Englander 2200 pellet stove vacuum loss

  • Active since 1995, Hearth.com is THE place on the internet for free information and advice about wood stoves, pellet stoves and other energy saving equipment.

    We strive to provide opinions, articles, discussions and history related to Hearth Products and in a more general sense, energy issues.

    We promote the EFFICIENT, RESPONSIBLE, CLEAN and SAFE use of all fuels, whether renewable or fossil.

Jared33

New Member
Dec 23, 2018
10
Virginia
I am on my second englander pellet stove in two weeks. The first was constantly shutting down on vacuum loss, and after calling their customer service and never getting hold of anybody, we returned it to lowes and got a new one. After hooking this one up we get the same error message. Has anyone experienced this amount of frustration with this error code on this stove? I am at a loss with what to do at this point, as I have tried every single thing I can think of...thanks in advance.
 
What is the configuration of your exhaust vent? Can you hear the exhaust blower run? Very odd you would get 2 new stoves with the same issue.
 
What is the configuration of your exhaust vent? Can you hear the exhaust blower run? Very odd you would get 2 new stoves with the same issue.
Hey Ssyko,he inadvertently posted 2 times,perhaps a mod can remove this one,please check the other post.
 
I am on my second englander pellet stove in two weeks. The first was constantly shutting down on vacuum loss, and after calling their customer service and never getting hold of anybody, we returned it to lowes and got a new one. After hooking this one up we get the same error message. Has anyone experienced this amount of frustration with this error code on this stove? I am at a loss with what to do at this point, as I have tried every single thing I can think of...thanks in advance.

I'm having the exact same issue. New stove from Lowes. A Englander 55-SHPCB120. Runs through the start-up cycle without a hitch. But gives the "Loss of vacuum shutting down" roughly 12 minutes (give or take) in to the cycle.

I'm at a loss. Here's what I've done and know:

1. The printed date above the serial number on the back of the stove is: 11/18
2. My 3" Duravent flue is in this sequence: Appliance adapter, T-clean-out, up three feet straight, 45-elbow, up 1 foot left, 90-elbow, through the wall straight (1 foot), vent terminal Note: During start-up sequence I have very good venting. The pipe warms quickly after there is a good flame and I can feel a strong exhaust exiting at the terminal outside.
3. I've tried automatic mode and manual modes (M1, M5, M9). All roughly follow this time frame: 4 to 5 minutes I see live embers from the pellets, 7 minutes (give or take) a flame starts and continues to grow stronger. At roughly 12- minutes the exhaust blower seems to hesitate, the flame diminishes and several seconds later the "Loss of vacuum" message appears and the stove shuts down.
4. I've cleaned the vacuum port (right of the burner pot) with toothpick (No luck)
5. I checked the vacuum hose from burn chamber to vacuum switch. Added a clamp to one end that was missing a clamp. (No luck)
6. Re-seated the connections on the control panel. Just in case there was a loose fitting. (No luck)
7. Ran the diagnostics and all component tested good--including the open-door vacuum test, etc.
8. Isolated the vacuum switch and jumpered the two leads to give a false "good" vacuum signal to the control board and SUCCESS! The stove ran normally through the startup. Had the little (what appears to be) exhaust blower hiccup at about 12 minutes. But continued to run quite well till I shut it down at 30 minutes.

I can't run the stove with the vacuum jumpered. (not safe!)

I would think it odd that the vacuum switch could be bad on a new stove. Something is clearly up regarding the vacuum. I don't think it is an over temp since that is not the error message and it errors always at the same point in the cycle. And I wouldn't think it would continue to run normally even with the vacuum switch bypassed.

This is my first pellet stove so don't know what is normal. Does the exhaust blower change speeds when switching from startup to normal run mode.

Thanks in advance.
 
Man there is alot of cb120’s with the same issues. Im curious obout what nipple the vac tube is on, maybe incorrect from the factory (or a monday friday stove). You could try switching the position and see if that makes a difference.
 
Not seeing what they have in it for a vacuum switch, I’d agree with Ssyko, either that or they have the wires running through Normally Closed instead of Normally Open?

Eric
 
Man there is alot of cb120’s with the same issues. Im curious obout what nipple the vac tube is on, maybe incorrect from the factory (or a monday friday stove). You could try switching the position and see if that makes a difference.

Thanks. I haven't tried that. The vacuum switch has 2 ports with only one in use. The vac line is connected to the white nipple. I'll give the other a try.

Also, called Englander tech support this morning. Caught them a 8 AM eastern time. Only about a 5-minute wait. Related all the info I listed here and they suspect a bad vacuum switch. Took only a couple of minutes for the tech to offer the replacement. But, unless they received a bad batch of switches, it still doesn't make sense. To me they came to the "bad switch" conclusion pretty fast. Almost like they had seen this before!

