St Croix Problem

[Attila]

I have a St. Croix Prescott. I have had the stove for about 5 years and it has been working great until recently.
There are two cleaning levers on the front of the stove, one at the at the top to clean any ash that builds up on the heat ex-changer, and one on the bottom to open up a sliding gate that allows any ash built up under the burn pot to drop into the ash box. On a daily basis the owners manual tells you to open and close these levers to keep things clean. when I pull the bottom lever to clean under the burn pot you can see a noticeable weaker flame when the lever is pulled out, when you push it back in the flame goes back to the normal efficient burning flame.

My problem is that after I go ahead and use the bottom clean out and push it back in for normal operation, it works it's self back out to the open position all on its own. With it open all the way it does not burn so well and causes the burn pot to fill up and starve it's self for oxygen. Does anyone know what is causing this and what I can do to fix it?

 

[heat seeker]

Assuming it's built the same as my Afton Bay, what's happening shouldn't be possible IMO. The only thing I can think of is perhaps the VersaGrate is pushing the cleaning lever out. Try taking the burn pot and the bottom of the pot out, then work the cleaning rod and see if there is any interference between the Versa rod and the cleaning rod. I suppose if the area under the burn pot was chock full of ash there could be a problem. Have you ever taken the burn pot, etc., out of the stove for cleaning?

You could try disconnecting the Versa motor for a day and see what happens.

You are correct that you'll get a dirty burn and its associated problems, so this needs to be corrected.

Your Prescott may be built differently, I don't know, but the principles are the same.

 

[woodsman23]

its dirty and needs to be cleaned what was said above should not be possible.

 

[krooser]

Never had that happen....

 

[Attila]

Took it apart early this morning. I am going out to pick up a new VersaGrate and burn pot. It is just time to replace both.
I'll let you know how it goes and if I can be smarter than my smart phone I'll post pictures.
Thanks for all the reply's.

 

[Xena]

I'll be interested in hearing the outcome of this. My Prescott is 8 years old
and never saw that happen and also am on the original burnpot but did
replace the versagrate a couple years ago not because of that issue but
I wanted the one with a grease fitting.