Mt. Vernon not lighting...need some help

Ok, I think it is a bad TC firepot but not sure. The stove has been trying to light over and over but did not light. It kept on dropping pellets and trying to light but then would just go into auto clean. The ignitor is getting hot. Then the last time, it actually did light but then went into auto clean dropping the fire into the ash pan. Lucky I had just cleaned out all the pellets from all the missing firerings. Kind of scary. I have unplugged it now. The error message says miss ignition. Do you agree its a TC or do you think there is something else going on? Should I try to give it another shot at lighting?

make sure inside of the ceramic TC cover is clean of ash and also make sure that the TC is actually touching the inside tip of the ceramic cover.

Thank you. I know it is clean. I will take the cover off and adjust if it needs it.

Thanks for the help. It lite this time, hopefully will keep running. I also tossed a few extra pellets in the firepot when it was starting up just to be safe.

what did you do to fix? do you think it ewas TC issue?

Check out the service manual here. Has some trouble-shooting that could help you narrow it down.

http://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/mt-vernon-ae-downloadable-trouble-shoot-manual.105258/

Thank you. Yes, I think it was the TC. I took the cover off and used my finger nail to scrap it a little (although it was not really dirty). Pushed (gently) the TC into the firepot a little more and put the cover back on. It has run all night so I am guessing that was it. Kind of strange that it happened all of a sudden. But it has been a long winter so she (the stove that is) might just be getting a little tired.

I would think the firepot tc wouldn't come into play until a fire is establish. Like after start up. I'd be wondering if the ignitor was headed south or excessive ash accumulation around it.

The TC seems to be temperamental on the AE, my father inlaw has replaced his twice since 2009.

Agreed, but I had made sure after the first time it would not light that the firepot was clean and there was nothing in front of the ignitor and it was getting hot so you may be right in the end, time will tell.

Do keep us informed either way, thanks.

From the trouble shooting manual:
MISSED IGNITION: UNIT IS OUT OF FUEL OR CHECK FOR PROPER FUEL SETTINGS. SEE
PAGE 14 (IGNITER TROUBLE-SHOOTING) THIS CODE WOULD DISPLAY IF THE FUEL DID NOT
LIGHT OR THE FIRE DID NOT GET HOT ENOUGH DURING START-UP AFTER 4 TRIES.

The firepot thermocouple senses if there is a fire and if I am reading the chart correctly the igniter shuts off after about five minutes. It does four retries before deciding to dump the firepot. I have seen my Mt Vernon dump the fire when a manual ignition was too slow in getting up to temperature.
A cracked thermocouple might give you intermittent operation.

It has been running fine all last night and today. So not sure exactly but my guess since it was not lighting at all but the ignitor was getting hot that it had something to do with TC. But at this point its up, running and putting out heat so that is all I ask.

Did i miss something? How did you get it to run?

Check ever bit if the tv wires. I just had this issue. The auto clean rubs the wires raw and grounds out to the frame. Fix it quick or you will need a board.

Eric

I took the cover off the TC and scrapped it a little (although it was not really dirty), pushed the TC in a little and put the cover back on. It light when I restarted it.

Thank you. I have to clean the stove tomorrow so I will look it over.