Will give your suggestion a try. Will probably have to move one of the switch connections to center position. The switch has three with one not used.

If that doesn't work, will wait for the new vacuum switch to arrive. And go from there.

Thanks again.
 
Let us know how you make out! This is the 3rd or 4th i think since sept.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Mt Bob
Boy not kidding. Lol
 
I'm having the exact same issue. New stove from Lowes. A Englander 55-SHPCB120. Runs through the start-up cycle without a hitch. But gives the "Loss of vacuum shutting down" roughly 12 minutes (give or take) in to the cycle.

I'm at a loss. Here's what I've done and know:

1. The printed date above the serial number on the back of the stove is: 11/18
2. My 3" Duravent flue is in this sequence: Appliance adapter, T-clean-out, up three feet straight, 45-elbow, up 1 foot left, 90-elbow, through the wall straight (1 foot), vent terminal Note: During start-up sequence I have very good venting. The pipe warms quickly after there is a good flame and I can feel a strong exhaust exiting at the terminal outside.
3. I've tried automatic mode and manual modes (M1, M5, M9). All roughly follow this time frame: 4 to 5 minutes I see live embers from the pellets, 7 minutes (give or take) a flame starts and continues to grow stronger. At roughly 12- minutes the exhaust blower seems to hesitate, the flame diminishes and several seconds later the "Loss of vacuum" message appears and the stove shuts down.
4. I've cleaned the vacuum port (right of the burner pot) with toothpick (No luck)
5. I checked the vacuum hose from burn chamber to vacuum switch. Added a clamp to one end that was missing a clamp. (No luck)
6. Re-seated the connections on the control panel. Just in case there was a loose fitting. (No luck)
7. Ran the diagnostics and all component tested good--including the open-door vacuum test, etc.
8. Isolated the vacuum switch and jumpered the two leads to give a false "good" vacuum signal to the control board and SUCCESS! The stove ran normally through the startup. Had the little (what appears to be) exhaust blower hiccup at about 12 minutes. But continued to run quite well till I shut it down at 30 minutes.

I can't run the stove with the vacuum jumpered. (not safe!)

I would think it odd that the vacuum switch could be bad on a new stove. Something is clearly up regarding the vacuum. I don't think it is an over temp since that is not the error message and it errors always at the same point in the cycle. And I wouldn't think it would continue to run normally even with the vacuum switch bypassed.

This is my first pellet stove so don't know what is normal. Does the exhaust blower change speeds when switching from startup to normal run mode.

Thanks in advance.
I talked to someone finally at tech support and they had me bypass the vacuum switch and that solved the problem. It was a simple procedure as I have become very familiar with the vacuum system on mine. Took less than a minute to do and stove works great.
 
Ok you bypassed the switch, they sending you a new switch or do you have to by one?
 
Ok you bypassed the switch, they sending you a new switch or do you have to by one?

Want to add a quick follow up while I wait for my replacement vacuum switch to arrive....

I tried moving the vacuum line and electrical connections around on the switch to see if the other side (black) would respond. Results were from "Failed Start" to a really, and I mean a REALLY hard BACKFIRE!!!! The latter wasn't just a puff. It blew the cap clean off the clean out tee. Surprised it didn't blow the glass out of the stove door.

I have everything back to the way it came from the factory (Vacuum line to the white and the middle electrical connection left unused!)

While the backfire could have been of my own making (I lazily didn't re-hook the OAK back up while I was testing.), I think there "may" be something else going on. To me it seems the exhaust blower either stops or spins down at about the time I think the stove switches from "Start Up" to normal "Run" mode. That's where I've been getting the loss of vacuum error. What I think happened when it did the flashback was when the exhaust blower stopped the auger kept pumping pellets to the burn pot. Without the proper air going through the burn pot, there was smoke/gas build up and then lots of excitement!

The vacuum switch is supposed to "OFF" the pellet auger at vacuum loss. By changing the switch configuration for the test the auger kept running with the air flow stopped. I had to manually turn the stove off to get it into shutdown mode.

Englander doesn't give any wiring diagrams of the vacuum switch. The How-to photo for replacing the vacuum switch only shows the switch already disconnected from the wiring and sort-of appears to have the vacuum line hooked to the white nipple. Their directions are basically, "take it apart and then put it back together the way you found it."

After this, I would be very uncomfortable running the stove with the vacuum switch bypassed--even if Englander support instructed me to do so. In the future I think I'm going to use email to their tech support instead of phone so I have a "paper trail" of their recommendations.

