H1 troubles continue

[baglady]

Our Drolet ECO 45 pellet stove is still acting up. Anyways, it runs perfectly fine on heat setting #2, but as soon as we boost it up to #3, we get the H1 error code showing up after running for a few hours.
We first installed our stove in Nov. '07 and had very few problems with it until H1 started appearing in early January. Now it seem to be a semi-permanent fixture, at least on 3. I know how to get rid of the code, but why is it doing it?? Does anyone have any ideas?
We have also tried adjusting the damper settings, but it doesn't seem to be making any difference. The code keeps appearing. The heat exchangers were thoroughly cleaned, by hand, not just using the rod, the chimney and all exhaust parts were cleaned of ash, including the chimney.

 

[webbie]

Try to PM or otherwise contact Stove Geek who works there and offered help?
https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/14485/P18/#160477

 

[baglady]

It seems we may have solved our problem by removing the decorative grillework in front of the heat exchanger tubes. The stove is no longer overheating and we are not getting any error codes. We are planning to adapt the cover so that the louvres won't block the heat coming out of the stove.

 

[pete324rocket]

you do know that the cover flips up to distribute the heat in a more forward direction. There was some talk about defective sensors-ie. too sensitive and maybe there is a problem there.Try contacting drolet,though I am having doubts about using email to contact them as I have requested a new gasket for my door-they have acknowleged my email request-probably by default,but its going past three weeks.If I get one in the mail sometime soon though,I will be happy since it is not a big deal..but if I have to call them.....hmmm...I'll wait a little longer just to see what the deal is with customer service.No toll free number is not especially attractive. Haven't had a reply from stovegeek since I PM'ed him about a month ago now.

 

[baglady]

We were thinking at first that the problem might be the sensor located on the chute inside the hopper, but since letting all the air flow freely, there have been no more problems. Did you try contacting your dealer to get a new door gasket first? It would probably be a faster approach. I too wish they had a toll-free number, but I'm not planning on contacting them unless something major crops up. Good luck getting the gasket!!

 

[pete324rocket]

The dealer told me to go this route and that all warranty claims are between the manufacturer and me and since it is not a critical issue,seems fine with me.It will be a test of things to come however if after,say a month or later,I have to call them up to see "whats shakin'". I'm a patient guy to a point,though the warranty period for various parts of the stove differ so I don't want to see a bleak future.The gasket in the door was not a great install to begin with and the gap where the two ends meet has frayed back enough that it needs a new one,simply put.I'll keep you posted.Hope your stove is running well-today it has been brutal cold and I've been running 3/4 throttle for over 24 hours now-a great performer.

 

[baglady]

The gasket in the door of our stove leaves a lot to be desired too! The ends are frayed and the join is iffy, in my opinion. I was considering changing it before next winter, which will probably start in early October, knowing our Canadian winters!! However, I was just going to get a new one from our dealer and not bother with trying to get it under warranty. Once I research how much it will cost, I might change my mind though. Do you know if it can be 'glued' with high heat silicone?
As for cold, we just went through another cold spell but it's supposed to be nice for the weekend and then turn cold again! What heat setting do you usually run your stove on? Our house is relatively small, so #3 is sufficient for here, even for -35.
Stay warm!!

 

[pete324rocket]

I've done all I can for the gasket-I've plumped it up with some duck billed pliers to give it a nice solid seal on the door....but the ends fraying is something I can't heal. Not sure how to replace it yet-cross that road when I get there but I assume glue will be involved-I've put a gasket on our old wood stove before-not really that expensive for the rope and glue.Anyways,the warranty is supposed to cover the door gasket for one year,so I've got till the fall to get it straightened out. Now a new issue has risen...the auger motor was getting noisy , or maybe it is the gearbox.I got in there with the light and observed.There seems to be a bit of play in the motor shaft.I gave it a dose of spray lube but it didn't shut up...yet this morning it is quieter.I am wondering if I attempt to do any work to it,if it will void the warranty...probably I expect. On that note,I cut the ends off the bolts that hold the motor-they extend right into the hopper and I was suspecting they were holding up the pellets.I think it has helped but still the pellets will hang-waxing the hopper helped greatly but a pain in the ass. I run the stove thru the day on the 2nd or 3rd setting when the temp isn't too cold and the last two nites I've been running on three day and nite because of the cold. Moderate temps call for number 1 thru the nite.All I've got for now..I baked a potato in mine the other nite...thinking of starting a thread about it!

