CAB50 Inconsistent High feed

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steveman88

Member
Oct 4, 2014
11
Greenville OH
evening guys, I'm hoping y'all might be able to help me out. I have a CAB50 that I have used for 2seasons now (in my third season) it is my main source of heat in an 1800sqft farm house in western OH. We have had a couple nights in the single digits and so last night I turned the stove to high and let it run. No issues all day, but I did notice that the fire pit was pretty full so I shut it down, did a quick clean and fired it back up. Now it won't run properly in the high setting. It feeds pellets and burns good for 5 mins then it stops feeding and the flame almost goes completely out then it will start dropping pellets again and it continues this cycle. If I switch it to the medium setting it runs real steady no issues. Any ideas why it's not running right on high but runs fine on medium? Its 3° out now so medium isn't enough.
 
One thing i did when i had the Cab50 and a clinkered pot was pull the pot rod, then scoop up hot coals with a spoon and put back into fire pot and then put a hand full of pellets on top to keep it running. Don't have to use igniter that way.

Regarding the erratic high position I've experienced that too, it's like the feedrate is too low or too much air flow. I'd pull left cabinet panel and make sure led is staying red and not going red to green as fire goes up and down in size.

Are the pellets now long compared to before as thus will reduce feedrate? Pull feed gate fully up to see if that helps flame size.

Also check for obstruction up auger chute, thermocouple not seated fully into ceramic cap or cap full of ash.

Is fire pot floor against the fire pot or is there a gap allowing too much air flow?

Could try closing air damper to see if that helps, but these stoves leak so much air around ash door i doubt it will help much.

There is a +10% feed rate increase on control box as a last resort, Kap could tell you which number it is and I don't remember off the top of my head.

I'm sure more suggestions will come in, good luck.
 
Another dimension is I cleaned the unit last night, even the glass. This morning the glass is black with some black build up inside the unit as well.

As far as pellets go I and in the middle of a ton of somersets so nothing different on the pellets themselves.

I did check the light and it was steady red when I looked at it.

I'll be checking the thermocouple and ceramic cap today once the stove cools.


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Black glass on that stove usually means plugged exhaust path, like pipe or behind the 3 removable heat shields. Or if run on low for a long time it could get sooty. Mine never did though.

I'm assuming you haven't closed the air gare below the ash pan yet, if you did that could account for black glass from not enough air flow.

Also check the auger on times in each heat setting to see if it matches the times listed in the manual.
 
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If you have an outside air kit try unplugging it to see if flame changes. Maybe you have a blockage in that pipe causing restricted air flow and black glass.