I have used this stove for 3 years with very little problem, but this year I am having problems at startup. When the thermostat calls for heat the stove will come on as normal but the auger only turns for a few seconds and only drops a few pellets,when these few pellets ignite it doesn't get hot enough to drop any more. I can hit the reset button and it drops enough to startup fine but once it goes out it does the same thing again. Anybody ever have this happen. Thanks
Heatilator Eco-Choice P-35
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St_Earl
Minister of Fire
i'll stick this info here and let it find its place as you work through this with other respondents.
i'll say that since Kappel is a service tech, you've got a good respondent already in the thread.
i do know that during my 4th season with my PS50, i had a problem of too few pellets being dropped.
i tried opening up the feed gate and it didn't have any effect.
i finally discovered that there were fines (pellet dust) built up at the top end of the auger chute and they had shrunk the effective size of the opening for the pellets to drop from the tube.
i used a small diameter hose (washing machine water supply hose) to blow out that area. i stuck the hose up from inside the firebox.
if your problem isn't something else, and you do attempt this, it's probably best to disconnect the line from your vacuum switch first.
the opening for the vacuum line is there at the top of the auger channel and it is possible to damage the switch with positive pressure.
blowing with lung power might not damage the switch, but it easily could. better safe than sorry.
i have since gotten a metro vac duster (mini blower) and if you use something like that or a compressor, you absolutely need to disconnect the vacuum switch first.
best to disconnect it either way if blowing air into that area.
just poking a wire up there didn't do much to the packed in sawdust. and i always kept the stove clean too.
but my shop vac wasn't strong enough when using it at the bottom of the auger channel to get the stuff that packed in over time at the top.
once i had cleared that obstruction, the stove went back to normal operation.
i'll say that since Kappel is a service tech, you've got a good respondent already in the thread.
i do know that during my 4th season with my PS50, i had a problem of too few pellets being dropped.
i tried opening up the feed gate and it didn't have any effect.
i finally discovered that there were fines (pellet dust) built up at the top end of the auger chute and they had shrunk the effective size of the opening for the pellets to drop from the tube.
i used a small diameter hose (washing machine water supply hose) to blow out that area. i stuck the hose up from inside the firebox.
if your problem isn't something else, and you do attempt this, it's probably best to disconnect the line from your vacuum switch first.
the opening for the vacuum line is there at the top of the auger channel and it is possible to damage the switch with positive pressure.
blowing with lung power might not damage the switch, but it easily could. better safe than sorry.
i have since gotten a metro vac duster (mini blower) and if you use something like that or a compressor, you absolutely need to disconnect the vacuum switch first.
best to disconnect it either way if blowing air into that area.
just poking a wire up there didn't do much to the packed in sawdust. and i always kept the stove clean too.
but my shop vac wasn't strong enough when using it at the bottom of the auger channel to get the stuff that packed in over time at the top.
once i had cleared that obstruction, the stove went back to normal operation.
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Thanks for the replies.I can hear the auger so I pretty sure its stopping instead of reversing. After looking back at my old post I remembered having this problem before but I don't remember how I fixed it or if it just fixed its self. I will try cleaning the tube really good and see if that helps. Thanks Again.
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