I have a Castile that has been sitting idle for several years.
First, the backstory:
I gave it a thorough cleaning, put new batteries in the remote, plugged it in and it started immediately. It seemed to be running well, but when I turned the thermostat down, it did not shut off. Apparently the remote (with new batteries) wasn’t communicating with the transmitter (Smart Batt II). I checked the battery compartment in the transmitter and the batteries had been left in it and were corroded. I cleaned the contacts, and went through the syncing routine, but it still didn’t work. I have ordered a replacement Smart Stat II, which plugs into a wall outlet, and should have it in a few days. I hope that this solves the problem with the stove not shutting down, because otherwise, I will need to schedule a repair. Moving on…
The next issue was how to shut the stove off manually. Apparently you can’t. Unplugging it is not recommended, which makes sense. Part of powering it down is to make sure it has cooled enough not to damage the electronics. So I scooped the pellets out of the hopper, and let it run the pellets out of the auger, knowing that this would cause it to shut down on it’s own. When I restart it, I assume that I will need to hit the retsart button a few times in order for the auger to refill.
When the flame died down, and the stove glass was not too hot to touch, I assumed that the stove was sufficiently cooled down enough to unplug. That was the only way I could figure out how to ‘manually’ shut it down.
The issue in the subject line:
At this point, I noticed a little smoke coming from the hole in the ash drawer where the latch is. My question is whether the ash drawer door gasket needs replaced, or possibly the firepot gasket, or is something else causing a trickle of smoke to come out of there? There shouldn’t have been any smoldering pellets in the ash tray.
I also noted, when cleaning it out, that there were a lot of clinkers in the firepot, and when I got it all scraped out of there, the clean out handle pulled out easier than it ever has before. At the time, I thought this was a good thing, but maybe now, I wonder if it might need to be tightened up some how? The blade seems to go back into place, no gaps, and nothing feels loose, so I hope this is not the issue.
First, the backstory:
I gave it a thorough cleaning, put new batteries in the remote, plugged it in and it started immediately. It seemed to be running well, but when I turned the thermostat down, it did not shut off. Apparently the remote (with new batteries) wasn’t communicating with the transmitter (Smart Batt II). I checked the battery compartment in the transmitter and the batteries had been left in it and were corroded. I cleaned the contacts, and went through the syncing routine, but it still didn’t work. I have ordered a replacement Smart Stat II, which plugs into a wall outlet, and should have it in a few days. I hope that this solves the problem with the stove not shutting down, because otherwise, I will need to schedule a repair. Moving on…
The next issue was how to shut the stove off manually. Apparently you can’t. Unplugging it is not recommended, which makes sense. Part of powering it down is to make sure it has cooled enough not to damage the electronics. So I scooped the pellets out of the hopper, and let it run the pellets out of the auger, knowing that this would cause it to shut down on it’s own. When I restart it, I assume that I will need to hit the retsart button a few times in order for the auger to refill.
When the flame died down, and the stove glass was not too hot to touch, I assumed that the stove was sufficiently cooled down enough to unplug. That was the only way I could figure out how to ‘manually’ shut it down.
The issue in the subject line:
At this point, I noticed a little smoke coming from the hole in the ash drawer where the latch is. My question is whether the ash drawer door gasket needs replaced, or possibly the firepot gasket, or is something else causing a trickle of smoke to come out of there? There shouldn’t have been any smoldering pellets in the ash tray.
I also noted, when cleaning it out, that there were a lot of clinkers in the firepot, and when I got it all scraped out of there, the clean out handle pulled out easier than it ever has before. At the time, I thought this was a good thing, but maybe now, I wonder if it might need to be tightened up some how? The blade seems to go back into place, no gaps, and nothing feels loose, so I hope this is not the issue.
![[Hearth.com] Castile (freestanding) smoking from Ash drawer.](https://www.hearth.com/talk/data/attachments/306/306712-cd9ecad0caa04a0647a155e1b6aa21be.jpg?hash=KLW2ofXDYZ "[Hearth.com] Castile (freestanding) smoking from Ash drawer.")