Greetings, I'm a very new member but have visited occasionally to troubleshoot any issues I may have had. I have owned my Bixby Maxfire 115 for about 10 years and for the most part it has been a pretty good stove. My problem right now is that when I fired up the stove for this season, it lit nicely but the blower fan never turned on and it got very warm and shut down. I have replaced the fan a couple times over the years for the bearings wearing but it currently spins freely and turns on and runs briefly after unplugging and plugging the stove back in so I think the fan itself is ok. Is there a sensor or thermostat that tells the fan to kick on that may have failed? I feel I have decent knowledge of this stove but this ones got me stumped.
Bixby Maxfire 115 convection fan issues
- Thread starter FireBrew
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Ssyko
Minister of Fire
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Ssyko
Minister of Fire
What lights blink? There should be a couple lights blinking that may point out your problem. Have you ever replaced the bearings in your convection fan? It is easy to do and a lot cheaper then to buy a complete fan. Some times it will seem to spin free but still not work. We replaced the bearings and it ran perfect. I would check the connections on the board looking at the thermos coupler or stiff brown wire that is J18 upper right corner of large board. That connection can vibrate loose
Ok I just let it run thru its cycle again. It ignited nicely, lots of flame, fan never turned on except for running a little when I plugged it back in earlier, it shut down and tried again, same thing, lots of flame but no fan and it shut itself down. Front and top of stove was very hot. Light #2 is blinking which makes no sense cause it says light 2 is operating temp not reached. I have made sure all my wires are connected especially that pesky wire with the flag that always falls off. Where is the thermocouple? Could I have a bad capacitor?
Ssyko
Minister of Fire
Sounds light the high temp snap disk has failed . Try taking the wires off and connct them together and try running the stove. Dont run it long if it works. that disk is what keeps your stove from over-firing.
heat seeker
Minister of Fire
Proof of fire snap disc, or thermocouple if it has one. If the high temp disc was bad, the stove wouldn't feed pellets at all (at least, mine won't). It's to keep the stove from overheating.
The stove thinks it's not getting hot, so it won't start the convection blower, and times out and shuts down. As mentioned above, check your thermocouple, make sure it's located properly, carefully check its wiring and connections at both ends.
I doubt that you have a bad capacitor.
The stove thinks it's not getting hot, so it won't start the convection blower, and times out and shuts down. As mentioned above, check your thermocouple, make sure it's located properly, carefully check its wiring and connections at both ends.
I doubt that you have a bad capacitor.
Remove other side panel and you will see where the stiff brown wire goes into the exh system. This wire will provide the board a signal the exh is getting hot and when that happens the convection fan will start running.. To test it you pull the stiff brown wire out of that little hole and hold a lit candle under the end of that wire. this should trigger the convection fan to run.
I tried rona's idea first because it seemed the easiest to me out of all your ideas, that k you all by the way, sadly nothing happened when I held the wire to a candle while it ran for a bit before shutting down. I will check the thermocouple next, when I get a free minute.
That stiff wire is your thermos coupler. The other end is the one that likes to fall off once in a while. So if you are sure the white connecter is fastened on the board. J-18 then you found your problem. If that wire was working it would have recognized the rise in temperature and started the convection fan and increased the exh fan speed.
Oh ok duh, I will double check my connections and if they are all good will get me a new thermocouple. Thank you all so much
Try calling Ralph Blume at 714 448 9271. he may have the part of tell you where you can get one.
I have tried calling this number several times at different times of the day, always getting the same message of him being unavailable and to try later. Is this number correct? It says it's Anahiem CA
Mt Bob
Minister of Fire
The thermocouple is a K-thermocouple.Almost any K would make stove run,but would be nice to have one in the same range.Maybe Rona could unhook his,see what wire is positive,but might not make a difference.Heck,I bet a red harman one would make stove work,but the harman has a shield on it,as it is inside the flue exhaust,so would read a bit low.
Mt Bob
Minister of Fire
Here is some info.Page 23 https://www.scribd.com/document/221...-Troubleshooting-the-MaxFire-Room-Heater-2009
Thanks, I will look at this later on my laptop, my eyes aren't good enough to read it on my phone, lol
Ok, first of all I want to thank everyone for trying to help me, a total stranger. I called Mr Blume and he had difficulty believing it was the thermocouple and after discussing a bit I realized the whole time I had the damn thing plugged into the wrong spot. I feel like an idiot because I have plugged that stupid thing in a hundred times because it always comes off at the slightest brush. Anywho, my stove is running great and best of all it didn't cost me anything other than propane to heat the house. Thank you all again and I am very sorry I wasted your time.
Ssyko
Minister of Fire
GREAT!! All is good then. I've wasted more time and brain cells drinking at the local saloon.
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