Martin Venturi Stove owners

[pellet]

Rod,

Thanks loads for the pics That is the first I have been able to see the original convection fan for my stove. I can see the combustion blower on mine is probably the original but the convection blower was missing. I now have something rigged in and it seems to be working but have no idea if it is any where near the correct CFM.

Two questions:
1-Would you care to guess what the CFM rating on that original double ended blower was? With your experience I imagine you can come pretty close to an accurate estimate.
2-I don't suppose you noted what the temp. rating of the limit/safety thermodisk switch was did you? or maybe you didn't have to replace it. I'd just like to know in case I ever need one.

It certainly is clear for the need to keep the hopper door closed and sealed properly. Hope no one was hurt in the fire. Maybe the label wasn't big enough?

 

[hearthtools]

Rod,

Thanks loads for the pics That is the first I have been able to see the original convection fan for my stove. I can see the combustion blower on mine is probably the original but the convection blower was missing. I now have something rigged in and it seems to be working but have no idea if it is any where near the correct CFM.

Two questions:
1-Would you care to guess what the CFM rating on that original double ended blower was? With your experience I imagine you can come pretty close to an accurate estimate.
2-I don't suppose you noted what the temp. rating of the limit/safety thermodisk switch was did you? or maybe you didn't have to replace it. I'd just like to know in case I ever need one.

It certainly is clear for the need to keep the hopper door closed and sealed properly. Hope no one was hurt in the fire. Maybe the label wasn't big enough?

Cfm on the room air blower is not critical because you can change the speed with the rheostat . but I think each side is 60 CFM so a total of 120

If you are talking about the auger over heat. I believe it is a 200 deg switch.

If you do have a FS2 there are a few mods you can do to make the stove heat better. this stove did not have them so I dont have photos.
but a sheet metal plate on top of the stove under the louvers to make the air force out the front
Fabricate two metal Chanel plenums to slide down between the hopper and the firebox. the same size as the rectangle chamber just above the blower outlets
this will make the air flow better to the top of the stove. The factory sent our instructions to do this on stoves installed. I still cant find that book.
there also was a mod to make a little plenum about 5 inches long to go into and below the exhaust chamber just below the brick to have the heat flow down lower in the fireblox before it went up the vent.

someone said there auger motor was 6 rmp im sure all the martins were 4RPM and that is what was on this and what I replaced it with.
attached are photos I took of the blower before I cleaned and mounted on the silicone

 

[pellet]

Rod,
Thanks for the pics, with the blower model number visible! Unfortunately searching hasn't come up with any info on the blower. Probably no longer manufactured. My luck.

My stove is an FS3. Are the modifications you mentioned ones I can make to improve my stove's efficiency? (Some of these maybe?) There are no channels down the back as you describe but it has a piece of flat bar on edge vertically in the area. It's certainly not sealed as it goes up by any means. There is also open space by the two ducts you mentioned above where the double ended blower goes on the circuit board side of the stove and in the middle above the auger housing. I wondered why they just left it open for air to come out and down from the blower.

My auger is a 6 rpm and made by Dayton (could be a replacement, would Dayton have been OEM?). Should I assume it is wrong and look for a 4 rpm?

My blower (the one I rigged in) is a 130 cfm so guess I will leave it alone until spring anyway. It should be safe.

The hot wire from the 120v power cord is connected to one of two wires that go up above the double ended blower ducts between the hopper and the fire box. I assume there is a bi-metal disk switch up there as a safety (high limit) shutdown. The second wire that comes back down is connected to the control circuit board to supply power. That is the 200 degree F thermo-disk switch up there, right?

You lost me on the 5 inch duct below the fire box. Can you explain further? Or maybe a drawing?
I would like to improve the efficiency wherever feasible. Thanks for the info.

 

[pellet]

Bump?.....anyone?

 

[mattwade808]

Just wondering if any of the above mentioned improvements were made and possibly photo'd. My Martin seems to have the problem of smoking when shut off so I'm thinking I need more pipe added as well.

 

[mattwade808]

Any Martin stove owners out there still? this season mine is smelling terribly of smoke. I noticed around the door that smoke was coming out. I replaced the door and ash door gaskets. The ash door still smoked a little. I high temp caulked all around it stopping the smoke from coming out but the air that comes from the blower still has a strong smell. With the lights out and a flashlight checking around everywhere, I don't see any smoke but when I put my nose to the air blowing out, it smells very strongly. Can anyone think of something I'm missing? Really frustrated right now. Thanks.

 

[pellet]

A hole or breach in your fire box maybe?

 

[mattwade808]

i'm wondering that. Do you have a Martin Pellet? It looks like there are 4 bolts holding the top on but of course they're frozen and I'll probably need to cut them. Thanks for the reply.

 

[mattwade808]

There's a squarish pipe that runs from behind the fire bricks behind the burn pot that goes up to meet with the external flue pipe and I'm wondering if that's not where my leak is. With a flashlight I can see the weld in there. Half of it is rusty looking. It looks like the top of the stove comes off after removing the pipe and 4 bolts and then I should be able to get a look at the joint. Does this sound familiar to anyone? Has anyone had this problem?

 

[trobb]

I have been fighting my Martin for 2 years now with post burn smoke.
I am CONVINCED unless you have it piped into a chimney or stove pipe that exceeds the peak
of your roof...your gonna get smoke in the house...atleast I do.
When I shut mine down; after the outside pipe cools I get a backdraft, you can watch smoke come back through
the convection blower vents.
Solution...once the blower has cooled I put a couple pieces of that real good clear shipping tape over the vent holes
on the convection blower...problem solved.
I started with 5' of outside pipe, and then went to 10'...still got smoke.
Even at 10' I am still a good 15 foot short of my roofs peak...tape is cheaper than duravent, lol.

