Lopi pioneer bay ~2000 year - debug of convection fan

[ronstory]

Hi--

First post but a long time reader. I have a old Lopi Pioneer bay (the small one) that was a 'gift' since it did not work. The older couple that had it stated that convection fan stopped working and when the tech came out, the diagnosis was the convection motor failed and needed to be replaced. Since it had faithfully served for 20+ year, they opted to buy a new one... and I got the old one.

I'm now trying to make sure the convection fan is toast before I pull it apart. When I start on the unit in manual mode, the firebox fan and auger comes on. I can also measure a a bit less than 1V voltage across the convection fan terminals. So it does something, but I don't know if the convection motor is supposed to come on immediately or it wait until it detects a "good start" before the controller turns on the convection fan to the desired setting.

Any experts out there that know the sequencing of of Lopi and should I expect the convection motor to start immediately on start-up?

Thanks in advance,
Ron

 

[ronstory]

Just bring this to the top of the heap and I'm not sure I posted in the correct forum.

Any wisdom on the when the convection motor begins to run on the starting sequence on a Lopi pellet stove is appreciated.

Thanks,
Ron

 

[ARC]

Looking through some old Lopi manuals appears room fan comes on with 120 degree snap disc so should not come on until it reaches that temperature. Look at Lopi manuals and tell us which stove it is. You could make up a old lamp cord with spades on the end and plug the fan directly into outlet that would tell you if fan is good.

https://www.lopistoves.com/owner-resources/manuals/manuals-discontinued/

Guessing this one.

 

[pauhou2]

Troubleshooting guide for pioneer stove, GOOGLE, travis industries pellet appliance troubleshooting guide pdf

 

[ronstory]

Thanks all!

Paulhou2 - found the service manual for the Lopi Heritage which seems to be identical of the Pioneer.

ARC - thanks for the manual, it's a morn modern verision that I had for the insert.

So without the snap disc engaging, no convention fan. Got it.

Armed with that knowledge, I removed and replace the convection fan. When I tested the old fan with a pigtail, it did spin... but not very well nor fast. I got the new 4" SS liner installed and top cap, hi-temp RTV'd everything and pushed the unit back in the alcove... only to have it not start. (sigh) ... it's always something. ;^)

So I pulled the unit back out and tested the igniter and no joy. I removed the igniter housing and removed the hot rod and confirmed it had no conductivity. I now have two new rods on order from "Stove & Grill Parts For Less" since they were one of the few places that had the 200 watt version and should get them next week. I'm a strong believer of always have a spare.

Thanks,
Ron

 

[ronstory]

Just wanted to follow-up plus thank everyone for their guidance.,

I replaced the igniter and everything fired up. When I replaced the convection blower motor, the aftermarket one from Amazon had the correct holes in the correct spots... but when placed in the bracket that bolts to the stove frame... there was about a 1/2" gap on the top where it should meet the manifold inlet on the stove frame. I used a piece of 1" woodstove gasket material to fill the gap and blower works fine.

Thanks again!
Ron

 

[ronstory]

Now a bit of data. I used my Kill-a-watt meter and found the following with everything on high/maximum

Initial turn wattage with new igniter and exhaust blower 261-265W
Auger motor adds 20-23W
Exhaust Blower + Convection motor (on max) is 65-68W and 85

So start-up is 285W

 

[ronstory]

Ok, my previous post got truncated.

Initial turn wattage with new igniter and exhaust blower 261-265W
Auger motor adds 20-23W
So start-up is 285W

Once the ignitor goes off and the convection fan comes on:
Exhaust Blower + Convection motor (on max) is 65-68W and 85W when the auger is doing it's thing.

Thanks,
Ron