Bosca Soul Won't Ignite

[Heftiger]

Hi All,

I just purchased a new home that has a Bosca Soul 700 pellet stove. During one of the inspections we identified that the igniter was likely bad on the stove. We just got around to have a service technician come in an replace the igniter and clean the stove. The stove still will not ignite. The igniter is getting red hot, and there are pellets in the hopper, but the stove will not ignite. Does anybody have suggestions on what else I can check? This is my first experience with a pellet stove.

Thanks!

 

[Bioburner]

Are the pellets feeding and filling the burn pot?

 

[LordmetalZ28]

Needs air.spark and fuel. You said your ignitor is glowing. Maybe your fuel is bad

 

[Bioburner]

Have you tried a manual light?

 

[Heftiger]

Thanks for the replies! I thought I had email notifications turned on but it didn't work.

Here's what I've tried so far.

I've checked the igniter, it is glowing red.
The pot is filling up with pellets.
I've let it run for up to 20 minutes until the pot got full.
I've checked the blower, the combustion blower is on.
I've tried it with the damper in varying positions.
I've put my hand over the air inlet tube and felt suction.
I checked for the little hole in the igniter tube (the manual says it's behind the firewall but I found it on the burn chamber side)

It seems like the pellets are not getting hot enough. They don't even smoke. When I stop the ignition cycle I empty the pot and a few of the pellets are warm to the touch, but not hot.

 

[Heftiger]

I pulled the igniter out to make sure the whole thing is getting hot. Just the tip is not red hot. Is this normal?

 

[Heftiger]

 

[heat seeker]

I think that's okay. Something is preventing the hot air from around the ignitor from reaching the pellets, i.e. an airflow problem. It's the hot air that actually ignites the pellets. Make sure you have a good draft, and a clear passage from the ignitor to the burn pot.

 

[Heftiger]

I took the flue apart to clean. It was dirty but not plugged.
The igniter tube was clear.
It's not very cold out today. We're just trying to light it to test. That could be causing poor draft, would that be an issue?

 

[Heftiger]

The fan light on the control board blinks during startup. Is this right? The combustion fan is on, the convection fan is not.

 

[Heftiger]

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[Heftiger]

If I stick my hand over the air inlet in the back I can feel the air sucking in. If I do the same over the igniter tube I feel little to no air movement. I've tried it both with the damper open and closed. I don't see why the air inlet would pull air but the igniter tube not, especially with the damper closed. How far into the igniter tube should the igniter be? I have it shoved almost all the way in with a gap at the end as to not block any air flow.

 

[heat seeker]

The blinking light is probably okay - my St Croix does the same until it senses fire. If you have the door open to check the airflow over the ignitor, there probably will be no airflow, since the door is open.

Temperature shouldn't affect the draft much, since the draft is primarily induced by the combustion motor.

You might try the ignitor in different locations, hit or miss. You don't need a lot of airflow, I suspect, up to a point, the less the better, since the air will be hotter with less airflow. My stove pretty much fills the burnpot when starting, which probably blocks most of the airflow over the ignitor.

Are the pellets covering the opening to the ignitor? Based on how my stove works, they should.

 

[Heftiger]

Yea, the pellets are covering.

I'm trying to feel the airflow from the back of the stove where the igniter tube comes out. It's just a open tube, not sealed or anything.

I just took the combustion fan off and cleaned the area where it pulls the air from the combustion chamber. Again, dirty but not clogged.

I wonder if there is a piece missing? Is your igniter tube open in the back? I just assumed that's where it was pulling air from.

 

[LordmetalZ28]

Try a diffrent pellet. Ive heard of some fuels not igniting. You obviously have the air and spark (ignitor)

 

[Heftiger]

I tried taking the pellets out and lighting them. How should they act? These ones lit and then smoldered. Unfortunately I just bought 2 ton of the same pellets that are in the stove because the previous owner and the stove shop recommended them.

I just discovered that the igniter tube was missing one of the set screws so the igniter was sitting on the tube. I installed another set screw so it's now centered in the tube. Still no ignition.

 

[Don2222]

Does the burn pot have an air intake tube? If so, does the burn pot have a good gasket around the air intake tube?

See part # 21 in Exploded View and Parts List below.

 

[Heftiger]

Thanks for those docs.

Yes, it has the air intake tube, and the rope gasket seems to be in ok condition. I've made sure to push the burn pot all the way back to seal the gasket. I've make some progress, the pellets are at least warm to the touch after I stop a 15 minute light cycle.

 

[LordmetalZ28]

I really think you should pick up a diffrent bag of pellets to try. If worse comes to worse youll have one extra bag when you finally get it going

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

You aren't going to want to hear this but maybe there is ash in the works between the combustion fan cavity and the area above the burn pot. The air path does not need to be plugged to prevent proper burning or ignition.it just takes a little bit of ash here and a little bit there to prevent the stove from starting up. Get out the manual and give that stove a full cleaning. Follow and clean the entire air path. Lookup leaf blower trick.

 

[Heftiger]

Thanks for the tips. I have already pulled the combustion fan off and hooked up the shop vac to suck it all out. I'm not sure how to get to it from the other end. I don't see from inside the combustion chamber where the air is going.

 

[heat seeker]

Is your igniter tube open in the back? I just assumed that's where it was pulling air from.

My ignitor is in the front, and yes, there is an air passage at the front of the tube that allows air to flow along the ignitor and into the burn pot.

Does the tube the ignitor sits in get hot? Maybe it is sinking the heat from the ignitor so that it isn't getting hot enough. Just a WAG.

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

It goes up above the burn pot and through and around whatever is there for a heat exchanger then usually down each side and joins up in the center behind in back of the firebox wall and then to the combustion fan cavity. There may or may not be clean outs on either side of the rear firebox wall. I don't bother to read everyone's manual for them to locate any clean outs. Ash falls out of the exhaust stream all the way from just above the burn pot all that way to the outside of the vent system termination. The entire air path needs a good cleaning. This is especially true if it is not a brand new stove being fired for the first time, all ready used stoves are problematic in the being clean area. Follow that air path, it holds the key to your problem.

 

[Heftiger]

This stove does have clean outs. I cleaned those out too. I'll try the leaf blower trick to see if I can get more ash out.

I had the local "stove experts" here last week to install the igniter and clean the stove. Needless to say he didn't do a great job. And he told my wife "tell your husband he'll never get it to ignite, the Bosca's don't work". Now I'm even more determined to get it working.

 

[LordmetalZ28]

This stove does have clean outs. I cleaned those out too. I'll try the leaf blower trick to see if I can get more ash out.

I had the local "stove experts" here last week to install the igniter and clean the stove. Needless to say he didn't do a great job. And he told my wife "tell your husband he'll never get it to ignite, the Bosca's don't work". Now I'm even more determined to get it working.

Sounds like there Is some know defect with that model stove. You should research that stove maybe theres a quick fix