1993 Whitfield Advantage ii-T (iii?)

[Howitzer73]

Hello all,

After reading through numerous threads as well as the service manual I've been chasing down a few problems and have managed to solve a handful as well. One that eludes me is this "surging" of the convection motor as the auger operates. It happens regardless of the state of the stove- warmup, normal run, auger off.

Reading through some posts, I saw that it could be an issue with the "neutral" wiring, so I inspected each part of the electrical system to compare to the tolerances in the service manual. My multimeter is not true RMS, so I know this isn't exact readings but it's what I have to work with. I only have rudimentary knowledge of electrical theory so please bear with me.

Pressure switch- .5 Ohms
Low limit switch- .0L
Air inlet switch- 0000
Firebox Switch- 0000

Here's where the readings get interesting:
Combustion blower-
1- 50v
2- 53v
3-59v
4- 65v
5- 97v

These are decently lower than the service manual, and I don't think the trim adjustment will compensate for a difference of that much. This is the control board I have:

I wasn't able to easily test the convection blower, as the previous owner of the stove removed the Molex plug and butt spliced the wires to the leads on the power bus.

Signs are leading to an issue with the control board, which is what I was not hoping for. My gut tells me there's voltage bleeding through the Auger circuit into the blower speed adjustment.

Oh, and regarding the title of the thread- the serial number is 70249, which is why I think it's a ii-T, but it has a iii door on the front with the singular glass pane. Previous owner upgrade perhaps? Or is this stove an advantage iii?

 

[Howitzer73]

To add to the available information;

When my wife and I bought the stove, It didn't have a damper rod or collar nut and the damper was frozen in place (it still won't close, but I freed up enough to be able to pull the damper all the way open and measure the factory placement of the collar nut). Because I learn things through doing them wrong first, I broke the fitting on the damper that the rod threaded into- I made my own by adding a wing nut on the back. Anyways, it's now a pain to get that side cover off as the rod no longer threads out; instead I have to unscrew the wooden handle and remove the collar nut and guide the side panel off the rod to remove it. Good enough for now, but I assume I'm going to need a new damper at some point. Side tangent over.

I took the covers off the other two trim pots to see where the auger and convection adjustments were set. Auger was at 12:00, but the convection trim was set at 2:00. I also found that convection blower speeds did not sound like they were changing after setting #2. Now I have to put a multimeter on the convection blower to see what the heck is going on with it.

Should I be seeing 110v at setting #5, or does blower speed not effect this reading? If the blower is being driven by a potentiometer, my assumption is that 5 would give me the reading of least resistance.

Would the Convection trim adjustment have any bearing on the fire? My understanding is the convection blower is only circulating room air, right? But when I turned the Convection trim back to 12:00, I started having issues with the flame staying consistent. Or, at least that's when I noticed the flame being inconsistent.

That lead me to observe the auger cycle- it doesn't drop pellets every time the auger runs. It'll sometimes go three or so cycles before pellets fall, and then they dump all at once, disturbing the bed of embers. I've read in another post that this can be attributed to running cheap pellets, which I am... this is currently a bag from Tractor Supply. But, is it possible that there's an obstruction in the auger tube? Is that something that needs to be cleaned when taking the fire brick and baffles out? I'm assuming a bottle brush or something similar might do the trick.

I feel like I'm chasing my tail here, but I also feel like I'm right on the edge of having this stove really dialed in. I've got good air moving through the chamber, with smaller embers wiggling in the grate. I'm planning on adding another 2' of chimney outside to the current 6', to get it to the recommend 8' to help with natural updraft. I've taken the combustion fan apart and cleaned it, oiled it and have a reusable gasket on it. I've replaced the auger motor with an OEM, as the aftermarket on it last season was getting super noisy and actually started causing the entire stove to shut off without a proper shutdown cycle, it was as if I had unplugged it. That hasn't happened since I put the new auger motor on.

 

[Howitzer73]

I put a multimeter back on the combustion motor and got very different readings than the first time. I'm not sure if it was just improper probe placement the first time or if some other variable like the control board is at play.

It's weird, the first time tonight that I put the meter on the motor I found that it was pretty close to 70 in setting 1, but wasn't making it past 90 in setting 5. After dialing in 107 in setting 5, it wouldn't go below 80 on setting 1. Unplugged everything and came back to it after dinner, and found that dialing setting 1 back in to 70, it scaled almost perfectly through all 5 settings. Too many variables. I could just be bad at probing with the multimeter in the plug, or there is inconsistent voltage coming off the control board. I wish I could make a semi-permanent setup to monitor Auger, Convection and Combustion voltages during operation to really see what's going on past the 30 minute warm-up.

Speaking of, when firing up the stove tonight, the surging went away after something "clicked". I'm guessing it's whatever relay bypasses the safety circuits during warm-up. So, once the stove got into "normal operation", the surging synchronized with the auger timing stopped, or is considerably less noticeable. That gives me another reason to lean towards this control board starting to show its age.

