'06 Magnum Baby Countryside-problems

[Cathymaineah]

'Til this fall, we've not had any trouble w/our Baby Countryside, but now it won't emit any heat. Auger and blower work fine, but the air coming out is barely warm.

We've thoroughly cleaned it twice.
Replaced the door gasket/rope.
Hired a "pro" who cleaned it, adjusted the draft and serviced it.
Tried 4 different brands of pellets.

I'd sure appreciate your ideas on what we should try next.

 

[imacman]

List the brands of pellets you've tried. Also, what is the temp where you are?

Suggestion: Put your location in your name heading, and the stove make, model, & yr. in your signature.

Welcome to the forum (insanity)!

EDIT...OK, I see it ....Cathy in Maine ah.

 

[Cathymaineah]

Thanks,imacman. Still learning when it comes to forums and nothing's easy when you're 67 (handy excuse, eh?).
Current temp. is 30.
Not sure where the signature part goes, but the stove is an '06 Magnum Baby Countryside;no model #-it's called a Biomass corn/wood pellet stove.
Forgot the other brands of pellets, but the most recent were Oakanagun (sp) and McFeeters.

 

[ChandlerR]

Hi Cathy! Welcome to the Forum! I have a 2006 Baby as well so maybe I can help. A couple of questions. Do you have it hooked up to a thermostat? What heat level are you running it at? It sounds to me like it's running on low fire. I take it everything else is working normally?

Chan

 

[DexterDay]

Does your fuel/pellets build up (pile up) in the burn pot??

How often do you have to shut down or empty the burn pot?

A low airflow through the pot will cause a pellet build up (an issue MOST BABY'S have) and a lower temp flame. Increasing the air (mods) will increase the flame temp, while also ejecting the ash and keeping the stove running for days without touching the pot.

 

[jrsdws]

I'm curious if the "pro" made any changes to the Tri-Mode Module Chip. He could've moved it over to a lower feed setting as this is how they come as default from the factory.

(broken link removed to http://www.americanenergysystems.com/Stock/LibraryFiles/T-0009TechBPlacementofTri-ModeModuleChip_TMC_.pdf)

 

[Cathymaineah]

Hi Cathy! Welcome to the Forum! I have a 2006 Baby as well so maybe I can help. A couple of questions. Do you have it hooked up to a thermostat? What heat level are you running it at? It sounds to me like it's running on low fire. I take it everything else is working normally?

Chan

Hi Chan-Thanks so much for answering! I couldn't read the replies 'til we got home from the hospital today.
We are running it at #3, All else seems ok,but we're kind of defeating the purpose by running a stove and not getting any heat.

 

[Cathymaineah]

Does your fuel/pellets build up (pile up) in the burn pot??

How often do you have to shut down or empty the burn pot?

A low airflow through the pot will cause a pellet build up (an issue MOST BABY'S have) and a lower temp flame. Increasing the air (mods) will increase the flame temp, while also ejecting the ash and keeping the stove running for days without touching the pot.

Hi Dexter-thanks for answering. It's very appreciated. My husband shuts it down every night and empties the pot every day. We are having a pellet build up now and he said the air flow is poor. We bought a shop vac today and hope to use it on Sunday, to blow out the air intake, something the "pro" didn't do. After spending $100 for his tinkering, we're right back where we started from. There is absolutely no help around here re. trained pellet stove people, so we're on our own...and extremely technically challenged.

 

[Cathymaineah]

I'm curious if the "pro" made any changes to the Tri-Mode Module Chip. He could've moved it over to a lower feed setting as this is how they come as default from the factory.

(broken link removed to http://www.americanenergysystems.com/Stock/LibraryFiles/T-0009TechBPlacementofTri-ModeModuleChip_TMC_.pdf)

Thank you, JR! Not sure if he did anything to that chip or not;it's actually acting exactly the same as it acted before he :fixed" it...or should I say, "fixed us."

 

[jrsdws]

The file I attached gives instruction with pictures to make sure the chip is in the right place. Just make sure the stove is unplugged before doing this. If it's acting the same as before the "fix", then he didn't likely change this anyway.

Do you get any blinking light error codes or does it stay running? My Baby is a picky little thing and it'll trip the #2 blinky (vacuum error) if things are just a little out of sort.

Does the flame look the same as in the past or is it lazy and orange in appearance now?

A few things that you can check out:

1. Make sure the air intake is unobstructed. Sometimes cobwebs, dirt, leaves, and almost anything can clog this up. No damper setting changes will matter if this is the case. Open the ashpan door and remove the
pan. You will see a small cover that can be removed with a flat screwdrive. Pry that off and you should be able so see all of the way through to daylight. This is a pretty good place to clean from, also.
2. Make sure all of the holes in the burn pot (especially the bottom 1/3 of it) are open and clean
3. Make sure the heat exchange tubes are cleaned really well. Build up of ash or soot will act as an insulator and effect the heat exchange.
4. Looking inside from the door to the very upper left and right hand corners...slightly beyond the tubes...you will see a hole on each side. This is the exhaust path. Please make sure these are clear and not plugged
with ash.
5. Open the right side door panel on the stove. Right about in the center there is a square cover with another small round cover that can be pryed out. Remove it and look inside to inspect and clean the exhaust
blower fan. Any ash build up in there will cut down your air flow and cause poor burn.
6. If your able, clean the entire exhaust vent system. This is one of the top suspects for your problem.

