Hello - I'm new to the forum and to pellet stove use. I was given a pellet stove that one of my older brothers, it came with the house that he purchased about a month ago. I know absolutely nothing about pellet stoves. I have an outdoor wood burning unit that I use when it's cold outside. My plan is to use the pellet stove during the spring and fall seasons when the outdoor unit is burning wood for reason other than keeping the water jacket hot. The pellet stove is a Whitfield WP2 Advantage manufactured in 1994. It operates pretty good until approximately a 1/2 hours time of use and then it shuts off. It has done this twice since firing her up. I purchased a few bags of "blend" pellets and a few bags of premium. Do you think I should change to the premium? Can you fine people offer me any advice as to what I can do to keep this thing running? Perhaps it's not cold enough outside for it to be used right now. Any and all suggestions are welcome. Roger
Newby - Whitfield Advantage User
- Thread starter Roger2561
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Stovensen
Minister of Fire
Hello Roger2561,
Your pellet stove cannot complete the start up procedure. Very common symptom when the low limit switch is faulty. We've seen this issue many times before on this forum.
The start up procedure in short words: A 30 minute timer built in the control board allows for start up power to operate all components. The low limit closes at 140 degrees F measured exhaust gas temperature. If the low limit switch does not close when stove has warmed up, the stove shuts down after 30 minutes.
Normal troubleshooting procedure in this situation is to temporarily jumper the low limit switch ( only temporarily! ). If stove runs ok with the switch jumpered, the low limit switch has to be the culprit.
The low limit switch is mounted next to the combustion blower ( close to the exhaust flue )
You must have some experience with mains wire fiddling to do this jumper test, otherwise leave the job to a more experienced person. Always unplug the stove as the first thing.
Good luck and take care. Keep us posted.
Your pellet stove cannot complete the start up procedure. Very common symptom when the low limit switch is faulty. We've seen this issue many times before on this forum.
The start up procedure in short words: A 30 minute timer built in the control board allows for start up power to operate all components. The low limit closes at 140 degrees F measured exhaust gas temperature. If the low limit switch does not close when stove has warmed up, the stove shuts down after 30 minutes.
Normal troubleshooting procedure in this situation is to temporarily jumper the low limit switch ( only temporarily! ). If stove runs ok with the switch jumpered, the low limit switch has to be the culprit.
The low limit switch is mounted next to the combustion blower ( close to the exhaust flue )
You must have some experience with mains wire fiddling to do this jumper test, otherwise leave the job to a more experienced person. Always unplug the stove as the first thing.
Good luck and take care. Keep us posted.
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Stovensen - Your assessment was spot on, I replaced the 140 degree snap disk with a new one and it doesn't shut off after a 1/2 hour of running time. Thanks for that. Due to this thing being 23 years old and having no idea what maintenance was performed on it, what do you recommend I do so I can get as much out it as I can? This unit is being used this fall to carry me over until I fire up my outdoor boiler, so it's not going to be used as my primary heating unit. I plan on using the winter season to completely tear it apart and clean and replace what needs to be done but what do I need too pay close attention to? Thanks! Roger
Stovensen
Minister of Fire
The stickys on top of this forum section have some very useful tips and instructables from Hearthtools on maintaining older Whitfield pellet stoves.
Troubleshooting:
http://www.hearthtools.com/parts/lowlimit.htm
Maintenance:
http://www.hearthtools.com/parts/whitclean.htm
Service documents covering several of the older Whitfield pellet stoves. You should be able to find some useful info on your WP2 Advantage from 1994 here:
http://web.archive.org/web/20111017...ools.com:80/parts/whitfield_wire_diagrams.pdf
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Thanks for the links, they are very helpful. However, every time I try to remove the center firebrick, it won't budge. I am able to remove the side pieces without difficulty but that center one has me baffled. Do you think it may be creosote acting like glue that's keeping it in place? Or, is it supposed to be removable like the side panels? Thanks again for the help. Roger
Stovensen
Minister of Fire
Good observation and it cannot be ruled out - creosote and fly ash making the firebrick stick to the back panel - Be very very careful now not to break the firebrick. It should be removable. My Quest Plus is different from a pre 1999 Advantage II stove, so I have no hands on experience on the removal procedure. All I can suggest is to attempt to gently loosen the firebrick little by little. A small piece of wood or plastic could be useful in removing the creosote. A length of steel wire with a sharp bend in one end may get to even more hidden creosote, but be careful with tools of metal!
Mike Butkus has useful information ( with pictures ) on his website:
http://www.butkus.org/whitfield_operate/whitfield_cleaning/cleaning_a_pellet_stove.htm
And on this picture series of the cleaning process of an Advantage II we clearly see the center firebrick removed. Note, the heavy layer of creosote behind the center firebrick:
http://www.hearthtools.com/parts/adavantageII_clean.htm
Good luck. Keep us posted
DneprDave
Minister of Fire
My Whitfield's back firebrick panel is held in by the side pieces. Take the side panels out and the back panel almost falls out.
