Enviro Maxx problem...advice and learning needed.

[1Dtml]

Hello fellow Enviro owners, and trouble shooters...I hope.

My Maxx is shutting down soon after it gets going good.

It is very clean including the venting, so that's not the problem.

The stove starts up and runs, but then shuts down, and leaves the #3 light flashing.

I've performed the following through the technical manual:

1). Checked the damper adjustment, and has plenty of air=flame is good until shut down.
2). Jumped out the combustion motor heat sensor=still shuts down, but no flashing #3 light.
3). Jumped out the vacumme switch=still shuts down.
4). checked the voltage across the combustion motor, and it is @ or around 119volts.

I suspect that the combustion motor is weak, so I've ordered a new one.

I am eager to learn more troubleshooting information, and if possible how things work with the stove, so I can fix these problems myself as my area is lacking in service professionals.

I have strong electrical/electronic/mechanical knowledge, so I will most likely will understand the inner workings of all the parts involved, so the more information the better.

As always thank you all for the help, and it is much appreciated.

 

[vinny11950]

how is your stove installed? how does it exhaust, how many bends in the exhaust pipe? How long a run?

Does it have out side air installed?

Also, what brand pellets are you burning?

All these details help understand the stove setup.

 

[Delta-T]

when it goes out, are there unburned pellets in the burnpot, or is the burnpot empty? its not uncommon for the amount of combustion air to be in excess in relationship to the amount of fuel, essentially burning its self out faster than its feeding. You have a couple ways to adjust that...via damper, or feed trim.

 

[1Dtml]

how is your stove installed? how does it exhaust, how many bends in the exhaust pipe? How long a run?

Does it have out side air installed?

Also, what brand pellets are you burning?

All these details help understand the stove setup.

Here is my install, 4" pipe, and outside air.

https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/enviro-maxx-basement-install.82943/#post-1063646

It has ran great since day one, and I'm using the same pellets.

Thanks for the help.

 

[oliveone]

When was your stove installed? What setting is it on when it goes out? You could try to increase the feed rate or reduces the blower to the burn pot. What pellets are you burning, if they are really long may not feed enough to keep fire burning. It is also possible that you have a bad auger motor. Motor will spin but not move the auger. Don’t ask how I know about this (stove off light blinking still pellets in hopper) Just to put this out there your motor is a 3 rpm motor. Same set up as a Whitfield. In an emergency you could us a 1rpm motor an run it on hi with blower all the way down. You can also run a 2 rpm motor and save a little fuel if you don’t need to use the high end BTUs. Hope this will help you out. I could hear the motor turning and see no pellets coming down. Then sometime it would send a few pellets down. I removed old motor installed a new Whitfield that I had on hand and stated the stove back up. It was not until I removed the motor cover that I saw the bad gear inside. Called dealer and returned to shop. Showed dealer the issue and motor was covered under warranty. That motor is now my back up to the back up LOL. I am currently running a 2 RPM with get success ( motor is a PV002 )
best of luck

 

[1Dtml]

when it goes out, are there unburned pellets in the burnpot, or is the burnpot empty? its not uncommon for the amount of combustion air to be in excess in relationship to the amount of fuel, essentially burning its self out faster than its feeding. You have a couple ways to adjust that...via damper, or feed trim.

The flame gets pretty big & looks to be optimized, and it feeds enough fuel to keep going, but the stove shuts off feeding the pellets with the feed button still flashing (as if it is feeding). At that point I can't make the feed work even by pushing the manual feed button.

One other thing: What should the high temp reset button feel like, for mine doesn't click or appear to move when pressing to reset?

