stove troubles

[jf254]

Hello
i have been lurking here for a while.. lots of good info but.. I have a whitfield advantage freestanding stove that last night decided to start letting half burned pellets fall throught the grate and land in the ash pan. I have had the stove for a little more than a month and have burned about a ton of spruce pointe premium pellets. Also the stove is cleaned regularly. anyone with any info greatly appreciated.
thanks
Jason

 

[woodsman23]

Sounds like an air flow thing. Can you adjust your damper to allow more air flow into the stove, if so then try that. Make sure your exhaust is nice and clean also and your blowers are working properly.

 

[jf254]

Will try the airflow. the pipe is nice and clean I am really picky about that.. will also make sure blowers are clean

 

[jf254]

alright now i have cleaned stove COMPLETELY removed combustion blower and cleaned the whole thing and tried the air adjustment. still happening.. any other thoughts

 

[Delta-T]

did you pull out the firebrick and then remove the channel covers that are on the sides? if those bad boys are full up with ash no manner of cleaning the comb. fan will help very much. If you cannot get enough airflow through the burnpot to get "dancing" pellets then there is still something going on. Many peeps try to tell me that their Whitfield does not have these channels, but I assure you, they are there, hiding from you.

 

[webbie]

It might be leaf blower time.....that is when we take our stoves outside, hook a leaf blower to the exhaust...with a giant cloud of dust being the result.

It is most definitely an air flow problem. Based on the percentages, the largest chances are:

1. Buildup of ash as mentioned
2. Burn pot or burn pot holder warped and allowing air to flow around (pretty rare, though).
3. Combustion Fan or controller of it has problems.. (rare also).

One of our regulars maintains a Whitfield repair page, but I don't think it mentions this specific problem
http://www.butkus.org/whitfield_pellet_stove.htm

 

[jf254]

Yes pulled the firebrick. and did the leaf blower trick. I can get the pellets to "dance" but they still fall through half burned I am starting to think that the burn pot could be warped. but hard to believe because I never fire higher than medium. and thanks for the link but I have read every last troubleshooting site for whitfield and cant come up with answers

 

[webbie]

I would think you could fake the burn pot thing by using some furnace cement to seal around it where it drops in - should last long enough for you to determine if it is a problem. Ash pan door (if it has one) must be sealed very well.

 

[jf254]

will try that. I have tried calling tech supposrt to get what my voltages should be to my combustion motor but no reply.

 

[webbie]

Fall through?
Maybe you have the burn pot with the rods as opposed to the original with holes? I am certainly not up to date on this stuff, but I seem to remember various grate types. If it is the rod type, it would seem that even a slight warp would make the pellets fall through.

I sold Whitfield way back in the 90's. At that time, it had a regular grate (burn pot) with drilled holes. But they came out with the "ultra grate" and other ones after, some of which claimed to burn corn and fuels of higher ash.

I hope another member can offer some advice which is more timely. But if the problem is them falling through, it may not be air flow, but simply that the holes or slots are the wrong size and therefore letting the pellet fall through too early. I wonder if a little piece of hardware cloth on the grate would allow an experiment about that.

 

[jf254]

well thanks it is the rod type. I finally got tech support to talk when they found out I am and HVAC tech. they seem to agree with the burn pot being the issue. now to find one for less than $180

 

[woodsman23]

well thanks it is the rod type. I finally got tech support to talk when they found out I am and HVAC tech. they seem to agree with the burn pot being the issue. now to find one for less than $180

take the burn pot to a local welder and have him fab one up in stainless may even be less than 180??