 

[baglady]

Are you serious about the potato?? Either way, it's funny! I hope your auger motor hasn't got a problem. Ours is good, so far. At least it's still under warranty. Mind you, if you do something more than lube it, it probably would void the warranty. As long as no Drolet repairmen look at it, no one will ever know!
We haven't done anything to the hopper to make the pellets slide easier. We just check it ever few hours and fill the valley...turn it into a mountain!
Do you run your stove on manual or automatic? We hooked up a thermostat and it works perfectly. The stove starts up at 20 C and shuts down when the temp reaches about 22 or 23 C.
We are trying something with the louvres to prevent the overheating problem. We straightened the fins to almost horizontal and we hope it will still provide the air flow out of the stove. We'll keep everyone updated as to whether it works.

 

[pete324rocket]

but you know the louver is hinged and flips up to allow air flow out the front.Yes,serious about the potato,wrapped in tinfoil and put in next to the wall-on low temp setting,let it go about 1 1/2 hours but it wasn't totally cooked-another half hour prpbably would have been better but was surprised since low setting isn't very warm.Let me ask you about the thermostat,do you use a digital thermostat or a mechanical type...I've tried it with a mechanical one but it has way too much varience before it clicks in.Gotta get a better one I guess.

 

[baglady]

Our thermostat is just a cheap mechanical one. Like I said, it kicks in at about 20C and shuts down when it reaches about 22 or 23C. Then it stays off for quite a long time (10 hours) if it's warm outside, like today. When it is running, it usually runs for about 8 - 10 hours at a time, also depending on the weather. What do you mean by too much temperature varience? From one level of the house to another? About the potato, did you just try it on a lark? I assume you had to shut down the stove, or at least stop it before you took the potato out? I personally prefer to use the oven or barbecue for baking them!

 

[pete324rocket]

I can open the door while the stove is running without any problems-used tongs to assist in moving the potato around.I'll try it again soon and let you know how it works out. And besides,running the oven takes electricity and why do so when you've got an oven-sort of-with the pellet stove.I thought of it when seeing those hugely expensive pellet barbeques in the hardware store.As for the thermostat,I mean by the temperature swing,between shutting off and on.Mechanical thermostats are terrible for it and I used a common one for electric heat but it just has too wide of a swing and the house gets really cold before it turns on again.I was hoping you were using a digital model and had good results with it.

 

[Nickolai]

I too have tried to contact Drolet before and can tell you that I haven't had the best of luck with them, I'd go as far to say that their customer service sucks...

I have the Eco 35 and it has a touch screen control panel on top of the hopper lid. About a month into using the unit I had problems with the touch screen, it just would work sometimes, I found that it would work best if I pushed the buttons with the hopper partially opened, but eventually that seldom worked. I emailed Drolet with my problem through their website(which also isn't that much of a help) and about 2 months later received a reply that said
"Make sure all of your wires are connected properly to the control panel." Gee, thanks guys....by then I had figured out that it was a loose wire going into the control panel and had re-inserted it back into it's place and haven't had a problem since. I tried to email them again with a problem with my paint peeling(which is warranted for 1 year) and have yet to receive a response, we're going on 2 months for that email. I don't really have a dealer to go through as I bought it at a Home Hardware in Aylmer, Ontario which is over 6 hours from me. I talked to a guy at the TSC store here and he gave me a number for them but warned me that they're not much of a help usually.
Once I called I realized why, when I finally got through to them, the operator I was talking to barely spoke english, directed me to someone else, who then told me to go to my dealer, I told them my situation and she tried to direct me to someone else and I was disconnected. I haven't called them back, I don't really want to hear what they have to say about the paint and now the door gasket that has a huge gap in it. I might just go to the Home Hardware hear and try to get them to deal with it for me although I highly doubt it will happen, when I went there originally to buy a stove, none of the employees had a clue about what a pellet stove even was let alone servicing info.

