I am not sure if this is the correct place for this or not, but my husband is ready to throw out our brand new stove that we have invested over $3000 in stove, parts and installation costs etc. The first day it was installed we tried to start it and got the P error message. It would start up for a few secinds on high speed and then would cut out with the P message. It was installed correctly according to the guide. Our installer called the company and was told that it was possible the airflow pressure switch was defective and they were sending us a new one. We did receive it but the same thing happened. Our one year warrenty is rapidly running out and we cannot even get it to start. The pressure control switch is half black and half white and a hose is put on one of the openings and we have no idea why there are two places where the hose could connect, but the new switch does not solve the problem. We have emailed the company and even sent pictures of the installation but are still waiting of course. Does anyone have any idea what we can do to fix this? We are desperate and his blood pressure is on bust and I have to pay for this stove because he is retired so I need all the help I can get. He thought this would be a great idea because the cost of oil is so high and with me being the only one still working would save us money. Thanks. :-S
Drolet ECO 45 help please
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hi Annie,I have read your post...also have the eco-45 and will check into your problem tomorrow.Did the stove work ok up to that point? They are famous for electrical glitches...if you have done a search on here for "drolet pellet" or "eco-45".
I think your best bet is for the dealer to trouble shoot a new stove. That being said I down loaded your owners manual. It is a basic pellet stove, not that complicated.
The P code is for a pressure sensor problem as you know. It could be caused by a large air leak, weak motor, dirty vent, only if you have been running it.
The dealer could put the a vacuum gauge where the vacuum switch hose plugs into the stove and check for proper pressure, should be .20 - .30 WC. The test for vacuum would tell the tech if a leak is the problem, or weak motor. I am probably not much help but I thought I would give it a shot.
I forgot tell you the 2 port on the vacuum switch, one must be vent, I would switch the hose to the other port and see if it runs.
The P code is for a pressure sensor problem as you know. It could be caused by a large air leak, weak motor, dirty vent, only if you have been running it.
The dealer could put the a vacuum gauge where the vacuum switch hose plugs into the stove and check for proper pressure, should be .20 - .30 WC. The test for vacuum would tell the tech if a leak is the problem, or weak motor. I am probably not much help but I thought I would give it a shot.
I forgot tell you the 2 port on the vacuum switch, one must be vent, I would switch the hose to the other port and see if it runs.
Thanks for the replies. We bought the stove at a Home Hardware place and trying to get a tech to come here to look at it is impossible. We have been trying to get someone to come and install it for a month now but no one answers our call. We did get it installed by an electrician. The stove has never been lit because we get the P message. All the joints in the chimney pieces are sealed and we even put the aluminum tape over the joints. If we take off the cap where the ashes would come out for cleaning at the back we can feel the air blowing out there for a few seconds before the stove stops and the P error comes up. Would the store have to take it back if it has never worked or would we have to deal with the company do you think? The store itself does not supply installers. There is a heating place here in town but they refuse to install the stoves uless you bought it from them and the other heating company hasn't returned a call in three weeks and we heard it is because they are busy cleaning out furnaces for the winter.
hi Anniep...I have been running the eco-45 now for its second year and think it is a good stove because it is rugged and simple,but not all of them seem to have passed the test apparently.
If you searched for drolet on the forum here,you would have read the other complaints.Seems no one gets a little unhappy about the performance of the stove....they tend to have a major household crisis...as described possibly in your case.
Regardless,I have had the "p" error code appear last winter,and I don't really know why. The only thing I did to move forward was to continue to reset the stove and try again.After a couple of attempts, it would start and the problem did not appear again for some time.It has not happened yet this year. I would suggect that you try this with different damper settings which controls the intake air to the stove.
If you look in the owners manual for the stove,they give a detailed checklist(page 19 in my book) of about 9 items to try to fix the problem.....some will need the expertise of your electrician friend perhaps.The airflow switch is a normally open switch that should close and have also 120 volts applied to it after the power is turned on.This would quickly eliminate the airflow switch and point towards the control board(which has a two year warranty).
You do not say which part of Canada you are from...we bought our stove at a home hardware and they are just not interested at all in providing customer service.They are not in the business of returns and are more used to someone buying the wrong size screws.If you had a truck and the stove was still within a few weeks or so of you purchasing it,I would drop it off at their door and demand one that works.The stove is heavy.This is a last resort plan.Maybe a talk to the manager is better,and it fixed an issue I had trying to get my auger motor replaced.
I assume you took the cap off the stove cleanout to eliminate high exhaust pressure as being the culprit.Good thinking.I suspect it is electronic related though. Be assured that the ball is in your court,you have a stove that has never worked! You will have to rattle some chains at the Hardware Store.They probably don't have a stove they can exchange for you in stock since they seem to be so scarce.
