Avalon Astoria (Lopi Yankee Bay) Igniter from hell

Started with a customer 3 years ago, replaced an igniter...two weeks later, it burnt up, replaced it again and returned the old one for credit. Beginning of the next season, igniter blown again. Replaced it adn looked into the issue and could not find anything. 3 months later, igniter blown. Found that the the control board was not turnoing the igniter off completely and there was 42 volts leaking through the element all the time. Replaced the control board and igniter...problem solved right? Wrong, dude called me today saying the igniter is blown again.


HELP!

FYI voltage from outlet appears to be okay with surge protection.

Did you check the control board this time or are you trying the ole pre visit solving the problem thing?

Plug that stove into a gfi and see if the gfi red lights.

Something is amiss there somewhere.

You likely will have to trace out all of the wiring to locate a floating "ground" or "neutral"

I havent gone there yet...doing some research first...wondering if anyone is brave enough help me troubleshoot it...I'm losing credibility here people!

We are but lowly abusers here and most of us are only certified in eating food and drinking a brew or such.

I rest my case and head up the stairs for something to eat, my stomach is growling.

Avalon Astoria's are Notorious for bad wire connections. I worked on an old Astoria for a customer and it took a little troubleshooting to find the problem. LOL
Where is your customer? I will take a look.

HEY ! I resemble that remark!!

Scott, do you think the wiring harness could be faulty?

Well, well well Scott comes and asks us mere pellet heads about fixing a customer's stove. We get a cut if were right? Just messing with ya scott!

I'm assuming its on a stat and I'd have to check the stat to see if it has a good amount of swing. Bet its cycling so bad its killing the igniter and over working the controllers relay. For the heck of it I would also check the outlets phase. And be sure it is properly grounded.

If they are using the stat, You might want to school them on low and steady burns during the cold season to extend the igniter. If the stove had hi/lo, I show them that. But I know the Travis stoves don't have hi/lo capability(yet).

Wow thats strange. Sounds like the igniter is never shutting off.

New board didnt fix the problem?

Looks like you need to check every wire in the stove I guess. Something not grounded or plugged in wrong?

Cant really think of anything else, maybe wiring harness?

Not enough airflow around the igniter?

Are they using a thermostat and is the stove plugged into a surge protector? Check the polarity of the outlet.

MSmith66 I've always gotten a chuckle out of the term polarity applied to an alternating system.

I would put my money on insufficient airflow during ignition.

Out of hundreds of Travis stoves I work on, most which are on Tstats, all that have the same igniter assembly, most all have the same control board....this is the only one that has issues. Travis igniters actually seem to last fairly well...thats why I'm stumpped. Just thought I'd ask. Since I'm not going to charge him....again....there is isn't a whole lot of profit to split with you guys....unless you all want to split up the debit?

Road trip! Beers on SMW!

Keep us posted, Hopefully some of the idea's help!

If it turns out that the CB is cooked again for giggles it might be worth replacing the igniter triac and see if the board is fine otherwise and with the replacement it works correctly that would put the issue into the wiring from the CB to the igniter maybe the connection at the CB for the igniter is intermittent and is slowly cooking the triac.

I'm sorry to hear about your Astoria woes. I'd tell you that I haven't had any igniter issues in the 2 years I've had my stove, but I run it in manual mode and the only time it's ever off during the Winter is for cleaning... so the igniter really doesn't get much of a workout.

Good luck and let me know if you would like me to check anything on my setup.