DneprDave - Even with the side panels removed and the side firebrick removed I still cannot get the back one to budge. But thanks for the tip. Roger
DneprDave
Minister of Fire
That thought crossed my mind. I spent well over an hour trying to remove it. Well I got the firebrick out but it came out in pieces. The creosote behind it was so thick it acted like a super strong adhesive that was holding it in place. I have ordered replacement parts for it. I'm using this down time to give this a complete cleaning which I doubt it has ever seen. Roger
The unit I have is a manual unit, where if I want to start a fire, I have to put the fire starter in it then light it with either matches or a lighter of some sort. I'm wondering if it can be retro-fitted to accept an ignition type starter. My control panel on the side of the unit only has knobs and slide switches, nothing electronic as far as I can tell.
Stovensen
Minister of Fire
According to the description this igniter add-on kit from Moutain View Hearth Products should be compatible with the existing wiring harness on your Advantage II WP2 , but you'd better contact them first to be absolutely sure:
https://www.stove-parts-unlimited.c...ge-igniter-add-on-kit-12040002-p/12040002.htm
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Stovensen
Minister of Fire
Another area to check if your stove is igniter-ready, is below the burn pot: There must be enough space to mount the igniter tube. On the Advantage Plus this igniter tube was preinstalled from factory, but not on the regular Quest, which is why the igniter kit includes the tube. However, to be basically igniter-ready your stove should be preinstalled with an "igniter receptacle tube slot". On this picture you see the igniter tube on my Quest Plus:
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The new fire brick finally arrived and has been installed. I also had to change the exhaust motor gasket for it completely crumbled when I removed the exhaust motor. Thankfully I looked inside the exhaust tube, it had a lot of build up of some stuff. With the aid of my ash vac and a wire brush (thanks bro) I was able to get most of it pretty clean. After installing the new fire brick, gasket, auger, auger flange and bushing I finally fired her up on Saturday morning. It was 65 degrees in my house (too cold for my liking) and in about 45 minutes I had the temp up to 70. So, I decided to get some work done outside and let it do it's thing. Well, when I got back inside the house for lunch the temp had reached nearly 80 degrees. After looking for the cause I realized I left the combustion air damper wide open. So, I cut it way back and turned down the heat output knob to it's lowest setting. It held the fire nicely for the rest of the day. With old fire brick, the glass would smoke up rather quickly but with the new fire brick and new exhaust gasket on the exhaust motor, there is barely a film of smoke on it. That tells me it's getting good air and the draft is working very well. It's supposed to get into the low to mid teens this weekend so I'm going to give this thing a true workout and see what she does. I'll report after I have run the test. Roger
Sorry I did not see this sooner. All three pieces should come out easy. Then, the two metal side shields. I only clean back there once a month or so and I have mine going 24/7. I bought a ash vac and can now vacuum what is around the ash pot w/o turning off the stove.
My glass still gets dirty ever since I owned it.. I hit it with a dry towel every 4 days or so. I don't bother with the igniter.. they burn up way too soon and they want $25 for one. I buy the 'log igniter" sticks, cut up a small piece and start it with that.
Personally, I would get a UPS ($50-70) to protect the control panel and also against short power outages. If the power goes out for 4 seconds, guarantee the stove shuts off.. then usually smoke everywhere. The control panels are pretty expensive to replace.
My glass still gets dirty ever since I owned it.. I hit it with a dry towel every 4 days or so. I don't bother with the igniter.. they burn up way too soon and they want $25 for one. I buy the 'log igniter" sticks, cut up a small piece and start it with that.
Personally, I would get a UPS ($50-70) to protect the control panel and also against short power outages. If the power goes out for 4 seconds, guarantee the stove shuts off.. then usually smoke everywhere. The control panels are pretty expensive to replace.
MButkus - Thanks for the suggestion of buying a UPS. I have been giving it a consideration anyway. I do have a full house emergency generator but it's set up to turn after it detects the power outage is long than 45 seconds and will not be enough insurance for me.
As for the fire brick; the center piece was the only piece that gave me fits removing it. Once it came out (in pieces of course) there was what looked like a build up of creosote behind it acting like super duper glue holding it place. It took a bit to get that creosote scraped off but I got it.
Thanks for the helping me get through the learning phase of this thing. As someone who burns wood, learning wood pellets is a complete different animal.
Roger
As for the fire brick; the center piece was the only piece that gave me fits removing it. Once it came out (in pieces of course) there was what looked like a build up of creosote behind it acting like super duper glue holding it place. It took a bit to get that creosote scraped off but I got it.
Thanks for the helping me get through the learning phase of this thing. As someone who burns wood, learning wood pellets is a complete different animal.
Roger
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