Although I like my stove so far, I think that next time I'll buy from a dealer that has servicing provided.

Pete, are you thinking about using a thermostat with your stove? I've been thinking about it, but I'm not sure what to go with, have you looked into it at all?

 

[baglady]

We also bought our stove at our local Home Hardware, but the owners at least knew what they were! lol However, service is another story. When we first encountered problems, they told us to contact Drolet. I emailed once, but have yet to receive an answer from them. It doesn't really matter though, as this forum has been more help than their customer service department would ever be. Good luck getting answers on your paint problem Nickolai! As for a thermostat, we are having no problems with the cheapo mechanical one we bought. You do have to adjust the setting inside the thermostat though for it to operate properly.

 

[Nickolai]

I agree, when it comes to information and fact-based knowledge, I'll come here before I call the manufacturer.

I just think that any good business should atleast have a toll free number and behind that number, have people that are knowledgeable about the product line and speak english.

For a minute there I thought i had mistakenly called Bell Canada!

 

[pete324rocket]

Hey Nick,where exactly is your paint peeling? I would guess it would be on a smooth service-maybe inside the hopper for sure-I actually find that the paint is pretty good overall-the black on the outside seems to take to staining easily but when I had the wax out,I tried a spot and it cleaned up well so I continued-the top surface area gets dirty cuz stuff gets set on there once in a while. Thanks for the heads up on the customer service.At least,it gives me hope that I will get an answer or response some day...hopefully. As for the thermostat, it is easy to set of since the two terminals in the back simply are part of a circuit that needs a switch- that being the thermostat.If you wanted to find out how the stove operates that way,simply run wires to the terminals and short them to make the stove run and seperate them to shut it to an idle. Remember that when the thermostat doesn't call for heat for a certain period of time(30 minutes?) the stove shuts down until the thermostat turns it on(shorts the wires). Then it will go thru a start cycle again. Again,I was hoping someone had experience with a newfangled digital setback thermostat.The only question I have with it is that it is so accurate,will the stove be cycling too much? You should have posted on the board here about your control panel problem...could have saved you some aggravation. I'm assuming the cable is a flat plastic deal that folds when the door closes.

 

[Nickolai]

The paint is peeling right on the top of the door opening at the gasket. I could see it maybe happening if I had over fired it from the get go, but I ran it on the 1 and 2 settings for the first couple of days.

The thermostat hook-up looks like it would be easy, but I seem to recall that it said if you were to hook up a digital thermostat, you had to do it directly to the control board. I'm concerned that it would be a lot more difficult to do. I'm also concerned about how much the stove would cycle on and off, it hardly seems practical to have the stove hooked to a thermostat and have it going off and through start-up cycles constantly. Oh well, maybe next time they have thermostat's on sale at crappy tire I'll pick one up and find out for myself...or wait for you to do it first, Pete lol.

 

[baglady]

The only way I can see a thermostat causing the stove to be cycling on and off many times throughout the day, would be if the thermostat was either on the same floor or in the same room! We live in a bungalow with a basement. The pellet stove is in the basement and the thermostat is on the main floor, in the living room. Like I had said before, the stove will run for 8 to 10 hours and then shut down for about 10 to 12 hours, depending on the weather. I don't think it would matter if you have a digital or mechanical thermostat, if the set-up is like this.
Maybe your paint peeled because the gasket stuck on initial start-up?? I remember that we had a heck of a time trying to get the door opened after the first time we used it. Just a thought.

