Does anyone have a Travis Industries Lopi Foxfire?

[LuvMyStove]

It's probably an unusual title for a thread, but I'm getting desperate and want to know if anyone has had the same problem.

Our Foxfire is only putting out half the heat that it did at the end of last year. The stove's exhaust channel and vent pipe are clean, as is the rubber hose going to the flow switch as is the brass nipple on the other end. I clean the fire box out every week, removing all the panels and vacuuming behind them. The combustion fan, both convection fans and the flow switch are all new. The auger is turning fine. We've used Barefoot pellets for years, although we are switching to Northern Max, which is another quality pellet w/ a slightly higher BTU output. We had a tech come out to look at it and he couldn't find anything wrong.

So how do I know there's a problem? The Foxfire has two top surfaces - one over the hopper and the other over the firebox. Until this year, we couldn't put our hand on the surface over the firebox even when the stove was on a low setting. Now, even when the stove is on high, that surface is just warm. The stove has 10 heat settings. Last year we ran it on 1 or 2 (3 or 4 if it was exceptionally cold). This year we've had to keep it at 8, using a lot of pellets.

The only possibility I can think of is that mice built a nest that's blocking airflow to the combustion platform, but I'm hesitant to try and weave a vacuum hose into the stove when I can't see if there are any sensors or other things that I might damage.

Can anyone out there help? We're really desperate. Thank you.

 

[johneh]

Do you have a manual?
Is the stove cleaned as per the manual?
Is the stove set to Manual or Thermostat?
How does the flame look crisp, bright, and active?
Lazey black tips on flames?
Overactive like a blow torch?
Have you tried the leaf blower trick?
As you can see, a little more information will help with solving your problem.
Manual

https://www.fireplacedoorsonline.com/images/companies/5/manuals/Glass/Lopi/Lopi-Foxfire-Pellet-Stove-Manual.pdf?1718691433048&srsltid=AfmBOorNwPFh87__b9wSdpl88GKE9wTFrLmzJlAB5iPCS1UmbYGB0_Ml

 

[LuvMyStove]

Thanks for your reply. I have a manual (attached) that shows how to remove and reinstall most of the components and how and when to service it. I clean it more often than they recommend. I am going to look at your manual, then go down your checklist and report back, and would appreciate your opinions. Thanks again.

 

[stovelark]

If the stove's flame looks normal with respect to height and its color, is the feed rate correct? If the only thing that has changed from one year to the next is the pellets, I'd try a couple of bags of different pellets, to see if anything is different. Reading the manual, seems like a very nice pellet stove.

 

[LuvMyStove]

Thanks to everyone who replied to my post about our Foxfire losing about half of its heat output.

It turned out to be the pellet feed system. With the Foxfire (and probably most Lopis) the pellets drop down through a series of 5-6 plates to the auger. In October I took all the plates out to vacuum out the fines. Only one of the plates can be put back the wrong way (the bottom one) and I believe that's what I did and slowed down the pellet feed. Flipped that plate over, turned the stove back on and it's cranking out the BTUs again. For example, with the temp 10 degrees outside and the stove running at 8/10, the temp in the room was 70F. Now, under the same conditions with the stove set at 5/10, the room temp is 80. Before, you could keep your hand on top of the firebox even when the stove was running on high (10/10); now you can't touch it when the stove is running at 5/10. We have a heat pump upstairs (the pellet stove is in the basement) and it's been running constantly because it's been so cold here, but now it's hardly running at all. It was a lesson that took me 3 months (and more than a few bucks) to learn, but I won't forget it now

.

 

[stovelark]

Great to hear you're back at it. Stay warm.