I'm back

[Snowy Rivers]

Been a while since I have been here.
Lots of things have happened over the interim..

We are still burning nut shells in the two Whitfields

Last fall the plant we get our shells at started up a completely new facility....and it is nice....but the shells were no longer nice small pieces, but instead 1/2 shells.

This necessitated building a "MUNCHY" to crush the stuff up to usable size.

Actually the stuff is far better than before

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Took about a month to bring this bad boy from an idea on paper up to operational.

When one is ambitious this sucker can crush a 55 gallon drum full in under 15 minutes.


With "Munchy" done things seemed fine.

But things turned ugly in Feb... The control board on the Big Whitfield gave up and the room air fan would not run.

To get us through the last of the season I wired in a stand alone fan control.

The cost of replacement boards and the fact that the new boards are not all that reliable pushed me to design and build a new controller that was heavy duty as well as having all off the shelf timers and relays.

Easily replaced parts that can be swapped out in only a few minutes.


I was well into the final testing on the new controller for the Big stove and then the panel on our small Whitfield started giving fits.

Main on off switch was wearing out and it was not long for this earth.

Decided to build a similar unit to the one I built for Big stove.

 

[webfish]

That is pretty cool. How many lbs of shells do you go thru in a year?

 

[Snowy Rivers]

We burn about 3 tons...but usually haul in about 4 tons to keep a back log in stock

 

[Snowy Rivers]

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Here is a video of the Big Whit running on the new box...

 

[Snowy Rivers]

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Here is a video of the Small Whitfield operating on it's new controller...

So much better than the old controller.

Smoother, more adjustments and several more safeties added....

 

[Ssyko]

Welcome back Snowy

 

[Lordtimothy200]

What are you using to control the voltage for the fan motors? Just starting to work on some temp sensors on the stove. Would like to tune the stove a bit more if I can.

 

[Snowy Rivers]

I used a simple phase control unit.

Good voltage control using a simple potentiometer in the panel.

I used a locking type pot to prevent unintended changes in voltage..

 

[Snowy Rivers]

Here are some inside looks at the controller and the added connection bus bar in the stove.

I used a 12 wire 16GA cable to do the interconnect.
I left the original factory bus bar intact...but not used, just in case somebody wanted to take the thing back to factory..

The original board was shot...so I removed it and stored it away.

All components are heavy duty industrial grade with a minimum of 10 amp ratings.
Everything is fused (Fans and auger)
If the draft fan fails it will shut off the stove.
If the room fan fails it shuts off the stove..

 

[Lordtimothy200]

Thank you for posting the pictures. One of my winter projects is to install 4 temp sensors and get some accurate baseline information then the next step will be to fine tune the stove with a controller like you built. Quite impressed. Looks very good.

 

[Snowy Rivers]

Thank you.

I used the factory specs as far as voltages on the fans at various fuel feed levels as a baseline reference point.

The timing on the auger was an average of what the factory had and then I added some timing points on each side of the factory specs

My feed timing is as follows.

Setting
(1) 7 seconds off 3 seconds feeding
(2) 6 and 3
(3) 5 and 3
(4) 4 and 3
(5) 3 and 3)
(6) on constant for priming a dry auger...

Running at #3 setting as my standard setting with the draft fan set at 85 volts and the room fan at 110 volts

We burn ground nut shells, so things are a tad different as far as settings go for pellets..

 

[Lordtimothy200]

Factory settings in my experience is normally pretty close. I will likely start there as well. The stove I have is a St Croix Auburn and I only burn corn (kind of a corn snob) and have noticed some settings leave a lot of clinker and others not so much. Just wanted to see if a tweak here or there can help any.

You gave me the motivation to get my sensors on the stove this weekend.

 

[vinny11950]

Wow, good to see you again, Snowy.

 

[Snowy Rivers]

Hey Vinny.... Same here.

Tim
The factories spend quite a bit of engineering time and testing to get stuff in the groove.

The actual functions are usually spot on.

My complaint, at least with the Whitfield Advantage series was the control boards were just too flakey.

One small fuse that did really nothing.

Lose the Room air fan to short and it fry's the board and other stuff too.

The fan speed control TRIAC was a cheezy POS and they knew it.

This is why I fused everything separately... and then tied in the entire operation so it required all the fuses be in tact or the entire operation stops.

The LED lamps will indicate if anything is amiss.

Plenty of overkill on the individual relays and timers so there is little chance of damaging them even if a motor failure resulted in a blown fuse.

2 amp fuses and the equipment will tolerate a minimum of 10 amps....


Tweaking the draft fan speeds and the auger time on and off can really help with the clinker thing.

Just a touch more draft fan speed can really improve the burn time....and in some cases reducing that same speed can help too.

When we step into the world of alternative fuels ALL BETS ARE OFF WE ARE THE ENGINEERS AND NEED TO SOLVE ANY ISSUES THAT COME UP...

 

[Snowy Rivers]

Last night was the first time it's been cold enough since installing the new stove controls on the Big Whit to be able to run it through the night.

The stove ran absolutely marvelous right through the night and was set on the low setting.

I got up at 3 am to hit the head and checked on the fire.... sweeeeeeeeeeeet...
I am also loving the very quiet operation compared to the harmonic noise it used to make with the old factory board.

The big stove is on the family room side of the Master bedroom,and the Wha wha noise was annoying at times.

 

[bags]

I was wondering what happen to ya. Good to see ya back and impressive gadgetry. We are setting heat records here in Northern KY. It is going to be up into the 90's again today thru this coming Wednesday. That said I went with a lifelong friend yesterday to get him squared away on pellets. He just bought his first pellet stove.

He also owns a big sweet wood processor and plenty of skid steers and excavating equipment. LOL! He is getting wiser and older so the pellet gig is his new thing. He's a slow learner but the light bulb clicked on. We went to a new Menard's in Florence, KY and he scored 4 tons of Somersets for $177.50 per ton. Good deal!
Loaded 4 skids onto his F-550, strapped, and rolled.

 

[Snowy Rivers]

Hey

$177.50 is a great deal.

Yes...lotssa new gadgetry here
I had been making noise about the custom controllers for a couple years....but "IF IT AIN'T BROKE" ya know got in m,y way.

Then back in Feb things got hinky and I had to gitterdone...and fast.

I had all the parts for the most part, so It was time to go for it.


I wanted as much symmetry between the two controllers..

Same basic electronics to keep the on shelf spares SIMPLE

So very similar...but a bit different inside.

Same auger timer and latchout relay....
Same heat control switch
Same volt meter
Different fan speed control
Same mechanic relays, but slightly different usage.
Same fuse assemblies
Same timer resistor blocks but different resistor values.
Same panel assembly.
Same toggle switches
Same main wire cable (16 ga 12 conductor)
Same LED lamp assemblies

The large stove has a far more complex wiring set up to match the factory did as far as operation and safeties... Added more safeties and fused everything.

Easy to repair when it's cold and going sideways outside.

All plug and play stuff..

Quite a bit of symmetry...but some differences.

Still...having a basic parts package on the shelf to service either one is a sweeeeeet deal

 

[Paragone176]

Snowy River

Hey there, new to the site and to pellet stoves.

Looking to purchase parts for a homemade controller. I’ve sourced just about all I need.

The rheostats you showed in your build are those only available from the manufacturer?