Serenity stove just quits after 15-20 minutes, any ideas?

[Moonlakeloonie]

Our Serenity pellet stove is about 4 months old with only around 20 bags ran through it. The other day it just quit burning. After about 15-20 minutes of running it stops feeding and the alarm said check hopper and fire pot, both are fine. Manual said 52C sensor bad, I switched wires to spare sensor on blower, same problem. It takes about 2-3 minutes at start up to get pellets to start glowing then feed seems to slow down, it might take 10-12 minutes to get a fire going, seems that’s to long to heat up 52C sensor. Has anyone else had this problem? Are there any air flow adjustments that might help? I’m going to try closing inlet hole a little. I finally got hold of Castle, they’re not sure either, he said maybe controller or auger motor? Any input would be appreciated. Thanks.

 

[Washed-Up]

Look at post 44 on the second page, it mayb be the same issue you are having

Castle Serentiy Troubleshooting Question

Yes, she did all the cleaning of pipes and the exhaust blower area a few days ago.

www.hearth.com

 

[Washed-Up]

Any luck???

 

[Moonlakeloonie]

Any luck???

 

[Moonlakeloonie]

Nope, I tried adjusting the air gate with no luck and I used a lighter on the 52C sensor, it still went into alarm. It seems it’s not starting fast enough though. I did get a hold of Castle late today, the guy mentioned sending me a new controller and auger motor, that’s what he thought it could be, leaning more towards controller because both 52Cs shouldn’t be bad. I have to call him back in the morning. Thanks for asking Washed-Up, I’ll let you know how things are going. groan is, I’ve built and installed industrial furnaces for over 40 years and a goofy pellet stove is kicking my ass. He didn’t think the vacuum was an issue. There’s not a lot left after the controller and auger motor, just the vacuum and 52C, maybe I’ll get him to send me the whole nine yards. I’m going to try the controller first when it gets here, one thing at a time. Thanks again for your help.

 

[Washed-Up]

You could try manually starting it , fill the burn pot with pellets and take a propane torch to it

 

[Moonlakeloonie]

You could try manually starting it , fill the burn pot with pellets and take a propane torch to it

 

[Moonlakeloonie]

Good idea, I’ll try that tomorrow. It’ll take a few days for the parts to get here so I have some time to play with it, I’ll know it inside and out when this is done.

 

[Moonlakeloonie]

So today I filled the fire pot about 1/2 full by hand and started it, it ignited and started but started to go out, I opened the door and threw in a handful to keep it going, I did that 3 times and it kept going on it’s own after that. It’s been going for over an hour now. So I guess it must be either the controller or auger motor, they shipped out today. Looks like the 52C and vacuum aren’t the issue. I wanted to let you know how it’s going. Thanks again for your input, it’s helped.

 

[Moonlakeloonie]

Washed-Up, first, Happy New Year to you and yours. I just happened to find something today, I started the stove like yesterday hand feeding it at first, I reached around the back to check if the auger motor was turning and I found the ground wire to it was loose, they over tightened it and spread the stake on. I redid it and it’s feeding like crazy now. The stove is in my garage and I need it going now so in the morning I’ll check it out at start up. Such a simple thing.

 

[Washed-Up]

Good to hear...for often than not it’s a simple fix with most mechanical issues...happy new year to you and yours as well...are you up by Bonnyville? Or in the states?

 

[Moonlakeloonie]

Washed-Up, it’s been a while. I had a job out of town to do. I’m in the states, east of Superior Wi. Just an update. Fixing the ground wire didn’t help. They sent a new controller, auger motor and 52C switch. The new controller didn’t help so I changed the auger motor. It ran great, I had fire in 5 minutes and it ran perfect for about 2 hours, I shut it off and went out. 6 hours later it fired right up except ignite stayed on for over 10 minutes, it ran 20 minutes and quit, wasn’t feeding pellets. They’re sending me an interface module now. I’m running out of parts to change. 2021 is going to be year down here. Have a good one.

 

[Washed-Up]

Keep trying and if the igniter doesn’t shut off, just put it in manual, you’ll maintain a small fire at the very least to keep it running....if the igniter doesn’t go out then there’s another problem

 

[Ssyko]

I noticed on a serenity board that i just fixed the igniter is on 10-12 min during start up even if a fire starts.

 

[Moonlakeloonie]

Well Washed-Up, the interface module didn’t work either. Auger on 1 second off 3. They’re making arrangements to swap out stoves. Good thing is they’re only about 2 hrs south of me.

 

[Washed-Up]

Ahhh crap, deeper issues than thought, at least you’re getting another stove...keep us posted

 

[Moonlakeloonie]

Well, the saga continues. The new replacement stove arrived yesterday afternoon after waiting 2 weeks. I hooked it up and it started and I used it for about 4 hours with no problems. Started it this morning and it wouldn’t start, same issue, no pellets feeding and went into alarm. I can hand feed pellets into it to get it into heating mode stall 5 and it kept working on it’s own until it hit the 66 degree set point, as soon as it hit 66 it goes from stall 5 to stall 1-2, temp falls 2-3 degrees it jumps to stall 5 and back and forth it went for 20-30 minutes until the pellets couldn’t keep up and it went out. I told the manager either a refund of purchase price or a service man. Im now waiting to hear from a service guy from Ashland about 30 minutes from here. Damn near the same issue as the other only it kept running after set point was reached, not the crazy stall changes.

 

[Ssyko]

how is your exhaust vent pipe configured? straight out?

 

[Moonlakeloonie]

It goes straight out. The first stove worked great for almost 4 months like this. Do you see a problem.

 

[Ssyko]

well i was thinking something may have plugged up the pipe. did you look out it when you swapped out the stove?

 

[Moonlakeloonie]

Yes I did, I keep a check on it.

 

[Ssyko]

is 7- 12 on when you start it up?

 

[Moonlakeloonie]

Yes they’re on, it takes about 1 1/2-2 minutes for 9 to start flashing after start button is pushed then sometimes 3-5 minutes for pellets to start falling and not very many. For the first 3 months of the first stove I would have fire in 5 minutes until it quit feeding, the new auger motor on it worked twice getting a fire in 5 minutes, yesterday this new stove had fire in 5 minutes and today nothing. If I put a handful in it to start there’s fire in 5 minutes I just have to keep putting more in until heating stall 5 kicks in. The old one never quit after reaching temp set point like this one did. It seems like they have controller and interface problems.

 

[rich2500]

Have you by chance switched to a different pellet in the time frame this all started. Seems very odd 2 stoves with the exact same issue.

 

[Moonlakeloonie]

Rich, yes I tried a different pellet, they’re even a little smaller than what I have. Both stoves have the feed problem and this one goes out shortly after reaching temp set point. This new one when heating in stall 5 will have a nice size fire but it will get a lot smaller before it feeds more pellets, it fluctuates a lot while getting to set point temp. Small fire bigger fire, small fire bigger fire until set point then smaller fire smaller fire then out. I thought someone else would be having the same issue, I’ve read were they’ve had the run 20 minutes then alarm and goes out problem.