Still dealing with sporadic feeding of pellets, but for now I'm still chalking that up to cheap pellets.

I still haven't put a multimeter on the convection fan, the leads are butt spliced with solderless connections to the spade connectors on the bus. I'm debating the safest way to put a multimeter on that- maybe by probing the connections on the bus.... but it's straight 110v and I don't really want to mess with that. I'd much rather try to re-create the factory Molex connection or maybe find a replacement online. Either way, there isn't many reasons that it won't ramp up past setting 2. Either the control board is on its way out, or the motor is showing its age. I haven't found anywhere that's designed to be oiled on it like the combustion motor so that rules that part out.

 

[Howitzer73]

I forgot to add, I did the dollar bill test on the door to rule out any issues with air leakage- Dollar was tight everywhere except for around the door latch, so I guess that means I need to figure out how to adjust the latch and try and tighten it up.

 

[Howitzer73]

Running quality pellets through has solved the feeding issue. I added 2' of chimney per the installation instructions requiring 8' of vertical length for a natural updraft in case of power outage. The convection motor still pulses in sync with the auger during warmup, and still seems to steady out once the bypass relay turns off.

The flame seems to be lively, I have minimal soot and no indications of a lazy flame, however, with combustion, convection, and auger adjustments set to factory spec my gut tells me there's too much combustion air entering the chamber. I still can't close my damper all the way to test the flame with minimal air, and I am still unsure of how to adjust the door latch or hinges to ensure a tight seal.

It runs significantly better than last year, however I need to create embers in the burnpot with a small butane torch first before the fire will take, because I think it's getting too much air. Fine for me to do, but not the way it's supposed to lite, and not something my wife is entirely comfortable with as a stove starting process if she were to light it on her own.

So, I'll continue muddling through troubleshooting and diagnostics and use this thread as a living journal to keep track of my progress. Hopefully it'll help someone else, too.

 

[Howitzer73]

Bought a new damper plate and convection motor tonight, so I'll see how the stove reacts to a fully adjustable damper, and see if the convection fan will give me variable speed settings between 1-5 instead of 1-3 that I'm getting currently.

Without the experience or knowledge to lean on to diagnose these problems, I've resigned to throwing parts and money at it and recording the results. Not my favorite way to learn but given the lack of responses to this thread, it is the only way to make this stove operate properly

What a very isolating experience.

 

[Howitzer73]

Last year I ended up pulling the trigger on the upgraded control board, and that seemed to solve the convection fan pulsing issue. I even tried to isolate the problem by ensuring that the outlet I was plugged into was properly grounded, but that neither helped nor harmed the situation. I am running the stove through a surge protector though, as that control board was not a small investment. I took the time to set the control board voltages to factory spec and timing and have a very reliable flame at all heat levels. I still need to create a bed of embers, activate the auger and let it smoke until autoignition, but the process is repeatable and I've acclimated my wife to using the blowtorch.

I would love to install the self light feature but from the various threads I've read I don't think my stove has the needed tube installed under the ultragrate, and asking for advice here would be about as useful as screaming into the void.

I'm intimidated to take the damper assembly apart, but that is the last thing I'm aware of that's unable to be brought into adjustment. If I can fully close the damper and still have minimal soot and an active flame, that will be good enough this year as I'm unsure of best practices to diagnose the gaskets I haven't already replaced, let alone adjust the door hinge if that is out of alignment.

 

[Howitzer73]

I forgot to add, I installed the factory replacement convection motor and it was blowing crazy amounts of air at setting 5! I checked the MOLEX connection and dialed in the voltage and it checked out through all settings but it was LOUD. I learned that not everything needs to be tightened to it's limit, as completely tightening down the convection motor into it's housing introduced a nasty vibration and metallic squeal throughout the stove.

As soon as I loosened the bolts to allow "play", the violent vibrations went away and it calmed down a bit. Either working as intended, or my replacement blower is imbalanced. I couldn't find any literature to help determine that, so it stays as is for now. After installation, the surging still existed at low speeds, so that all but confirmed that the control board needed replacement. I now have a backup board that will at least "run" the stove if the newer one dies, I guess.

 

[Howitzer73]

Low limit switch failed recently, stove would run for 30 minutes and immediately shut off, even with full fire.

Removed the low limit switch, set up the continuity tester and blow torched the end- it clicked but did not create continuity- so switch was shot.

Installed the backup I had (sensor that came with it from PO) after testing that that one functioned and it's back up and running. But, this means I should buy another to have on hand- "Two is one, One is none".

It's a good feeling being able to troubleshoot, diagnose and test a theory on the stove, relying on the manuals, but man... it sucks not having any community feedback or advice like I've seen on posts from years past. Hopefully this thread can help someone in the future who encounters the issues I've solved so far.