Diagnostics trouble

[Burnbright2016]

I have a Castle Serenity Stove and in its second year of operation I am having a few difficulties I can't seem to solve. Sometimes the stove turns off and alarm light comes on and instructions read to check burn pot and hopper both of which, when I check, are usually fine. The message Low temp is also on the screen. Other times the stove will shut down and alarm light goes on because the stove is overheating. Yesterday, I returned the stove to its factory settings and I bumped up my blower voltage in the higher stalls (3, 4, 5) and that seemed to work well. But this afternoon the stove turned off again with the screen reading once again: low temp, check burn pot and hopper again! Pot was clean and hopper half full.

NOW, When I scroll down and select the diagnostic screen, only the limit circle is shaded. Should all the circles be shaded when I open the diagnostics page?? If I go through the stalls and manually check each component: exhaust, feeder, fire and blower they all check out, however the NTC1 proof of fire circle is not shaded when I open the diagnostic screen nor is the NTC 2 temp sensor. Again, when I first see the screen only the Limit circle is shaded! What am I doing wrong?

Also, (ha more!) the flame seems awfully high when I start the stove in temp mode. It settles down once the room warms up and the blower automatically turns down to stall 1. Do I need to close the damper a little more to get less air running over the fire?

AND one more thing: quite a bit of ash is settling in the small gap between the back of the burn pot and the stove wall. Could this be an issue? I've read about bent burn pots but mine looks level, but as I said, there is a ridge of ash built up behind the burn pot when I remove the burnt pot clean it.

Any help on any of this stuff would be much appreciated!! I am a pellet novice.

 

[Connecticut Yankee]

Also, (ha more!) the flame seems awfully high when I start the stove in temp mode. It settles down once the room warms up and the blower automatically turns down to stall 1. Do I need to close the damper a little more to get less air running over the fire?

I'm a novice, too, so I can't help you with a diagnosis, but as far as the flame goes, I just read Webbie's pellet stove info for newbies (on the Wiki page), and he recommends a wide-open damper during startup, and then closing it to 1/2 or 2/3 after the fire is established and the stove settles down. I notice on my stove that the more fully open the damper, the less tall the flame.

On the other hand, the manual to my stove (Hudson River Chatham) says that the damper is supposed to be set by a professional installer and adjusted only minutely by the customer. I'm not sure why that is.

Any of you experts have a thought on this?

 

[mikkeeh]

These stoves seem to work best when exhaust voltage and blower voltage is within 10 of each other, in each stall.

When adjusting your air intake remember that more open allows a greater volume of air....but less velocity, and more closed allows less air....but higher velocity. I actually drilled my side panel and put in a threaded rod to control air flow.
My particular setup runs better with exhaust stalls set a couple of notches above factory......blower at or within 10v of exhaust, and air intake open about 25%. If I slow the air down too much...I get a clinker in about 5 hrs burn time...it restricts air to the burn pot....and it all goes in the toilet from there.

If I remember correctly, I was told by tech support, that not all functions can be checked via diagnostics....so there may be menu items you can’t test.
These stoves are by far the most labor intensive to keep running right, Ive ever run into.

Hope some of this helps