Austroflamm Integra not starting

[RKBAGUY]

I had my stove running a few days ago, but now the fans aren't running when I plug her in. I had her unplugged for four days, but it's possible that I might have borked the user control board while repositioning the insert in my fireplace by pushing the control panel up against the masonry. Is there any way to bypass the user control board to see if she starts, so that I can isolate if that's what it is? I also seem to recall another Integra user saying something about unplugging/replugging to clear the logic board. Is there some sort of 'reset' process I can try?

Thanks in advance!

 

[pinetop12]

I ran across this YouTube clip while researching my stove. Other Hearth.com users will likely have better solutions for your stove, then this, But you may find this useful for a future emergency . I have never tried this and cannot vouch for how this will work. Please use caution.

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How to Run a Pellet Stove without a Control Box

 

[RKBAGUY]

Seems a bit dodgy to me. I'll hold off on that until another solution presents itself.

 

[RKBAGUY]

Looks like it might be the user control board. Plugged the stove in, wiggled the circuit board a bit, and the exhaust fan came on, then ramped up. Lit some pellets, closed the door and and let the stove run. No auger feed, after a while the convection fan came on a little, then kicked to high, then shut down. Opinions?

 

[skibumm100]

No opinioms yet as I just picked up a "new to me" older Integra integra last night. This stove doesn't run yet. The stove tries to start but shuts down similar to yours. I'm printing off a manual as I type. No pics of my insert yet as it was dark when we unloaded the tank last night and dark when I left for work this morning. Do you have a manual?

 

[skibumm100]

There is a procedure in the manual to test the operation of the stove by jumpering the low temperature switch. Are you seeing the red light for the auger feed coming on? I really can't be much help as I don't know this stove that well yet. If you don't have the manual you can download it off the 'net for free. I'd start there.Good luck!

 

[smwilliamson]

Trace the black wire from the control pad to the fuse

 

[RKBAGUY]

No opinioms yet as I just picked up a "new to me" older Integra integra last night. This stove doesn't run yet. The stove tries to start but shuts down similar to yours. I'm printing off a manual as I type. No pics of my insert yet as it was dark when we unloaded the tank last night and dark when I left for work this morning. Do you have a manual?

Just wanted to report back in. Everything is fine. Turns out I did manage to Mash the user control board into the surrounding masonry, but Joe over at pelletstoverepair.com did me solid with a replacement. Skibumm, if you're still having trouble PM me, and we can diagnose sidebar. I've jumped through a lot of hoops in the past couple weeks and learned a lot, so I might be able to help.

 

[skibumm100]

Thanks RKBAGUY. I haven't got back to troubleshooting my stove yet. I'm not quite done cleaning it yet but I may get to it tonight, seeing as there's no World Series game tonight. If I can't figure it out, I'll post something up about the problem. I finally got the rear cleanout cover off but I need to clean up the combustion fan and squirt some contact cleaner in the firing rate control potentiometer. I got my gasket material so I should be good to go.

 

[RKBAGUY]

Can you tell me why you think spraying cleaner into the pots is necessary? I never did that with mine. Wouldn't it make sense to test it first? What I'm getting at is simply; be careful with the user control board. Unlike the logic board, it doesn't have a housing. I already borked mine by mashing it into the masonry of my fireplace when sliding the stove back into place. If you get into a jam (literally), contact Joe Narduzzi at pelletstoverepair.com and he'll do you solid.

 

[skibumm100]

RKBAGUY,

I sprayed down all of the connectors and boards with contact cleaner. The boards were dirty and the stove has corrosion on some steel under the hopper so it has seen a little moisture. I couldn't get the spray into the pot so I left it alone. The potentiometer doesn't seem to have a linear response when turned, based on the speed changes of the auger and combustion blower. I cleaned the rest of the stove last night...pulled the convection blower (surprisingly clean) and pulled the combustion blower (pretty dirty). I blew out all of the passages with compressed air and shop vac'd everything. I cleaned the glass, only to discover a broken pane on the right side. Cracked all the way across near the very top. It might have happened when I was moving it around as I used a ratchet strap to keep it on the two wheel dolly. I cut out my gaskets from the new gasket material and it was easy. It's ceramic wool so it leaves an indentation when you push it against an edge so I just pressed it in place, removed it and cut out the areas where it was compressed. I did this for the bottom panel and the clean out in the back. I then started it up. My low limit switch is OK but something else is not right. The combustion blower came up to speed and it was firing like crazy and then the blower slowed down to a low speed and the flame got smokey. No matter what I did with the firing rate knob it never changed the speed of the blower, only the pellet feed rate. I never even heard the convection blower come on, it was so quiet. Something else is wrong. I am going to check the motor voltages coming out of the control board to see what they are compared to the book values. It could be a problem with the air flow circuit card, the Hall IC circuit or possibly the main board. I need to dig and do some more diagnostics. By that time it was 9 PM and getting really cold out so I packed it in. The combustion blower is pretty noisy sometimes but I have narrowed it down to the rubber grommets that hold it to the posts. The auger motor is a little noisy too so I may pull it apart and lube it once it's running right.

