USSC Troubleshooting

[Lake Girl]

We are hoping to add information on troubleshooting your USSC over time. If you have pertinent information to add, send me or one of the other forum moderators a PM as I will keep the thread locked. To start off, FirepotPete was kind enough to share information he received while trying to troubleshoot his "4 button" control panel stove (his is a USSC 6039). This should work for all 4 button control stoves that USSC sells.

FirepotPete

 

[Lake Girl]

mustangwagz has shared a tech manual he has. Excellent source of info on troubleshooting and running these stoves... thanks mustangwagz! Broken down to model numbers to make life easier!

Edit: Per tlc1976, " The top board style 5660 (in the manual) uses the same control board as the US Stove / Ashley / Vogelzang models 5770 and 5790."

 

[Lake Girl]

FirepotPete's thread detailing the deep clean of the 6039/6041 model stoves... Great thread on accessing internal exhaust passages.
https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/ussc-6039-6041-internal-cleaning.152067/

 

[ARC]

To adjust the operation constants, press the hold the MODE and AUGER DELAY buttons simultaneously
for 3 seconds. The display will show “C-1”. Use the HEAT RANGE UP or HEAT RANGE DOWN buttons to
change the constant number (see the list of vales below). When the desired constant is displayed, press
the ON button to toggle between viewing and editing the value. While editing a parameter, use the AUX
again to return to the constant number list. Press the OFF button to exit the operational constants
mode.
 C1- Reset to defaults (hold Mode and Auger Delay buttons for 3 seconds to reset all to defaults).
 C2- Fuel Lbs. per Hour HR 1 (0-5.0) – This is the fuel rate in pounds per hour for a heat range
setting of 1. The default is 1.75 lbs.
 C3- Fuel lbs. per Hour HR 9 (0-5.0) – This is the fuel rate in pounds per hour for a heat range
setting of 5. The default is 4.5lbs. The fuel rates used between setting 1 and 5 are linearly
interpolated between these two settings.
 C4- Draft Fan Level HR 1 (0-500) – This is the draft fan output level for a draft fan setting of 9.
The default is 150
 C5- Draft Fan Level HR 9 (0-500) – This is the draft fan output level for a draft fan setting of 9.
The default is 350. See next parameter for disbursement.
 C6- Monitor Hopper Switch (0-1) – If this parameter is set to 0 (default), the hopper switch input
is ignored. If it is set to 1, the hopper input is monitored, and if the hopper is opened, the auger
will stop. The delay LED will flash when the hopper is opened.
 C7- Ramp Seconds for increasing level (0-300) – When the heat range setting is adjusted, control
will ramp from the current setting to the target setting to avoid abrupt changes in the outputs
that could cause problems with the flame quality. The ramp seconds value sets the amount of
time to spend on each heat range setting (1-9 pseudo ranges not 1-3 user ranges) as the current
setting is ramping toward the target. If the current setting is ramping down toward a lower
target, the ramp value is half this number. The default value is 90 seconds.
 C8- Startup Minutes for detecting Warm Stove – (10-60) this is the amount of time the control
will wait for the stove to reach the warm temperature (110 Degrees F) after the stove has been
started before shutting down and reporting an Error condition Err3. The default is 30minutes.
 C9- Over temp Set point – (0-500) this is the temperature the flue gas can reach before an over
temp condition exists. If the measured temperature is higher than this set point, the control will
stop auguring fuel until the temperature returns to a safe operating point. The default is 445
degrees.
 C10- Cutback Set point – This is the temperature that the flue gas can reach before a cutback
condition exists. If the measured temperature is higher than this set point, the control ramps
down the heat range according to the auger ramp seconds value. The default is 430 degrees.
 C11- Room fan on set point – (0-300) this is the temperature that the measured flue gas must
reach before the room fan turns on. This variable also serves to indicate to the control that the
stove is warm. If the measured temperature is higher than this set point, the stove is considered
warm and will not create an Er3. Whether or not the stove is warm also determines if the unit
will recover from a power failure. If the stove is warm when the power is lost and cold when it
returns, it will shut down with an Er4 error. The default is 130 degrees.
 C12- Cold stove set point – (0-300) this variable is used to determine when the stove is cold and
ready to be shut down. If during the shutdown sequence the measured temperature is less than
this value, the stove will stop running the fans to cool it off. The default is 110 degrees.
 C13- Room fan level HR 9 (0-500) – this is the output level applied to the room fan for a setting o
1. The default values is 300/500.
 C14- Room fan level HR 9 (0-500) – This is the output level applied to the room fan for a setting
of 9. The default value is 500/500. The room fan output levels used between settings 1 and 9 are
linearly interpolated between these two settings.
 C15- Auger load time (0-30) – This variable is used to control the length of time that the fuel is
augured into the burn pot during startup. The default is 6 minutes.
 C16- Starter on time (0-30) – This variable is used to control the length of time that the igniter is
turned on during startup. The default is 8 minutes.
 C17- Ignore fuse errors (0-1) – This variable can be used to ignore errors detected by open fuses.
By default, it is o (do not ignore the vacuum switch), but can be set to 1 for diagnostic of
emergency operation purpose.
 C18- Ignore vacuum switch (0-1) – This variable can be used to ignore the vacuum switch. By
default it 0 (do not ignore the vacuum switch), but can be set to 1 for diagnostic or emergency
operation purposes.
 C19- Bump rate in pounds per hour (0-0.5) – The bump rate defines the rate of fuel to be
delivered when the unit is over temperature or in shutdown to prevent burn back, Since this
stove design isn’t conductive to burn back, the default setting is 0lbs. per hour, but can be
adjusted to a maximum of 0.5lbs per hour.
 C20- Purge time (0-120) – The purge time defines how many seconds to run the auger to purge
it on power down or shutdown as the stove moves from a warm state to a cool state. It is
intended to push and partially heated pellets still in the auger tube out. By default, the auger
will run for 30 seconds, but can be set between 0 and 120.
 C21- Enable serial communication (0-10 – By default, serial communication is not enabled (0).
Set this variable to 1 to enable communication.

 

[DAKSY]

Info submitted by member hmsminnow:

By far the most successful troubleshooting step I've taken was replacing the burn pot with the redesigned version. I posted a detailed writeup here: https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/ussc-king-overflows-solved.190101/

 

[Scoobyxj]

Can anyone familiar with a USSC 8500 tell me how often the agitator needs to run? It's on its third bad control board, and I'm looking into converting it to 100% manual control using off the shelf timers for the auger, and agitator with NO/NC limit switches for safety controls. Planning on running the draft fan on 100% and adjust it manually with the dampener. Can I just wire the agitator to cycle with the auger, or should it run longer?

 

[Clamit]

Does anyone know the difference between pellet mode and corn mode on these stoves? Ok to run pellets in corn mode? Can't get mine from CR to PR after simultaneously hitting heat range up and down buttons...