I fought off the urge to wear this stove out with a 16 pound sledge hammer many times before I figured her out.
Glad I didn't...this stove is solid as a jug and works like a charm...just needs a chimney to vent properly, IMO.
Try the tape...works for me, just make sure you let it cool down 10 minutes or so.

Good luck with yours...

 

[pellet]

I read on this forum (and maybe earlier in this same thread) there was a minimum of 12 feet of vertical pipe required for these stoves to draw correctly. I made sure I had 13 feet and rarely have any back draw. Very rarely when the wind is just so I will get just a hint of smoke.

 

[mattwade808]

Thanks for the responses guys. I took my pipe down last night and it looks like a bird or mouse had started to build a nest. I cleaned it out and it runs like it did last year. Pretty embarrassing jumping to conclusions like I did and being ready to shoot holes in the stove when it ended up being a simple thing like that. I'm posting my story as a warning I guess. I have two feet of pipe vertical and then a 90 degree straight out the wall and 18 inches outside. I believe that's what one of you guys had and couldn't get it to draft. I've had pretty good luck with it. Maybe the direction of the winds has something to do with it. Anyway, thanks for your help.

 

[mattwade808]

I wonder if there are Martin stove owners still out there. I've the toughest time with my stove this winter so far. I've had 3 times in the past week where my auger gets jammed. I pulled it out and cleaned twice. Tonight was going to be the third. I decided before I started that no more corn would be burned, just straight pellets. While removing the auger, the wires from the motor came loose. I can't figure out where they go. I've tried every combo. One combo, the auger turns and never stops. There's always been one loose wire. Can't remember which one. I bought the stove used and abused. Any help out there?

 

[mattwade808]

sorry,, double post

 

[mattwade808]

In case there are any Martin stove users out there still I'll give an update on my situation. I had some components on the control board replaced. They were burned. Got everything wired just right. Used the stove twice and the third time, the auger was jammed once again. I pulled it out last night and cleaned it. It looked like after being shut off, the pellets in the auger tube had been burned. The hopper seal seems fine but I may try to tighten the lid down tonight. I've also installed switches to control the auger motor and the burn pot fan so that I can turn both off and let the exhaust work for awhile and hopefully not fill the garage with smoke like it has been after shut down. Any thoughts on the switches and burn back?

 

[pellet]

this stove and the pellet master have a very basic control board
it only controls feed times to the auger and the the idle mode if the stove is connected to a stat.

it does not control any other function or change voltage to blowers but to turn the unit on when you flick the switch.

Rod,
Do you know if these boards are interchangeable? It would be great to know a Pellet Master board might be a source of replacement control board for the Martin Venturi!

 

[pellet]

I wonder if there are Martin stove owners still out there. I've the toughest time with my stove this winter so far. I've had 3 times in the past week where my auger gets jammed. I pulled it out and cleaned twice. Tonight was going to be the third. I decided before I started that no more corn would be burned, just straight pellets. While removing the auger, the wires from the motor came loose. I can't figure out where they go. I've tried every combo. One combo, the auger turns and never stops. There's always been one loose wire. Can't remember which one. I bought the stove used and abused. Any help out there?

FYI, Assembled Products has a manual you can download on their website for the Martin FS-31. It has a wiring diagram for the stove in it. I know it is the same as mine and would be a good bet it is for yours too.

 

[skydog]

Yep,still some Martin users out here!Just put a new auger motor on tonite,Gleason-Avery to the rescue!Was reasonably priced,looks well made,6rpm,seems to be fine!Part #A-906.Went to the API website,was amazed at all the parts they carry now,used to just be control boards.As far as the auger motor wired,it's one lead connected with the white common bundle and the other lead is the yellow one coming from the board.The red wire out of the control board goes to the fans,the white lead goes to the common bundle and the black wire goes to the limit switch.Hope that helps.

 

[Jim-n-NM]

Yep,still some Martin users out here!Just put a new auger motor on tonite,Gleason-Avery to the rescue!Was reasonably priced,looks well made,6rpm,seems to be fine!Part #A-906.Went to the API website,was amazed at all the parts they carry now,used to just be control boards.As far as the auger motor wired,it's one lead connected with the white common bundle and the other lead is the yellow one coming from the board.The red wire out of the control board goes to the fans,the white lead goes to the common bundle and the black wire goes to the limit switch.Hope that helps.

I know this forum may be long past useful by now, but I got some great information from it as late as Dec 2013.
I just bought an old Martin Venturi FS3 for $300, and put in about $120 dollars in parts, consisting of the following:
a new auger motor / gearbox (the old gears were broken, probably from repeated auger jams)
a new convection blower control ( the old one's stem was broken off)
Disassembled, inspected, cleaned and repainted, and the thing works like a charm!
I did make a few mods to it.
I was getting auger jams, particularly with Pennington pellets, but also with others, so I put a "baffle plate" in the bottom to cover part of the auger, so it wouldn't get an overload of pellets.
I added an auger "override" momentary push button so I could make the auger feed by pushing the button, and not have to wait for a signal from the control board ( really handy for "priming" the auger).
I also added a fan speed control for the combustion air, so I could tweak the speed to get rid of an annoying "harmonic hum". It didn't take much of a change and doesn't seem to have had any adverse effect on the burn pot.
If there is anyone still out there using these stoves, I'll be happy to take and upload pictures.