Pellet master PM 3000 assistance please

[wbarman1]

So im new to the pellet stove world. it started with wanting a way to heat my garage and some surfing around on uncle henrys and craigslist. Im now the owner of a PM 3000 for 175 bucks. not bad so far. It was not burning correctly black unburned pellets. so I opened it up and cleaned everything I could get my hands on. motors burn pot and all. The burn pot has not been cleaned in a REALLY long time. took me hours to chip off the junk so I could see all the air slits, and than get them open. Now im burning good but not getting much heat? my convection fan is only turning on for about five minutes at a time on high. on for five off for five or ten. from some of the other posts it sounds like im stuck in keep fire mode. I will be timing the auger this weekend. is there anyway to bypass this if that is indead my problem? Im not using a thermostat just twisted the wires together. all help would be appreciated. I got the manual and have been doing lots of reading so anything new would be appreciated.

Thanks gang

 

[LI-Mini-Owner]

... Now im burning good but not getting much heat? my convection fan is only turning on for about five minutes at a time on high. on for five off for five or ten. from some of the other posts it sounds like im stuck in keep fire mode. I will be timing the auger this weekend. is there anyway to bypass this if that is indead my problem? Im not using a thermostat just twisted the wires together.

Convection fan going from High to Off may be the confirmation of low heat, rather then the cause. The convection fan does not control flame. Do you hear the combustion fan change speed as you cycle the heat setting from low to hi?

For the thermostat, you should be fine with twisting the wires together. The stove will think it's always calling for heat, and should not make it want to drop down to low or shut off.

Good luck - Carl

 

[imacman]

Welcome to the forum, pellet pup.

First of all, I'd try doing a search for "Pellet Master 3000" on the forum, and I'm sure you'll get a bunch of hits. If you don't find any info that will help you, try sending a PM to Rod Poplarchick (forum name "hearthtools") , unless he sees this post before that.

He use to sell parts for these stoves, and he also does service on them....he'd be the person I'd ask.

 

[krooser]

I THINK the pelletmaster operates on "positive" air pressure rather than "negative" air pressure that most modern stove operate on... the only advice I can give you is the stove may be plugged with ash...

 

[hearthtools]

Your on the right track. Normally with a properly working PM stove if the convection blower is cycling on and off it is because the stove is running on keep fire. will do this more with Lower range heating pellets.

You have three Feed rates if you are NON using a state use the settings to control heat.
if you Choose to use a stat in the future Set on HIGH and let the stove go from high to low and it will stay cleaner with the hot and cool cycles.

PM stoves are a positive air stove and only have one speed for the combustion blower.

The room air blower has two speeds but you can control the low speed with the rheostat mounted in the pedestal with the blowers.

If you stove is running hot and the blower is still cycling then the limit switch is bad.

Clean out the air slits with a razor blade.

If you can next time you do a good cleaning split the top off the burn pot by removing the 3 bolts holding it on.
you have to remove the brick, Square over fire ring and then the clinker ring to access.
DO NOT CLEAN THE OUT SITES OF THE SLITS. only the parts that are facing inward to the inside of the burn pot.

More info on my site

 

[wbarman1]

Thanks for all the quick responses. I did split the pot and clean between the two, took out the square air ring and cleaned that pipe as best I could with my compressor, as well as the one feeding the bottom of the burn ring. I used a razor blade to clean the ports but after fighting with them for quite some time found a skinny hacksaw blade worked much better . outside of air slits are still sealed. When the convection fan kicks on im not getting hot air out, just warm air. and unless I take the firebrick off on the right side it only kicks on randomly even on high. I have not even burned a full bag of pellets through it yet just burned it once for four or five hours. Still need to time the feed rate but no time off till this weekend. should I time it on start or run?

 

[hearthtools]

Thanks for all the quick responses. I did split the pot and clean between the two, took out the square air ring and cleaned that pipe as best I could with my compressor, as well as the one feeding the bottom of the burn ring. I used a razor blade to clean the ports but after fighting with them for quite some time found a skinny hacksaw blade worked much better . outside of air slits are still sealed. When the convection fan kicks on im not getting hot air out, just warm air. and unless I take the firebrick off on the right side it only kicks on randomly even on high. I have not even burned a full bag of pellets through it yet just burned it once for four or five hours. Still need to time the feed rate but no time off till this weekend. should I time it on start or run?

Start just bybasses the limit switch that keeps the stove going when the stove is warm. so it dont matter.

 

[wbarman1]

alright thanks again, I will do some timing this weekend and let you know what I find. although im pretty sure it's not running as much as it's supposed to, therefore being stuck in keep fire mode. if this is the case is there any fix?

 

[hearthtools]

alright thanks again, I will do some timing this weekend and let you know what I find. although im pretty sure it's not running as much as it's supposed to, therefore being stuck in keep fire mode. if this is the case is there any fix?

follow the wires back from the control board. One goes to the pigtail at the back of the stove the other
splits off from the control board and one wire goes to the High limit switch then back to your Pig tail at the back of the stove
the limit switch will open the circuit so it will go into Keep fire if it over heats.
you might have a bad switch but more often it is just a bad connection at the split or at the limit switch

 

[wbarman1]

alright so I did some timing and testing, on high im stuck in keep fire mode only on for about 4 seconds. than on medium it stays on for about ten seconds and off for almost twenty seconds. anyone got any ideas? I chased about every wire I could and found that all the connections seemed good. although I did see some corrosion on the connectors from the high limit switch I cleaned them up as best I could and made sure the wires are the same as on the wiring diagram. any help is welcome.

 

[hearthtools]

alright so I did some timing and testing, on high im stuck in keep fire mode only on for about 4 seconds. than on medium it stays on for about ten seconds and off for almost twenty seconds. anyone got any ideas? I chased about every wire I could and found that all the connections seemed good. although I did see some corrosion on the connectors from the high limit switch I cleaned them up as best I could and made sure the wires are the same as on the wiring diagram. any help is welcome.

# Auger Feed times for stoves made after 1-1-94 times may very
High 17 Sec on / 3 sec off 4.75 pounds per hour
Med 12 sec on / 8 sec off 2.5 pounds per hour
Low 8 sec on / 12 sec off 2.25 pounds per hour
Keep fire mode 4 sec on / 16 sec off .8 pounds per hours

if you are not getting about the same times as this then the board is bad.
because if the thermostat circuit was open it would always stay the same rate at all feed rates.

 

[wbarman1]

That's what I was affraid of. is there anywhere to get a new board? and is it worth changing? any idea if I can replace just the resistors on the board? I work on cell phones so when It comes to soldering I have all the tools and know how.

 

[hearthtools]

That's what I was affraid of. is there anywhere to get a new board? and is it worth changing? any idea if I can replace just the resistors on the board? I work on cell phones so when It comes to soldering I have all the tools and know how.

the board is basic if you can figure it out then fix it
if not send me an email

 

[wbarman1]

The board does look pretty simple, im just not sure what resistors control the auger speeds. I also noticed that if I switch the red switch on the right side of the control board it cycles the auger for shorter times but more frequent on medium. but no improvement on high. do you know the purpose of his switch?