Glad I kept the wood stove! It's an Englander Summer's Heat furnace that is tied in to our central air and we love it. Honest firewood suppliers are getting hard to find in my area. So we thought we would go with the pellet stove this year. Beginning to look like that was a bad decision on our part.
 
Ok you bypassed the switch, they sending you a new switch or do you have to by one?
Its still hooked up to the vacuum switch just have the plug and hose going into different ports. It has worked perfectly since then. Not really sure why they come not working.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Mt Bob
Lol good now you’ll have a spare;)
 
Its still hooked up to the vacuum switch just have the plug and hose going into different ports. It has worked perfectly since then. Not really sure why they come not working.

Jared33, is your working configuration hooked up with the vacuum line going to the white or black port? Thanks.
 
Off the phone with Englander support again today. Part did not arrive. No response to email. Looks like part of the problem was my serial number. One of the numbers wasn't a clean stamp. I mistook an '8' as a '3'. So my part was sent (same day I talked to them two weeks ago) to a lucky customer elsewhere with the same first name and last name beginning same as mine. What are the odds! So, the take away is to be sure you have the serial number right when you call in. Everything seems to key off of that. And make sure you verify they have the correct shipping info before you hang up.

Today the tech was very helpful. Patiently got me re-registered with my warranty using the correct serial number and re-processed the vacuum switch shipment.

I mentioned I had heard about stoves being shipped with incorrect electrical and vacuum hookups being sent from the factory. That they were having to have customers re-configure the vacuum switch hookup. He adamantly denied this was the case and verified that the correct (from the factory) hookup to this model's vacuum switch is as follows:

Vacuum line attaches to the white nipple.
Blue electrical lines attach to the left-most and right-most of the three possible connections. The middle is left unused.

Will update if this resolves the problem. Meanwhile, time to order another load of wood for the backup stove!!
 
PROBLEM SOLVED!

Received the vacuum switch on Monday that they sent Friday. It did NOT fix the problem. Called Englander again Monday afternoon. Gave up waiting.

Called again today - 8:00AM EST. Short hold. Told this was a new control panel design on this stove. Every time this tech had seen it, he forwarded the customer to their top support person who handles this issue.

The problem and solution are:

The Problem: They asked about my chimney and air intake setup. Asked if the shutdown after the vacuum loss was always at the same spot in the startup. Was told I needed a more aggressive exhaust fan setting to handle the transition from startup to run mode.

The Solution: an update to the programming of the control panel.

He emailed directions and a small Control Panel update file. I copied the file to a USB drive. With the system off, plugged the drive into the USB port on the control panel. Tapped the "On." Waited for the "OK" to display (less than a second later). Turned the stove "Off." Unplugged the USB. That was it.

Problem resolved. No messing with the wiring or anything. The vacuum switch was NOT the problem.

Guess the USB programmable control panel might be a good idea. My chimney and OAK were to spec but still didn't give enough natural draft-- I guess. The programmable component of the design allows Englander to easily compensate.

The takeaway is this: Call Englander early as possible in the day. And make sure the chimney and OAK are good. I found their support to be friendly and helpful once I had them on the line.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Mt Bob
Great I wish they had this USB update stuff when I had my Englander. I ended up giving it away cuz they could never figure out what was wrong with it. But before it went bad and about five years thing worked great. Glad you got it fixed
 
  • Like
Reactions: Mt Bob
PROBLEM SOLVED!

Received the vacuum switch on Monday that they sent Friday. It did NOT fix the problem. Called Englander again Monday afternoon. Gave up waiting.

Called again today - 8:00AM EST. Short hold. Told this was a new control panel design on this stove. Every time this tech had seen it, he forwarded the customer to their top support person who handles this issue.

The problem and solution are:

The Problem: They asked about my chimney and air intake setup. Asked if the shutdown after the vacuum loss was always at the same spot in the startup. Was told I needed a more aggressive exhaust fan setting to handle the transition from startup to run mode.

The Solution: an update to the programming of the control panel.

He emailed directions and a small Control Panel update file. I copied the file to a USB drive. With the system off, plugged the drive into the USB port on the control panel. Tapped the "On." Waited for the "OK" to display (less than a second later). Turned the stove "Off." Unplugged the USB. That was it.

Problem resolved. No messing with the wiring or anything. The vacuum switch was NOT the problem.

Guess the USB programmable control panel might be a good idea. My chimney and OAK were to spec but still didn't give enough natural draft-- I guess. The programmable component of the design allows Englander to easily compensate.

The takeaway is this: Call Englander early as possible in the day. And make sure the chimney and OAK are good. I found their support to be friendly and helpful once I had them on the line.
Awesome!stay warm!