 

[pete324rocket]

Our stove is in the basement and it is not insulated(yet) so with the thermostat hooked up,the thermostat finally clicked off(temperature reached) but did not come on again until after the 30 or so minutes where the stove would shut off.This is not because the basement was still warm but because the thermostat is not "sensitive" enough and waits too long to react.So it would in fact work the same as yours baglady...but I find this unacceptable.If the stove ramps up more often with the 30 minute window-the heat is more even and consistant.A digital deal is the answer...PLUS...you can program them to come on "hard and heavy" in the morning before you get up for extra comfort.The issue,though not a big one is that programmable thermostats take power to run,so you would probably need one that either takes batteries or has a transformer to run it.I installed one for electric baseboards earlier this year and it takes its power directly off the line voltage.A real electricity saver in my opinion.
As for the paint peeling,it sure would be nice to see a picture.I know in mine,the area below the gasket is usually white with ash,so I don't especially care about it. And yes,my door gasket did stick as well after the first running.

 

[baglady]

That area just above the door gasket on our stove is white with ash too, but it wipes off easily with the damp rag I use to clean the window in the door every day. I'm wondering if the sticking door led to the fraying of the gasket. Any thoughts Pete?

 

[pete324rocket]

no,it is just where it is joined.I say that because although the gasket did stick on mine as well after start -up,it didn't take any of the gasket material with it.There is a guy in a factory somewhere that needs to do a better job of butting the ends of the gasket.There is not enough material left at the joint to fix it.I've worked on engines and gaskets before and especially rope seals.Just cutting it flush and fitting it doesn't cut it.There should be some "crush" between the two ends to make it nice and hard.I've even tried to find a little bit of slack down the line to pull the ends back together-its not there.By the way,that makes me question whether the gasket is glued or forced into a tight channel or groove to fit.I'm thinking the latter.

 

[Nickolai]

I'll try to get around to taking a photo of my paint peeling, right now I've got a new born and a 3 year old that is sick so I'm a little busy at the moment. I too like the idea of a digital, I have one for my gas furnace and I have it set on a weekly program for maximum efficiency and energy savings, I love it. I think it'd be great to do the same with my pellet stove, although the setup that baglady has seems to work great! 8-10 hours runtime with 10-12 off sounds pretty good to me. But like pete said, I like the idea of being able to have the stove go 'hard and heavy' in the morning say around 5:30 or 6 am when I'm dragging my self out of the house for a morning run or hockey practice lol!

 

[baglady]

Generally our stove runs from 11 PM until about 9 AM lately and then stays off most of the day. That way, it's warm first thing in the morning. The sunlight (when there is some) helps keep the house warm during the day. It works well for me! Also it gives me lots of time to clean it! The only possible downside is that the basement gets cold before it turns on again. Part of that may be because of the cold outside air that can venture freely through the vents in the back of the stove. We are looking into how to remedy this, but haven't found anything as of yet. From what we've found, Drolet sells something but it resembles a cover for a dryer vent and that won't work for us because we are using a double-wall vent system with the exhaust on the inside and fresh air in the outer part. I figure the 'fix' will have to be installed on the stove itself. Any ideas?

 

[pete324rocket]

there is supposed to be a "fresh air kit" that is a shroud that bolts directly to the intake housing for combustion air.The only way I know about this though is that another eco-45 owner(sorry I can't recall which) mentioned about it.Try looking for the thread about "baffle modification eco-45" seems to ring a bell. I was at the Home Hardware store today and had a look at the eco-35 to see about the cable for the display on the lid.I was expecting a ribbon cable but only saw what looked like 2 wires maybe and a connector-didn't get a real good look.I see that there are a few design differences between that and the eco-45-the front air baffle is somewhat different.
Well I picked up the new catalog and there is a new eco pellet stove! The fp-45 which is supposedly exclusive to home hardware.The only difference in the text between this and the eco-45 is an 80 lb hopper,king size ash pan and automatic /manual combustion control.The eco-45 goes for 1999.00 and the eco-35 goes for 1899.00 and the new fp-45 lists for 2199.00. It is also taller-to allow for the extra capacity.