Whitfield Advantage T2 sn 69004 has odd blower motor symptom

[Snowy Rivers]

Just an added note.

I spoke with the folks at the outfit I linked to. These fine people used to sell cube relays (timers) to most of the major Pellet stove manufactures in the business.

The scene changed several years ago when the availability of cheap electronic components became available off shore.

The different manufactures designed their own control boards with most all the functions on a chip and made the whole shooting match easily connected to the stove with a multi pin plug.

These boards were a COST saving manuever only.

The relays are in quantity about $40 each maybe less when large numbers are purchased

The proprietary boards are manufactured for Pennies on the dollar as compared to the solid state industrial relays (on/off timers)

NOW

The cost for the on/off timer in a single item pricing is about $76 and the one shot (startup relay) is $62

These relays can be purchased with either remote Pots to change the timer value or ordered with a Knob/Knobs on top.

To do a very simple, rugged and dependable controler will cost far far less than the $400+++ that many controllers cost.
The timers use either an 8 pin or 11 pin standard socket.

The timers can be mounted inside the chassis of the stove and the adjustable Pot wired up and mounted in a panel that is easily fabricated to fit the original opening in the stove.

For all the stove owners with some electrical experience, repairing your stove can be a snap.

Now as far as any auto light setups, this does not cover that arena.

Spent about 40 minutes on the phone with a fine fellow at the company that sells the relays.

Very knowledgable of his products and their uses.

Hope this helps someone.

Snowy

 

[hogs]

Thanks Guys...

Damn IF ya could only produce these...one wd. think there wd. be a need for something better and more simple ....???

 

[lmjr]

Snowy,

We should get our heads together...this is right up my alley!

I have just recently done what you describe for another application unrelated to pellet stove.

As you have said, even with cost of timers and relays it's still beats cost of manufactured.

I didn't start from scratch though, I located an controller for unrelated application (at liquidation price) and build around it to suit my application.

Anyhow, nice to know someone out there with same interest.

One small obstacle for me now is I lack a pellet unit to test on.

I did look at a Whitfield Advantage II-T yesterday but couldn't come to terms on price.

They where asking $1100. for 20 year old insert, which was a well used unit. My offer was considerably less. We'll see in time what comes of it.

 

[Snowy Rivers]

OMG $1100 Yikes

I paid $200 for my 2T Free standing Saturday before last and it is in great shape.

I just want to be able to have a controler that if something fails I can fix it quick.

The $400 approx tag on a fresh board is not gonna happen here.

The two relays, a rheostat for the room air blower, master on off switch, panel mounted fuse holder and a panel mounted Potentiometer to control the feed motor off time.

The 636 series relay has both on time and off time adjustable

The relay I have chosen has the on time adjustable from .1 to 5 seconds (1.5 to 2 seconds is about right on the Whitfield) the off time is adjustable from .1 to 10 seconds.

The particular relay I am using is set up so the adjustments are via a remote pot.

The off time (burn time) is the HEAT Range selector. The longer the feed is off the lower the fire.

The draft/exhaust fan runs at a continuous speed.

The room air fan on the 2T had some sort of circuitry that would up the room air fan speed if you set the burn rate above a certain point.

The best way is to use the rheostat to run the room air fan and wire in a snap switch that will turn the room air blower on high if the heat exchanger gets above a certain point.

Earth stove did this and it worked well.

Very simple and effective controls.

As I mentioned the changes seen in the controls were not to make the stoves BETTER but instead a cost savings by using a proprietary control that was mad overseas for far less $$$ per stove than the relays.

The Manufs just stuck the $$$$ right in their pockets and left the consumer to suck it up when the boards failed.

My Little Whitfield (Prodigy) has the room air fan being used as a combustion fan too. (small passage from the air plenum goes right into the burn pot.

The fan is controled using a Hall effect sensor on the fan motor to send a speed signal to the board.

This allowed the board to control the fan speed with the heat/fuel setting.

The higher the setting the faster the fan runs.

Thes fans are hard to find and spendy.

This system is fine when its working, but is controled by the board. This whole system can be easily refited to the same sort of relays.
This stove will require setting the fan speed in conjunction with the fuel feed rate more closely.

Simple numbers on the panel that corespond to each other will do fine.

Granted, this sytem is not idiot proof and is not for the non committed user but will be quite nice in the hands if a veteran pellet stove operator.

The beauty is that the feeds, and air supply can be tweeked right into the sweet spot depending on the particular fuel being used.


Snowy