p61a Completely Stopped Working

[mccabedoug]

Folks, I fired up my 4 year old p61a a couple weeks ago for the heating season and, as usual, all was well.....until last night. Woke up and the stove was cold and off. Cleaned burn pot, unplugged and plugged back in (several times) and it sits there silently. Turned up the temp to 85+, tried Room and Stove Temp High/Low, increased the Feed Rate, all to no avail. Obviously it is full of pellets.

There are no blinking lights. The Power, Status, and Combustion Blower are glowing stready red so it's getting electricity.

This stove has never given me one minute's of trouble.

Any ideas?

 

[Bioburner]

Your manual, page 26, fire has gone out, #5 feed motor or combustion motor failure. You comfortable with 120 volt electricity? Can try and make a pig tail connector and hook your combustion motor direct to rule out that. No exhaust , no vac, no go.

 

[Stoveman 77]

Pull the back cover off and see if the exhaust blower is going on test mode ?

 

[Bioburner]

Pull the back cover off and see if the exhaust blower is going on test mode ?

Good idea, I keep forgetting about test mode to check all motors.

 

[mccabedoug]

Pull the back cover off and see if the exhaust blower is going on test mode ?

Thanks. I'll try Test Mode. What am I looking for with the back cover removed? Nothing is coming on. Am I looking for an indicator light?

 

[Bioburner]

You should see the exhaust fan lower left rear come on(as looking at stove from front). All motors should come on for a short time in test mode. If not, something serious has gone south. Did you have the stove plugged into a surge suppressor?

 

[mccabedoug]

You should see the exhaust fan lower left rear come on(as looking at stove from front). All motors should come on for a short time in test mode. If not, something serious has gone south. Did you have the stove plugged into a surge suppressor?

I will check the unit in Test Mode as per the suggestion above and on p26 of the manual. I've had the back off of the unit several times in the past. When trying to start the stove as I usually do, absolutely nothing (no fans) comes on. The stove is not plugged into a surge suppressor.

 

[Bioburner]

Not having plugged into a surge suppressor may have cost you a control board I suggested making a pigtail to test your motors to at least rule out them being part of the problem.

 

[Delta-T]

give ye' old combustion blower a spin by hand...when not plugged in, just to make sure its not stuck in a funky spot. If you have no combustion blower, nothing else will go.

 

[mccabedoug]

Not having plugged into a surge suppressor may have cost you a control board I suggested making a pigtail to test your motors to at least rule out them being part of the problem.

Thanks. I suppose that not having the stove plugged into a surge suppressor may have cost me a control board but on that same circuit is a TV, Wii, DVD player, and portable phone. All are functioning fine. It happened during the middle of a quiet night so I don't know the exact circumstances under which the problem occurred. Let's hope that it's a motor that I can easily replace.

 

[Bioburner]

The board is easier to replace than that combustion fan assembly on the p series. Might be close in price too if bought from the right party. May have to ask in a new thread. I know others have had to replace this season. High voltage can be the luck of the draw in toasting things.

 

[mccabedoug]

The board is easier to replace than that combustion fan assembly on the p series. Might be close in price too if bought from the right party. May have to ask in a new thread. I know others have had to replace this season. High voltage can be the luck of the draw in toasting things.

Thanks for all your help. Will do some detective work this eve.

 

[mccabedoug]

Ran stove in Test Mode. Combustion and Distribution Blowers both turned on. Does this confirm that the Feed Motor is the culprit and if so, how can I diagnose which part of it that I need to replace?

Thanks for the suggestions, folks.

 

[Bioburner]

We're getting somewhere! Could be the auger has a jam! The missing pen cap in a bag of pellets from another thread? Have you cleaned the feed box of fines? You can try and see if the motor is trying to turn the gear box but will probably need to have someone turn on the test mode while you look at the auger motor and see if is making an attempt at turning as it will quickly take up any slack and stall.

 

[Stoveman 77]

Take a 7/16 wrench and loosen the bolt and pull off feed motor and see if auger will spin by hand then check feed motor and see if it will run?

 

[mccabedoug]

Guys, I thought we were getting somewhere but I am not sure where. I emptied the hopper and vacuumed out the auger tube. I removed the side panel on the left side of the stove to check on the Combustion Blower. I ran the stove in Test Mode again. The Combustion Blower and Distribution Blower lights illuminated. The Feed Motor did not. When I looked at the Combustion Blower I noticed it was NOT operating. I unplugged the stove and gave the Combustion Blower fan a spin and it rotates freely. Distribution Blower worked great.

So, the Feed Motor did not turn. The Combustion Blower did not operate. Lastly, the inside of the stove was covered in black soot. Normally the inside is covered with a light gray ash. Although it hard to articulate, the stove smells sooty like a partially unburned log from a fire.

Where does that leave me? Combustion Blower or Feed Motor.

 

[rayttt]

Your combustion blower should be running basically any time it is on...unless no fire detected within X number of minutes at startup

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

If the combustion blower doesn't run, you shouldn't get any pellets for a fire.

Now the question is is there anything actually wrong with that blower or not.

The crud inside your stove is the result of an incomplete burn.

The incomplete burn can be the result of a bad control board, plenty of ash in the works, a failing combustion blower, a blocked air intake (stuck flapper for example), and if there is a fuse in the combustion blower circuit a blown fuse.

 

[rayttt]

Have you tried to make a pigtail and plug your distribution blower directly into an outlet?

 

[Stoveman 77]

I think your combustion blower quit which would cause a creosote from pellets smoldering and won't allow the feed motor to run , you can unplug the combustion blower and plug it in directly it will have spade terminals on it make up a small jumper with spade terminals on it and see if it will run ?

 

[mccabedoug]

Have you tried to make a pigtail and plug your distribution blower directly into an outlet?

Will try that tomorrow. Ran out of time this eve.

 

[mccabedoug]

I was thinking, during Test Mode do all four motors/blowers come on independently regardless of one of them not functioning OR is it normal for the Feed Motor to not come on if the Combustion Blower is non-functional (during Test Mode)? That is not clear to me. I would assume that they should all come on independently of each other to test their functionality.

 

[Bioburner]

You over thinking the problem. You had stated that the exhaust blower was working, now you state its not. One small step at a time. Make a pigtail to test the individual motors to rule them out without the switches and control board.

 

[Delta-T]

no combustion blower..no feed pellets....combustion blower creates negative pressure, negative pressure tells pressure switch "good to go", pressure switch allows juice to flow to auger.

 

[mccabedoug]

You over thinking the problem. You had stated that the exhaust blower was working, now you state its not. One small step at a time. Make a pigtail to test the individual motors to rule them out without the switches and control board.

You're right. It's the scientist in me. I made a mistake earlier: assuming that the Combustion Blower was functioning when I noted that the corresponding light was illuminated. The exhaust blower was not functioning which I confirmed by taking the panel off the side of the stove.