Need help w/ Classic Bay 1200i pellet stoves...

[deweypolice]

Hello all,

I am a newbie to the forum and have been banging my head with my two pellet stoves. Both of the stoves are CB 1200 inserts. My stove up stairs at the end of last year was making a loud, almost scratching noise and I narrowed it down to being the auger motor. I replaced the auger motor about a month ago and the noise went away and the stove worked fine. Now that it has been colder I went to fire the stove up and it does not work. When plugged in the exhaust blower turns on, I turn the t-stat on and it will not drop any pellets. I replaced disc #2 if fear that it may have went causing the auger to stop dropping pellets. That did not fix the issue. My next step would be to check the vacuum or the auger motor? I can't think the auger went bad after one use.

My other stove was bought used and was just installed last week. I got it all set up and turned it on. Everything seemed to be working great however after ten or so minutes the convection blower did not turn on. At time I began to smell a burning hot smell. I at time turned the stove off and let it cool down. While it was cooling down I made a "jumper" for disc #1 (purple wires) and the convection blower came on. I figured that perhaps disc #1 was bad due to the blower working on a jumper, and I also thought disc #2 would be bad for not shutting the stove down once it reached 200 degrees which was causing the burning smell. I replaced both disc's on this machine and the blower will still not come on. I see on my disc #1 it say 50 degrees Celsius which is 120f. I fired up the machine and put a heat meter on disc #1 and the area and it is well over 120f.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you,
Peter

 

[mralias]

Your first stove I would 1. Jump the connector on the stove to take the thermostat out of the equation. Does the call light come? On the second stove what color is the control box, clear or gray?

 

[deweypolice]

@mralias How would I go about jumping the thermostat? Would I remove the two wires from the thermostat and put a jumper it its place? I just have the red light on below my fan switch. Both of my machines have a clear control box.

 

[deweypolice]

I also forgot to mention on the first stove the convection blower would surge on and off in 6 second intervals. I do not know if this is related to why it is not working. I also replaced the #1 disc on this machine as well. However I cannot get it running to check if that resolved the surging of the convection blower or not.

 

[mralias]

Yes pull the wires and put in the jumper. You want to make sure the stove is actually calling for heat. The thermostat is nothing more than an on/off switch. Then see what happens. If no feed of pellets then check the vacuum line and make sure it is connected to the auger and the vac switch and it is not clogged or broken. The clear boxes are the up to date ones which is a good thing. I am assuming that everything is clean including the venting. Also make sure the thermocoupler is all the way to the end to the thermocupler cover.

 

[mralias]

Snap disks very rarely go. I have never replaced one in 9 years with the same stove.

 

[deweypolice]

I am currently at work until the morning however I will definitely make a jumper tomorrow for that stove and let you know. Any idea on the other stove? I really don't like running it prolonged with that jumper on the blower wires. If I can fix that one, which is downstairs it will slowly warm up my upstairs until I can address those issues.

 

[mralias]

You understand I am talking about the jumper on the two screws where the thermostat connects and not jumpers for the snap disks. I would never run my stove for any period of time with snap disks jumped.

@mralias How would I go about jumping the thermostat? Would I remove the two wires from the thermostat and put a jumper it its place? I just have the red light on below my fan switch. Both of my machines have a clear control box.

I thought the reset button was below the fan switch.

 

[deweypolice]

You understand I am talking about the jumper on the two screws where the thermostat connects and not jumpers for the snap disks. I would never run my stove for any period of time with snap disks jumped.
deweypolice said: ↑
@mralias How would I go about jumping the thermostat? Would I remove the two wires from the thermostat and put a jumper it its place? I just have the red light on below my fan switch. Both of my machines have a clear control box.
I thought the reset button was below the fan switch.

Yes, I will make a jumper for the thermostat tomorrow for the stove that is not feeding. The reset button is their as well however a red light is on below that as well. The call light is in the control box correct? I agree with not running with the disc jumped however the disc will not turn the blower on and I cannot run it, the firebox gets over 200f and smells like something is burning.

 

[PutnamJct]

Ditto on the snap disks, have never changed one either in 9 years on my 1200i.
This will give you the sequence for when everything should turn on or off:

 

[mralias]

Yes, I will make a jumper for the thermostat tomorrow for the stove that is not feeding. The reset button is their as well however a red light is on below that as well. The call light is in the control box correct? I agree with not running with the disc jumped however the disc will not turn the blower on and I cannot run it, the firebox gets over 200f and smells like something is burning.

The call light is the red light we were talking about below the reset button which should come on when the stove calls for heat. It will not come on if the stove is not calling for heat even if you just plug the stove in and the initial check cycle runs. On the second stove I hate to say it but sounds like a control box issue to me. You have a user manual for the stove right? It has a couple of pages on trouble shooting. (pages 27-30)

 

[deweypolice]

@PutnamJct based on your diagram I am assuming the stove is faulting at #4 with the vacuum.

@mralias I do have the manual however, I only went as far as replacing snap disc #1 to troubleshoot the blower problem. I apologize if this is confusing due to having two stoves with two different problems.

