Ashley 5660 E3 error

[NixonFamily]

Ongoing E 3 error.
Replaced burn pot and low heat sensor thermodisc.
Running stove on 2 today, fairly low setting. Damper is closed.
Book says E3:
Hopper out of pellets -- no it is fairly full
air damper too far open --no it's closed
Burn pot holes blocked--maybe, but it was vacuumed on Sunday night
Hopper safety switch, auger jam, auger motor fail- unlikely, when it shows E3 I can switch off, hit reset switch, power back on and it will work fine, feeding, all fans blowing etc. I can then power it down and it will power down as per usual.
Proof of fire thermodisc-- could be, but not sure where this is. I replaced thermostat on exhaust fan, in exhaust pipe. I believe it's low heat sensor.
Any ideas?

 

[tlc1976]

E3 means the fire went out for whatever reason, or it thinks it did due to a bad or dirty thermodisc, but sounds like you just replaced that.
By your signature it looks like you’ve had this stove awhile. What’s happening before you get E3? Is it burning strong and just errors out? Does the pellet feed actually stop until the pot goes empty? Does the pot plug up with crud till it quits? Does the flame look like it’s barely keeping up?
Some reasons in my experience. First make sure the stove and all the passages are clean, side ash traps, pipe, heat exchanger, blower housing. I’ve had the door safety switch go iffy, and eventually bypassed it, because with the door open the feed stops (no kids or anyone who would reach into the auger). If you’ve got a tight house and no outside air kit, you might need it, try cracking a window and see if the flame improves. I found out the pellets I started with were horrible in my stove, I switched to a full hardwood pellet and the difference was amazing.

 

[NixonFamily]

I will clean it again, but its just had a good cleaning to start the season.
Its hard to say what happens before the E3 shows up, Its happened twice this week, once my son called me and the other happened this morning when i heard the fan stop, turned around and E3 was on. But I turned stove off, hit reset switch, turned back on, and it roared into life with decent flame, not a dirty lazy flame, pellets started falling into burn pot and stove seemed to be operating fine, though i did power it down after the room blower turning on. Thermodisc is covered in thick layer of soot though, wondering if that could be the issue. My stove pipe goes directly from stove, straight out through the thimble, and i have a T there on the outside between the thimble and the vertical. I am considering, putting a T inside too, between the stove exhaust blower and the thimble, in the hope that soot will fall into the clean out and i can clean it more frequently without pulling the stove apart.

 

[tlc1976]

Before you reset it and turn it back on, see what the burn pot looks like. Is it full of crud, or is pretty much everything in it burned up nicely?

It will start with a big flame until the pot burns down. Once the pot burns down, that’s when to adjust the flame. I prefer to have a little more air than less, just as long as it doesn’t look like a whitish fierce flame. Too little flame I get soot, too much I get clinkers. Do you get a considerable flame variation as you move the damper? If not then you have an airflow or supply issue.

The low limit (or proof of fire) thermodisc is right next to the exhaust blower, so it sounds like that’s what you recently changed. They do get covered with soot, cleaning it helps. Usually mine isn’t too affected by soot unless it’s old and wearing out anyway.

My pipe also goes directly through the thimble, to an outside tee and up. I use a flexible brush and can guide it in the horizontal section from the tee opening without taking the pipe apart.

Did you clean the ash traps behind the bolted side panels in the stove? Some people miss those.

What pellets are you using, and are they fresh? Others here might be familiar with pellets in your area. My previous pellets just didn’t burn very hot, and the flame would go out often when burning on low. But more air would blow the fire out. Pot would get cruddy in a day or two. No issues at all with the current ones. Another thing is do you have a lot of really long pellets? Like a couple inches long? They can bridge the opening and stop pellet feed for enough cycles to make the fire go out.

