(I'm at my wits end. I want to just throw some money at this problem but there are no Castle certified pellet stove repair people anywhere near my area Cobleskill/Oneonta NY. If anyone has any leads, please please send me that info.)
Hi, I've been stove-sitting a Castle Serenity pellet stove built in 2017. It has been doing great up to now and this week everything is falling apart. I bought 15 bags of hardwood softwood mix pellets from a place that only sells that. Internet searches don't present that as a big problem and it may well not be but after using mixed hard/soft pellets instead of 100% hardwood pellets maybe it's a coincidence but ...
First the stove began shutting off. After 16 hours then after 12 hours, then after 4 hours then after 10 minutes. I clean the glass, burn pot and generally around the stove every day, I try to time it when the house will be ok without this heat.
I called customer service which ranges from good to excellent in terms of how friendly, helpful and knowledgable the representatives appear. My first suggestion was to change the proof of power switch. I did and was excited that instead of cutting off in less than 30 minutes, the stove was going three hours later. But it shut off in four hours. Next guess, clean the exhaust, so removed the left panel, removed the hand screws and got rid of what looked like packed in dirt but I now realize was the gasket. But the stove was still functional.
Next guess, lower the blower voltage of every stall by 5. Unfortunately I don't know if that might work because the auger stopped spinning. Pressing feed in diagnostic causes the motor to hum but no movement of the auger at all. Removing pellets from the hopper, there were some smushed pellets in the top and bottom corners of the spiral elevator. Removing as many as I can using fingers and pipe cleaners has not helped. I don't think this model has the black auger motor reset button and if it does, I don't know if I need to press it because the motor sounds as if it activates, it just does not spin the auger at all now.
So here I am. Maybe using the wrong fuel totally destroyed the stove. Maybe there is something small I've missed and it'll be back up in a second. If anyone can help with any suggestions I will greatly appreciate them.
Hi, I've been stove-sitting a Castle Serenity pellet stove built in 2017. It has been doing great up to now and this week everything is falling apart. I bought 15 bags of hardwood softwood mix pellets from a place that only sells that. Internet searches don't present that as a big problem and it may well not be but after using mixed hard/soft pellets instead of 100% hardwood pellets maybe it's a coincidence but ...
First the stove began shutting off. After 16 hours then after 12 hours, then after 4 hours then after 10 minutes. I clean the glass, burn pot and generally around the stove every day, I try to time it when the house will be ok without this heat.
I called customer service which ranges from good to excellent in terms of how friendly, helpful and knowledgable the representatives appear. My first suggestion was to change the proof of power switch. I did and was excited that instead of cutting off in less than 30 minutes, the stove was going three hours later. But it shut off in four hours. Next guess, clean the exhaust, so removed the left panel, removed the hand screws and got rid of what looked like packed in dirt but I now realize was the gasket. But the stove was still functional.
Next guess, lower the blower voltage of every stall by 5. Unfortunately I don't know if that might work because the auger stopped spinning. Pressing feed in diagnostic causes the motor to hum but no movement of the auger at all. Removing pellets from the hopper, there were some smushed pellets in the top and bottom corners of the spiral elevator. Removing as many as I can using fingers and pipe cleaners has not helped. I don't think this model has the black auger motor reset button and if it does, I don't know if I need to press it because the motor sounds as if it activates, it just does not spin the auger at all now.
So here I am. Maybe using the wrong fuel totally destroyed the stove. Maybe there is something small I've missed and it'll be back up in a second. If anyone can help with any suggestions I will greatly appreciate them.
