Pellets overflowing pot after replacing door gasket Whitfield Advantage

[sheetmetaldan]

Hi, I may have solved my problem but would like to know what went wrong.
My problems started after I replaced the rope door gasket material since the old one was frayed and probably not sealing as well as it should. The good thing I immediately noticed was hardly any ash/smoke buildup on the glass anymore, but after running the stove for a while the burn pot plugged up and was overflowing pellets. I was burning Northeastern pellets at the time which left creosote that needed to be scraped off with a razor blade (other brands only left ash/smoke buildup on the glass). I don`t think these pellets are to blame for my problem however as I used almost 1/2 ton & just dealt with the creosote buildup on the glass with no pot overflowing problems. I then switched to Infernos (I don`t like this brand either but it was all I could find) with the same overflowing pot plugging problem.
I have cleaned my stove 3 times using a leaf blower, I also removed the exhaust fan and cleaned it, ran flue brushes down the exh passages of the stove and even blew it out with compressed air and a shop vac. Totally disassembled my flue and cleaned that as well. Even after all that the flame seemed lazy and orange in color.
This is my third winter with this setup. I usually run my stove on the low heat setting and the fan on high with no problems. When I switched to the medium heat setting and the fan still on high the overflowing/pot plugging problem stopped. I set the calibration to the lowest possible setting to give more time between pellets dropping into the pot it seemed to help.
Running my stove last night and switching between the low,med & high heat settings. I can see a real drop off in flame intensity on the low setting while on med or high my stove seems to run fine. It seems to me there is a part failing but I don`t know what it could be any suggestions are appreciated.

 

[sheetmetaldan]

Sorry listed wrong model in my headline my stove is a Whitfield Profile 20 not an Advantage.

 

[SteveG518]

First question I would have would be where is the damper set at and also how old is the combustion blower? If its past 5-7 years it could just not be spinning as fast as it should be, causing incomplete burn and backing up. Make sure the ash pan slides are closed completely too. However it sounds like its probably going to be the blower causing the issues since you have new gaskets on the door.

 

[sheetmetaldan]

I bought the stove second hand 3 years ago, so I have no idea the age of the combustion blower. Safe bet it is past 5-7 year old mark, may even be original fan which would make it around 20 years old. The damper is set wide open right now. I have a pencil mark about 1/3 closed I went by when my stove was running without problems, I would open it more as necessary before a cleaning was due. Is there any way to test the combustion fan to see if it is still putting out the proper rpm?

 

[SteveG518]

if your damper is set wide open, the gaskets are new, and your venting is fully cleaned, I'd say without a doubt it'd be the blower. Aside from a faulty control board, the blower is going to be your culprit.

 

[Lake Girl]

Hopefully Snowy will wander through to give you some troubleshooting pointers as she has two different Whitfields and does her own maintenance. If not try to PM her...

 

[sheetmetaldan]

Thanks for the suggestions SteveG &Lake Girl. I came home from work today to this! So I guess my problems are not solved! My stove also seems to be putting in way too many pellets on start up almost fills the pot to the brim. I end up dumping the pot out before it lights and leave a small amount of pellets in there on start up. Is there a way to test the combustion fan it seems like it is running ok? Not doubting your diagnosis Steve you could be right, I just hate guessing and replacing parts that may not be bad. It just seems strange to me that I am having all this trouble since the door gasket was changed. I figured doing that could only help!

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

Feed that stove a good dose of compressed air or a leaf blower along with a lot of brush work, remove all ash trap covers before doing the torture routine. Be liberal with the hammer against the back walls of the fire box if the fire box is steel. Do not use the thumping routine if the fire box is made of cast as it will break.

Make certain your door is closing against the gasket all the way around and that the gasket doesn't have a gap where the ends meet.

You shouldn't need to run with the damper fully open ever.

 

[Pellet-King]

do the dollar bill test all around you door with the stove off and cooled down, the bill should have some resistance when closed on it, you use the right size gasket?, should be 1/2" or 5/8"

 

[Snowy Rivers]

The fan is likely the culprit, butttttttttttttttttttttttttt, the exhaust fan speed is controlled by the board.

If the Triac on the board is going south the ex fan may not be getting the correct power level, and is running too slow.

If the stove runs fine on medium/high, then its the fan, but why ???

When was the fan motor last OILED ???

These motors usually have two rubber plugs in the motor that when removed allow a couple drops of oil to be placed in there to lube the bushings.

Let us know

Snowy

 

[SteveG518]

Agreed with Snowy about the oiling, however now that you say its overfeeding the pot upon start-up, things are leaning more towards the triacs starting to go bad in the board...

 

[sheetmetaldan]

I just looked at the gasket it is 5/8" Imperial brand I purchased it at Lowe`s but it feels a lot softer than the old one that was on there almost has a hollow feel to it. The old gasket looks slightly larger 3/4 maybe? Is this a common size? I wonder if that is my problem since that is when everything started going downhill when I changed the gasket. I tried the dollar bill test in a couple spots but it seemed ok maybe it isnt. I oiled the bushings in the motor last season the motor isnt making any squeals it runs pretty quiet. I hope it`s not the board going bad if that`s the case it may not be worth fixing.

 

[TCZON]

Someone on this board told me that pellet stoves burn hotter, so their door gaskets have graphite in them and they're black... As soon as the weather is mild enough, we're going to replace the door gasket in ours back to factory spec (previous owners put a white one in, and it's not a great seal, but good enough to get us through til I can shut the stove down for 24hrs). I have a Drolet though, not sure if this is standard for other Pellet Stoves. I bought the one that was stated in the manual as the correct replacement. Was about $17CDN plus tax.

 

[krooser]

You have an air leak… the only thing you changed was the gasket and now you have a problem. That should be the hint.

Early in my pellet stove burning I learned that I had an air leak when I would clean my stove and leave the ash dump rod to the open position on my St Croix. I had the classic symptoms of an air leak… pellets piling up in the burn pot. It happened to me again a few weeks ago…

The soot free glass is also a hint… you now have an unintended air wash.

 

[sheetmetaldan]

You have an air leak… the only thing you changed was the gasket and now you have a problem. That should be the hint.

Early in my pellet stove burning I learned that I had an air leak when I would clean my stove and leave the ash dump rod to the open position on my St Croix. I had the classic symptoms of an air leak… pellets piling up in the burn pot. It happened to me again a few weeks ago…

The soot free glass is also a hint… you now have an unintended air wash.

Yeah I think that is the problem! I do appreciate everyone's input to help me track down the problem. I will be changing the door gasket again. I`ll be bringing both of those pieces of gasket to a stove shop and let them tell me what I need not just getting whatever is on the rack at Lowe`s!

Now how do I fix the air leak but keep the unintended air wash!