switch (if you haven't already done so), and reinstall the blower assembly by sliding it from the left to the right, tighten down the sheet metal screws, push the air guide back into place and tighten those screws, reattach the electrical connectors (now you know why we did that little thing in step 1) and restart the stove. Optionally, you can directly power the fan if you want to test it before starting the stove again just to be sure nothing else is stuck.

That should get you going.

 

[Jantmack]

Do I got the switch tightened and then turned it back on. The exhaust fan comes on, the auger does not cycle and I get an ER2 code.

I saw a previous thread that said the ER2 code was the high limit switch. Is that correct?

I also checked the switch according to that previous thread which said it should read 0 ohms. I get about 2.5. Does that mean it's bad too?

 

[RKBAGUY]

Ah. Ok, you didn't say you had the Integra II, so I'm going to have to defer to others on that error code. Have you tried to search the forum here?

 

[Mt Bob]

A loose limit switch would definitely be the cause of the stove shutting down. If the switch by the convection fan doesn't stay hot enough (120), the stove will 'assume' that it ran out of pellets, the auger will stop feeding, the stove will burn down, and the combustion blower will eventually stop.

My guess is what you were probably hearing was the screw that holds the limit switch rattling around in the fan. If you can locate it without removing the convection fan, reinstall it to fasten the limit switch to its mounting, and you should be good to go. If you can't find that screw, here's what I suggest to ensure that the loose screw isn't stuck in the convection blower housing (since you've already removed it once, much of this will be familiar to you):

**POWER DOWN THE STOVE AND LET IT COOL, UNPLUG THE STOVE**
1) Get a set of male/female 'handclasp' crimp connectors from a hardware store. This step will help with future maintenance.
2) Install the connectors ~3" before the convection motor so that you can easily remove and replace the convection fan without having to pull the stove out from the fireplace to access the connectors at the terminal block at the back.
3) There are two sets of sheet metal screws holding the convection fan assembly to the bottom of the stove. Two screws hold the bracket that the fan itself is mounted on, another two screws hold an air guide plate on, and you'll see that they're slotted to allow the plate to move. Loosen the air guide screws (but don't remove them), and wiggle the plate forward to allow enough clearance so that you can then remove the screws holding on the fan assembly and slide the entire convection fan assembly (housing and the bracket it's attached to) out by way of the left hand side.
4) Check the convection fan assembly for the loose screw that was holding the limit switch on. If it's not there, check the bottom of the stove and elsewhere. Shake the convection fan assembly to be sure the screw didn't actually fall inside the 'squirrel cage'.
5) If you have found the limit switch mounting screw, reinstall it on the right side of the stove to re-mount the switch. If you have not found it, go to the hardware store and buy a replacement, using the remaining screw that's still there as an example of what you need to find. It's a machine screw that (if memory serves) is 8x20 or something like that. Lowes or Home Depot will have what you need.
6) Re-mount the limit switch (if you haven't already done so), and reinstall the blower assembly by sliding it from the left to the right, tighten down the sheet metal screws, push the air guide back into place and tighten those screws, reattach the electrical connectors (now you know why we did that little thing in step 1) and restart the stove. Optionally, you can directly power the fan if you want to test it before starting the stove again just to be sure nothing else is stuck.
Hi,you got it backwards,the switch on convection fan is the high limit shut down.The switch on the combustion blower is the 120 switch,acts as a proof of fire switch.Same on both version stoves.The convection switch held on with one little sheet metal screw,known to come loose,would not matter if it fell off(no electrical ground on these switches,is why they have 2 wires}except may not be in the airflow properly.
That should get you going.

 

[luckydist]

If the room air blower is not working, the stove will definitely get too hot and trigger a high limit ER2. Once that happens, the stove will eventually shut down depending on how hot it was when it happened - it could take hours.

A couple things to check:

1. does ER2 flash at all during the startup cycle? A high limit switch in the open position is the only event that will cause an error to display during startup. If you're seeing it, then either you have a bad high limit switch a loose wire, or a faulty control board. In most cases it's the switch, but if a recent cleaning was done, or the convection fan was recently pulled out, the high limit switch could have been disconnected. Based on your post, it sounds like you pulled the fan so I'd check the switch wires to make sure they're connected.
   
   If this is the case, you can temporarily bypass the switch and run the stove. If the problem goes away then you know it's the switch. If this is ends up being the issue, shut your stove down and don't use it until you get a new switch installed. Odds are against it, but if you had a high temp situation and it did lead to a fire centered around the stove, your insurance company would probably find that out and possibly deny a loss claim. Not to mention the risk to personal injury if a fire were to happen.
   
   
2. If you don't see the ER2 during startup the stove runs for a while after the 21 minutes, and you are certain the convection fan is running, then you likely have a bad high limit switch that's triggering at too low of a temp. If so, replace it.
   
   
3. You mention the switch was loosely attached. That is by design. The surface of the stove where that switch comes in contact is slightly rounded, the switch surface is flat. If you tighten the switch down too much, you risk deforming the surface area and damaging the switch. So you want it to be tight enough to stay in place but it needs to have some movement so as not to round out the surface. This is a very common failure point on new installations and cleaning by novices. They see the switch is loose, think that's bad, and snug it down. Good intentions all around, but not a good idea.

Hope this helps.

Stacy