Whitfield Advantage II-T Issues...Please Help, its cold!!!

[JesseRRies]

So Ive been using an older Whitfield Advantage II-T Insert for a few months now without issue until recently. My problem began with the blower fan which I "hot wired" to the combustion fans power block for a quick temporary fix but now I am having the same problem with both fans. It seems that once the stove runs for a little while and it heats up the fans start to turn on and off intermittently. The blower has a voltage drop of 10 volts when this happens to 85 volts from 95 when it is running normally without issue. They seem to make a sort of vibrating hum and turn slowly so that I end up with no room air circulation and a sooty flame. I talked to a parts dealer who told me that it was an issue in the control panel, what are your thoughts?

Thank you for the help!

 

[begreen]

moved to pellet forum for better response

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

I know nothing about the Whitfields, but having both fans drawing through the same part of the control board sounds like a possible overload waiting to get you.

Now most motors have thermal shutdowns to prevent the motor from melting its windings. These are frequently auto reset which can result in on/off operation. Do these motors have oil ports, I'd expect them to be more likely on the convection blower but you never know. Your manual should mention them but then manuals often are afterthoughts. If they have oil ports it might be a good idea to oil them and work the first couple of drops per bearing in by hand turning the fan.

No guarantees, put them back on their proper power blocks after oiling them.

 

[JesseRRies]

Ive oiled both fans with Super Lube to no avail. They are both acting up at the same time.

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

Ive oiled both fans with Super Lube to no avail. They are both acting up at the same time.

Did you put the fans back on their proper power blocks?

 

[JesseRRies]

Yes, the fans are back on their respective blocks. I removed and tested the potentiometer that controls the room blower fan and it seems to be working properly. I am stumped. What does the current sensing relay do?

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

Yes, the fans are back on their respective blocks. I removed and tested the potentiometer that controls the room blower fan and it seems to be working properly. I am stumped. What does the current sensing relay do?

I don't have the wiring diagrams or a manual for that stove so I can't say for certain, likely it shuts something off or turns something on.

How easy was it to turn that convection blower by hand?

They are noted for getting very difficult to turn when the bearings go dry or get dirty.

It is possible that something isn't right with either the blower motor or the control board.

You should never slave a second motor in the manner you did. It is possible that the original problem was the convection blower and it damaged the board section that controlled that blower and by slaving it to the other section of the control board you have damaged the other part of the control board.

It used to be common practice to swap circuit boards in computers or controllers (heavy iron systems) because there were likely to be several that were the same in order to find a bad board.

Every once in a while one wound up with multiple bad boards as a result.

I once saw a horrific case of disk cancer caused by taking a disk that had a head crash occur on it and trying that one out an another drive. Before the operator woke up there were 4 damaged head assemblies and several destroyed disks. Good thing they had good backups.

 

[JesseRRies]

The fans both turn very easily by hand. Do you know of any companies that repair the boards or would you suggest just buying a new one? If you think that just buying a new one do you know of any aftermarkets available? $398 just seems a little steep.

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

The fans both turn very easily by hand. Do you know of any companies that repair the boards or would you suggest just buying a new one? If you think that just buying a new one do you know of any aftermarkets available? $398 just seems a little steep.

I'd love to be able to help you but the only thing I can suggest is to use Google or bing to locate a source or look for another user here on Hearth.com that has the same stove you have.

 

[Mr Whitfield]

You need a new control board, You can do a scearh on the web , I've seen them for 299.

 

[JesseRRies]

Mr Whitfield

Do you know what on the control board would be causing this to happen?

 

[hearthtools]

the CSR is only for the auger motor and needs to be removed and rewired.
the instructions on on the PDF file on my help pages.

as fare as the voltage drops from the control board this is a very common problem with the older board and if you are getting voltage surges the only way to fix it is to replace it with a new board.
but you will have to remove the CSR and move a few wires on the power strip as shown in the PDF

 

[bjr23]

I just went thru that with a older WHt II freestanding. Does yours have the two reostats (one for pellet feed and one for convection fan) and the slider on-off switch? If so, on the right side, inside the side panel, is the terminal strip and it clearly marked as to which switch the wires go to. Just know the switch in the combustion fan is the lo-limit swicth and the switch in the convection blower is the Hi-limit switch. I got those two crossed the stove did wierd things, like humming fans turnining on off interminttly. Make sure to have the terminal strip connected as marked. One side of the marking code is color is for the smaller wires that go to the board they are color and the other side is marked for Hi-limit switch and lo-limit switch and combustion fan and convection fan, not in that order though, just look at that terminal strip and dounble check all connectons, it's pretty well marked. I think those old boards are pretty tough, I'd check the wiring first before I spent a lot of money. I got the wiring sorted out and my old stove runs great now. bjr23