Possible problem with my 2000 Enviro EF2-FS

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nailed_nailer

Minister of Fire
Hearth Supporter
Oct 29, 2007
938
Cape Cod, Ma
OK,
I have been burning my stove for about a month so far this year. Basically running it on about as low a setting as I can and still keep a fire going. I have been burning brand new (this year) New England's (tan bag red letters). About 1/2 a ton so far. Up until about a week ago I had no problems.

I noticed that the "Auto-Ready" light was flickering while the stove ran. I just assumed it was due to it being a neon bulb and it was getting old. The stove seemed to be running fine.

Last night it was a little colder than it has been. I bumped the "Dial-a-Fire up to about the 1 O'clock position (had been keeping it at about the 11:30 position). At some point during the night the stove went out.

When I went to bed the switch was in Auto, the damper was set so the pellets in the box were just starting to jump around but not blow about too much. The flames were low but bright and active. Basically it was set up the way I have been running it for the last two + years.

This morning, The stove was cold and the fire box was about 1/4 full of unburnt pellets. The hopper was at least 1/2 full and we didn't have any kind of power outage.

I noticed when I re-lighted it this morning, once it came up to temp the green "Ready" light was again flickering. The auger is turning. I can hear pellets dropping into the box. It might be slipping (I will check that out later). If I turn up the Feed pot (Dial-a-Fire) it does seem to be supplying more pellets but the flame is not rising as much as I have seen in the past.

The stove was normal cleaned on Tuesday night. It had been Deep cleaned in October. My normal clean consists of Vacuum all the ash from the firebox area, pull down the baffle plate and clean it, Using a small vac tube suck all along the smoke shelf by the exchanger tubes, vac the air intake tube open and clean out behind the two access plates, scrape the exchanger, scrape/chip the carbon from the burn pot liner, dump out the ash pan, and clean the glass.

Has anyone (Rod ?) seen a bad (flickering) green "Ready" light before? Or is it more of an all (good) or nothing (bad) type of bulb.
Or, could the flickering be caused by an intermittent supply voltage from a sensor or pot?

I checked the manual and nothing jumped out at me.

I will figure it out (it's what I do) But, looking for pointers before I dig in.

Thanks in advance,
---Nailer---
 
Nailed, did your "deep clean" include removing both blowers and cleaning the fan blades, especially the combustion blower?
 
MM.

Yep, I regularly clean the blowers. I remove them from the stove. Vacuum any passages I can get to with them out.

Then, from the blowers I remove the squirrel cages and soak them in Simple green/water mixture to loosen any caked on debris. Then I use compressed air to blow them dry and clean. For the motors I blow out all dust and lube what needs lubing.

The blowers are running fine and are not noisy at all.

It may be me just being sensitive or a off bag of New Englands.

I turned the Dial-a-fire up to the 2 O'clock position this morning and let it run for a few hours. It seems normal. But not as high a flame as I am used to when running hot. It is 78 degrees here in my living room and I have had to turn it back down. I am roasting.

Guess I am being paranoid :-)

I spend way too much time observing/tweeking this stove :-)

Thanks,
---Nailer---
 
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