PELLET STOVE PROBLEMS.....AND MORE PROBLEMS

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FightingthePelletStove

New Member
Hearth Supporter
Dec 3, 2009
11
DURANGO, CO
I have a Whitfield Pellet Stove (I think an Advantage) and I have had one problem after another. I replaced the control board..flame still burnt lazy and my house filled with smoke. I replaced the gasket around the door, checked the gasket on the firebox, shop vac'ed everything humanly possible out of the stove and then got the compressor to blow everything else out. It burned ok for a few days but I havent been able to keep it running lately. It runs for about 30 minutes at a time and then shuts down. I thought it was the low limit switch, so we pulled that off and by passed it. It still shuts down when there is a rippin-roarin flame in there.

PLEASE HELP!!!
 
FightingthePelletStove said:
I have a Whitfield Pellet Stove (I think an Advantage) and I have had one problem after another. I replaced the control board..flame still burnt lazy and my house filled with smoke. I replaced the gasket around the door, checked the gasket on the firebox, shop vac'ed everything humanly possible out of the stove and then got the compressor to blow everything else out. It burned ok for a few days but I havent been able to keep it running lately. It runs for about 30 minutes at a time and then shuts down. I thought it was the low limit switch, so we pulled that off and by passed it. It still shuts down when there is a rippin-roarin flame in there.

PLEASE HELP!!!

Try reading all the steps in the link on my signature line and the tips in the yelllow sticky keys on top of the pellet room.
Be sure you cleaned out all the spots. there is photos of removing the baffle behind the brick also
Pull the combustion blower you never know there could be a few critters stuck in there.

but it could be a High limit switch
Could be the pressure switch.
and my favorite thing to drive me nuts.
is like what happened today on a service just a bad spot on the auger motor gear box. stove runs fine then just stops feeding for a few cycles.
because it hangs up on a bad gear.
 
Wow, thanks for the super quick reply.

I pulled the combustion blower last week and cleaned it out, took off the room air blower as well and did the same thing. Is there a way to test for the other switches?
 
FightingthePelletStove said:
Wow, thanks for the super quick reply.

I pulled the combustion blower last week and cleaned it out, took off the room air blower as well and did the same thing. Is there a way to test for the other switches?
a OHM meter to test if they are closed
here is about switches
Understanding your pellet stoves Electrical and safety limit switches.
https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/13408/

if you dont have a meter you can jump the hi limit and some advantaged there are two one on the air intake and one on the back of the firebox but do one at a time so you can see witch one
 
Did you check your stove liner all the way to the cap? Could be an air flow problem. I had my chimney liner professionally "cleaned" or so I thought. After they cleaned it from the inside and pulled all the built up ash and creosote down they failed to clean my cap. After a month of troubleshooting my QuadraFire CB1200I and paying for a tech to come in a check why the vacuum switch was tripping and my fire starts where smokey (my house was full of smoke) and lazy the first thing he asked was "did you have your liner cleaned?" I said yes so it couldn't be that. After a week of frustration I went on my roof and pulled the liner rain cap off and what did I find. A 4" pipe filled stuffed with creosote from the sweepers pushing it up. Even though one of the guys went outside (which I was assuming he was going up to finish the cap job) they never bothered to clean to cap. This left my stove with a 1/4" diameter hole to push all that air flow through. I spent 30 minutes cleaning it and ever since them my CB has been running beautifully.
 
Did you clean BEHIND the firebox? Stoves plug with ash in areas you can't see... you'll need a coathangar, long bottle brush or other tool to get up behind the firebox and loosen the ash/soot that accumulates there. Tap on the inside of the firebox with a hammer to help dislodge the stuff. Many of us also use a leafblower set on vacuum to suck out that ash... if the stove is plugged it usually will run for a short time then shutdown... sounds like your problem.
 
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