Hello all,new to the pellet stove heating device.I have purchased an older 1993 Whitfield Advantage pellet stove.I have gone Thur the complete stove cleaning and applying new paint to all surfaces,new door glass ( BIG $$$$$$$$ ),new exhaust blower and new door and glass gaskets.I started the stove for the first time and noticed while its running every time the auger feeds the blower that supplies warm air to the room pulses or surgers.The stoves auger is set on #1 and the blower is also set on #1 ( low ).Can anyone tell me if this may be a sign that the control board is on its way out or is there an adjustment that may be made to the board that will prevent this.Thanks for any information you can supply.
Pulsing blower motor
- Thread starter Jimmy D
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smwilliamson
The Stove Guy
You're gonna wanna looky into that control board or wiring harness or 250 high limit switch. You got a short somewhere. Convection motor may also not be grounded.
lmjr
Member
There are control board FINE adjustments if that's the Touch Pad type controller, for Comb. Fan and Auger/Pellet Feed.
but, no Fine adjustment for convection fan. The CB has Voltage Test Points for reading voltage of all 3 motors at all different Speed/Outputs, it' 4 plugs near bottom edge of C/B.
Maybe your auger or auger motor is binding...or perhaps the gearbox is binding.
You could separate motor from gearbox and see if conditions change.
but, no Fine adjustment for convection fan. The CB has Voltage Test Points for reading voltage of all 3 motors at all different Speed/Outputs, it' 4 plugs near bottom edge of C/B.
Maybe your auger or auger motor is binding...or perhaps the gearbox is binding.
You could separate motor from gearbox and see if conditions change.
LI-Mini-Owner
Member
Yup - 2nd what Master and Scott said. You'll need to isolate the problem between excessive current draw on the auger motor, or a poor connection in some path that's common to both the Convection blower and auger motor. A poor connection will add resistance to the circuit, limiting the current, and thus lowering the voltage to the convection blower.
Likewise, as was suggested any binding on the auger will cause the current draw to increase. Depending on the design of the control board that could affect the voltage to the Convection (and I would think the combustion) blower. I wonder if you can get your hands on a spec for the nominal current draw of a "normal" auger motor? If you have a multi-meter you can then measure the current by placing the meter leads in "series" with one of the auger motor leads. This can be tricky if you've not measured current before. (sing out if you want more details). But without the nominal spec for current draw, then the measured current is of no real value.
Well worth the time looking for the simple stuff, because the last resort would be swapping out the control board, which is big bucks.
Good luck.
Likewise, as was suggested any binding on the auger will cause the current draw to increase. Depending on the design of the control board that could affect the voltage to the Convection (and I would think the combustion) blower. I wonder if you can get your hands on a spec for the nominal current draw of a "normal" auger motor? If you have a multi-meter you can then measure the current by placing the meter leads in "series" with one of the auger motor leads. This can be tricky if you've not measured current before. (sing out if you want more details). But without the nominal spec for current draw, then the measured current is of no real value.
Well worth the time looking for the simple stuff, because the last resort would be swapping out the control board, which is big bucks.
Good luck.
Snowy Rivers
Minister of Fire
OK there Little pellet piggy 
We have the same stove model and it does the same thing.
The issue is the Triac on the control board is getting a tad flakey.
Each feed setting allows the room air blower to run within a certain speed range.
The Triac is a device that chops off a portion of the 120V wave form (AC Voltage cycles above and below the zero line)
If the triac starts to get goofy and the wave form starts to get out of whack a little, then as the feed motor cycles the voltage on the board changes some and then the fan reacts to the change in the wave form.
The speed of the fan is controlled by how long the power is actually on on each phase of the cycle.
Sort of like flipping a light switch on and off really fast. (many many times a second.
Now, short of replacing the board the only trick I have found is to adjust the fan speed to a spot just below the 1/2 way mark and tweek with it slightly until the pulsing stops.
Once you find the sweet spot, leave it alone and dont mess with it.
Ours has been set in the sweet spot for some time and it works fine. The airflow is plenty for a higher heat setting as well as the low setting.
As long as the thing works, your set.
