Older whitfield advantage dampner stuck Ser no 16408 Free standing stove

[bjr23]

My new to me (used) Whitfield advantage dampner seems to be stuck. I've vacuumed and cleaned everything I could get without major disassembly. Do I have to take off outer shell tin to free up dampner? I'm not sure what the parts arrangement looks like inside of the unit. Any suggestion as how to attack this.
This unit has the lower grill covering fire pan access that looks like the Avantage 2. So I'm not sure of which exact model I have. The lower limit disc switch appear to have went out. It ran for 30 minutes the quit and smoked very badly. It did some wierd stuff like backfire out the little intake tube, I mean, popped sparks out of it. Smoke came out the top of the glass. Anyone else ever had this happen? bjr23

 

[rap69ri]

This is not uncommon if the stove isn't cleaned properly. You'll need to remove the stove's fake brick and you should see two chambers one on each side of the stove. These chambers lead to the damper and exhaust blower. Odds are these chambers are pretty dirty with ash and that's causing the damper to seem stuck, as well as, causing the stove to shutdown after 30 minutes.

I would also recommend taking off the exhaust and room air fan for a thorough cleaning, and replacing the door's gasket before you start using the stove full time.

 

[krooser]

Sounds like it needs a major cleaning...search for "leaf blower trick" here and you'll find info on using an electric leaf blower to suck out all the ash and soot that's plugging up your stove...

 

[bjr23]

On a little different note I noticed on the troubleshooting pages that there's some pressure readings. I was wondering when you need to do this and what tools, maybe a U-tube manometer? Or is there a electronic equivelant? bjr23

 

[Fsappo]

Gotta clean out the chimley flume also

 

[Pellet-King]

Probably rusted shut, think about this.... some people once they set damper never have to re-adjust, so after years it gets "frozen "

 

[bjr23]

Update. Thanks guys, with your information I was able to get to able to stay warm last nite. Removing the fire brick and cleaning the passage ways and removing the side panels and cleaning the both fans did the trick. It was a old stove that had been taken out of service and stored with out being cleaned. Everything was plugged full of ash. Now I have two things to ask. The first is the auger does not run and I've got the two wires from the pressure/vacuum switch wire nutted together for temporary. The pressure switch clicks (using my ohmeter) when I suck on the tube, so it's a vacuum switch. I've replaced the hose clean the orifice adapter on the exhaust (ran a small rod thru it). The maintenance instructions on this site says something about either pressure switch or vacuum switch. I'm confused here. The little tube connection is on the outlet to the flue pipe, so, I would think it should be a positve pressure and not a vacuum. Are there two different switches. What do I need ? The second thing is do I need to clean the heat exhanger tubes other than the little rod scraper thing on the front? If so how do I gain access to the heat exchanger? bjr23

 

[hearthtools]

This is the heat exchange and the only way to clean them is the scrapper rod and good ol manual cleaning with some kind of brush.

 

[hearthtools]

Update. Thanks guys, with your information I was able to get to able to stay warm last nite. Removing the fire brick and cleaning the passage ways and removing the side panels and cleaning the both fans did the trick. It was a old stove that had been taken out of service and stored with out being cleaned. Everything was plugged full of ash. Now I have two things to ask. The first is the auger does not run and I've got the two wires from the pressure/vacuum switch wire nutted together for temporary. The
pressure switch clicks (using my ohmeter) when I suck on the tube, so it's a vacuum switch. I've replaced the hose clean the orifice adapter on the exhaust (ran a small rod thru it). The maintenance instructions on this site says something about either pressure switch or vacuum switch. I'm confused here. The little tube connection is on the outlet to the flue pipe, so, I would think it should be a positve pressure and not a vacuum. Are there two different switches. What do I need ? The second thing is do I need to clean the heat exhanger tubes other than the little rod scraper thing on the front? If so how do I gain access to the heat exchanger? bjr23

In 19 years I have replaced maybe 3 pressure switches. the problem is normally just poor Maintenance and or the hose port on the combuston chamber is plugged up or the hose is bad.

 

[krooser]

Probably rusted shut, think about this.... some people once they set damper never have to re-adjust, so after years it gets "frozen "

I better oil mine....

 

[bjr23]

And that was the problem. It was a vacuum switch, I can't explain how it got put on as I bought the stove from a person that said the it was given to her by some other people. It needed to be a positive pressure switch. The extra parts that came with the stove had the correct switch, and I installed it last nite and the auger was back in the circuit. All is well now, I just gotta go buy more pellets. bjr23

 

[Delta-T]

I tell you, there are few better stories to tell than to resurrect an old whitfield, those things are animals. Keep it clean and it'll keep you toasty, good luck

 

[bjr23]

I'm not with it today. I just typed out a question and thought I'd hit post reply and it dissapperd. So, here goes again. How do I lift off top cover to get at the heat exchanger tubes for proper cleaning? Are there screws or clips? I'm afraid of bending the tin lifing on too hard. bjr23

 

[Delta-T]

i'm not sure you can get to the top of the exchange tubes, at least not very easily. You can remove the baffle under the tubes and get at them from the bottom. Is your scraper rod jammed up or broken off? Just scrape 'em off as best you can with whatever you can. Its nearly impossible to get those things looking "good as new" without some serious elbow grease.