Wjhitfield advantage 2 -- delayed combustion fan engagement when fire started

[donald]

I have had a Whitfield Advantage 2 since 1989; do recommended clean/oil on regular basis and have had only one major repair (motherboard replacement about 9 years ago). However, recently when starting a fire and pushing on the start switch ---- only the house fan (convection) comes on immediately, the combustion blower does not come on for 3-4 minutes. To get the fire going, I have to leave the door slightly ajar to keep the fire burnining until the blower kicks in. Once the combustion blower comes on, I shut the door and the stove works as normal; also there are no shut-down issues. Thoughts on this problem would be appreciated. Also looking for a Whitfield service person in Victoria, BC area.

 

[Gscott]

I'm having the same issue, did you get a response?

I've only had this stove (WP2 with black control board, two knobs and red button start switch) for a few months. My combustion blower used to come on immediately, but now takes a min or two to come on.

 

[donald]

I never had any responses to the question. However, I did a thorough clean and check of all the electrical connections to ensure that they were tight. One connection was loose on the snapswitch just above the combusion blower when it was jiggled so I resecured it. Since then the blower either comes on within 30 seconds or immediately; the colder the day the slightly longer to come on - don't know why.

 

[pkitfox]

I never had any responses to the question. However, I did a thorough clean and check of all the electrical connections to ensure that they were tight. One connection was loose on the snapswitch just above the combusion blower when it was jiggled so I resecured it. Since then the blower either comes on within 30 seconds or immediately; the colder the day the slightly longer to come on - don't know why.

You would think that a combustion motor snap switch would be used to shut the blower down after everything cools down and the fire is out. This would be on a normal shutdown where the combustion blower runs well after the fire is out. I would guess during normal operation that the control board would bypass the switch for a certain amount of time, giving the fire a chance to heat the snap switch up. After the start up sequence has ended, power to the combustion blower would be supervised by the snap switch.

I did not look a a drawing, I am just guessing how it works. If there are two wires on the combustion blower side of the snap switch, I bet that is how it works. Cleaning the connections, like you did, would be the logical place to start.

Good luck.