It wasn't my fault (This Time)

[nailed_nailer]

So came up from the wood shop about lunchtime and found that I had run the stove out of fuel.
No big deal.....
Grab a bag and pour it in.
Just about to hit the on/off switch when it hits me that it is a nice 40* day and I'm about due for a clean out I should just do it.

So I grab the vac and the tools and proceed to give the firebox a weekly cleaning.
Get it all clean inside behind the baffles and up to the heat exchanger tubes.
Clean the glass,
Dump the ashpan and vac around it.
Even vac out the vent cap at the "T"

Then it hits me that I didn't clean the convection blower real well last ton.
So I proceed to remove the cast sides and the panels from both sides to get to the convection blower.
I loosened the two bolts and disconnect the three spade plug electrical connections and remove the blower.
Considering I didn't do more than run the vac over it last time and I have a shedding Golden Retriever I figured it would be socked in tight with hair and dust.
Actually it wasn't bad.
I blew it off with compressed air and used a few Q-Tips to wipe down each of the vanes. Had it looking like new.
Re-mounted it back in place and made the electrical connections.
Put all the panels back on and replaced the top.

Throw two handfuls of pellets in the burnpot and fired it up.
It runs for about 15 minutes and then goes into cooldown mode.

I say to self "What the <bleep>"

No blinking lights.

Discover I can't hear the auger turning.
Pull all the panels off again and start troubleshooting.
Figure I pulled the ribbon cable off one of the boards or pinched a wire.
Check all connections and they all look good.
Now I'm thinking I cut the vac hose.
Check that it it is fine.
Start thinking $$$ signs in my head
Figure it is a vac switch, electrical connection, auger motor, or (yikes) a motherboard.
Decide to scoop all the pellets out of the hopper.
Some fines at the bottom but nothing unusual
Give it a good vacuum.
Use a cheater magnet to bypass the hopper lid switch and give it a try.
Yippie, auger turning now.
Set stove to #5 and really vac out the bottom of the auger/hopper.

Load it back up and and give it a try.
Running fine now.
Replace all the panels and put tools away.

Guessing I had some kind of auger jam. Never did find it.

Happy to know It won't be costing me anything for parts.
Been running over an hour now perfectly.

Glad to know it wasn't me.
---Nailer---

 

[imacman]

You sure it wasn't the magnetic lid switch? Did you remember to remove the "cheater" magnet?

 

[whlago]

Nailer may be somewhat off topic but why do you pre-load the burn pot with pellets?

 

[heat seeker]

So the stove will start up and run while the empty auger fills itself. It beats running the auger forever to get it full of pellets. He ran out of pellets, remember.

 

[whlago]

got it

 

[nailed_nailer]

Pete,
Not 100% sure as I don't know the cause of the auger stoppage.
But I can say the Top Cast panel and the lid were aligned properly.
I checked it 2x to make sure it sitting where it was supposed to be
Fairly confident it wasn't the prob.

And yes I removed the cheater. lol Lid wouldn't close if was still there.

Whlago,
Just as heat seeker said.
To give the stove some fuel until the auger fills and starts feeding on its own.

Stove running all evening with no problems.......well almost none......
I forgot to put the Manual/Hi-Lo switch back to Hi-Low after resetting the Fuel type.
Came home from dropping my son off and the living room was 80 degrees.

Back to normal 69 now in Hi-Low mode with the thermostat
---Nailer---