Whitfield Profile 30 FS issues

[Jim Comfort]

I recently bought a used Whitfield for my shop, and have had a few issues with it, although it had been working ok anyway once running.

The first issue was that the control board needed replaced, and I got that taken care of, the installers came out and got me up and running, life's good.

But the strange thing was that during the start up phase, it'd blow my GFI plug after about a minute and a half (guessing that coincides with the manual saying that after 90 seconds, it goes into run mode?), and when I'd reset the GFI, the unit would feed more pellets for the startup, then repeat. But once the fire got going, it'd stop tripping the GFI. Guessing that it was something electrical in the stove, I first went to look at the photo eye. As I was pulling the connectors off the eye, one of my connectors broke from the live side of the wire. I tried a jury rig, but without much slack in the feed wire, I'm not sure of my connection, but when I tried firing it up, it runs, but no pellet feed.

So, two questions. Is the auger feed associated with the photo eye being operable, and 2) can I get slack in the feed wire enough to just use wire nuts to connect them?

 

[Jim Comfort]

An update. Got the cover off the photo eye housing enough to get the wire stripped and seated in the connector, and the auger started working again, so assuming that the photo eye is, indeed, associated with the auger. I still would like to use wire nuts for a more permanent solution, but at least it's back up.

It still exhibited the same issue tripping the GFI after about 45 seconds into the startup phase. It does it over and over until the fire gets going, then it stops tripping the GFI and runs fine. It only trips it during the startup.

 

[Ssyko]

Hi Jim welcome to the forums. I’m surprised Don222 hasn’t piped in on your delema. Here is a link for your reading pleasure that may help you out

Whitfield Photo Eye Bypass Surgery! Anyone try this? See pics! It works!

Hello This Whitfield Profile 20 Photo eye was tired and the lens was burned. Since it provides proof of fire, the stove would not stay on once it lit!. This pellet stove would start and smoke but just keep shutting down! A new photo eye is $64.95 and needs to be cleaned all the time and then if...

www.hearth.com

 

[Jim Comfort]

So, another update. I cleaned the stove the other day, and when I went to start it up again, I plugged it into my only non-GFI circuit in the shop, which was a switched outlet for my shop lights, one of 4 outlets on the switch. Even with the other shop lights plugged in, startup went fine, and didn't trip the breaker. But two days later when I cleaned it again and tried starting it up on the GFI circuit, it tripped the GFI plug again, repeatedly, every 45 seconds or so, until the fire got good and started, then it stopped tripping.

My guess at this point is a) bad GFI circuit, which is a possibility, or b) stove has a draw in the startup process that demands too much from the GFI,but not enough to trip an actual breaker. I don't want to run it with an extension cord plugged into my light circuit, but it's a pain having to keep hitting reset on the GFI and have the stove feed a boatload of pellets in the startup process as it starts over and over until it fnally takes off, then blazes like crazy with all the pellets in the pot.

 

[Ssyko]

Gfi is probably ok, the stove draws a lot of current when the igniter is in operation. Most manufacturers do not recommend a GFI for the stoves because of that.