St. Croix Revolution help.

[Blackness]

Hello to all. First post so here goes. the home I bought last year has a revolution pellet furnace that I was able to tune pretty well last heating season. Towards the beginning of spring we bought some less than desirable pellets that burned quick and left lots of ash. I did all the periodic maint and made it last us to march until I had a problem. I thoroughly cleaned the unit and unplugged the unit so it will reset. The unit seems to start up normally and will start feeding pellets but the pellets will not ignite. After around 10 min the furnace will go into shutdown mode with the #3 light flashing. (proof of fire switch)

Has anyone had this problem before? Do I need a new igniter? Any tips would be great.

 

[hossthehermit]

Are you getting any smoke in the firebox when it's trying to light? If so probably your igniter is OK.
If not, maybe the igniter, but if you still have the pellets from last spring in the hopper, I'd suspect them first. Empty the hopper, run the auger in manual until it's empty, put in fresh pellets, run the auger in manual until they start dropping, then try it.

 

[Blackness]

No Smoke at all. This problem started last spring with fresh pellets , so I do not think it is the pellets. I will give that a try though.

 

[hossthehermit]

No Smoke at all. This problem started last spring with fresh pellets , so I do not think it is the pellets. I will give that a try though.

Probably the igniter .....................

 

[heat seeker]

My St.Croix has two fuses in the control box - yours may too, worth a look. Or, as already said, the ignitor or wiring is bad. If you have a meter, it's easy to check.

 

[Blackness]

fuses are good. I am not much for electrical but how do I go about testing the igniter?

 

[heat seeker]

Unplug the stove, find the two wires that go to the ignitor and disconnect them. Using the ohms range on your meter, check the ignitor's resistance. It should be a low number: if the meter reads infinity, the ignitor is bad.

Or, if the ignitor is easy to remove from the stove, place it on a heat-proof surface and connect it to 110 volts from the wall socket. It should glow red in a short time. Just be very careful - electrical and heat hazards!

If you're lucky, you'll find that one of the ignitors wires got disconnected at the connector, and you won't have to do any of the above!

 

[61snowrider]

As you read past problems, most of them all lead back to a dirty stove. In my first beginning years, it would be frustrating. I would clean and then it would not ignite. clean and still not ignite. arrghhhh. The problem was, I wasn't cleaning it good enough. Read the different forums on cleaning St. Croix.. They are good stoves. That is what i have. Heat my whole 2 story older house with it. Around 5 ton a season. And yes stay away from bad pellets. I had bad one year and fought with stove all season.. Never buy that kind again. Be patient and read a lot of forums on St. Croix. Good luck.

 

[Blackness]

Looks like I found the problem. After a closer inspection, I found the igniter is cracked at the base where the wires come in. I am assuming it should not be cracked. Here is a pic

 

[heat seeker]

If it's easy to get to, check for voltage getting to it during startup.

Check it for continuity with a meter. Or, connect to line voltage in your shop, on a heat resistant surface. It should get hot.