This is our second season with Jotul GF 200 DV IPI as main heat for our lakeside cabin. Last winter it worked like a champ, faithfully following the commands of the thermostat. All winter it was set at CPI/ON, which from recent reading I see might have meant that it should not have followed thermostat, but nevertheless it did.
This fall, not so much, and our experience has not been consistent. At first, the burner would not fire, while the pilot cycled through ignition and burning for 20 seconds and then turning itself off (same behavior under CPI and IPI). The next morning, when turned ON, it fired right up, the burner flame very good (like last year) and warmed the house nicely. But it didn't turn off (neither on CPI or IPI it didn't turn off). But after being turned off with the switch to the OFF position, I could put the switch back to ON, and (on IPI) it would stay off until the thermostat told it to turn on, which it did, but again wouldn't turn off in response to the thermostat. Now however it is back to not burning the main burner, but the pilot cycling off.
I rule out thermostat problem by multimeter reading (at the terminals on the Jotul thermostat block) open circuit when temp above thermostat setting and closed circuit with temp below setting. I'm willing to try jumping other terminals to diagnose, and have read posts about thermistors and other parts. But can someone give me a few sentence explanation of how it is supposed to work? From the diagram in the manual, I get that there is a sense electrode near the pilot light, which presumably must report ignition temperature before the main burner will fire, but there is a lot more there that I don't understand, and don't have any idea even how to find out if that sense electrode is now not working (obviously it was working when the main burner was burning for us).
BTW, the nearest Jotul dealer has scheduled a technician to service us on December 15 at 3:00, which is somewhat cold comfort. I'd like to resolve if possible before that. At this point, I'd be glad just to get back to have it run and never stop (I could control house temperature manually with the valve control). But I'd like to start with how it should work, and then go into the multimeter readings/and jumping contacts to identify a specific part to replace or other fix needed.
This fall, not so much, and our experience has not been consistent. At first, the burner would not fire, while the pilot cycled through ignition and burning for 20 seconds and then turning itself off (same behavior under CPI and IPI). The next morning, when turned ON, it fired right up, the burner flame very good (like last year) and warmed the house nicely. But it didn't turn off (neither on CPI or IPI it didn't turn off). But after being turned off with the switch to the OFF position, I could put the switch back to ON, and (on IPI) it would stay off until the thermostat told it to turn on, which it did, but again wouldn't turn off in response to the thermostat. Now however it is back to not burning the main burner, but the pilot cycling off.
I rule out thermostat problem by multimeter reading (at the terminals on the Jotul thermostat block) open circuit when temp above thermostat setting and closed circuit with temp below setting. I'm willing to try jumping other terminals to diagnose, and have read posts about thermistors and other parts. But can someone give me a few sentence explanation of how it is supposed to work? From the diagram in the manual, I get that there is a sense electrode near the pilot light, which presumably must report ignition temperature before the main burner will fire, but there is a lot more there that I don't understand, and don't have any idea even how to find out if that sense electrode is now not working (obviously it was working when the main burner was burning for us).
BTW, the nearest Jotul dealer has scheduled a technician to service us on December 15 at 3:00, which is somewhat cold comfort. I'd like to resolve if possible before that. At this point, I'd be glad just to get back to have it run and never stop (I could control house temperature manually with the valve control). But I'd like to start with how it should work, and then go into the multimeter readings/and jumping contacts to identify a specific part to replace or other fix needed.