I did solve a problem last year with the stove locking up and the high temp. code being displayed and the only way to reset it after this happening three times was to go into test mode.I don't know if this might help in your case.
If you searched for drolet on the forum here,you would have read the other complaints.Seems no one gets a little unhappy about the performance of the stove....they tend to have a major household crisis...as described possibly in your case.
Regardless,I have had the "p" error code appear last winter,and I don't really know why. The only thing I did to move forward was to continue to reset the stove and try again.After a couple of attempts, it would start and the problem did not appear again for some time.It has not happened yet this year. I would suggect that you try this with different damper settings which controls the intake air to the stove.
If you look in the owners manual for the stove,they give a detailed checklist(page 19 in my book) of about 9 items to try to fix the problem.....some will need the expertise of your electrician friend perhaps.The airflow switch is a normally open switch that should close and have also 120 volts applied to it after the power is turned on.This would quickly eliminate the airflow switch and point towards the control board(which has a two year warranty).
You do not say which part of Canada you are from...we bought our stove at a home hardware and they are just not interested at all in providing customer service.They are not in the business of returns and are more used to someone buying the wrong size screws.If you had a truck and the stove was still within a few weeks or so of you purchasing it,I would drop it off at their door and demand one that works.The stove is heavy.This is a last resort plan.Maybe a talk to the manager is better,and it fixed an issue I had trying to get my auger motor replaced.
I assume you took the cap off the stove cleanout to eliminate high exhaust pressure as being the culprit.Good thinking.I suspect it is electronic related though. Be assured that the ball is in your court,you have a stove that has never worked! You will have to rattle some chains at the Hardware Store.They probably don't have a stove they can exchange for you in stock since they seem to be so scarce.
I did solve a problem last year with the stove locking up and the high temp. code being displayed and the only way to reset it after this happening three times was to go into test mode.I don't know if this might help in your case.
I just called the manager of the Home Hardware in Gander Newfoundland where we live and told him that we want a new stove to replace the one that we think is defective. I told him I already contacted the company before and they sent us a new part that still did not solve the problem. I said rather than bring it back and get our money back and buy one from a different company, I would settle for an exchange. He didn't know what to say and said he would call us back after making a couple of calls, and we suspect he is going to try to call the stove company, but I don't expect him to get any better luck reaching someone than we did. I told him that some friends of mine at work are interested in getting a pellet stove too but they are waiting to see what luck we have and I told him I certainly could not recommend a stove that has never worked. I tried the reset button numerous times and the P error still comes up and my finger is sore. It starts up on high speed it seems for a few seconds and then slows down and cuts off and the error message appears. To make matters worse our province is offering a 25% rebate for people who buy these stoves to save money on oil but only if it is installed by a certain WETT tech. The problem with that is that one company will not let their people install the stoves unless you bought it from them and they are more expensive. So we won't even get the 25% rebate to add insult to injury. We have a nice looking piece of furniture in the basement that doesn't do anything yet.
Update to my previous post. After I called the store and told him I wanted an exchange the company in Quebec called my husband and told him that now they think the problem is with the control board and they are sending a new one because he thinks it is sending a message to the pressure switch to shut down too fast. He is sending it by courier but it could take two weeks to get here. Must be a slow courier because it doesn't take that long to drive from Quebec to Newfoundland and even less if they put it on the plane. They certainly don't want to take the stove back and my warranty time is running out without it ever working.
anniep34 said:
Why is your warranty running out on a stove you haven't been
able to use yet? Did you have it sitting for a long time before
you had it installed? Just curious.
Regardless, I'd demand they send you the control board
overnight, or at the least in 3 to 5 days. I see no reason
why they cannot get it to you quickly.
Good to see you are getting some action on this.Too bad about all the time lost though. The warranty covers various parts for various amounts of time with the sensors being only covered for 1 year...but usually any faults are evident with the electronics very quickly,as you already know.How these stoves ever leave the factory and end up having electronic faults from day one is disturbing.You are not the only one. The auger motor is covered for two years I think,which is another weak link as the bushing will get worn and the motor will get noisy.After warranty,the bushing to fix it is dirt cheap or you can get a new motor for much more. Then warranty goes up to 5 years and lifetime on the combustion chamber(welds only) but don't hold your breath on collecting,since a robot does all the welding.
I hope you will eventually be happy with your stove.It gives off a lot of heat with the right pellets and you have to be careful not to overheat the unit right away until you get to know just how it will act. I have seldom put the heat level all the way on full,and it sure can eat a lot of pellets on high setting. Anyways,hopefully you will get the part sooner than you think and all will be much better for you.