 

[NixonFamily]

@tlc1976 Thanks for the insight. It was cold last night, i turned on the stove at about 2:26 AM, and went back to bed, at 2:34, I realized the room blower had stopped and went to look, sure enough an E3, the stove was cleaned and vacuumed out earlier in the evening. Side panels, burn pot, under burn pot, and ash drawer. Burn pot had a small layer of residue.
When i had turned it on, it was on level 1 (low).
This morning when i got up, it was 24 F outside and 58 F inside, frosty indeed. I turned the stove on to 3 and ran it from 6 to about 7:30 then moved it to 2. It's 8:25 now, and it is still running as per normal.
I do get some variation as i move the damper, but not really certain how much i should get. The book indicates the damper should be closed during start up and then depending on feed rate, if low the damper should be closed or closer to closed and as the feed rate is higher the damper should be open more to desired flame appearance. I don't know if i have ever found a good setting for the damper. I do get clinkers in the burn pot.
Am using fireside Ultra premium wood pellets from Home Depot, these are still last season's, I have two tons left from last year.

 

[tlc1976]

It sounds like how mine behaved with the previous pellets. It stayed running at higher heat ranges but running at 1 it would eventually go out. No happy medium with the damper, they were just too weak.

If it was starving for air it would be worse on higher settings.

I leave the damper alone when starting. The stove reduces blower speed when starting. On mine I typically put the damper at 1/4 for 1, 1/2 for 2, 3/4 for 3, etc.

The pellets I use now, yes I shoot for an optimal flame, but they will start and run at any damper setting. They’re hotter and stable. And I can run for 2 weeks without touching it and the pot is still pretty clean. I would look for a pellet that is 100% hardwood, no blend. Try a couple bags. If you get Barefoot pellets in your area, the specs seem pretty comparable to mine.

 

[NixonFamily]

@tlc1976 thanks, thats great insight on the damper settings. I will try those out too.

 

[Jeremy6500]

So from looking at the Ashley stove it looks like it has the same control panel as the USSC/King/American Harvest. When I turned my PR1 rate way down I would get an ER3 even through the flame would still be going, just very small. The “Flame is present” is read by the flue gas temp. It looks like that is adjustable. This is what I found in the service manual. It is both the 2nd room fan on temp and the ER3 temp. Maybe yours is out of whack. I know when I was searching on my stove for random setting stuff a member here said they ran their PR1 setting on something like .75. From testing I found anything below 1.6 on my PR1 setting eventually would end up as an ER3 as the the fuel burned down if it was on nothing but PR1 setting. Maybe something worth checking. Just an FYI, my “Factory default settings” were almost completely unusable.

 

[tlc1976]

View attachment 286430So from looking at the Ashley stove it looks like it has the same control panel as the USSC/King/American Harvest. When I turned my PR1 rate way down I would get an ER3 even through the flame would still be going, just very small. The “Flame is present” is read by the flue gas temp. It looks like that is adjustable. This is what I found in the service manual. It is both the 2nd room fan on temp and the ER3 temp. Maybe yours is out of whack. I know when I was searching on my stove for random setting stuff a member here said they ran their PR1 setting on something like .75. From testing I found anything below 1.6 on my PR1 setting eventually would end up as an ER3 as the the fuel burned down if it was on nothing but PR1 setting. Maybe something worth checking. Just an FYI, my “Factory default settings” were almost completely unusable.

It depends on what version of the 5660. Older models used a board with round buttons. Newer ones used a board with square buttons and a bar graph display. The newer board is identical to what runs my stove, so are most of the other parts. I don’t know about the old board but the newer board has no adjustments for feed or blower speed. Settings are fixed for the 5 heat ranges, all you can adjust is the damper.

 

[Jeremy6500]

It depends on what version of the 5660. Older models used a board with round buttons. Newer ones used a board with square buttons and a bar graph display. The newer board is identical to what runs my stove, so are most of the other parts. I don’t know about the old board but the newer board has no adjustments for feed or blower speed. Settings are fixed for the 5 heat ranges, all you can adjust is the damper.

I just googled the stove listed. It sounds like it could be a situation where the fire was low enough that it didn't register. Just an idea Taht might fix the issue. My factory defaults were terrible and unusable.

 

[NixonFamily]

Thanks for the info Jeremy. Turns out it was thermodisc. I realized I had taken off the old one cleaned it up, gotten distracted with another project and put the old one back in. On realizing and installing the new one, I have had no issues, even on low heat settings.

 

[maraakate]

Thanks for reporting back