Having issue with a Fahrenheit Pellet Furnance

[Earl Beach]

I bought a 3 year old fahrenheit pellet furnance last fall. Ran well all during the fall but then started having a draft issue. So today I paid a guy 400 buck to put a new fan in it ) I knew nore about the furnance than he did, and it seems I am having the same issue. I clean this thing weekly and I cant get rid of the lazy flame and when I run it on high (5) it just get worse. I have the damper all the way open and just not sure what else to do. Now it seems since the guy left it POPs real loud when it starts. Just need to talk to someone that know these things beter than I do. Thanks

 

[jtakeman]

Sounds like the vent is plugged with ash. Did you run a brush up the flue?

Dexture Day will be along shortly, He'll figure out where the clog is if its not the flue pipe.

 

[Earl Beach]

YEah I cleaned the chimney really well and the rest of the furnance. Not sure what else to do

 

[343amc]

Mine was the same when I got it. Here is what I did:

New door gasket

New ash pan gasket

Pull the inspection plate for the exhaust path. It's below the control board. Mine was about 50% plugged. The gasket on that inspection plate was shot too.

New combustion blower. Mine was noisy. It worked but sounded like a turbine engine. Kinda annoying.

Cleaned the "back wall". Hard to get to but a brush can be snaked up there. Mine was caked with crud.

Pulled the burn pot (entire assembly) and got the junk out of the intake path.

When I put the burn pot assembly back in I put some high temp silicone around the combustion air inlet to the burn pot. Just to make sure the air was going into the pot and not around it.

At the advice of another member (DexterDay) I also blocked off the top row of holes in the burn pot with furnace cement.

Mine burns like a champ now. Nice and clean.

Is yours a manual or auto ignition model?

 

[Earl Beach]

Mine is automatic lite

 

[Earl Beach]

I will try these things this weekend and see what happens. Thank you

 

[DexterDay]

These don't burn really well in "factory" form. Once all passages are clean and all gaskets are good, (and you checked Everything that 343amc said above) then come back and we can guide you further.

There are several updates that are High Flow CFM models (Exhaust Manifold and Sail Switch) that I bought and REALLY opened mine up.

My Firebox is WHITE all the time now.


Here is a video of level #2 on mine. My flame is always this active.

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[Earl Beach]

WOW mines looks nothing like that. Do I get the updated parts from the dealer then?
Thanks for the Video.

 

[DexterDay]

WOW mines looks nothing like that. Do I get the updated parts from the dealer then?
Thanks for the Video.

The new Sail switch and Manifold will prob run a couple hundred bucks, but really help the stove breathe

I contacted Matt Fitts (Senior tech) at Fahrenheit Industries (or Mark Graham/owner). Matt was Super nice to deal with.

Matt Fitts
Phone Work : 616-392-7410
Email Work : [email protected]

 

[Earl Beach]

So I took the unti apart and cleaned everything so you can now eat off it.
I replaced the manifold and turned the unit on..
Was running great for about 50 minutes and then smoke starts coming out of the back of the furnance. I open up the hooper and the smake is bellowing out.
Though maybe it was the chimney so I cleaned that good. Fired it up and 50 minute later it does it again. NOt sure where to go with this.
And everytime the propane furnace goes on I just love it, not...........

 

[DexterDay]

Where exactly is the Smoke coming from?

There are 2 mods that can be done quite easily. One will close off some airwash, the other is plugging some of the upper holes in the top of the pusher plate and front door (front and back of pot) and the row in the top of the sides of the pot.

More air under the pellets = Happy stove owner. Air that high is not needed.

 

[Earl Beach]

The smoke is coming from inside the front of the Hopper

 

[DexterDay]

Pics? Of where? The hopper?

Are the pellets getting to hot? Smoking? The hopper is negative pressure?

 

[Earl Beach]

(broken image removed)

 

[Earl Beach]

While this is billowing smoke the fire is going strong in the furnance. I had to turn if off as it filled my basement up with smoke.

