Combustion Blower Maxxed? Whit, Advantage 2

[thestip]

Hey all,

I have a Whitfield (Advantage II I believe) that just started burning way too fast.The combustion adjustment is now as low as it can go and the auger speed has been increased. The flame fluctuates every few minutes, from barely lit to 'normal' and back again, and looks like the combustion blower is on full blast. (very active flame, a lot of embers lifting out of the grate.) It cannot stay lit on the lowest setting; the pellets burn up too fast and the flame goes out. I have not changed pellet brands.

Two weeks ago, I found the vacuum switch was broken, keeping the auger from working. Until the new part arrives, I just bypassed the switch and the stove ran normally.

Just last week, I had the opposite problem: burning too slowly (right side only) and ash/unburned pellets clogging the grate. I cleaned the stove out well, vacuumed, brushed, etc and then this started.

Looking around, I see a lot of issues with the blower not running fast enough due to the limit switch(es) but nothing about the blower running too fast all the time.

Help!

 

[Bioburner]

Most Whits have a manual draft adjustment flap. Could be you opened it up some with your cleaning. There is lot of Whit owners on site to help
Welcome

 

[thestip]

I'm assuming those are the sliding metal plates between the grate and ash pan... I had them all 'closed' leaving only a small gap under the grate, could have sworn that's how they were before I messed with them. I just opened them up a bit and things look better; just a few more adjustments and things should be back to normal.

Thank you!

 

[Bioburner]

No theres usually a cable or rod attached to the slide that is in the stoves exhaust path right before the exhaust fan. Pictures are the control examples from two other Whits.

 

[Bioburner]

The plates you are talking about are actually ash drops for daily cleaning of the burn chamber.

 

[Bioburner]

I just found the operators manual. See attachment. Describes damper control. Good luck

 

[thestip]

First thing I did was to make sure the damper was closed... and attached to the rod. lol.

The damper is closed. Aside from opening the ash plates, nothing seems to slow down the burn. Damper fully open, closed and in-between, the fan set 1-5, combustion speed set as low as it can go... still looks like someone's under there with a hairdryer. Corn kernel-sized embers are almost jumping out of the grate.

If I close the ash drops, the burn rate skyrockets. With the heat and fan set both to 3/5, I now occasionally get flames a few inches high, but normally they barely get get out of the pot and it just has enough fuel to keep going. (combustion and auger now set back to factory). I realize I can increase the auger speed, but there's an almost constant flow of embers rising up and out, looks like a sparkler when new pellets are dropped in, and I can easily see 30+ embers at all times on top of the ash plates. As such, I'm now getting a lot more ash around the grate than I was before.

 

[Bioburner]

I still think your damper is not closing all the way. Those dampers if not moved regularly can feel like they are all the way in but are just hitting ash etc in the slides path. I have taken a small hammer to many slide dampers to get them working again

 

[thestip]

Alrighty then. I'll pop off a a panel when I get back home and take a look!

 

[thestip]

I ended up readjusting the stop collar on the damper rod, pushing it in about 1" further to almost completely closed. That seems to have taken care of it. So yes, it was the damper as you said... which is why you're the moderator and I'm the noob.

Something must have been blocking the airflow between the damper and the grate since before I got the stove. I've cleaned it several times already, not good enough apparently, and never had to adjust anything. (Only had it a short time.)

Thanks!!