 

[1Dtml]

When was your stove installed? What setting is it on when it goes out? You could try to increase the feed rate or reduces the blower to the burn pot. What pellets are you burning, if they are really long may not feed enough to keep fire burning. It is also possible that you have a bad auger motor. Motor will spin but not move the auger. Don’t ask how I know about this (stove off light blinking still pellets in hopper) Just to put this out there your motor is a 3 rpm motor. Same set up as a Whitfield. In an emergency you could us a 1rpm motor an run it on hi with blower all the way down. You can also run a 2 rpm motor and save a little fuel if you don’t need to use the high end BTUs. Hope this will help you out. I could hear the motor turning and see no pellets coming down. Then sometime it would send a few pellets down. I removed old motor installed a new Whitfield that I had on hand and stated the stove back up. It was not until I removed the motor cover that I saw the bad gear inside. Called dealer and returned to shop. Showed dealer the issue and motor was covered under warranty. That motor is now my back up to the back up LOL. I am currently running a 2 RPM with get success ( motor is a PV002 )
best of luck

I looked there at first, and took the hopper assembly apart. It seems to feed the same as last year, and I've tried different settings.

 

[oliveone]

I looked there at first, and took the hopper assembly apart. It seems to feed the same as last year, and I've tried different settings.

sent you a PM

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

Err, sounds like your POF is opening up or not closing in time. Check it and the wiring and the connections for tightness.

 

[Delta-T]

if it consistently shuts down at the 10-12 minute mark...I'd guess POF switch as well...no an uncommon failure IMO. The High limit with only click if its been tripped, otherwise it does nothing when you push the reset.

 

[1Dtml]

if it consistently shuts down at the 10-12 minute mark...I'd guess POF switch as well...no an uncommon failure IMO. The High limit with only click if its been tripped, otherwise it does nothing when you push the reset.

It does appear to be very consistent on how long it takes to shut down, but I haven't timed it.
Is the POF switch the exhaust temperature switch?
The service manual said the jump this switch out to test, but it didn't change anything (still shut down).

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

It does appear to be very consistent on how long it takes to shut down, but I haven't timed it.
Is the POF switch the exhaust temperature switch?
The service manual said the jump this switch out to test, but it didn't change anything (still shut down).

Yes.

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

Are there any pellets in the burn pot when it shuts down?

Have you checked all of the wiring for frays, loose connections etc ...And any rubbing against blowers, slide rails, etc ...?

 

[1Dtml]

Err, sounds like your POF is opening up or not closing in time. Check it and the wiring and the connections for tightness.

Is this the exhaust temperature switch?
The manual said to jump out the exhaust temperature switch, but the stove still shuts down.

You mention opening or closing in time, so I'm betting that jumping out this switch won't help me figure out that the switch is bad as the manual states?

Thanks for spending the time to help.

 

[1Dtml]

Are there any pellets in the burn pot when it shuts down?

Have you checked all of the wiring for frays, loose connections etc ...And any rubbing against blowers, slide rails, etc ...?

There is some pellets left in the burnpot when it shuts down, but not every time, for sometimes it appears to keep burning them as if in a normal cycle.

I haven't gone through all wiring harnesses, but a quick examination didn't turn up any wiring issues.

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

You might want to remove that switch and clean behind it and also in the exhaust cavity behind where the switch sits, but if it is jumped before the stove lights the sequence followed by the controller is that the fire actually has lit and to go to run mode when the controller does its test of the switch.

 

[pell it]

Does the convection blower turn on?

 

[1Dtml]

The problem is fixed!

Thanks to all you folks who helped so much, and sorry to those that tried to contact me directly that I didn't get back to yet


Your friendship and helpfulness saved me a bunch of money (and maybe a tough night or two with the wifey), for because of your advice I decided to cancel the combustion motor I ordered.

When I cancelled the motor the salesman advised me to jump out the resettable 200 degree High limit temperature sensing switch, and check the feed motor.

All worked well with the High limit switch jumped out, so a new switch should cure it.

It was a great learning experience, and once again thanks to all!

For those with the same stove problem the high temp switch can appear to be working because mine didn't trip, but was still the problem.

I would also like to thank Shawn Harmon of Mountain View Hearth Products for all his help!

 

[MountainSean]

The problem is fixed!

