Heat level locks up on my St. Croix

[kserr]

Hi
I have a St Croix EXP, this is my second season with it. Can someone please tell me why sometimes my heat level will freeze? If its on low and you want to put it up the light won't move you have to wait awhile then do it. Same thing when its on high and want to lower it. I know if you were to open the door you have to wait like a minute or so before you touch the heat level but this isn't the case. The stove could be running all night and I just want to turn it up and can't. My dealer says it could be a gust of wind. I think he is full of wind didn't happen last year and by the way I have zero wind this morning and my air kit has been removed per his request.

 

[Al in MN]

I'm haveing the same thing on my Afton Bay,hope some can solve it for us.
Al

 

[tchdngrnby]

I have an 05 model EXP and experiance the same thing after opening the door. I would assume the momentary locking of the heat advance is related to vacuum. With that in mind, remove your brick panels, pull the vacuum tube off of the barbed fitting, and ensure that fitting is clean. Run a pipe cleaner though it and/or place the nozzle of your vacuum cleaner over the fitting to pull air though the fitting. I would also pull the entire hose off and clean it out. Keeping on the vacuum issue, do a dollar bill test on your door and ash pan door gaskets. Open the door, close it on the dollar bill then try pulling it out. You should feel some resistance when trying to pull it out. Do this along the entire periphery of the contact area. This test will determine if your gaskets are making a good seal. If not, then time to replace them.

Hope this helps.

Paul V.

 

[tchdngrnby]

Excuse me. I have the EXL not the EXP. Same stove.

 

[tchdngrnby]

Also, could both of you explain your cleaning routine? This could help in determining if there are other issues causing your problem.

Thanks,

Paul V

 

[Stevekng]

I had the same thing with my afton bay 2 months after buying it. The dealer ended up replacing the control board, all the switches and hoses and it fixed it. He didn't know what was causing it, he just kept throwing parts at it till it went away. I had only fired the unit up twice when the problem occured and the unit was new and under warranty.

 

[kserr]

Thanks

I knew it wasn't a gust of wind, I tried telling my dealer that it possibly could be a bad control board but he said my stove was too new. I guess I'm going to have to fight with him about this because its happening daily now. :coolcheese:

 

[cptnrrrr]

In most cases then the control board freezes up it is due to a vacuum problem. This being that your vacuum switch is searching for vacuum (like after you open your door) In your case, since the unit is two years old, I would say that you would need to remove your combustion fan and clean the exhaust duct that is under it, or as others have posted on here, you can do the "Leaf Blower Trick". You may even need to run the choke cable thru the holes in the back wall (behind your brick)

 

[Stevekng]

Thanks

I knew it wasn't a gust of wind, I tried telling my dealer that it possibly could be a bad control board but he said my stove was too new. I guess I'm going to have to fight with him about this because its happening daily now. :coolcheese:

If you check the owner manual trouble shooting section, the error you are getting should be identified by the position of the red light that the panel gets "stuck" on. These units go through a self diagnostic routine at start up and will give you this error code.

Good luck with the dealer. I would have him come over and start the unit up and try to have him show you what you are doing wrong. Make sure the stove works for at least a half hour before he leaves. If he can't get it to function properly,the it's up to him to make it right. If he can get it to work, then you might be out a servce call charge but at least you will know what to do.
Write down everything he does in the same sequence. Better yet, what I do is video tape all contactor visits so that there will be a record of what you need to do. It also tends to keep the workers honest.

 

[rickwa]

i had the same problem. i had to replace the circuit board.