Help with vacuum hose on Englander

[skydmark1]

Hello all,

I'm having problems with my stove again. It wasn't feeding right and was blowing soot on my house. I removed the back to find a partially cracked vacuum hose. I had replaced that hose in the middle of the year last year, seems premature for it to crack again but no problem I cut back the dried part and reinstalled it. My stove is starting to act the same way again. I'm going homse in an hour to check it, I'm expecting to find that hose cracked again. It's only been 2 weeks. Why does this keep happening and is there a better hose or a way to help it last longer? I have the small englander 55-shp10 stove (I think that's the model, not at home so I'm going from memory)

any help is appreciated, it was almost 0 degrees last night and got down to 55 in my house!

 

[smoke show]

Did you replace it with the proper type hose?

 

[skydmark1]

I ordered it from England stoves as the vacuum hose.

EDIT - just pulled the back off during my lunch break and the other hose has a small crack in the end, the one the runs to the pinhole in the back of the firebox. Never have replaced that one. I'll shut it down after work and replace that one, hope that it takes care of my problem. Any tips to make these hoses last longer though? Or is it just the nature of the beast?

 

[stoveguy2esw]

when you reinstall the hose, you want it on far enough that its not gonna slip off but try not to shove it all the way down to the base of the tube. this allows some heat to dissipate

 

[skydmark1]

Reinstalled the hose and thought I had everything taken care of but I'm still getting the same problem. I kept the back off the stove for a while and it seems like if I play with the vacuum hose while the top auger has stopped....it will come back on again for a while. I'm at my wits end with this stove, it's just getting to be really cold here and I'm afraid I won't be able to heat my house.

Could it be a bad vacuum switch? will they work intermittently like that? Is there a way to test it? AAARRRGH, HELP!

 

[imacman]

Could it be a bad vacuum switch? will they work intermittently like that? Is there a way to test it?

Yes, you can "jump" the switch.

After unplugging the stove, remove the 2 leads that attach to the switch, and connect them together. Let the stove run a while to see if this allows the stove to run w/o interruption. If the stove runs OK, then the switch would seem to be the problem.

BTW, while you have the hoses off, make sure the holes are clear and no ash is blocking them.

 

[skydmark1]

Ok.....so i jumped one of the vacuum switches and it did not eliminate the problem. If u are looking at the stove from the front, the switch i jumped was the one on the right hand side. Im shutting the stove down now to try jumping the other side but i have a hunch that will not eliminate the problem either. What else ca it be? I can watch the motor cycle on and off like normal, then it will randomly just stop for a few minutes. Could the auger motor be bad? Its the top auger btw. I need help with diagnostics! Thanks

 

[skydmark1]

Just as I suspected, I jumped the other vacuum switch (the one located on the left side if you're looking at the front of the stove) and it's still dying down because the top auger stops randomly. So what should I check next? How can I narrow this down further? Need to get this taken care of, when it's cold out my house is dropping into the 50's

 

[smoke show]

Call englander support.

They will help you the fastest.

 

[skydmark1]

haha, ya after being on hold for 3 hours. Stove is running, just not well. Just put my meter on the top auger motor, getting a full 125 volts when the auger cycles on then back to 0 when it cycles off. not sure how or what else to test. My fear is a bad control board

 

[heat seeker]

If you can, watch the meter while the stove runs. If you get voltage to the motor, but no movement, you have a bad motor. That might take a lot of time and patience! You could attach a cheap neon power test light to it so you can see it from across the room; that would be easier than watching the meter.
You could remove the motor and connect it to power to see how it runs. You could then start and stop it many times in a short period to see if acts up.
We are assuming that your connectors are properly seated and not corroded. It might be worth while to reseat the connectors on the motor and the control board.

 

[turbotech]

haha, ya after being on hold for 3 hours. Stove is running, just not well. Just put my meter on the top auger motor, getting a full 125 volts when the auger cycles on then back to 0 when it cycles off. not sure how or what else to test. My fear is a bad control board

Does the motor turn when it gets the 125V?
If it is easy to get to then I would swap the lower and upper auger motors and see if the problem follows the motor, or if it follows the wiring/control board. I think there is 4 or 6 TRIACS in that controller. What year is the stove?
If it were me, I would swap the auger lower and upper auger motors and see if it is the wiring, motor, or control board.

 

[turbotech]

Did you replace it with the proper type hose?

What is the spec for the proper hose type?

 

[BrotherBart]

haha, ya after being on hold for 3 hours.

Curious. Are you saying you have been on hold for three hours with them before or that is just what you think would happen?

 

[Mobley]

when you reinstall the hose, you want it on far enough that its not gonna slip off but try not to shove it all the way down to the base of the tube. this allows some heat to dissipate

I'm having the same problem with my Englander. I've replaced the vacuum hose twice in the last month with hose from the local pellet stove store. My stove has been running a lot hotter this season at the lowest setting and after I replace the hose I get a burning rubber smell. I might be putting the hose too far on. I'm thinking I have another problem also though. I think something is out of adjustment and it's getting too hot for the end of the hose. Is it possible to internally adjust auger speed?

 

[stoveguy2esw]

when you reinstall the hose, you want it on far enough that its not gonna slip off but try not to shove it all the way down to the base of the tube. this allows some heat to dissipate

I'm having the same problem with my Englander. I've replaced the vacuum hose twice in the last month with hose from the local pellet stove store. My stove has been running a lot hotter this season at the lowest setting and after I replace the hose I get a burning rubber smell. I might be putting the hose too far on. I'm thinking I have another problem also though. I think something is out of adjustment and it's getting too hot for the end of the hose. Is it possible to internally adjust auger speed?

potentially , would need to walk you through it though. give us a call, we are actually kinda dead in here today

 

[Mobley]

potentially , would need to walk you through it though. give us a call, we are actually kinda dead in here today

I haven't gotten a chance to call. We've replaced the hose seven times this season. The last time didn't fix the problem. Not real warm and fuzzy about Englander stoves right now.

 

[stoveguy2esw]

I haven't gotten a chance to call. We've replaced the hose seven times this season. The last time didn't fix the problem. Not real warm and fuzzy about Englander stoves right now.

do you know the temp rating for the hose you bought locally? needs to be rated 600F or higher or its not gonna take the heat

 

[imacman]

I haven't gotten a chance to call. We've replaced the hose seven times this season. The last time didn't fix the problem. Not real warm and fuzzy about Englander stoves right now.

Are you replacing it with OEM factory hose?

I've had my 10-cpm Englander for 3 years now, and have NEVER replaced the hose, or needed to.

As far as "Not real warm and fuzzy about Englander stoves right now.", be glad you have one....if you had problems with other brands, nobody from their company would be on here to help like Mike Holton does, and most don't take phone calls from the customers direct like Englander does. I suggest you give them a call tomorrow.