Thanks to all you folks who helped so much, and sorry to those that tried to contact me directly that I didn't get back to yet


Your friendship and helpfulness saved me a bunch of money (and maybe a tough night or two with the wifey), for because of your advice I decided to cancel the combustion motor I ordered.

When I cancelled the motor the salesman advised me to jump out the resettable 200 degree High limit temperature sensing switch, and check the feed motor.

All worked well with the High limit switch jumped out, so a new switch should cure it.

It was a great learning experience, and once again thanks to all!

For those with the same stove problem the high temp switch can appear to be working because mine didn't trip, but was still the problem.

I would also like to thank Shawn Harmon of Mountain View Hearth Products for all his help!

I am glad I was able to help, really glad you were able to catch me before we sent out those other parts to you. Definite thanks to the people who helped you here, without them having you do those other checks first we would have gone through a lot more steps to find the problem.

 

[VTrider]

Glad to hear the problem seems to be fixed, but can someone explain how the high limit switch figured into the resolution?

I'm on my second year with a Maxx unit, the first season I pulled my hair out trying to figure out my flashing #3 problem. I figured as well that it was the POF switch on the exhaust channel was just not sensing the fire soon enough and closing. Since it remained opened, the stove would initiate the shut-down procedure and end up with the flashing #3.

This drove me crazy, especially since I had the stove on a stat with the stove on auto on/off mode (only in the Fall and Spring) - Had it sent this way to wake up to warm house in the morning - needless to say, I woke up to a cold house 50% of the time.

I was able to solve this problem just by opening the damper a bit, allowing more air in the burnpot - only thing I can think of is that this allowed just a little bit more air to get the fire hotter, which in turned triggered the POF switch to close, keeping the stove running. I haven't had one flashing #3 this year.

 

[oliveone]

Glad to here it is up and running. Get an extra auger motor you can get the pv002 on line for less then $100. You never know when you will have a need.

 

[1Dtml]

Glad to hear the problem seems to be fixed, but can someone explain how the high limit switch figured into the resolution?

I'm on my second year with a Maxx unit, the first season I pulled my hair out trying to figure out my flashing #3 problem. I figured as well that it was the POF switch on the exhaust channel was just not sensing the fire soon enough and closing. Since it remained opened, the stove would initiate the shut-down procedure and end up with the flashing #3.

This drove me crazy, especially since I had the stove on a stat with the stove on auto on/off mode (only in the Fall and Spring) - Had it sent this way to wake up to warm house in the morning - needless to say, I woke up to a cold house 50% of the time.

I was able to solve this problem just by opening the damper a bit, allowing more air in the burnpot - only thing I can think of is that this allowed just a little bit more air to get the fire hotter, which in turned triggered the POF switch to close, keeping the stove running. I haven't had one flashing #3 this year.

I'm more than glad to share with my learning experience.
Earlier on many asked me about how long the stove was running before it went into shut down, and that bit of information appears to be a good start to trouble shooting.
The way I understand it the board sends out signals at certain intervals to different system components as a check procedure. At ten minutes it sends out a signal to the High temperature resettable limit switch to see if the temperature is too hot. If it doesn't receive a signal it shuts down the stove because it thinks its too hot.
You can check out if the switch is working by jumping across the switch. In my case I took off the spade terminals and attached them to a car fuse which completed the circuit. I had mistakenly assumed that this switch was good because I never had to manually reset it, but apparently these switches go bad after a while, and thus the signal goes unanswered, and the stove goes into shut off mode.
I also learned that the auger motor can be checked by trying to hold it from turning while it is functioning. When the motor is tired you can stop it from turning, but in my case you would be lucky to stop it by using some very heavy pliers. I'm not recommending trying this, but I'm giving an example that these are very powerful until they are ready to be replaced.

I hope this helps, and once again thanks to all those that assisted in my learning experience.

 

[1Dtml]

Glad to here it is up and running. Get an extra auger motor you can get the pv002 on line for less then $100. You never know when you will have a need.

This sounds like a good idea.
Thanks for the help, and advice!