Hello again. I have gotten some excellent help and great info from this forum - and I thought I would at least try to give something back. Perhaps someone out there might find this useful.
So...a few years ago our Mt. Vernon pellet insert stopped working - would not ignite even if hand-primed. Our local dealer came and tested the igniter - which tested OK. After checking the wiring, the tech concluded that we needed a new control board - not an inexpensive fix to say the least.
After he left, I decided to do a little probing of my own. Downloaded the manual showing the board connections and wiring. I could see that the igniter was switched on using a relay - not unusual for high current loads - and I had already noticed the soft "click" of that relay energizing the element whenever the stove went into startup mode.
Having some background in electronics I decided to remove and inspect the board ... and found exactly what I suspected: evidence of high heat around the pins for the igniter connector (high igniter current + connector contacts not absolutely clean = high heat generation at connector). These pins had obviously gotten so hot so many times that they both had very bad cold solder joints on the board, with the solder discolored, cracked and intermittent at both pins.
So after carefully cleaning that area of the board, removing all of the cold solder, reheating and applying fresh solder, cleaning the connector and pins with a good electronics spray and putting everything together - problem solved. For a lot less money than a new board.
I hope someone may find this info useful.
So...a few years ago our Mt. Vernon pellet insert stopped working - would not ignite even if hand-primed. Our local dealer came and tested the igniter - which tested OK. After checking the wiring, the tech concluded that we needed a new control board - not an inexpensive fix to say the least.
After he left, I decided to do a little probing of my own. Downloaded the manual showing the board connections and wiring. I could see that the igniter was switched on using a relay - not unusual for high current loads - and I had already noticed the soft "click" of that relay energizing the element whenever the stove went into startup mode.
Having some background in electronics I decided to remove and inspect the board ... and found exactly what I suspected: evidence of high heat around the pins for the igniter connector (high igniter current + connector contacts not absolutely clean = high heat generation at connector). These pins had obviously gotten so hot so many times that they both had very bad cold solder joints on the board, with the solder discolored, cracked and intermittent at both pins.
So after carefully cleaning that area of the board, removing all of the cold solder, reheating and applying fresh solder, cleaning the connector and pins with a good electronics spray and putting everything together - problem solved. For a lot less money than a new board.
I hope someone may find this info useful.
