I have a Pioneer Bay PI (man. Oct 2001) that came with the house we bought 8 years ago. We use it as our main source of heat for the house during the winter and for the first 5 or 6 years it worked pretty well. The last year or two we've been having more problems with it, mostly with the stove only lighting occasionally. This year, it's even worse, not only with the difficulty lighting but also with the fire going out on it's own after it is lit.
I give the stove a weekly cleaning to wash the windows and vacuum out all the ash and I clean out the chimney and behind the fire brick facade and the rear of the stove once a year. It's been freshly cleaned out, so I don't think it's an issue with a dirty stove.
Things I've tried so far:
1. Tried running it without pellets so I could watch the igniter. It gets glowing red in a little over 3 minutes, although only the rear portion glows. The last 1/4"-1/2" doesn't get red at all. I pulled the stove out of the fireplace so I could access the leads to the igniter and it's measured about 74 Ohms at the ends of the pigtails. Is that a normal range? Should it glow uniformly the whole length?
2. I was going to check if the vacuum tube was clogged and found that the portion that plugs into the exhaust area was really dry and brittle. I don't know if it was leaking before, but it broke while I was removing it. When I blew through it, some ash did come out. I cleaned out the brass nipple and trimmed the tube back to good material and reinstalled it.
3. Checked the fuses. Both the one in the body of the stove next to where the main power cord enters and the one on the control panel are good.
4. I've tried adjusting the air/fuel mix to give it more air. That originally seemed to make the fire go out faster, so I've backed it back to where it was before. The fire seemed pretty good before I changed it, though, so I was only adjusting it to try and improve lighting, there didn't seem to be any other issues.
5. I found a leak in the exhaust pipe that I need to fix (the house was smelling like a campfire when the stove was burning). I don't think that would cause the issues I've been having, but I will fix it when I reinstall the stove.
Right now the stove is still out. I'll need to reseal the exhaust pipe with RTV before I can try relighting it, but I was hoping someone might have an idea on what else to check before I started putting stuff back together. Thanks for the help.
I give the stove a weekly cleaning to wash the windows and vacuum out all the ash and I clean out the chimney and behind the fire brick facade and the rear of the stove once a year. It's been freshly cleaned out, so I don't think it's an issue with a dirty stove.
Things I've tried so far:
1. Tried running it without pellets so I could watch the igniter. It gets glowing red in a little over 3 minutes, although only the rear portion glows. The last 1/4"-1/2" doesn't get red at all. I pulled the stove out of the fireplace so I could access the leads to the igniter and it's measured about 74 Ohms at the ends of the pigtails. Is that a normal range? Should it glow uniformly the whole length?
2. I was going to check if the vacuum tube was clogged and found that the portion that plugs into the exhaust area was really dry and brittle. I don't know if it was leaking before, but it broke while I was removing it. When I blew through it, some ash did come out. I cleaned out the brass nipple and trimmed the tube back to good material and reinstalled it.
3. Checked the fuses. Both the one in the body of the stove next to where the main power cord enters and the one on the control panel are good.
4. I've tried adjusting the air/fuel mix to give it more air. That originally seemed to make the fire go out faster, so I've backed it back to where it was before. The fire seemed pretty good before I changed it, though, so I was only adjusting it to try and improve lighting, there didn't seem to be any other issues.
5. I found a leak in the exhaust pipe that I need to fix (the house was smelling like a campfire when the stove was burning). I don't think that would cause the issues I've been having, but I will fix it when I reinstall the stove.
Right now the stove is still out. I'll need to reseal the exhaust pipe with RTV before I can try relighting it, but I was hoping someone might have an idea on what else to check before I started putting stuff back together. Thanks for the help.
