Blower shut off during a burn

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warmhouse2

Member
Dec 10, 2010
37
new jersey
I'm new to pellet stoves this is the first full season. Have a Lennox Cascade. Woke up to a house full of smoke apparently the blower turned off but there was still a fire in the burn pot. Any suggestions as to what would cause this? We did not have power surge or loss of power as it is plugged into a battery backup. It is vented horizontally outside with a vertacle vent up 4 feet.
 
I believe it has something to do with the stove not reading the correct temps or not seeing the fire. Is it systematic? When this happens how long does it burn from start up to the blower shutting off? You may have a dirty/malfunctioning snap switch / photoeye.
 
The stove was burning for about 6 hours on low speed before the blower shut off.
 
Has your stove actually ever switched to its battery backup before?

Some stoves have problems running on some battery backup systems.

Also it is possible that your combustion blower either thermaled off or is on its way out.

If it thermaled off then excess ash in the venting or combustion blower could be your problem.

I took a look in the manual for your stove and it says that the low limit (proof of fire) switch is Bakelite, they can get damaged if exposed to a lot of heat over time and then the contacts may either open or get jammed shut as things go out of alignment.
 
I have tested the stove operating on the battery for 30 minutes, but since we were home I know the power did not go out. I guess ill have the person who installed it look at it since it should be under warranty. Thanks for the info.
 
Do you have the stove plugged into a surge suppressor? You dont really need to loose power to have a power surge. I experience a good power surge that took out some of my electronics that were not plugged into surge suppressors. It was one of those nice windy days.
 
Yes it is plugged into one of those battery backup/surge protectors. It has been on all day today with no problems... that is until I go to sleep tonight then ill have to bring out the fans to air out the house again...
 
Keep an eye on it. If it does go out on you again, the first thing I would do is plug the stove direct into the wall. May be some sort of issue with the battery back-up unit.
 
Maybe you experienced the same thing that happened to my stove about 10 days ago. I was seated at the computer late at night, right next to the stove and all of a sudden I could sell smoke coming from the exchanger tubes, and the flame was weak and carbon burst out of a spot in my vent that wasn't sealed with silicone. I thought that there must be an obstruction in the vent pipe at its termination, but when I checked the next day, there was no problem. I'm left to assume that either a local cat stuck it's head into the pipe (!?) or there must have been some really powerful wind that overpowered the exhaust air flow. Since it only happened that one time, if that's the case for you too, then that might be the explanation.
 
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