Help with combustion air

[lesparks]

I just bought a 1990 Whitfield Advantage II-T. The combustion air feeds the fire with too little air when I have the pellet feed on the lowest setting ("1" being low and "5" being high). When I turn the pellet feed on "5", combustion air being pulled through pellet bin increases dramatically and well enough to keep burning the pellets and with a "dancing" flame.

I found it odd that combustion air increases and decreases with the pellet-feed adjustment. Is this normal?

I have the damper full-out to maximize the combustion air being pulled through the pellet bin but it is still not enough to keep the pellets burning. Within 3-4 hours of burning pellets at the low "1" speed, too many un-burnt pellets choke out the fire and eventually the stove shuts off. Flame is "lazy" and obviously not recieving enough combustion air at the lowest setting.

If I can increase the combustion air during the lowest pellet feed setting of "1", I think my problems will be solved. Is there a way to adjust the combustion air? There appears to be 3 adjustment screws hidden behind buttons on the control panel. I presume these 3 screws are there for a purpose but being hidden behind some buttons, maybe I'm not suppose to be there. If there is no way to adjust the combustion air flow-rate during the lowest pellet feed setting, do you have any other suggestions?

This stove is now in my daughters 900 s.f mobile home and a pellet feed above 3 will blast her out of the little home except during the colder of cold days. 80% of the time, she will rune her stove on the lowest setting of "1" if I can get her enough combusiton air.

Les Parks - [email protected]

 

[BrotherBart]

I don't know anything about Whitfield stoves but go to this link and scroll down to the guy talking about "Fire Going Out" and what he did about it. Exhaust blower and manifold were packed with crud.

http://www.butkus.org/whitfield_pellet_stove.htm

 

[Shane]

You can turn the auger feed down and the combustion blower voltage up. Don't remember what's what and no longer have tech manuals. Check Hearthtools site I bet there's something on there.

 

[restorer]

Sounds like an ai supply problem. How clean is the stove? When you bought it, was the stove serviced by a dealer, or did you buy it privately? The fresh air supply for the burn pot is essential and sensitive. On stoves from that vintage, correct me if I'm wrong, but virtually all stoves had feed rate of pellets and "burn air" adjustments tied together. I have an older vintage Jamestown and it's that way. It has a sliding damper, but it stays pretty much in the half open position on low. If I open it up more the burn rate is too high and the pot is almost empty all the time. I got my stove used and really cleaned the heck out of the airways. There was a lot of sooty build up beneath the burn pot in the air supply chamber, clean that first and see what happens.

A less favorable issue might be the remaining life of the blower. It may have a dead spot or speed range that is not working properly, fine on high, but not on low. With the back off run the control up and down and see if the speed change in the blower is even. If not, I'd recommend replacing the motor, before it really gets cold.

 

[lesparks]

Thanks for the good information posted so far. I had already checked the combustion fan as one of my first processes of elimination. It blows air like there's no tomorrow when I hook it direct to 110V. But as soon as I hook it back up to the stove and turn the pellet feed on low, the combustion fan speed drops way down and hence, not air to feed teh fire. The one gentleman says it can be adjusted...now I just have to figure that one out...thanks guys!

 

[lesparks]

My fix ended up being really simple...the three buttons, when pulled off, reveal three adjustment screws. The top screw adjusts/fine tunes the speed of the auger. The second screw adjusts the combustion blower speed...just what I was looking for. When I turned the screw for the combustion air to a higher position, my pellets burn like they should on the low auger speed setting. Problem Solved! You guys are great!

 

[jadegb]

What 3 buttons? I have a J2000 and am having the same problems. Any help you can give would be greatly appreciated.

 

[anotherpeartyface]

We have a Jamestown j2000 pellet stove and when we started up this fall the combustion fan is not working. My husband and his friend took the fan out and had it tested and clean and it was working find. Now we put it back in and it stop working. I read that you had the same problem, and also you had mention something about the 3 buttons. Could you please tell me where they are located ?My husband is about to replace the fan altogether. Help! I know there something else to do. He is not much of a good wrench guy so if it not lumber just toss it out and buy new.