St Croix Hastings Will Not Light

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drew_351

New Member
Hearth Supporter
Nov 25, 2008
9
Wisconsin
I recently purchased a St. Croix Hastings wood pellet stove and just set up everything this last week. The first time I turned it on everything started up perfect. I let the unit just run for about 3 hours, trying to break in everything. That night I went to turn it off and it did its shut off cycle, and everything seemed normal. The next day (and every day since then) when I go to turn on the stove, my on/off light will go green and the blower will start for about 10 seconds and then turn off (this is normal) but then the on/off light will start blinking (I do not know if that is normal as I just purchased the unit), the exhaust fan keeps running, the heat level light turn on #1 and stays there (although I can change it) but nothing happens. No pellets start to enter the pot, just nothing will happen. This will keep doing this forever as far as I can tell. I have left it this way for a hour with no change, and when I go to turn it off, it will turn off the exhaust fan, but the on/off light will still keep blinking. I can unplug the unit and it will stop, but without doing that the on/off light will still blink forever. I have repeated this many of times. I have confirmed that the auger does move, I can manually turn the motor and watch the auger move. I have checked the fuses on my control board and they are fine. Any help on this is very appreciated. I purchased the unit out of the state I currently am living in, so I can not go back to the dealer - PLEASE HELP!
 
Also, just as a little more information. I have tried calling St. Croix, but they say that they can not help me directly because I am not a dealer, and it is hard for me to work with my dealer since I purchased it out of Wisconsin, where I am living right now. I have a corner and out setup, so my pipe goes out the back of the stove to a 45 angle, and then straight out the wall, probably about 3' of pipe straight out. I am pulling fresh air from the outside also. I am using 3" ID pipe for the exhaust, and I think it is about 2.5" fresh air. Any advise is really appreciated.
 
Hmm, I have the same stove. I had a similar problem and it ended up being the jumpers were set incorrectly. Perhaps the auger is clogged? If the auger turns for an hour and nothing falls into the pot, them something's up there. Obviously if not enough pellets drop into the pot, the thing won't start.

Check auger for a jam, and check the jumpers on the control board. Not sure what else to suggest right now.
 
I removed pretty much all of the pellets from my hopper and I was able to watch the auger move as I manually turned the motor that powers it, so that is not the issue. The jumpers on the control board are set just as it was from the factory (for smartstat) and like I said, the first time I ran it - everything worked perfect, the next day started this issue.
 
I checked and I do have some pellets in the pot, but they are not lighting, and no new pellets are falling into the pot.
 
It sounds like your igniter might have failed, and the behavior your seeing is that the proof offire switch is not flipping...so it stops feeding pellets.
Silly suggestion, but make sure ash pan is closed, door is closed, burn pot scraper is all the way in.

If all these things are ok, you may want to try lighting he stove manually to see if you can get a fire going.
 
Yeah, I have checked several times to make sure everything is pushed in, and that the doors are closed, didn't make a difference. Maybe it is my ignitor, but would the auger really never try to put pellets in the pot then? And how could I try to manually start it?
 
Ok, my thought on the ignitor being bad...After I turn the unit on, and the blower kicks on and then turns off, it should immediately try to start the auger to put more pellets in the pot, before the ignitor even trys to start. Since the auger does not even try to put more pellets in the pot, my guess is that the ignitor does not ever try to light because there is a issue in the startup sequence - if it can not start the auger, then it would not try to ignite. Does that make sense? But what/how can I test anything from this? Is there a way I can test the auger? This is where I get stuck.
 
drew_351 said:
Ok, my thought on the ignitor being bad...After I turn the unit on, and the blower kicks on and then turns off, it should immediately try to start the auger to put more pellets in the pot, before the ignitor even trys to start. Since the auger does not even try to put more pellets in the pot, my guess is that the ignitor does not ever try to light because there is a issue in the startup sequence - if it can not start the auger, then it would not try to ignite. Does that make sense? But what/how can I test anything from this? Is there a way I can test the auger? This is where I get stuck.

Is it throwing a code? Like #2 led blinking or something like that.
It sounds like it is failing the start-up test, that tests all the fans etc, and makes sure you have a vacuum in the firebox.

You can light manually by scooping some pellets into the burnpot and lighting with a propane torch...or with some type of starter gel and a match. Alcohol will sub in as starter gel in a pinch.
 
The door must be fully closed in order for the stove to light...

My dealer sez to start the stove on #3 with just a few pellets in the firebox. Get the stove up to temperature on #3 (about 1/2 hour or so) then turn it to wherever you need it to be.

You need to run your stove on #4 or #5 for at least one hour per week to help burn off excess creosote in order to keep it clean.

Call Earth Sense Energy Systems service dept. at 920-779-6647... top notch people a nd they will help you over the phone.
 
Where exactly is this switch? I'm getting no auger or ignitor.
 
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