Avalon Avanti Pellet Stove by Travis Industries

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Earl C. Tourgee

New Member
Apr 28, 2012
7
Hello all.
I have had the above stove for a few years now. Not a bit of problems in all that time, with burn pot maintenance, ash pan removal and vacuuming the unit diligently. This season, prior to start up,
I vacuumed the stove and fired it up, all the time running on manual (a thermostat option is installed on this unit, but has never been used). It ran for about a half hour with a nice fire in the box- pellets burning completely and a nice heat, happy and warm once again. Then the nice fire went to a lazy high flame! Door gasket is tight, we adjusted the air flow - no help. We removed the exhaust blower and cleaned the fins, reinstalled it and fired it up again - after getting up to operating temp again we get the lazy flame. We disconnected the hose from the brass fitting on the exhaust unit (it was clear) blew thru the tubing (no restrictions) to the flow switch. Jumped the switch, in case of a ruptured diaphragm - no change in the lazy flame height. Any help or suggestion as to the problem would be greatly appreciated.
 
What have you done about cleaning your exhaust system from just above the burn pot all the way through the heat exchangers and combustion blower cavity out the venting and up to and including the termination cap?
 
Many thanks for the info in your reply Smokey. The exhaust from above the burn pot through the heat exchangers (they were 'reamed out' again now) and combustion cavity were cleaned. We replaced the pipes earlier, before we started the stove, including the cap.
 
Thanks for another hint to make the stove preform as it once did Smokey. We checked the gasket when we reinstalled the exhaust motor and checked the latch.
 
Door and ash pan gaskets, that exhaust blower would generally make its presence known if it gasket wasn't sealed up.
 
Thanks again Smokey. Door gasket is good, and there doesn't appear to be a gasket on front of the ash pan. Nothing was touched in the ash pan area since we obtained it initially and it appears that the pan is a direct metal to metal snug fit in the front. There may be a gasket in the rear, but my back and knees won't accommodate the rest of me to get that low to see. If I get that low, I may never rise again!!
 
Were all ash traps sealed up? Is the burn pot sitting the right right way in the receptacle?

The vacuum switch, will stop feed all together. It wont cause a lazy flame.

How old is the unit? When was the last time the combustion blower was pulled, cleaned, and lubed?
 
Hello Dexter. Thanks for the time to reply to my problem. All ash traps are sealed. The burn pot is positioned correctly -rechecked upteen times to make sure. We had a stop in the auger pellet feed earlier the other day checked it out and ending up jumping the vacuum switch-feeding pellets fine since. Data plate shows a date of the Avalon of May 1997. Stove was bought used at least 3 years ago and had been a jewel for providing heat until the other day when it went to pellet stove heaven. The combustion blower was pulled and cleaned a few days ago and was checked at an electrical repair shop to see if it was up to its rated speed-it was.
Personal info-my wife has a Day ancestor back in Colonial MA.
 
You shouldn't be burning with that vac switch jumped.

I'd get a leaf blower and give the stove the leaf blower treatment:

This may find a bit of ash where it shouldn't be,
 
Is the vacuum switch still "jumped" ? If the stove doesn't have enough vacuum to satisfy the switch, then it really limits it to just a few things.

All of which Smokey has covered. Either a Dirty stove, bad gaskets, etc.

If this stove is a 97, then its seen some serious Tonnage. Do you know the exact air path for the exhaust? Have you followed and cleaned this route with brushes, hangers, vacuums, and maybe lightly tapping with a rubber mallet? To help dislodge any ash?

The leafblower works pretty good at getting the hard to get areas. Some stoves have super simple air paths. Some are quite complex and may make a few turns before getting to the combustion blower cavity.
 
Hi Smokey and Dexter.
Jumper removed from vac switch. We've been cleaning and brushing the unit so much, we're thinking of going in the cleaning business!Smokey and Dexter we put the leaf blower to our pellet stove 'jewel' as suggested, and gave it a good hose job. We did see bits of 'something' occasionally fly out the exhaust pipe, and this surprised the blazes out of us because of the amount of vacing done. We figured we'd give it our best one last time before it went to pellet stove heaven. We fired it up and got the normal high flame initially, but then to our huge surprise, after adjustment, the flame stayed in the firebox!! One beautiful fire, and real good heat too, at long last! My most sincere thanks to you both for giving your time and pellet stove knowledge to me. And all this time I assumed a leaf blower was only good for leaves and blowing grass residue from the riding mower deck!
Again, many thanks.
Earl.
 
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Making sure the ENTIRE exhaust path is clean, is key...

Glad you got it working. :)
 
A clean stove is a happy, safe, and warm stove.

Every ton, use that leaf blower, after giving the stove a really good normal "deep" cleaning.

Xena would say if you have a good powerful vac with the proper filter and can get to the vent system form inside the house to use that and keep the leaf blower for the leaves.

Some folks say to clean the stove you take it outside and hit it with an air compressor.

The stove is yours, the cleaning issue is yours, use what works for you.
 
Use leaf blower too, works good ..
 
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