Castile Sart Problem

[bmckay]

I bought a used castile from a dealer and use it to heat a work area that I use during the day. The stove was a demo. Works fine except for one problem. If I turn down the thermostat (say in the evening) it will not restart when the temperature drops enough to call for heat. What it does is begin the start up [fan comes on, it drops initial shot of pellets, ignites, etc. ] However, then it does not continue to feed. If I press the reset button on the back, however, then it feeds pellets and runs well.

If on the other hand it is running, reaches the temperature on the thermostat and shuts down, the next time it restarts [due to the temperature dropping in the room some], it restarts fine.

It has something to do with me turning the thermostat setting lower.

The question is, could it be the thermostat? If yes, it is a simple fix. I just get a digital thermostat. However, I am thinking it is not that easy.



Any thoughts.

Bill McKay

 

[slls]

Make sure the thermocouple is all the way in the cermaic holder. It needs to sense 200 deg for the green light to come on, only then will it drop pellets.

 

[tjnamtiw]

IMHO, it can't have anything to do with the therrmostat. The thermostat does nothing but tell the stove to turn on and the stove has no idea that you turned down the thermostat. The green light has to be on inside the control box for the auger to start feeding pellets after the initial start up. You might be getting some bridging in the auger at the bottom of the chute or right at the top of the chute (happened to me a few time). Why it just happens at night is probably pure coincidence. If it works perfectly other times, it should work at night. Did you do a cleaning just before going to bed? Make sure that the 'slit' in the front of the burn pot is not blocked. Poke a .30 caliber cleaning brush in the slot and move it back and forth. same with the holes in the slanted part of the burn pot and the two small holes on either side of the slot, which I didn't even know where there til someone pointed them out. Sometimes when I clean at night, I dislodge some of the pellets right at the top of the auger and then I don't get a full shot of pellets at the next start up. After the cleaning, put a small amount of extra pellets in the pot for the next startup and see if that helps.

 

[CanadaClinker]

......I also think it is a 'thermocouple' issue by your description of cold start and warm start.....below is an excerpt from the service manual......... hope it helps....... cc

 

[smalltown]

Bill M what ever your problem is remember as tjnamtiw said keep the stove clean. When looking down into the burn pot you can easily see 4 small air holes toward the rear. What you can't see is that there are 4 more small holes at the bottom front and also the opening for the igniter to get the fire started. I use a small inspection mirror to verify they are clean. I clean my carbon buildup with a small chisel as somebody before me suggested.

Don't forget to remove the top baffle and both left and right metal brick panels to clean.
When my Castile has just been cleaned a lot of time it has soft whistle with a new fire. Some don't like the sound, but I do. It tells me I did my job.
Don't forget to download the operators manual if you don't already have one.

 

[bmckay]

Folks

Thanks for the suggestions. I will work on it this afternoon. I like the thermocouple idea also. When I brought the stove home, it would not start and that turned out to be a loose connection on the igniter that must have been jarred loose in my truck. Maybe some other things also were loosened.

In any case, it is not the end of the earth. I know what it does and at night I make sure it is running correctly before I go to bed. It is a great little stove.

Funny story. I live in an old farm house and this heats my home business area (an old attached shed that I rebuilt and insulated) and also the kitchen (which is an eighteenth century house that was dragged over and attached to my main house a couple of hundred years ago.

Anyway, I use a Mt Vernon to heat the main house; I never could understand what people meant when they talked about clinkers because I had never had one in the Mt Vernon. I have learned much from this little stove.

Bill M

 

[tjnamtiw]

Bill M what ever your problem is remember as tjnamtiw said keep the stove clean. When looking down into the burn pot you can easily see 4 small air holes toward the rear. What you can't see is that there are 4 more small holes at the bottom front and also the opening for the igniter to get the fire started. I use a small inspection mirror to verify they are clean. I clean my carbon buildup with a small chisel as somebody before me suggested.

Yea, I don't remember who suggested the chisel as a tool to remove the carbon from the trap door but I got my 'high quality' Harbor Freight chisel set a while back. Just push straight down on the carbon or clinker and twist. Pop, it's loose. Great idea.