Oh by the way,regarding your 25% percent grant...I would also get on the phone about that one as well.We got $ 400 from the federal home energy plan for conversion to a pellet stove from a dirty woodstove.The W.E.T.T. thing you are talking about is not fair since the stove is carbon neutral....and if you can't get a W.E.T.T. guy to look at it...whose fault is that? Some of these W.E.T.T. guys are starting to use their certification to hold us hostage trying to tell us that they are the only people that can hook up a stove-the W.E.T.T. guy that changed out auger motor....after he was done,I noticed a screw missing from the back of the stove casing.I said to myself" oh yeah,one of those types of mechanics...I better check his work". I took the auger motor off and found that he had stripped the bolt attaching the motor to the auger shaft. My point is....they can write all the tests in the world and wear a fancy badge...that don't make you a mechanic overnight.
I hope you will eventually be happy with your stove.It gives off a lot of heat with the right pellets and you have to be careful not to overheat the unit right away until you get to know just how it will act. I have seldom put the heat level all the way on full,and it sure can eat a lot of pellets on high setting. Anyways,hopefully you will get the part sooner than you think and all will be much better for you.
Oh by the way,regarding your 25% percent grant...I would also get on the phone about that one as well.We got $ 400 from the federal home energy plan for conversion to a pellet stove from a dirty woodstove.The W.E.T.T. thing you are talking about is not fair since the stove is carbon neutral....and if you can't get a W.E.T.T. guy to look at it...whose fault is that? Some of these W.E.T.T. guys are starting to use their certification to hold us hostage trying to tell us that they are the only people that can hook up a stove-the W.E.T.T. guy that changed out auger motor....after he was done,I noticed a screw missing from the back of the stove casing.I said to myself" oh yeah,one of those types of mechanics...I better check his work". I took the auger motor off and found that he had stripped the bolt attaching the motor to the auger shaft. My point is....they can write all the tests in the world and wear a fancy badge...that don't make you a mechanic overnight.
Apparently the warranty starts from the day you buy the stove and not when it is installed. We tried for almost a month to get someone to install it and had to settle on an electrician who was not a WETT guy so we won't get the rebate. The company says it is sending the part by courier and that it takes that long to get here- must be a scenic route! They send it to the store also instead of our house so we have to go and pick it up but it is only 5 minutes away so it is not that bad. The frustration is what is bohtering us with all this and luckily it has been warm here so far. My husband is ready to throw it on the curb and forget about it.
Update again. We finally got the new control board and have it installed. Now the blower runs for a fair while like about five minutes before it shuts down and we get the P message again. The igniter does not come on at all but it did come on with the old board in. We called the rep and he told my husband to look at several things which we did. He then said he had to talk to some people tonight and would call us back tomorrow with an answer to why it won't start and if not we may get a new stove. This is exactly what I wanted in the first place. I called Home Hardware and said I wanted to exchange the stove and intead they had the rep call us and send a new part. We are waiting again it seems.
Good to see you are getting action.The two weeks you anticipated for getting the board has been shorter and the ball is in your court.Hope you get a new stove...it would give you peace of mind after all of this. Do you have access to wood pellets? There is a crazy shortage here in New Brunswick....saw an ad from a guy yesterday selling a bunch of them for 10 dollars a bag!...He's nobodys' friend.
I'm not sure if this will work in Canada but here in the US you can get your $$$ back if you paid for the stove with a Visa or Mastercard. The CC company will chargeback the purchase price to the sellers merchant account... THAT will usually get you some action.
Me again. After waiting for so long we finally had the guys from the heating place come down yesterday with the new parts that seemed to have walked from Nova Scotia. I had phoned the sales manager and left a message that they had until the end of this week to fix the stove or it was going back for a refund because we were tired of waiting. Before I left to go back to work after lunch I heard one guy ask the other guy what the pressure switch was for so I wasn't really expecting any miracles. I think my husband and I know more about the stove than they did. The guys they sent were not the only WETT certified guy who works for them so we still cannot get the certification for the rebate offered by our government. Anyway I came home after work to a house full of smoke and the guys still there who had been there when I went back to work after lunch. They were then on the phone with the sales manager and they finally decided to give us a new stove which is what I asked for over three weeks ago in the first place. Today Home Hardware delivered the new stove and we phoned the heating guys back again to see when they could come and put the new stove in and was told that they did up a work order and we would be advised when they would do it. The sales manager guy left a voice mail asking if we had the new stove installed yet so I called back but had to leave a message that we have the stove but are told we have to wait again to get it put in. Really all they have to do is push it back onto the pipe etc because the other piping was never taken down. Only the stove was taken out, so I still do not have any heat from it. I notice the serial number of this one is earlier than the one we were given in the first place so I hope that is not a bad sign. My husband has been so upset over all this that he won't even bring down my Christmas tree from the attic space until the stove issue is solved, so there is not much time left.