 

[DexterDay]

The hopper is negative pressure. The drop chute gasket may be messed up, but don't know why smoke would be coming.from the hopper?

The lid should seal? So no smoke should escape, even though NO Smoke should be there? It shouldn't leak out? Unless pressurized? The only way you can have some positive pressure is a "Clog" upstream (vent)....


When you took it apart? Was everything realigned back up? All gaskets fit properly? Vent is clear? Termination cap is clean?

 

[Earl Beach]

I didnt take take the top of the unit apart. I check everythign twice and all is lined up fine. The lid does seal and when I keep the lids down the smoke comes out of the back of the machine. I took the vent chimney apart thinking it maybe clogged but its not. I dont know what a termination cap is? Im beginning to wonder if the new draft fan is to many RPMs. The place I bought it from said it should work but I am thinking if its pushing many CFM it could be to much pressure for the machine and pushing smoke out places

 

[DexterDay]

No. Would still be negative pressure.

The termination cap is the End of the vent. The cap to the vent?

Is it plugged?

What motor is in there? How many RPM? Did the Amps and RPM match up?

 

[Earl Beach]

I have to take the motor out to verify but the one that came out is 3000RPMs I think the one that was put in is much higher RPM and I noticed the draft is much stronger now. The intake vent is not plugged nor is the chimney plugged.

 

[DexterDay]

It should still be pulling smoke in through the cracks and leaks?

Makes no sense to me. I would check the specs. The controller can't handle a BIG difference in Amperage

 

[Earl Beach]

Yeah I am about done with it for the night. I have it in peices now checking the gasket on the top of the unit. Thanks for the help

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

Smoke from a hooper is a good indication that you have a negative pressure situation in the room with the burning device.strong enough to draw some exhaust up the drop chute and into the hopper and from there it gets into the room unless the hopper is sealed.

Now with a furnace you have that sizable convection fan which may be sucking air through the system from the room the device is in and expelling it out on an upper floor. This is the same as an outside house vent as far as the room the furnace is in.

You might also want to check the gasket seal at the combustion blower because if it isn't good you can also suck some exhaust from there.

 

[343amc]

I'm trying to think of how any smoke could get in there based on what I remember from when I had mine torn down to the bare essentials. The only places that could let smoke out would be where the combustion blower mounts to the manifold, where the manifold bolts to the exhaust tubes or the stove adapter connects to the blower assembly. If anything is leaking upstream of the combustion blower then there is a clog somewhere as that should all be negative pressure, or the motor decided to reverse itself 50 minutes into the run cycle, which I think borders on impossible. If you light it with the side and rear inspection panels removed can you see the smoke sneaking out anywhere? That still doesn't explain how smoke would get into the hopper as there is a gasket (or should be a gasket) between the top cover and the hopper assembly.

When the smoke is coming out, is the combustion blower still running or does it turn off? The replacement blower I got from Fahrenheit was a complete assembly - motor, housing, etc. I only really needed the motor but they had the complete unit for a reasonable price. I'm going to replace the noisy motor on my original assembly so I have a complete spare handy for next season.

I had an issue similar to yours with my original pellet insert years ago, but it was a suicidal bird that got into the vent after the termination cap blew off in a strong windstorm. I learned my lesson about fastening the termination cap to the pipe.after that.

 

[kinsmanstoves]

The manual indicates that you must have an OAK/

Eric

 

[343amc]

The manual indicates that you must have an OAK/

Eric

It depends which "vintage" his Fahrenheit is. Mine is an early unit (Rev G manual) and it states 3 inch vent is OK and OAK is optional. The newer manuals state 4 inch vent is mandatory as is the OAK. I'm guessing they learned a bit on the first batch. I followed the new manual recommendations and went 4 inch with OAK.

Mine also has "Patent Pending" and the "Acceptable Fuel Types on the back panel done up with a P-Touch label. I'm guessing mine is a fairly early unit.