Help Needed !!!!! Whitfield Advantage II Insert

[DIRTKID857]

Hello and thank you in advance for any answers that may be submitted ! I am a newb here and I am hoping that someone can help.

At the end of last season my Whitfield Advantage II insert started acting funny and would not light. I have never had any issues with this stove lighting and my pellets were in good dry condition. I went out and got a bottle of pellet ignitor gel and followed the directions, squirted about a tablespoon worth on top of pellets, covered with more pellets and lit the gel. The gel burned and the pellets began to burn. I then turned the pellet feed and exhaust blower on for normal igniter start up and closed the door. I walked away assuming it would ignite and things would work as normal when i began to smell a pungent smoke smell. I went into the dining room to check the insert and it was full of super dense white smoke. It was bad and it stuck terribly. The pellets were smoldering and the smoke was so bad it left a brown tar on my glass window of the stove.... I tried to light the stove with gel and this happend a couple more times. The exhaust blower is working as normal and the cleanout is clean no issues with ash or anything. I can see that the end of the auto igniter is not getting red hot but the first 3/4 of the probe is. I spoke to a tech at Lennox and he said it is the igniter causing this but why will it not fire with the gel ? PLEASE HELP !!

 

[Bioburner]

The stove usually makes fire with the igniter from the bottom and its very hot. You may need to try with less pellets or try a different method all together. Several of us use a propane torch stuck into a nice pile of pellets till abut a walnut size amount of pellets are glowing good with the stove going to help vent. May need to feather the air a little by leaving the door open a bit till the fire catches good. Couple other methods too and sure others will chime in with hints and methods. Good luck

 

[DIRTKID857]

in with hints and methods. Good luck

Im not to concerned about lighting the pellets. I am more interested in why the stove will not light and stay lit. It seems like something isnt working. I am wondering if the convection fan has anything to do with the stove not being able to ignite on its own and run. All I am getting is nasty dense smoke .....

 

[Bioburner]

Time to get out the manual, vac, brushes and get dirty. Could very well be a dirty stove not getting enough air.

 

[DIRTKID857]

d get dirty. Could very well be a dirty

Time to get out the manual, vac, brushes and get dirty. Could very well be a dirty stove not getting enough air.

Bio like I said in the OP, The stove is 100% vacuumed cleaned and everything seems to be functioning it just wont ignite and burn.

 

[Bioburner]

Well some stoves have some difficult to access passages that you may not be getting to or aware of. How about the exhaust venting out of the stove and the venting cap? Or the gaskets are in need of replacing.

 

[Mr. Spock]

Bio is right. I have been around here long enough to learn that most burn issues are caused by a dirty stove / air flow issues. Grab the cleaning tools and give that stoves innards a visit. Venting too.

 

[MountainSean]

Clean behind the ash traps in the exhaust channels on either side of the burn grate. You access those by removing the firebrick and then pull the ash traps off by taking out the two screws inside the channels. You will also need to remove the burn grate and mounting plate to get those traps out. Also check all your door gasket is in good shape with a dollar bill test and that you don't have a bird nest or dead squirrel in your venting. All of that in addition to a regular cleaning. Finally you can check the voltage to your combustion blower. Should be around 70 on startup.

 

[DIRTKID857]

Yes this has all been done already. I'm not trying to offend anyone but I know how to properly clean my stoves ..... I'm thinking, would a bad pressure switch have anything to do with this ? If the stove is not holding a vacuum then the switch does what exactly ? I am under the impression that it completely shuts down the stove ? But if its an intermitten issue with the switch could it cause the stove to not feed ? Augur is turning, exhaust blower is running, igniter is red hot but not at tip stove will not light .....................

 

[Bioburner]

Vac switch usually shuts down the feed auger. Stove will not continue operation till a vacuum is made hence why we ? How clean the stove is. If the fan cannot pull vacuum from the chamber or push out the venting no vacuum. Pretty rare for the vacuum switch to fail but sometimes the stove port or the line to the switch can plug. Easy to jumper around the vacuum switch to check.

 

[MountainSean]

The vacuum switch would only prevent the auger from turning, it wouldn't affect the igniter. If your igniter is not getting red hot up to about 1/2" from the tip that is normal and I would not suspect it to be causing your issue. Especially when you are using Gel to assist the lighting as that should have gotten the fire burning on it's own whether the igniter was working or not. That all leads us back to something wrong with the air flow in the stove which the vast majority of the time is caused by either an improperly cleaned stove, bad seals, or a blockage in the venting. The other items causing bad air flow could be the combustion blower going bad or not getting enough voltage.

 

[Pellet-King]

Sounds like your combustion/exhaust blower is not spinning up...check that out

 

[Stovensen]

If the stove is not holding a vacuum then the switch does what exactly ?

Hello,
Welcome to the forum. The pressure switch is a very important safety device on a Whitfield pellet stove. And it is indeed a pressure switch, not a vacuum switch. When the stove is running the pressure switch "looks for" a pressure rise on the flue/vent side. ( a silicone rubber hose runs from a barb at the comb. blower output side to the switch )
Now, this pressure rise could be caused by a birds nest, a snow drift, lack of cleaning etc. If the stove was unable to "sense" this unwanted pressure rise, we would have a VERY DANGEROUS situation: A pellet stove continuing to run with a blocked flue could lead to a lethal amount of carbonmonoxide leaking to the house!!
As we can see on this wiring diagram, the pressure switch is normally closed N/C, and the unwanted/dangerous pressure rise on the flue side will open the contact and immediately stop the auger motor ( and only the auger motor ) from feeding. Most Whitfield pellet stoves have a pressure switch ( not a vacuum switch ). The only Whitfield stove I can think of that is different in this respect is the Prodigy I, which is a natural draft stove and the Prodigy II is positive draft.

One faulty component that would make the stove shut down app. 30 mins. after start up, is a low limit switch that is stuck open... The low limit switch is a Proof Of Fire switch ( POF ) that is bypassed at start up for 30 minutes by a timer controlled relay on the controlboard allowing the stove to warm up.
On the wiring diagram we see that the low limit switch is normally open ( at room temp. ). You could very easily bypass the low limit switch momentarily to verify its function. This approach is suggested on page 21 in the service manual.

Good luck and take care. Keep us posted
Bo

 

[Wilbur Feral]

An answer like Stovensen's is exactly why this forum is useful. Nicely done. While not the original poster, I learned something. Thank you.

 

[DIRTKID857]

Im going to start checking everything with a multimeter this week. I just orderd my 5 tons of pellets for the winter and need to make sure the Whitfield is ready to go for the winter as it is my main heat source for the upstairs. I do have a boiler but its really old and every time it starts it chugs down about 30 dollars worth of oil lol.

Bio thank you very much for the information you have provided. I have a feeling it must have something to do with the exhaust blower as I cant imagine why it would fill the chamber with heavy dense smoke if the exhaust was not working properly. I will inspect cap to see if anything got in. There are no leaves or any bird nests or anything that I can see from the ground. Every time I clean the stove i check to make sure the liner is in good working order and not clogged. Now that I am thinking about it. Last year I did remove the exhaust blower housing from the stove. I replaced the exhaust blower gasket and had to dis assemble the fan to get the housing apart. I know I re installed the set screws and loc tited them back on, but theres always a possibility of them coming loose. I really dont think thats the case. i will check again this week and take some pics to post. Thank you all for helping I need to get this thing fixed.