Annie,thats a sour story...my lands! Don't you have anyone around,say maybe a local mechanic or someone so inclined to help you out? Doesn't take a genius to do what you need,just a strong back.Hope this story ends well...for Christmas at least!
We could push it back in and start it ourselves but my husband is afraid to in case it doesn't work again and they try to say that we broke it or did something wrong. We are hoping that we can get the installation certified by having them put it in and then maybe get the rebate but we aren't holding our breath on that.
Well I am happy to say that we were finally given a totally new stove that was delivered by Home Hardware. The heating guys were supposed to come and hook it up just to make sure everything worked but the ompany kept giving us the runaround and finally told my husband they had no one qualified to instlal it. He told them it was already installed and all they were supposed to do was get it started but no luck. We called back the sales manager and told him what trouble we were having and he said he would walk us through it. My husband told him we know more about these stoves he thinks than anyone else here in Newfoundland and the guy agreed with us ha ha. Anyway it was up and running in less than three minutes and we have had heat ever since and are very happy with it. Obviously the original stove was quite defective in more than one part and ths one works great. We had to drive into St. John's to get more pellets for it because there are none to be found now in central Newfoundland. We hae enough now until around the end of February so we are nice and warm and my husband is in a much better mood now and spends a lot of time in the rec room in the basement in front of the stove watching tv. I guess they are great stoves when they work and you can't even smell fire or smoke in the house so we are pleased at long last. We still haven't got the issue of the warranty straightened up yet since we have a new stove with a different serial number and they haven't replied to me.
Congratulations on finally getting some pellet heat in your home. They really put you guys through the wringer, hope everything is smooth sailing from this point forward. Good luck.
Hey fire starter i just bought the same pellet stove and i have the same error code all the time. P . Can you let me know if it helped to get the new one. I'm wondering what to do i just bought it and my husband hates it. Of course it all my fault. Please help
We first got the P error all the time too and they said it was a problem with the air pressure switch and sent us a new one. That didn't work and then they sent us a new control circuit board but that didn't work either and they also sent us a new igniter. So you may also have these same defective parts as we had before they finally gave us a new stove.
Good to know. Looks like were gonna have some issues too. Im gonna contact the Dealer tomorrow and get the ball rolling. Like we usually get the code when we first go and start it . And then i just reset it and press the mode button and usually on the second try it usually start. Well my husband installed it. So im thinking maybe he install the pipe wrong but i double checked it and everything seem good. Did you say you got it installed by a professional. Because i checked in my area and no one knows what im talking about. Just wondering if you had issues with your insurance company they wanted me to get it WETT certified. Did you have to do that as well?
I get the "p" error every once in awhile and I attribute it to maybe the stack pressure in the flue is too much due to the atmospheric pressure and maybe cuz it is extra cold out,but regardless,it usually goes on the second or third reset. The sensors are there for safety,although they sure can be troublesome.
Annie it is good to see you finally got some justice.It sure took a long time and I don't think I would be as patient. I have to wonder if somehow these defective stoves somehow don't make it back to the factory and end up on someone elses dinner table. Maybe your stove is on a new journey that we will be reading about in a future episode.
Annie it is good to see you finally got some justice.It sure took a long time and I don't think I would be as patient. I have to wonder if somehow these defective stoves somehow don't make it back to the factory and end up on someone elses dinner table. Maybe your stove is on a new journey that we will be reading about in a future episode.
We could not get it installed by a certified WETT guy because there was a problem with one company. If we didn't buy the stove from them then they would not even look at us to install it for us. The other company had one guy take the ONE DAY course but said he didn't have his certificate yet so he couldn't install it. We had it done by an electrician friend and even the stove company said the installation was perfect but because he was not a WETT certified technician we cannot get the rebate which is not fair. The stove rep did say that sometimes you will get the P error the first time or two if it is chilly where the stove is installed. We have ours in the basement and that happened once but now it starts every time with no problem, knock on wood.
Annie,I think that you should make an issue with it,via an email to the people who run the program.It seems you have done all that is possible and the flaw is in the system in place. Let somebody who runs the program know that.At the very least,you should be able to use your documentation for when ever a qualified person is available,regardless of a time lapse. If it is a straightforward installation,a wett guy should be able to sign off on it 'tout suite!
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