I think I have finally gotten to the bottom of a problem I've had for about 3 years.
I have a Bixby Maxfire which I bought in 2006. It ran great for several years without anything but regular cleaning. I burned corn for about ten years, but I got tired of dealing with it and started burning wood pellets only.
A few years ago, it started having an issue where it would fire up and run for 1, 2, 3 hours, then suddenly dump the firepot and shut down with 2 and 3 flashing. This indicates blocked flue.
I cleaned the flue countless times and using Bixcheck software, I could get it to run a little longer by increasing the feed settings. It would still eventually just shut down randomly out of the blue.
Finally, out of desperation, I put in a new thermocouple even though Bixcheck seemed to indicate there was nothing wrong with it.
It has been running beautifully for two weeks. The feeds are back on the default settings, it runs at all heat levels all day long. Bixcheck shows the thermocouple readings are lower now than the original thermocouple would read, and the flame seems lower. But, it kicks out plenty of heat and I am warm and happy.
I have a Bixby Maxfire which I bought in 2006. It ran great for several years without anything but regular cleaning. I burned corn for about ten years, but I got tired of dealing with it and started burning wood pellets only.
A few years ago, it started having an issue where it would fire up and run for 1, 2, 3 hours, then suddenly dump the firepot and shut down with 2 and 3 flashing. This indicates blocked flue.
I cleaned the flue countless times and using Bixcheck software, I could get it to run a little longer by increasing the feed settings. It would still eventually just shut down randomly out of the blue.
Finally, out of desperation, I put in a new thermocouple even though Bixcheck seemed to indicate there was nothing wrong with it.
It has been running beautifully for two weeks. The feeds are back on the default settings, it runs at all heat levels all day long. Bixcheck shows the thermocouple readings are lower now than the original thermocouple would read, and the flame seems lower. But, it kicks out plenty of heat and I am warm and happy.
