Cold weather stress test for wood pellet stoves. Anyone have trouble starting in the cold?? - See An

[Don2222]

Hello

I put the Pelpro Bay View in the shed to work on and to my suprise it is not working as well starting up like it did in the warmer garage. The non heated garage does not get below 40 usually. Right now outside is 11 deg f and the garage is 39 deg f. Anyways the Pelpro convection blower is harder getting going but after a min seems ok. The auger is not turning today after I replaced the vacuum hose yesterday and got it going. So it seems the vacuum switch is a bit tempermental in the 20 deg f shed.

So I was wondering if other people have stoves in a cold start situation and what problems you may had?

 

[jtakeman]

Coldest I have started my stove was 55 degree's. Fired right up without a hitch.

 

[Don2222]

Hello

I just tried it again with the damper all the way out and almost all the way in and it seemed to make no difference. I will try tomorrow when I get more kerosene and can make it 55 deg in there.

One of my friends insulated his whole shed and it made a big difference. Maybe that would be a good idea?

 

[mepellet]

Coldest I have started my stove was 55 degree's. Fired right up without a hitch.

Same here. I only use my stove on nights and weekends and let the house get down to 55 while at work. Sometimes it gets down that low but most of the time I come home from work its right around 56 in the room with the stove. That room is slab on grade so it is usually the coldest room in the house if we leave the heat off. Hasn't failed to start up yet.

 

[jrsdws]

Fired up the Baby last night around 9:00pm. Shop temp was 47deg and outside temp was 8deg. I've been pre-heating the cast iron pellet pot with a torch for a few minutes then lighting my pre-soaked pellets with the torch before starting stove. The cold didn't seem to change how it starts, lights, or runs.

 

[Don2222]

Hello

I tried to fire up the Pelpro Bay View in the shed this morning. It was 11 deg F outside and 15 Deg F in the shed. The red heat level light kept going off and the auger stopped. After warming the shed with the Kerosene up to approx 50 degrees, the Pelpro started with no problems. I will do more testing.

Anyone try their stove at such a low temp like this inside???

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

This past Friday it was 50 °F in the cave the stove started right up. That is the coldest the stove has seen (well except for the air coming in the OAK).

 

[Don2222]

This past Friday it was 50 °F in the cave the stove started right up. That is the coldest the stove has seen (well except for the air coming in the OAK).

Hi Smokey
Do you think at 15 deg F the vacuum or vacuum switch is not working. Cars do not have much vacuum when they are cold but they do work a little different.


I could try starting again with the vacuum switch jumpered??

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

Don,

I don't know why your stove doesn't start when it is cold you could try bypassing the vacuum switch as a test, but it could be the switch is fine but something else is goofy, like the combustion blower doesn't reach speed.

I'd actually place a good volt (don't want to signal that the vacuum is fine to the rest of the system) meter across the vacuum switch terminals and punch the button when it is cold. If the switch closes the the meter will say. No guessing.

 

[Don2222]

Don,

I don't know why your stove doesn't start when it is cold you could try bypassing the vacuum switch as a test, but it could be the switch is fine but something else is goofy, like the combustion blower doesn't reach speed.

I'd actually place a good volt (don't want to signal that the vacuum is fine to the rest of the system) meter across the vacuum switch terminals and punch the button when it is cold. If the switch closes the the meter will say. No guessing.

Ok, Smokey

Tried it again this morning, 35 Deg in the Shed. The auger kept stopping and this time I removed the cleanout cap and could easily tell that the exhaust fan was not high enough to create the needed vacuum for the vacuum switch to close. I waited a few minutes and then it went high and the auger stayed on.

Now I kniow I have a faulty Accutron II control board so I will proceed with that 1st and see if this resolves.

So far I found a bad control board can cause both blowers not to shut down after the stove cools and/or the auger may run continuosly without stopping!

In my case the blowers do not shut down unless I unplug the stove.
These control boards can easily blow from a power surge in the AC line

 

[Don2222]

Hello

Just got off the phone with Treavor in support in Alberta Canada.

He stated that the Combustion or Exhaust blower can be a little sluggish in getting up to speed causing not enough vacuum when the stove is very cold. Last week it was -33 Deg C in Alberta!! So he should know.

So I believe it is possible to get around this issue by putting in a toggle switch on the back of the stove to bypass the vacuum switch if starting up below 40 Deg f or so!!

Case Closed!!

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

Yep, that combustion blower got a little chilled and didn't want to get out of bed on a cold day and exercise.

 

[stellep]

My stove's combustion blower gets a little sluggish when the temperature drops below 55 in the house. I notice it, but I subconsciously know what the stove should sound like at start up. The delay is very subtle. The auger however, howls for the first few minutes until the stove starts to heat up. This only happens when the stove has been off over night. It has always done it and doesn't seem to affect the stove at all. But ya, I'd say they act differently when chilled.