Hello
The original igniter worked for about 7 years but the new igniters did not and this is the 3rd igniter in a little of 3 years! The stove is a smaller stove so the parts are all very close together in the back. Therefore to replace the igniter which has threads and unscrews, you must not only remove the auger motor but all the pellets so when you remove the auger end plate the pellets do not come pouring out around the auger shaft. Then the old igniter which blew the igniter fuse could be removed. This time with a flash light I peered into the igniter tube and could not believe what I saw! I had to take a good picture of it! It looked so strange at first I did not know what it was? I poked it with a screw driver and stuck in a test tube wire brush and could not budge it! Then I realized it was a metal burr. Probably a defect when the stove was made more than ten years ago!! So now what? I pulled out my bag of grinding stones and grabbed a mini cylinder shaped stone attached to a speed bit that I put on 2 extenders on my drill. Luckily it was small enough to get in there and drill. I did this carefully little by little and pulling it out to see any results. Finally after about a half dozen tries the burr was completely removed successfully!!
Then I screwed in the new igniter and Shazam! It not only worked but seemed that the stove fired up faster!
In summary, since the igniters do warp from the heat that this last time it must have warped and touched the metal burr which caused a short and blew the 6 amp Whitfield OEM mini fast blow igniter fuse. Luckily Whitfields do have an igniter fuse so the stove could still be lit manually with hand sanitizer and a BBQ lighter until the igniter and fuse is replaced. An in-line fuse holder from Home Depot with a 4 amp fuse can easily be added to the stoves that do not have an igniter fuse and can save the control panel from blowing out! I do recommend doing this.
Pic 1 - Igniter tube with metal burr inside!
Pic 2 - Grinding stone and drill extensions
Pic 3 - Igniter tube with burr removed
Pic 4 - New igniter installed
Pic 5 - Auger motor re-installed
Pic 6 - Stove fired up and cranking out the heat!
View attachment 321819 
The original igniter worked for about 7 years but the new igniters did not and this is the 3rd igniter in a little of 3 years! The stove is a smaller stove so the parts are all very close together in the back. Therefore to replace the igniter which has threads and unscrews, you must not only remove the auger motor but all the pellets so when you remove the auger end plate the pellets do not come pouring out around the auger shaft. Then the old igniter which blew the igniter fuse could be removed. This time with a flash light I peered into the igniter tube and could not believe what I saw! I had to take a good picture of it! It looked so strange at first I did not know what it was? I poked it with a screw driver and stuck in a test tube wire brush and could not budge it! Then I realized it was a metal burr. Probably a defect when the stove was made more than ten years ago!! So now what? I pulled out my bag of grinding stones and grabbed a mini cylinder shaped stone attached to a speed bit that I put on 2 extenders on my drill. Luckily it was small enough to get in there and drill. I did this carefully little by little and pulling it out to see any results. Finally after about a half dozen tries the burr was completely removed successfully!!
Then I screwed in the new igniter and Shazam! It not only worked but seemed that the stove fired up faster!
In summary, since the igniters do warp from the heat that this last time it must have warped and touched the metal burr which caused a short and blew the 6 amp Whitfield OEM mini fast blow igniter fuse. Luckily Whitfields do have an igniter fuse so the stove could still be lit manually with hand sanitizer and a BBQ lighter until the igniter and fuse is replaced. An in-line fuse holder from Home Depot with a 4 amp fuse can easily be added to the stoves that do not have an igniter fuse and can save the control panel from blowing out! I do recommend doing this.
Pic 1 - Igniter tube with metal burr inside!
Pic 2 - Grinding stone and drill extensions
Pic 3 - Igniter tube with burr removed
Pic 4 - New igniter installed
Pic 5 - Auger motor re-installed
Pic 6 - Stove fired up and cranking out the heat!
View attachment 321819
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