Drolet auger not working

[TCZON]

We purchased a used Drolet 45 a couple of weeks ago. We have done a thourough cleaning (and a lot of reading here!) to get everything ready to go. The biggest problem we noticed with the stove was that the ground wire appeared melted, and we replaced the cord. Yesterday our chimney was installed, so we fired it up, and pellets ignited and all looked great, but the auger would not feed.

We took off the auger motor, and jumpered it, it turns fine. It was suggested by a friend of ours that it may be the hopper switch (as we did have a 'd' show as the only error code we got when it was running last night), so that has now been disabled, but we are still not able to get power to the auger via the board when trying the 'feed pellets' button.

HELP I have ordered an auger, but that doesn't seem to be the problem, and I don't want to spend that kind of $$ on something that is probably not going to solve the problem. Any suggestions would be greatfully appreciated!

 

[Bioburner]

I would bet that you have a vacuum issue if so equipt with a vacuum switch. Plugged with ash etc the port or hose to it. If you can find the switch you could jumper around it to see if that solves your mystery. Could have poor door seals that don't allow a good chamber vacuum. Good luck

 

[TCZON]

We've checked the pressure switch and cleaned the hose as part of our cleaning, and the door seals look great. When it fired yesterday we had zero smoke leakage around the door.

 

[Bioburner]

Its a negative fire chamber, so should never have a smoke issue if fan is working at all. Try the dollar bill test on door seals. Put a bill in the door gasket area and close and latch the door and try and pull the bill out, repeat all around the door, if it comes out easy that may be the issue. Did you try and jumper the vacuum switch as recommended to rule out several issues? How did you check the vacuum switch? You called it a pressure switch!

 

[TCZON]

On the Drolet, it's called a pressure switch. There is no vacuum switch. I went back and looked a the parts diagram and list again (I think I have the darn thing memorized at this point!). Dollar bill test passed. We are not currently trying to fire the stove, because it is pointless if the auger won't turn.

When the stove is in off mode, the feed pellet button should allow you to feed pellets into the stove to prime the auger. When this button is pressed, there is no power getting to the leads that feed the auger motor. We have tested the auger motor with direct power, and it is functional. There is *something* happening to prevent power from reaching the auger motor. We are now concerned that it may be a control board issue, but are wondering if there is something else we should test/try before dropping $300 on a control board. We have checked all connections for corrosion, making sure they are all connected.

 

[Bioburner]

According to the manual there is a over temp switch that is a manual reset that will shut down the stove if it over fires. Find that switch and maybe needs to be reset or replaced.

 

[TCZON]

Checked the switch, and jumpered it to test. The auger motor still won't get power from the control board. I think we're looking at a control board

 

[Bioburner]

Hope you got it cheap. I always try and get the previous owner to fire it up and get things up a fully running before forking over the cash. Good luck

 

[TCZON]

We did get it cheap VERY cheap actually, so yes, I can justify the cost of the board, just don't wanna Since everything else worked great on ignition, I'm hoping that will be it. I just wanted to make sure we had tested everything possible before forking over the $

 

[Bkins]

As has been mentioned it would pay to recheck the vac, or pressure switch, which I think are the same thing. On just about every stove this unit controls the augar motor. If the tubing or rubber hose, if your stove has it, is not connected and in good shape along with being clear you will not get control of the augar. Sometimes there are more then one port on the pressure device. This is where I would look closely at. Some stoves have a tube by the ash pan that does the same thing as a vac switch and the augar will not run if it's not in very good shape.

I know some of what I mentioned was said before and you said you have checked you pressure switch but since you are having issues with the feed and this controls the feed.........

 

[Bioburner]

Like you stated earlier the stove has a auger prime feature that works with the rest of the stove off and thats not working .

 

[Bkins]

I missed the part about the prime button. It does sound like you have a fried board based on your problem and you finding melted wires. Maybe look for a place that rebuilds the board. That might saved a hundred bucks or so.

 

[TCZON]

Good news! I got in touch with tech support today, and we ran through a whole bunch of tests. Turns out it's the hopper open switch which is faulty. We need to bypass it closer to the control board to see if we can get that to work. Everything else tested perfectly though, so once we get that done, we should be golden. Until the next problem at least! LOL!!

 

[Bioburner]

Second paragraph of you OP stated about disabling that switch

 

[TCZON]

Well, we thought it was.... but it wasn't All is good. The stove is heating the whole house with the help of a few strategically placed fans to move the heat. That's saying something, since we have a large 4 bdrm farm house that is very "boxy" and 10' ceilings. No such thing as open concept here! We did have an issue with the burn pot over flowing, but I cleaned it out, opened up the damper more, and it looks like it's burning fantastic now!

Loving my warm house! Thanks soooo much for your help and ideas!

 

[Bioburner]

Now that all issues have been resolved, how much did you steal it for?

 

[TCZON]

They were asking $500. When it wouldn't fire, I offered $300, and also bought about 150L of furnace oil they had (so I still spent the $500, but got a stove AND enough oil to last us for a little longer!). It was well worth the 1.5 hr drive to go get it!

 

[Bioburner]

Gets real hard to sell anything for more than scrap value if it doesn't start. I bought the garage Harman off auction cheap as no way to confirm if ran or not. I valued it as a steel box with a door and a bucket of spare parts for $440 after commission. Needed gaskets to make the vacuum and it started right up.

 

[TCZON]

Gotta love a good deal!

 

[Bioburner]

Sure not getting one from propain dealers of at the gas pump. Just went out and shut the propane line of to house to kill the backup stoves pilot light. Now for sure will have a lengthy power outage Blizzard warning out and kids going home from school early.

 

[TCZON]

Yikes, we just have snow squall warnings and wind chill warnings, but that low pressure system is apparently heading our way. Stay warm

 

[hyfire]

Good thing you found it, tech support is very good from Drolet.