 

[RKBAGUY]

Sounds like you just didn't get her started quite right, or you have some blockage of airflow somewhere. Had that problem myself.

Here are a couple things to check and keep in mind:

• Speed change on the fans happens slowly, and the fans are pretty quiet so give it enough time to respond. The pot on the rear of the board is for the combustion fan, the pot accessible from the hole of the front plate is for the auger. They adjust the speed +/-25% of whatever the main dial is set at, counterclockwise being less, clockwise being more. I turned my combustion fan all the way up, the auger all the way down, and compensated using the main adjustment knob to maintain the burn.
  
• Be sure you put the vacuum to the rear (incoming) air vent at the bottom right of the stove to be sure there's nothing blocking the airflow. I had almost a handful of pellets in the tube that I had no idea were there until they went rattling into the vacuum. .
• Be sure you've cleaned behind the burn plates, around the convection tubes and you got the ports behind the convection tubes clear (see next point).
• Also, make sure you clean the rear chamber - you'll find a trapezoid-shaped door with four screws. Remove that plate and see if there's any blockage in the channel that runs behind the convection tubes. There are some really good pictures of what to do here: CLICKY
• It's been recommended to spray contact cleaner on the airflow sensor - might be worth giving that a try.

Let us know how that works out for you!

 

[skibumm100]

Sounds like you just didn't get her started quite right, or you have some blockage of airflow somewhere. Had that problem myself.

Here are a couple things to check and keep in mind:

• Speed change on the fans happens slowly, and the fans are pretty quiet so give it enough time to respond. The pot on the rear of the board is for the combustion fan, the pot accessible from the hole of the front plate is for the auger. They adjust the speed +/-25% of whatever the main dial is set at, counterclockwise being less, clockwise being more. I turned my combustion fan all the way up, the auger all the way down, and compensated using the main adjustment knob to maintain the burn.
  
• Be sure you put the vacuum to the rear (incoming) air vent at the bottom right of the stove to be sure there's nothing blocking the airflow. I had almost a handful of pellets in the tube that I had no idea were there until they went rattling into the vacuum.
• Be sure you've cleaned behind the burn plates, around the convection tubes and you got the ports behind the convection tubes clear (see next point).
• Also, make sure you clean the rear chamber - you'll find a trapezoid-shaped door with four screws. Remove that plate and see if there's any blockage in the channel that runs behind the convection tubes. There are some really good pictures of what to do here: CLICKY
• It's been recommended to spray contact cleaner on the airflow sensor - might be worth giving that a try.

Let us know how that works out for you!

I'll try the pot adjustments during a clean start-up.

I haven't vacuumed out the combustion air inlet....thanks for the tip!

I already cleaned and scrubbed out the back pass behind the heat exchanger tubes...squeeky clean now.

Already sprayed the air flow sensor. Part of cleaning the stove the first time.

I'll keep you posted.....

 

[RKBAGUY]

Sounds good. I'm on my way out right now for some flat tape to seal the glass, related to another post I had regarding the air wash on this stove. Talk at 'ya later.

 

[RKBAGUY]

I'll try the pot adjustments during a clean start-up.

I haven't vacuumed out the combustion air inlet....thanks for the tip!

I already cleaned and scrubbed out the back pass behind the heat exchanger tubes...squeeky clean now.

Already sprayed the air flow sensor. Part of cleaning the stove the first time.

I'll keep you posted.....

By the way, you might check to see if you have the jumper properly attached between terminals 7 and 8. If it's missing(because the previous owner had it attached to a thermostat), that might explain why your fan speed adjustments aren't working. Those two terminals are to be jumped for runnning the fan without a thermostat. The only thing a thermostat will do is to 'toggle' between 'demand' and 'low' setting, the low setting being half of whatever the main dial is set to.