this is a copy of my post last week:
Ok.. thanks for all the replys back...
after going over and over it in my mind, I am pretty sure the stove was on when I got the spark..
On a full cleaning, I usually have the exhaust fan on when I brush ash down to the ashpan, pretty much the whole time I am cleaning/scraping upper part of the stove...
After that, I shut the stove off because i then pull out the ashpan so as to brush the exhaust fan blades and also clean out the tunnel.. but, I was just doing the partial cleaning of brushing ash and cleaning out igniter compartment..
Mistake:
what I did was, in the beginning as the stove was just simmering few pellets ready to shut down, I opened the stove door a bit to let out the remaining heat before I started cleaning.
this shuts off the exhaust blower much sooner...yes I was in a bit of a hurry to start brushing.
got a phone call for a few minutes then came back to the stove and must have assumed I shut the stove off.
While fingering the ash out near the igniter I probably touched the end of the igniter where the 2 leads are...
I am assuming the igniter is still hot juice wise even while NOT igniting??...but, I am sure now the stove dial was Not off at 9 o'clock position....
that's the best I can come up with... been pretty cold here so not shutting down for a while..
when I do I will take the 2 bolts out and pull out the igniter so I can look at the wires.
if I see any black or burn spot, i have a spare I bought few weeks ago and will just replace it....
YESTERDAY 12/28 REMOVE & INSPECT IGNITER WIRES.
After stove shutdown, I tried to remove the 5/16 bolts to release the Igniter but they we're super tight.
Sprayed them with bolt penetrating oil and they loosened after a few minutes.
pulled the igniter and about 4" up the wire there we're 2 BARE spots exposing the aluminum wire.
The Wire sheathing or covering was shrivilled. shredded, or whatever .
that is what caused the spark last week and blew the fuse..In cleaning, my finger prob pushed the wire against the metal inside wall..
so, after reading the instructions on removal, a good tip was to Mark the blue and yellow wires that need to be pulled from the rear of stove with a marker so as to pull those wires back to the same spot they we're at.
good tip....Had to cut wire wraps to release the bundles wires.
Un-plugged the igniter and needed to remove it from the cradle...
there are 2 Soft tabs on the cradle that need to be twisted 1/4 turn to release the igniter from the cradle or holder.
a good tip also is NOT to use plyers or anything with grooves as that can chew up the metal tabs.
I used needle nose plyers that are smooth and flat on the inside...
[this is where it get's Really interesting]..
Now I have the igniter in the cradle and from the rear of the stove I pull the blue/yellow wires back till I see the Marks i left on them..
Was about to wire tie everything back there when I thought I better check inside the igniter compartment and make sure there is no slack...
well, there was slack and the new wires we're laying against the burnpot wall.....
the new Igniter wires we're SAME lenght as the old wires.. I checked that...
so, Pulled from the back untill the 2 wires we're almost taunt...
Now the inside compartment wires we're routed back to the rear of the stove with no slack or touching walls...
Conclusion?
Either at the factory the wires we're NOT pulled back all the way or, over the coarse of time of cleaning out the igniter compartment I may have possibly pulled those wires a bit here/there while fingering out the dry ash . they we're against the inside compartment walls and although they are wrapped with heat resistant covering over time they became exsposed being too close to heat..stove was bought 4 yrs ago.
I will be carefull in the future when fingering the ash out in case I caused it.
Ok.. thanks for all the replys back...
after going over and over it in my mind, I am pretty sure the stove was on when I got the spark..
On a full cleaning, I usually have the exhaust fan on when I brush ash down to the ashpan, pretty much the whole time I am cleaning/scraping upper part of the stove...
After that, I shut the stove off because i then pull out the ashpan so as to brush the exhaust fan blades and also clean out the tunnel.. but, I was just doing the partial cleaning of brushing ash and cleaning out igniter compartment..
Mistake:
what I did was, in the beginning as the stove was just simmering few pellets ready to shut down, I opened the stove door a bit to let out the remaining heat before I started cleaning.
this shuts off the exhaust blower much sooner...yes I was in a bit of a hurry to start brushing.
got a phone call for a few minutes then came back to the stove and must have assumed I shut the stove off.
While fingering the ash out near the igniter I probably touched the end of the igniter where the 2 leads are...
I am assuming the igniter is still hot juice wise even while NOT igniting??...but, I am sure now the stove dial was Not off at 9 o'clock position....
that's the best I can come up with... been pretty cold here so not shutting down for a while..
when I do I will take the 2 bolts out and pull out the igniter so I can look at the wires.
if I see any black or burn spot, i have a spare I bought few weeks ago and will just replace it....
YESTERDAY 12/28 REMOVE & INSPECT IGNITER WIRES.
After stove shutdown, I tried to remove the 5/16 bolts to release the Igniter but they we're super tight.
Sprayed them with bolt penetrating oil and they loosened after a few minutes.
pulled the igniter and about 4" up the wire there we're 2 BARE spots exposing the aluminum wire.
The Wire sheathing or covering was shrivilled. shredded, or whatever .
that is what caused the spark last week and blew the fuse..In cleaning, my finger prob pushed the wire against the metal inside wall..
so, after reading the instructions on removal, a good tip was to Mark the blue and yellow wires that need to be pulled from the rear of stove with a marker so as to pull those wires back to the same spot they we're at.
good tip....Had to cut wire wraps to release the bundles wires.
Un-plugged the igniter and needed to remove it from the cradle...
there are 2 Soft tabs on the cradle that need to be twisted 1/4 turn to release the igniter from the cradle or holder.
a good tip also is NOT to use plyers or anything with grooves as that can chew up the metal tabs.
I used needle nose plyers that are smooth and flat on the inside...
[this is where it get's Really interesting]..
Now I have the igniter in the cradle and from the rear of the stove I pull the blue/yellow wires back till I see the Marks i left on them..
Was about to wire tie everything back there when I thought I better check inside the igniter compartment and make sure there is no slack...
well, there was slack and the new wires we're laying against the burnpot wall.....
the new Igniter wires we're SAME lenght as the old wires.. I checked that...
so, Pulled from the back untill the 2 wires we're almost taunt...
Now the inside compartment wires we're routed back to the rear of the stove with no slack or touching walls...
Conclusion?
Either at the factory the wires we're NOT pulled back all the way or, over the coarse of time of cleaning out the igniter compartment I may have possibly pulled those wires a bit here/there while fingering out the dry ash . they we're against the inside compartment walls and although they are wrapped with heat resistant covering over time they became exsposed being too close to heat..stove was bought 4 yrs ago.
I will be carefull in the future when fingering the ash out in case I caused it.
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