Ok...that's a good start and should be simple enough. Let's see if we hit on anything there before moving on.

 

[DexterDay]

The file I attached gives instruction with pictures to make sure the chip is in the right place. Just make sure the stove is unplugged before doing this. If it's acting the same as before the "fix", then he didn't likely change this anyway.

Do you get any blinking light error codes or does it stay running? My Baby is a picky little thing and it'll trip the #2 blinky (vacuum error) if things are just a little out of sort.

Does the flame look the same as in the past or is it lazy and orange in appearance now?

A few things that you can check out:

1. Make sure the air intake is unobstructed. Sometimes cobwebs, dirt, leaves, and almost anything can clog this up. No damper setting changes will matter if this is the case. Open the ashpan door and remove the
pan. You will see a small cover that can be removed with a flat screwdrive. Pry that off and you should be able so see all of the way through to daylight. This is a pretty good place to clean from, also.
2. Make sure all of the holes in the burn pot (especially the bottom 1/3 of it) are open and clean
3. Make sure the heat exchange tubes are cleaned really well. Build up of ash or soot will act as an insulator and effect the heat exchange.
4. Looking inside from the door to the very upper left and right hand corners...slightly beyond the tubes...you will see a hole on each side. This is the exhaust path. Please make sure these are clear and not plugged
with ash.
5. Open the right side door panel on the stove. Right about in the center there is a square cover with another small round cover that can be pryed out. Remove it and look inside to inspect and clean the exhaust
blower fan. Any ash build up in there will cut down your air flow and cause poor burn.
6. If your able, clean the entire exhaust vent system. This is one of the top suspects for your problem.

Ok...that's a good start and should be simple enough. Let's see if we hit on anything there before moving on.

Well said....

Once you have done ALL of the above (and do it ALL) if that doesnt get you burning well, there are a few Mods that can be done. They enable you to burn for a couple/few days to a week without touching the pot.

A good burning stove shouldn't need the pot emptied daily. This means you have to little air and cant.combust the pellets fast enough.

 

[Don2222]

Hello

Many of those 2006 stoves when sold were setup by default to burn corn. If you are burning wood pellets then you need the modifications to burn wood pellets.

1. Set jumper timing on back of control panel for wood pellets.
2. Use the wood pellet burn pot or block upper 2 rows of holes on the corn pot.
3. Install the upgraded MF3650 Exhaust blower and use the hi 105 CFM leads - Black and White. Leave the Red taped and not connected.

Then you will be Good-2-Go

If you need any parts, PC (Private Conversation) me and give me your email.

 

[DexterDay]

Hello

Many of those 2006 stoves when sold were setup by default to burn corn. If you are burning wood pellets then you need the modifications to burn wood pellets.

1. Set jumper timing on back of control panel for wood pellets.
2. Use the wood pellet burn pot or block upper 2 rows of holes on the corn pot.
3. Install the upgraded MF3650 Exhaust blower and use the hi 105 CFM leads - Black and White. Leave the Red taped and not connected.

Then you will be Good-2-Go

If you need any parts, PC (Private Conversation) me and give me your email.

That will work, but cleaning needs to take place first.

Also the Air wash Mod and upper 2 rows of pot holes will work, instead of High CFM blower. Saves money

 

[ChandlerR]

A few weeks ago, a woman wrote and asked basically the same question. A bunch of us gave her some advise but we never heard from her again. Anyways, I agree with Dexter...if you're burning on #3, you should have plenty of heat. You've got an airflow issue. I'm on setting #3 right now and my stoves pushing 190 degree air out. Even on low, it hovers around 125 degrees. I wrote before about the path of the air in this stove that might help you understand it better. Here's what I wrote;

Heather, I still say this is an airflow issue. If you look at the stove, picture where the combustion air travels. It comes in through the intake where the damper is.. From there it goes to the bottom of the burn pot chamber where it's drawn in by the combustion blower. If you remove the burn pot, you'll see two square holes with the metal from the holes bent out at the top. The air is drawn through the burn pot and up into the fire or combustion chamber. There is a "horseshoe" on the back wall of the combustion chamber. It has two openings on the bottom on either side of the upside down "U" and two slots way up high in the corners next to the two outside tubes. The Horseshoe is connected to the exhaust (combustion) blower and from there, out to the exhaust pipe. Somewhere in that whole mess, is a blockage, most likely as a result of the cleaning. Ash was dislodged and most likely moved to a spot where it's blocking the airflow on startup. I have read in the Magnum forums that sometimes ash builds up on top of the horseshoe. It's impossible to get at it. Tapping the horseshoe might dislodge it. Running a small tube connected to a shop vac might get it. The only way to really clean it is to drill a small hole on the side of the horseshoe, either blow into it or run a small tube through it, then tap it and install a pipe plug. If you want, I'll try to find the article on the website. I read that one guy didn't want to drill so her removed the stove and brought it outside where he tipped it on its side where all the ash fell out and he was able to vacuum it up and the stove ran better than new. I've had my stove for five years, torn it down to the last bolt, cleaned it and reassembled it...never did the horseshoe thing but that said, it runs great. I have to get up at 5am tomorrow so I'll look for the article tomorrow night if I can.​

