Saranac combustion blower going on and off

[Angi]

Hi,
Me and my husband bought last year a used Saranac pellet stove. It's been running great but the combustion blower is now intermittent. I am not sure if it's a high temp. switch problem or the blower itself? It's happening kind of fast, sometimes it goes off for couple seconds, sometimes more. Anybody has any idea or had similar problems?

 

[kykel]

Hi,
Me and my husband bought last year a used Saranac pellet stove. It's been running great but the combustion blower is now intermittent. I am not sure if it's a high temp. switch problem or the blower itself? It's happening kind of fast, sometimes it goes off for couple seconds, sometimes more. Anybody has any idea or had similar problems?

I had that stove and started having that same problem. The conbustion blower was getting so hot that it was shuting off. It was so hot that u couldnt touch it. I called B A C sales. They sent me a new blower that is supposed to withstand the high heat. Try running the stove with both side doors open. This worked for me. It let the heat inside escape and helped the fan run cooler. I dont know why the inside of the stove started to get so hot. I didnt have the problem until the third year of use. I cant say if the new blower worked because I bought a new stove and never got to put it through a good test.

 

[Angi]

I didn't mention it is an insert, it only has one door in the front. I think it is some kind of electrical problem, when you shake the wires in the back it seems to fail (or work). I looked online to see if you can buy new wires but no luck.

 

[Angi]

By the way, I have been reading a lot here for the past year, and learning about pellet stoves, just never said anything. I am so pleased that people with a lot of experience share their knowledge with the beginners.

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

This is the combustion blower and not the convection blower correct?

If wiggling the wires causes the problem I would power the stove off and when it shuts down and is cool unplug it.

After it is unplugged check and if needed adjust the connections, the motor gets its power through two spade lugs via a pressure fit. Frequently the connector isn't fully seated or the spades do not make good contact with the other part of the connector this can be corrected by applying a little pressure to close the gap the spade has to be inserted into.

While the combustion blower can thermal off it requires other things to usually cause it.

The convection blower can also do the thermal routine, this usually happens if you forget to lubricate it.

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

The primary cause of a combustion blower thermaling off is a partially blocked vent, a lot of ash buildup on the combustion blowers impeller and in the cavity it sits in. Also a change in vent resistance caused by a dip in the venting.

At approximated 475 degrees the combustion fan will shut down until the temperature drops. When the combustion fan stops the stove usually displays a blinking #2 light indicating a loss of vacuum.

If your convection blower thermals off usually the high temperature snap disc cuts fuel to the burn pot and after a while the convection blower will restart to bring the stove to a normal out of fuel cold shutdown..

 

[Angi]

I am talking about the blower that blows hot air into the room. (sorry I don't know if it's convection or combustion). We checked all the connection they seem to be ok. And everything it's lubbed. The way the wires are right know seems to be ok, but I bet it will act up again.

 

[Don2222]

This is the combustion blower and not the convection blower correct?

If wiggling the wires causes the problem I would power the stove off and when it shuts down and is cool unplug it.

After it is unplugged check and if needed adjust the connections, the motor gets its power through two spade lugs via a pressure fit. Frequently the connector isn't fully seated or the spades do not make good contact with the other part of the connector this can be corrected by applying a little pressure to close the gap the spade has to be inserted into.

While the combustion blower can thermal off it requires other things to usually cause it.

The convection blower can also do the thermal routine, this usually happens if you forget to lubricate it.

Right on Smokey, Those spade lug connections can go bad! My stove was dead as a door nail before last season, I pulled the spade lugs off on all the safety switches and re-seated them and the stove has worked fine ever since!
To be certain you can pop down Home Depot and purchase new spade lugs, cut the ones off the blower and put new ones on. It is easy. 1st just try pulling them apart and then putting them back together. That may work just fine. I pulled one off a stove I rebuilt and it pulled right off the wire! So that was a bad connection right there!

 

[Angi]

I have to mention that the stove never shuts down, there is no blinking light, sometimes it only stops for 2 seconds then starts again. We can hear it going on and off. My husband will try to change the little spades that go into the motor.

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

I am talking about the blower that blows hot air into the room. (sorry I don't know if it's convection or combustion). We checked all the connection they seem to be ok. And everything it's lubbed. The way the wires are right know seems to be ok, but I bet it will act up again.

That is the convection blower. They need to be lubricated every 6 months.

I can't speak to the insert's internals but there is also a snorkel that places the convection fan further away from the firebox.

You also have to make certain the air intake areas for the convection blower aren't blocked or that the impeller is clean to allow the proper volume of air to reach the heat exchanger.

If the stove is on other than heat setting 1 eventually the stove will go out on the high limit and the snap disc will need to be manually reset.

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

While I'm rambling on here, there was an instance where the high limit switch was too low a temperature rating which was leading to too many high limit shut downs.

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

Don I was never a fan of crimp on connectors. But that is what we have to deal with. I've seen those spade jobs that just miss the other half of the connector and be quite loose.

 

[kykel]

I didn't mention it is an insert, it only has one door in the front. I think it is some kind of electrical problem, when you shake the wires in the back it seems to fail (or work). I looked online to see if you can buy new wires but no luck.

After reading other posts I noticed I didnt mention my problem was with the convection blower( blows air into room) and now I see you have the insert, I had the free standing. Hope the new connections fix the problem

 

[smwilliamson]

CONTROL BOARD.....

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

CONTROL BOARD.....

Could be, but how high on your list would that be Scott?

That blower does have thermal protection and is in a high ambient temperature zone.