Low flame Astoria bay insert.

[Luke478]

Hi guys, ive been doing a lot of reading on this one and so far i cant figure this one out.

My 2005 astoria bay insert was working great for the last few months. I clean it at least once a week though just to keep on on it. Ive tried many different pellet brands and the problem started right when i bought a ton of the hammers hot ones. A few times i got a lower than normal flame. Almost where it was down deep inside the pot, then after a few min it would roar back up to a good tall lively flame. So i dealt with it for about a week before i had a chance to really explore it further. I pulled the stove out and removed the exhaust and was surprised to see it totally full of ass to the top of the outlet! So i was 99% sure i would clean it out and solve the problem. So I removed the combustion blower and the whole housing was full of ash and so was the fan blades pretty much chopping through it. so I've vacuumed everything out spotless and got all the passages that go through there to the inside of the stove. I also did the leaf blower trick and made sure that the whole 4 inch stainless pipe was free and clear of any ash. I then re-assembled everything and started the stove and it seemed to be fine during start up but then about 15 minutes later it was doing the same thing. I also tried a different type of palettes that I know always worked well and still had the exact problem. It's been doing this for a few weeks now maybe almost a month. I'm curious if the exhaust blower or combustion motor is weak or on its way out due to that ash buildup that was in the housing. But then again as I'm watching it it appears that there are not enough pellets going into the burn pot. So I took apart the auger flight tube cover to check for any buildup or clogs and found none. So im torn between putting a new Auger motor in it or replacing the combustion blower. I really don't think that it's a control board problem because the auger timing seems correct according to the light and it starts up fine and turns the blowers on at the right time. Im stumped on this one. The stove ran great when i first installed it so its not a anything like a oak issue or somthing simple. Any ideas??

 

[heat seeker]

Sort of a long shot - but time the auger to make sure it's turning at the correct RPM. I had a similar problem, and it was my auger motor being sluggish.

 

[Luke478]

Sort of a long shot - but time the auger to make sure it's turning at the correct RPM. I had a similar problem, and it was my auger motor being sluggish.

Good call. Im thinking to put a line on the auger with a sharpie then watch the auger light and time its "on" time with a stopwatch to see if 60 sec = 1 full revolution.

So you had a auger motor go bad but still turn? Just at a slower rate? I was thinking they either worked or they didnt.

 

[smwilliamson]

Bushing and auger motor maybe just a bushjng

 

[heat seeker]

My auger motor had bushings. The oil ports were on the bottom side, out of sight, so I never oiled them. I still got a replacement motor since it was on sale, and it has ball bearings. It feeds a bit extra, since it coasts a fair bit after the power is removed, so I get a bit more pellets fed each cycle. The old motor has been lubed and tested, and is now my spare.

I, too, never suspected these motors could run slower. The motor itself produces very little torque, so it takes very little to slow or stop it. You can grab the shaft with your fingers and stop the armature. They trade speed for torque in the gearbox, and they produce a lot of torque that way!

 

[Luke478]

Well i dont think the auger motor is the issue. It did 1 full revolution in 47 seconds of "on" time.

 

[heat seeker]

But - is it a 2 RPM motor? ! rev in 47 seconds seems a bit odd.

 

[Luke478]

All my research say its a 1 rpm ccw motor. I used a stop watch and only timed when it was on via the control board. I marked the auger with a line in sharpie marker to time it.

 

[heat seeker]

So it's faster than 1 RPM, so should give you a good feed of pellets. Since you were watching the auger itself, we can rule out a loose coupling, or other slippage between motor and auger.

Does your manual give the cycle times for each feed rate? Such as: 10 second total cycle, 5 seconds of auger feed at heat level 3, which would run the auger 50% of the time.

My stove has an 11.5 second cycle time, and the highest feed rate is 5.5 seconds, which is just about 50% of the time. Thus, at the highest heat level, my auger runs half the time.

Hope this is understandable!

 

[Luke478]

So it's faster than 1 RPM, so should give you a good feed of pellets. Since you were watching the auger itself, we can rule out a loose coupling, or other slippage between motor and auger.

Does your manual give the cycle times for each feed rate? Such as: 10 second total cycle, 5 seconds of auger feed at heat level 3, which would run the auger 50% of the time.

My stove has an 11.5 second cycle time, and the highest feed rate is 5.5 seconds, which is just about 50% of the time. Thus, at the highest heat level, my auger runs half the time.

Hope this is understandable!

Yes it makes sense and my stove seems to be acting accurate to what the manual says.

 

[heat seeker]

Interesting! So yours varies the off time, while mine varies the on time. So we can rule out the auger motor, so we need to look elsewhere for the problem. It is progress, of sorts.

 

[Luke478]

Yea im glad i timed it so thats off the list. Its odd because the flame will get back to its normal high lively self for about 2 min then it will slowly die down to slmost staying liwer than the edges of the burn pot and take a few minutes to recover to a taller flame. It's definitely got me stumped.

 

[Luke478]

I have a video of it running great when i first installed it.....if that helps? I could take a video of its not so great flame now and post that?

 

[heat seeker]

I dunno - out of ideas. If your draft is adjustable, maybe it's open too much? Or maybe it's the pellets. Just guessing, now.

Is your combustion blower running at a steady speed?

 

[Luke478]

Yes the draft is adjustable. I ran it wide open since day 1 and it always burned great.

Ive ran 3 different brands of pellets since the problem and it dosent change how it works. Just slightly more or less ash.

Combustion blower seems to be running steady. I never hear a change in it unless i turn the heat range up or down. I did notice that if its on the low setting it will run slow then as i increase to the next heat ranges it will speed up as the led lights go up in the heat range.....BUT it does not increase speed after the 2nd medium light. So basicly on the "high" heat setting the blower sounds like its at the same speed. Thats the only thing odd i can notice. But if i run it on medium it has the low flame. If i run it on high its a little better sometimes but still not what it used to be. Medium used to have a great consistent lively flame.
This was when it worked perfectly.....

 

[Luke478]

Yes the draft is adjustable. I ran it wide open since day 1 and it always burned great.

Ive ran 3 different brands of pellets since the problem and it dosent change how it works. Just slightly more or less ash.

Combustion blower seems to be running steady. I never hear a change in it unless i turn the heat range up or down. I did notice that if its on the low setting it will run slow then as i increase to the next heat ranges it will speed up as the led lights go up in the heat range.....BUT it does not increase speed after the 2nd medium light. So basicly on the "high" heat setting the blower sounds like its at the same speed. Thats the only thing odd i can notice. But if i run it on medium it has the low flame. If i run it on high its a little better sometimes but still not what it used to be. Medium used to have a great consistent lively flame.
This was when it worked perfectly.....

Now its working like this...... Not good