Oh, your damper is open, right?​

Chan​

 

[Cathymaineah]

Oh boy, it's beginning to sound like we're in waaaay over our heads. We'll try a few of these great ideas tomorrow or Tuesday. but in the meantime, does anyone know of a person we could hire to try some of these technical fixes in the Central Maine (Waterville) area?
We are so technology-challenged, we're like babes in the woods w/this stuff.

 

[ChandlerR]

Cathy, there are a bunch of members in Maine. Hopefully someone will have a suggestion. Do you know anyone with a pellet stove? Word of mouth is the way to go. The thing about pellet stoves is they're not like a furnace where you run them all year and have it serviced once a year. They require some maintenance and if you're not handy, you're pretty much at the mercy of the technicians in your area and as you've found out, it can be costly. We'll help you as much as we can....maybe by just agreeing or disagreeing to what the techs say.

Good luck!

Chan

 

[Cathymaineah]

THANKS a MILLION, all of you. Your patience is so appreciated! We've had a family member in the hospital (while also trying to deal w/the stove), so it's been a hit or miss project. DH bought a shop vac and this morning did all the cleaning you folks recommended and it WORKED! Hallelujah! He vacuumed out everything he'd previously cleaned, but THIS time, he also followed your instructions, jrsdws, right to a "t."
He'd never cleaned the exhaust path (#4 on your list) and THAT seems to have made all the difference. He started it up on a #5 setting and it's heating just like when new.
You folks have saved us a ton of money and we appreciate it tremendously. I'm going to keep this forum handy. These two old retirees can't thank you enough!

 

[imacman]

Glad to hear you "fixed" the issue. BTW, I hope DH had a drywall bag or good HEPA filter in the vac....ash is VERY fine and will clog a regular filter or bypass right through it. It makes a BIG mess if you're vacuuming the stove and not paying attention to the vacuum. Know of a friend who had to clean her whole downstairs of black soot.

 

[jrsdws]

Yipppeee Way to go!! Keep her clean and she'll keep you warm.

 

[Cathymaineah]

Glad to hear you "fixed" the issue. BTW, I hope DH had a drywall bag or good HEPA filter in the vac....ash is VERY fine and will clog a regular filter or bypass right through it. It makes a BIG mess if you're vacuuming the stove and not paying attention to the vacuum. Know of a friend who had to clean her whole downstairs of black soot.

Ah, the things one learns after you get old enough to know everthing, eh Imac? Right now that's exactly what DH is going...scrubbing the entire downstairs. Wish I could help him, but health issues prevent it. I showed him your post and he said, "Next time, I'll know better."

 

[DexterDay]

I have a Good video of my Best Friends Baby Countryside burning that I need.to upload to YouTube.

If I get a chance tonight. I will uplaod and show you how his Burns with the airwash mod and burn pot mod. He goes almost a week without touching the Burn pot. With the Mode, more air is directed to the burn pot and ash is ejected and pellets are fully combusted (not just tiny little black things that look like Rat chit)

The more air, the better'r it runs

Glad your up and burning agajn

 

[ChandlerR]

Dexter, I would like to see that too. I did modify my burn pot but I have not closed off the air wash all the way. I also think that I will weld in the corners of the burn pot so the air doesn't take a short cut around the pot. As you say, the air needs to go through the burn pot for it to work properly.

 

[DexterDay]

Dexter, I would like to see that too. I did modify my burn pot but I have not closed off the air wash all the way. I also think that I will weld in the corners of the burn pot so the air doesn't take a short cut around the pot. As you say, the air needs to go through the burn pot for it to work properly.

Here it is... Its on level 4 after start up. You can see he only has a little of each side of his air wash covered. The holes in the pot (welded) help a lot more.

This gives you an idea of airflow in his stove though (barnyard840x) and it throws MUCH more heat and can go about a week (maybe a little longer) without opening the door at all. He also added the Ignitor last year.

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[ChandlerR]

Thanks Dexter! Mine looks like that. I welded in the top three rows on the pot and wonder if I should weld one more row. On high, I have seen 300 degree air coming out of my tubes. The next time I open the stove, I will cut back on the air wash a bit. I think welding the corners of the burn pot will do a lot too. When I do it, I'll post the results.