This is my second year burning with this pig and sometimes it still mystifies me. Does anyone know what makes different fans and blowers engage and come on? Specifically, the draft blower. When I am starting my fire, I need a good effort from the draft blower to get thigs ignited. Usually, I fill the room with smoke as I am blowing manually on the coals. I get the feed motor to run, as it runs off of stove temp, but I sort of need a manual draft blower switch. Sometime, it's just baffles me on how to get this thing to reliably ignite and start burning correctly. After it's done, it work beautifully. Anyone have experience with running this pig?
Harman DVC-500 Controls
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HarryBack
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how are you lighting it? Try a coal lighter (box with a fuse and magnesium inside)...gets hot fast....and try this as well......make sure the stove is OFF, put your starter on the burn area, heap coal over it, with the fuse sticking out....then light the fuse, close and latch the door, put the Feed Selector to TEST mode (it'll run all the fans on High for a minute)...this is usually enough to get it going, but if it doesnt light in TEST for a minute, try another Test cycle. Also, dont forget to turn the stove back to its normal settings once lit, especially the Feed Selector.
I have done that, run the test cycle. Sometimes if it doesn't light you end up with heaps of coal built up and I have to shovel it back into the hopper. The other thing I have done is turn the selector to "ash out", this runs the draft blower to maintain negative pressure. I just have a hard time tricking it into running more draft and was wondering if there are any tricks to this. It sounds like I have tried most of them. Would trioxide tablets work for lighting coal? What is this coal starte box, links to the item somewhere? I only really have this problem twice a year, i don't start and stop it often but if I don't have charcoal or something like that it is a real bear to light.
Ok, I figured out what my problem was this time. Apparently last year, when I cleaned the stove at the end of the year I did not screw the fines door tight enough under the grates. Thius meant all the cold combustion air coming from outside went into my ash pan not the chamber. Tightened it, lit easily and we're off.
Now I have another twist. Even with it running it wasn't running the combustion blower at all, no big flames no high heat. This stove last year used to keep the living room easily in the 80s, no it struggled to maintain 70 at the highest setting. Then last night it completely shut down. Woke up this morning to nothing. Read and re read the manual, and I am getting three blinking lights on the status indicator when I unplug the stove and plug it back in. SOmething is telling the stove to not blow the combustion fan and make a huge fire. The test function runs all the blowers and everything works correctly on their own. This low fire symptom happens in both stove and room temp modes. I am asking for help here because I know what a pain in the ass it was to get my stove from the local dealer and I am trying not to go through him for service.
Would a leak in any of the pipe parts make this happen? 3 blinks is suposedly a exhaust issue. Possible it is my Exhaust probe that is dirty but I don't really know. I was so happy and I thought all my problems were over until this morning. I had my doubts when i saw the room not getting hot. It's basically keeping a fire burning on the trickle of air that natuallry comes into the firebox, it's not forcing air through the grates. I am desperate to get this fixed. Help if you can or if you know a good dealer I can speak with on the phone. Thanks again
Now I have another twist. Even with it running it wasn't running the combustion blower at all, no big flames no high heat. This stove last year used to keep the living room easily in the 80s, no it struggled to maintain 70 at the highest setting. Then last night it completely shut down. Woke up this morning to nothing. Read and re read the manual, and I am getting three blinking lights on the status indicator when I unplug the stove and plug it back in. SOmething is telling the stove to not blow the combustion fan and make a huge fire. The test function runs all the blowers and everything works correctly on their own. This low fire symptom happens in both stove and room temp modes. I am asking for help here because I know what a pain in the ass it was to get my stove from the local dealer and I am trying not to go through him for service.
Would a leak in any of the pipe parts make this happen? 3 blinks is suposedly a exhaust issue. Possible it is my Exhaust probe that is dirty but I don't really know. I was so happy and I thought all my problems were over until this morning. I had my doubts when i saw the room not getting hot. It's basically keeping a fire burning on the trickle of air that natuallry comes into the firebox, it's not forcing air through the grates. I am desperate to get this fixed. Help if you can or if you know a good dealer I can speak with on the phone. Thanks again
HarryBack
New Member
sounds like a maintenance issue, or lack thereof....you say it worked last winter quite well, then it was shut down. When you go back to use it, its screwy.......an improperly maintained coal stove will corrode and rust in all the worst places, due to Murphy's Law, causing things to stick which arent meant to.
I think so too. I am going to go back through everything I cleaned last year and see if I see anything. I did spray and paint on a solution of baking soda to most of the interior panels and did not leave any coal inside the unit. Maybe something in the exhaust is clogging or rusted.
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