 

[PutnamJct]

If you suspect #4 pull the vac line off the auger and the switch and blow it out with compressed air. I had mine clog up last year due to fines getting into it from the hopper.

 

[deweypolice]

If you suspect #4 pull the vac line off the auger and the switch and blow it out with compressed air. I had mine clog up last year due to fines getting into it from the hopper.

I will try that tomorrow as well as the jumper for the thermostat for that stove.

 

[PutnamJct]

For stove number two,, I would test the convection blower off the stove just to make sure it works. You could even swap it with stove number one's blower for testing purposes if you know that one works. On mine, a magnet is the only thing holding it in place.

 

[deweypolice]

Stove two, that convection blower works with a jumper wire on the purple wires. It does not work when attached to the snap disk however.

 

[PutnamJct]

I think @mralias is right with the control box possibly being the culprit on stove two.

 

[deweypolice]

Do either or you know if their is a way to fix the control box or a way to troubleshoot the control box?

 

[PutnamJct]

search 1200 control box on this forum, there are a lot of posts that deal with them. Luckily I have never had any issues with mine, not sure how much tinkering can be done with them as opposed to full on replacement.

 

[deweypolice]

I believe that stove is only a 2011 model. I would think their should be a warranty on that box. However I will search the forum now and see what I can come up with before spending $250.

 

[DBCOOPER]

I don't think there is anything wrong with # 2's control box If there is voltage to the snap switch. 10 minutes is not long enough to make the fan come on or overheat a CB1200i. Leave it run on high for at least 20 minutes.

Did you press the reset on number one. When mine goes from completely empty of pellets I usually have to hit the reset four or five times before it will drop any pellets.

 

[kappel15]

You can unplug stoves and swap control boxes to see if it is the control box on the one stove. Always unplug stove before removing or installing control boxes. kap

 

[deweypolice]

Just had a chance to do some troubleshooting today. Here is what I did so far.

Stove 1

Jumper wire in place of thermostat.
Plugged in
Exhaust fan on
Call light on
Blue flashing light in control box-few times
No pellets dropping
Pressed reset button, nothing happened

Stove 2

Turned on
Exhaust fan on
Call light on
Dropping pellets
No lights in control box
Fire in pot
20 mins of fire no convection fan
Snap disc #1 119f
30 mins of fire no convection fan
Snap disc #1 133f
Just plugged jumper to take heat off of the unit. Fan is working and I am shutting it down.

 

[mralias]

#1 can you hear the auger turning? You may have to empty down the hopper, pop the cover off and make sure it is turning. Also a start up from no pellets dropped from prior start requires a minimum of three reset button pushes after each start up cycle (wait 20 to 30 seconds between each reset). At least mine does. Please make sure nothing is obstructing the pellet feed. I believe the blue flashing light means you are out of pellets. Mine does not flash unless I run out.

B. CALL LIGHT ON -- NO FIRE -- NO FUEL IN FIREPOT
1) CHECK HOPPER FOR BRIDGING OF PELLETS
2) PUSH RESET BUTTON & ADJUST FEED ADJUSTMENT PLATE
3) CHECK THERMOCOUPLE
4) CHECK VENTING SYSTEM FOR OBSTRUCTIONS
5) CHECK VACUUM SWITCH AND VACUUM HOSE
6) CHECK FEED MOTOR
7) CHECK EXHAUST BLOWER

#2 . I'm still thinking control box.

J. CONVECTION BLOWER KEEPS RUNNING OR FAILS TO START
1) CHECK #1 SNAP DISC
2) CHECK CONVECTION BLOWER
3) CHECK FOR VOLTAGE TO THE #1 SNAP DISC

 

[deweypolice]

Hey all, I have been a little busy with work and other things. I have been trying to fix both stoves in the meantime. What an adventure to say the least...

I called a local dealer who services the machines and advised he of the issues. He stated that on stove #2 (downstairs) to try and clean inside of the firebox in the corner where the snap discs are located. He advised he has serviced many stoves where ash forms and basically acts as an insulator and prevents the area where the discs are located from getting hot enough. I did that nothing was caked up. The next thing he stated was to run a bead of caulk along the side where the snap discs are located to trap the heat inside. I did that as well. I fired the stove up and let it run. The blower did not come on, so I put the jumper in and the blower came on. When I moved the wire so it didn't lay on the exhaust housing it touched metal and poof went the control box... That's my luck! Long end of the short, I pulled the box out of the other stove and it works great with no jumper wire.

Thankfully I work as a substitute at a local vo-tech school and the electrical teacher fixed my board. I brought the box back home and put it into stove #1. I tried the box and everything was the same symptoms as the first time around with this stove. So we pulled the unit out and began checking the vacuum switch / hose. We blew the hose out with some canned compressed air and tried it again. No luck, so we put a jumper wire in the switch and it started dropping pellets. I believe, it's a bad switch however my father stated when he put another hose on the switch and sucked on it, the switch worked. He said that it is not getting vacuum from the auger shaft somehow? Is this possible? Any help on this would be greatly appreciated. Once we can figure this out the we should be good to go!

Thank you again!