St. Croix SCF-050

[Jason S]

Hello Everyone. I have enjoyed the forum and have found some very good info but I am at my witts end.

I have a St. Croix SCF-050 that I have had and used for probably 7 years. This year it was working fine and then it started to act up by overflowing the pot. Could even get it past 2. I have read this forum several times and this is what I have done so Far.

Cleaned
Hooked up Leaf vac outside and used an air compressor on the front
Scraped and ran a cable up all the holes
Removed exhaust fan and cleaned and replaced gaskets
Replaced door and Clean out door gasket
Removed exhaust pipe and cleaned everywhere I could find
Checked POF Switch and it is good
Check Vacuum Switch and it is working as as it should

Hooked up a vacuum gauge and I can only get about .02WC on cold stove with intake damper wide open
I can't figure out where I am losing all the air. It acts like it just can't get enough air and if I open the damper than there is not enough vac to trip the vac switch.



Any Ideas what else to do. I read where the exhaust fan should have multiple speeds but Mine does not appear to change when changing the draft setting. Had the Vacuum gauge hooked up and it did not move while changing settings.

I would appreciate any help

Thanks
Jason

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

Well if that is like the other St. Croix stoves there is likely crud half way between the two clean out ports.

Normally a leaf blower can dislodge it, however if it sat over the summer for several years it may be stuck in a lump on the sides of the exhaust pathway.

Also you might get more out of the clean-outs running a piece of hose on the end of a vacuum line.

Did you get all the way to the top of the firebox area above those clean-outs and to each side as well and thumping the back firebox wall?

Did you get the heat exchanger cleaned including the places that you might not normally get to?

After you replaced the gaskets did you test them?

Also did you make sure that the exhaust blower is coming up to speed?

The I would try it again with the damper closed to the width of a #2 pencil.

 

[Jason S]

Thank You smoky - I have run a air hose between the 2 cleanouts and If I put a #2 it gets to about .04WC

Not sure how to tell if the blower is getting up to speed?

The heat exchanger has been cleaned .

Here is another bit of info that I just found out while experimenting tonight. If I shut the damper all the way I can get it up to .15WC and if I than turn on the blower fan it drops down to below .05 again. I can't figure out why the room fan caused it to do that since it is outside the system.

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

Have you tested all of your gaskets?

That room blower is not outside of the system if there are bad gaskets or if you are using inside air and you should never need to run with the damper full open.

ETA: Running an air hose is not the same as a hose end that can also scrap and suck at the same time. You need to follow the air path of the stove from just before the intake to just after the vent termination. Every bit of it needs to be cleaned.

An optical tack can give you the combustion blower rpms but most people can tell by sound alone if the blower powers on and comes up to speed.

 

[hossthehermit]

Are you running a filter on your distribution fan? My Revolution acted the same way once, ended up changing the filter, problem solved .............. change it monthly now .