Enviro M55 Agitator Malfunction (And similar Enviro/Regency, etc)

[mikestod]

I'd like to know if anyone else who owns an Enviro, Regency, VistaFlame or other similar stove with a burn pot agitator has had this problem???:

I switched my Enviro M55 insert from Hi/Lo mode to Manual mode when I went to bed last night for the cold overnight. When I woke up this morning I found that the pellets in the burn pot were piled up into the pellet chute and the auger was still dropping pellets. The agitator had not been operating for a long time obviously (maybe even for the full 6-7 hours since I had switched modes the night before). I immediately turned the stove OFF and the agitator started turning, as the stove went into its standard shut down procedure where it turns that agitator for a few minutes. This began correcting the problem, but of course burning pellets were now being kicked out of the burn pot and into the ash pan. This just happened this morning, so my stove is now off until I'm back home and can try to fire it up under supervision to see if it will happen again.

Since the agitator began turning immediately when I change the controls to OFF, it obviously isn't a motor or mechanical issue. It appears to be a software or board issue. My stove is just under a year old so its still under warranty, so I'm not worried about the repair. But being a fire investigator and former firefighter this is an obvious safety concern to me. Had this stove run in this condition for a longer period of time, it is possible that the pellet chute would have filled up with pellets completely and the fire could have burned back up the pellet chute into the auger and hopper. While in my case it is likely any hopper fire would be contained to the hearth area it would at minimum have resulted in a bunch of smoke damage in the house.

I'm just wondering if others have had this same issue or is this a one time occurrence? As it is, I plan to talk with Enviro about this, but if others are having this issue too then they need to know. Please respond if you have had this issue and let me know how many times it has happened and if you had it repaired. If it was repaired, what was the fix?

 

[Bill L]

I would think that an agitator malfunction would not cause that problem. I had a similar issue once, but it was because my stove was in dire need of a full cleaning, and the damper needed to be opened a little.
What pellet grade setting are you using? The premium setting is fairly infrequent.

 

[ohbix]

I didn't know that you could switch modes while the stove was running. Could that have contributed? Newbie m55 owner here.

 

[Bill L]

You can switch thermostat/manual mode during operation no problem.

 

[mikestod]

I conducted my weekly maintenance last Sunday, so it was only about 4 days of running. Sometimes mid-week I have to open it up and empty the ash pan, but it wasn't that full when this occurred. On top of that I conducted a full cleaning three weeks ago where I disassembled everything and cleaned it well, including pulling the stove, cleaning the liner and inspecting the blower and everything. I do plan to double check the vacuum with my magnehelic gauge when I get home, just in case I bumped the damper when I did the major cleaning a three weekends ago. But I have not noticed a whole lot more ash and no discernible difference in the flames so it is unlikely.

As far as pellets go, I have been burning Fireside Ultras all year with no issues. They burn nice and hot with a reasonable amount of ash. The first 3 tons were an 08/2013 batch. The last 3/4 ton was a 12/2013 batch but look to burn about the same. Unless it is a single bad bag of pellets, nothing else has changed all season as far as settings of the stove goes so I can't explain it yet. My pellets were delivered fully wrapped and are stored in a completely dry place, so its not a moisture issue. I obviously haven't had much time to investigate but my first thought was a possible agitator issue from switching back and forth between modes, which I don't do all that often really.

 

[whlago]

I have had issues with the agitator not twisted in all the way and can confirm that the pellet buildup in the burn pot ocurrs. As far as your hypothesis that it is some sort of software/ computer issue not sure. When the burn pot was piling up did you have the ability to check whether the chain drive for the agitator was functioning as it was supposed to be? Wonder if it could be coincidence that when you changed to shutdown mode something somehow engaged the agitator rod into the correct seating?