St. Croix York pellet insert whistles

[reddfox]

Have had a York St. Croix pellet insert for a whole season now. Works great and we love it! But, it started making an intermittent whistling sound. We tried to find the source of the sound - but we can't seem to locate it. It's definitely not the auger, and it's not the fan. When we shut the stove down for cleaning (while the fan is still blowing but the motor has stopped...)- the whistling stops. Could this be a motor issue? thoughts?

Also, maybe related - we were running it on the smart stat for a while while the temps were warm and the thing you pull to clean the heat exhanger was getting stuck - we shut it down and cleaned it and noticed a build up of brown shiny tar like substance (creosote??) We clean every week - so this was surprising. Could this have built up somewhere to cause this whisling?

PS: edited to add information...

 

[jaybyer]

I have a York insert as well, and although I wouldn't describe it as a whistling sound, mine sometimes makes a vibrating sound. I have found it comes from two locations, the surround vibrating, and the coil part of the latch handle for the glass door vibrating. Maybe it's that?

I am curious about something else with your York. This was my first year too. My first York's flame pattern only burned on one side, not the "fan" shape they describe in the manual or show in the pictures. It was eventually replaced by my dealer with another one. This York's flame patters had a definite lower area in the middle, so the flame pattern is more of a 'V' shape than the full "fan" shape described.

What is your flame pattern like?

JB

 

[reddfox]

We had a bit of vibration when we came back from a vacation and started it back up again, but after a good cleaning - it went away. This is definitely a whistle or maybe a squeaking belt noise. We've had it on the smart stat for a while and it's been burning low...we're wondering if there's some buildup from that and we're burning it high right now and the whistling seems to be less.

As far as the flame, now that you mention it - ours does burn higher on the right and dips to the middle - if we adjust the damper, it evens out. Was this deemed a manufacturer's issue in your case?

 

[jaybyer]

With the first stove it really only had half of the flame. No flame at all on the left side. They couldn't figure out the issue so the dealer replaced the stove. They were supposed to check out what the issue was in their shop, but I never heard back. The replacement stove burns both sides, just has a dip in the middle. It does get taller on one side for a while, then switches to taller on the other side, but the middle is always lower. It seems to me the pellets drop in the middle knocking down the flame there, at least that's my observation.

Not sure about your whistle, I don't run mine on the auto, just keep it running on heat level 3 or 4 depending on how cold it is outside. There have been some other posts on this forum on whistling sounds from stoves, different models. Try a search and see if any of the other posts have some solutions to try. If not, I would call your dealer.

JB

 

[reddfox]

thanks for the advice. we're going to look at the motor.

Dealer is rather unhelpful unfortunately :/

Anyone else have issues like this?

 

[Bkins]

You mention a fan and a motor. You should have a distribution fan and also a combustion fan. Don't know which one is staying on when you shut the stove down, but whichever one is staying on, you should be looking at the other one--the one not running. Try cleaning the air intake and blades on the one not running. Be careful not to bend anything and make sure you unplug the stove b4 starting. A sightly blocked intake, or stuff on the blade may cause your problem. It doesn't take much.

 

[pip3398]

Redfox - Most of my experience with whistling in a pellet stove is related to either a dirty air wash ( where the air comes in across the glass to keep it clean) or air flow through the burn pot from carbon build-up making the air holes smaller. I am not familiar with St. Croix stoves but have seen this in other brands. Whistling is usually caused by a high volume of air passing through too small of a hole creating a venturi effect. As far as why it stops when you shut the stove off - many stoves slow their blowers when they go to shut down. Hope this helps.

 

[pks4000]

Whistling? My 5 year old St Croix just devlpoed a high whistle.

Ive got it on all feed settings 2,3,4,5 except number 1

My dealer says its the versa grate .

Said to lube it with 3 and 1 oil on the motor and anti seize on the grate bearing.
Will try today.
JB

 

[mnkywrnch]

I don't think the whistle is from the versa grate ,I believe its more of a air issue (or lack of) when was the last time the motors were pulled and cleaned along with the whole stove being cleaned,my st croix prescott has two clean outs on either side of the burn pot and if there not clean I think you could get a whistling from the exhaust fan trying to suck air through a smaller opening.

Edit:BTW I did have the whistle and it just needed a cleaning try tapping the inside of the stove next to the burnpot you will be amazed at the amount of crap that falls.

 

[pks4000]

Thank you I tend to agree and will try that now.

Illletyano

Any experience burning lignetics?

 

[mnkywrnch]

Thank you I tend to agree and will try that now.

Illletyano

Any experience burning lignetics?

I burnt them last year and would say they were a very good pellet.

 

[pks4000]

Thank you I just bought a ton. he he

They seem to burn cleaner than others I hear.

The armstrong leave a black tar o the glass