ok so I purchased a Napoleon nps45 used over this past summer and can't seem to get the thing running right for the life of me. I'll start from the beginning. The first thing I did upon purchase was a thorough cleaning of the combustion blower, exhaust blower, exhaust vents and exhaust piping and quickly found out that the previous owner had never done any of this annual maintenance as it was complelty filthy. The exhaust blower was caked with soot, both exhaust channels in the stove (the one with the two doors below the burn pot) were complelty plugged as well as the find on the combustion blower were caked as well. I have cleaned all these parts approx 3 times since and have only burned about 1 ton of pellets this winter so far but can't get the stove to run efficiently, I can run it in heat setting 1 and 2 with no issues but when I turn it up to 3 on the colder nights after about 2 hours the glass will turn black and pellets will start to back up in the burn pot. I called my local dealer who suggested it may be my fuel and to buy some La Cretes and my problem should be solved but that solution did not work, I have been struggling with this thing for 3 months now to no avail and could use any suggestions as to what else I could be missing. Thank you in advance and please feel free with any questions I may have not answered.
Napoleon nps45 problem!!!!!
- Thread starter Cornstarch81
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heat seeker
Minister of Fire
We could use a complete description of the venting - lengths, diameter, termination, bends, elbows, etc.
Sounds like not enough air flow thru the stove at heat level 3 to burn the pellets. That could be a defective exhaust blower or a defective control panel.
You could take voltage measurements on the exhaust blower for each heat level to see if it changes.
You could take voltage measurements on the exhaust blower for each heat level to see if it changes.
Ok venting is a 3" that runs about 1.5 feet off the stove then bends at a 45 degree angle to go out the wall because the pellet stove is kitty cornered in the room, there is a clean out t down low and then the exhaust runs about 7 feet up and at the top is a 90 degree elbow away from the house and then a vent on the end.
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heat seeker
Minister of Fire
Sounds okay to me. Are you sure it's totally clean? I agree that is sounds like insufficient airflow - just need to find out why. Perhaps there's a hidden clog somewhere in the stove combustion air/exhaust passages. That's assuming the exhaust fan is working properly, as noted above.
This is more along the lines of what I was thinking, if the stove is clean and 5 different types of pellets don't change the results then something is going wrong with a blower somewhere. Is it possible for a blower to only work at half capacity? It's not an all or nothing situation?
I'm 99% sure I got everything out of if, I've called the stove shop who is a dealer of this stove at least 6 times now to talk cleaning, fuel and other things that may be causing the issue and checked over and over again to make sure I wasn't missing anything in the cleaning as well as looked at the manual and watched videos by Napoleon on cleaning and maintenance of the stove. Like I said earlier the guy who had it before me didn't do any of the annual cleaning it needed so is it possible the integrity of the exhaust blower is partially comprimised due to it being plugged in multiple areas and having to overwork for long periods of time?
heat seeker
Minister of Fire
Does the exhaust blower turn very easily by hand? It might be turning slow due to gummed up bearings, dust bunnies in the motor, etc. The motor windings should be blown out annually so they don't overheat due to restricted airflow, also. That's assuming it's getting proper voltage.
I honestly can't recall off the top of my head but will open it up first thing in the morning to check and see, seems like at least a couple people are pointing toward the exhaust blower as possibly the culprit so this is a good start . The guy I bought it from had an extra control panel that was sent to him twice so I have that just in case it's needed. I'll update in the exhaust blower in the morning and thank you guys for all the help, this has been driving me nuts all winter.
heat seeker
Minister of Fire
An idea - when you have the blower out, connect it to a wall outlet with a jumper (only if it's a 120 volt motor!) and see how it runs. It should speed up pretty quickly, and slowly coast to a stop.
It is possible but may be due to a damaged Triac on the control panel. Take a voltage and current reading with the stove on high, Then connect an ac line cord to the blower and take a voltage and current reading. If it is greater with the test cord, then you may have a bad control panel.
I use a good clamp on meter from Home Depot. For current only one wire should go thru the clamp. See pics below.
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Ok so this morning I installed the new control board I had that came with the stove as well as removed the exhaust blower which spun freely with no noise or resistance at all. I don't have a voltage meter but that will be my next step is the new control panel doesn't fix the problem. Thanks again guys you are beyond helpful
Johnny_Fiv3
Feeling the Heat
I did the dollar bill test and everything seemed right, I also asked the dealer and was told if there was a leak the stove would struggle to start because of the vacuum, not sure how accurate that is but the seals all seem to check out fine. The stove is running now while I'm at work and my wife refuses to let me know how it's running because I've been bugging her all day haha bit will update tonight.
Alright just got home and the stove seems to be running 10X better than it ever has, I've had it running on 3 since about 9:30 this morning and there is just a slight grey fog on the glass which is probably due to the cheap pellets I'm running through it at the moment but no black window and also the burn pot is running really low and not building like it was, I can see the holes in the burn pot where the air passes through which would get covered quickly before the new control board went in. I just ramped it up to heat setting 4 which is uncharted territory for me with this stove and I'm started to get a little excited that it may actually be fixed this time. I've got two bags of La Cretes left that in going to burn in a couple days to see the difference in ash content left in the stove. Once again thank you guys, I am really pumped right now at how it's been running throughout the course of the day.
So I may have gotten a little too excited.....I woke up at around 3 am to check the stove running on 4 and began to back up again in the burn pot which smothered the air holes and started burning lazy and producing black glass. im making progress as I'm now able to run it on 3 efficiently but if it's backing up as setting 4 than I still wouldn't ever be able to touch setting 5 if I needed to. Anything else I'm possibly missing?
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