The choice is to replace the board or go to a whole different controller on the stove and then run the Blower with a dedicated triac speed controller.
These control boards are not all that Heavy duty and will over time develop this anomally.
The cost to replace the board is not cheap ( unfortunately the Mfg cut corners on these boards at the time they were built)
There are a couple things that can cause the board to go south. The fan can have issues as can the feed motor, this in turn places more stress on the boards components.
Try finding the sweet spot and you should get rid of the surging noise.
The original design was to have the Blower speed increase with the higher heat setting.
The designers were of the opinion that the average Joe user was not smart enough to increase the fan speed a little when they increased the heat output. ????????
Probably, they were right. Far too many folks dont want to RUN their stove.
Earthstove had a simple solution and it was about as bomb proof as you could make it.
The room air blower was on a variable speed controller (Knob) and it went from Off to full speed.
If the operator did not sselect and speed that was adequate, as soon as the stoves hot air plenum reached a preset temperature, a snap swich closed and turned the fan on high speed until the stoves temp dropped back down.
The system used by Whitfield in these older units was just too busy with too many functions taxing the controls.
As the heat output knob was rotated to a higher setting it gave the fan speed controller more to work with.
So on number1 setting you had X and as you increased the fuel feed the fan could go to Y
Sort of hokie but when new it worked fine.
Snowy
We have the same stove model and it does the same thing.
The issue is the Triac on the control board is getting a tad flakey.
Each feed setting allows the room air blower to run within a certain speed range.
The Triac is a device that chops off a portion of the 120V wave form (AC Voltage cycles above and below the zero line)
If the triac starts to get goofy and the wave form starts to get out of whack a little, then as the feed motor cycles the voltage on the board changes some and then the fan reacts to the change in the wave form.
The speed of the fan is controlled by how long the power is actually on on each phase of the cycle.
Sort of like flipping a light switch on and off really fast. (many many times a second.
Now, short of replacing the board the only trick I have found is to adjust the fan speed to a spot just below the 1/2 way mark and tweek with it slightly until the pulsing stops.
Once you find the sweet spot, leave it alone and dont mess with it.
Ours has been set in the sweet spot for some time and it works fine. The airflow is plenty for a higher heat setting as well as the low setting.
As long as the thing works, your set.
The choice is to replace the board or go to a whole different controller on the stove and then run the Blower with a dedicated triac speed controller.
These control boards are not all that Heavy duty and will over time develop this anomally.
The cost to replace the board is not cheap ( unfortunately the Mfg cut corners on these boards at the time they were built)
There are a couple things that can cause the board to go south. The fan can have issues as can the feed motor, this in turn places more stress on the boards components.
Try finding the sweet spot and you should get rid of the surging noise.
The original design was to have the Blower speed increase with the higher heat setting.
The designers were of the opinion that the average Joe user was not smart enough to increase the fan speed a little when they increased the heat output. ????????
Probably, they were right. Far too many folks dont want to RUN their stove.
Earthstove had a simple solution and it was about as bomb proof as you could make it.
The room air blower was on a variable speed controller (Knob) and it went from Off to full speed.
If the operator did not sselect and speed that was adequate, as soon as the stoves hot air plenum reached a preset temperature, a snap swich closed and turned the fan on high speed until the stoves temp dropped back down.
The system used by Whitfield in these older units was just too busy with too many functions taxing the controls.
As the heat output knob was rotated to a higher setting it gave the fan speed controller more to work with.
So on number1 setting you had X and as you increased the fuel feed the fan could go to Y
Sort of hokie but when new it worked fine.
Snowy
pete324rocket
Feeling the Heat
Capacitor in the chopper circuit maybe? They don't like heat,prone to problems...and would definitely be part of that picture.
Thanks to you all for your great input.Snowy could you tell me which of the 3 caps on the control board would have the ajustment pot.I have 3 in the lower right coner of the control board.Thanks again to all.
Snowy Rivers
Minister of Fire
Not sure, mine are internal and I have not messed with them.
Once I got the surging figured out, I just left the setting alone.
Snowy
Once I got the surging figured out, I just left the setting alone.
Snowy
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