We purchased a used Whitfield Advantage (1994) 4 years ago. Finally got it hooked up. Ran great for 3 days. Not it won't stay lit and smoke fills room. Checked the damper arm and tried to adjust a bit. As soon as I released the set collar it pulled even closer to stove leaving abut 1" between knob and stove. Now it won't budge at all, in or out. Any solutions?
whitfield damper
- Thread starter County Girl
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Bioburner
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Welcome to the site.
Now the slide may well be stuck by a bit of rust or ash. Your best bet at not wrecking anything may be to remove the knob and remove the panel and give the offending Slide a rap or two with a wood dowel or hammer handle while pulling.
Now the slide may well be stuck by a bit of rust or ash. Your best bet at not wrecking anything may be to remove the knob and remove the panel and give the offending Slide a rap or two with a wood dowel or hammer handle while pulling.
Sounds like due to sitting the damper is rusted, and did you take stove apart and give it a good cleaning?, your ash traps are full, an/or your combustion blower is lazy may need oiling, you have alot to learn my friend! I run mine about a inch out, as long as the flame isnt lazy which you have, try running it and get it hot, that will help make it move easier as the metal will expand, like heating a frozen bolt with heat, If not you'll have to take the stove apart and clean it because behind the firebrick are ash traps that need to be cleaned here's a website showing you how.......
http://www.butkus.org/whitfield_operate/whitfield_cleaning/cleaning_a_pellet_stove.htm
Here's I call the bible for whitfield issue and repair....
http://www.butkus.org/whitfield_pellet_stove.htm
http://www.butkus.org/whitfield_operate/whitfield_cleaning/cleaning_a_pellet_stove.htm
Here's I call the bible for whitfield issue and repair....
http://www.butkus.org/whitfield_pellet_stove.htm
Last edited:
Lake Girl
Moderator
Another good site for troubleshooting Whitfields http://www.hearthtools.com/parts/lowlimit.htm
Noticed that some of the links to manuals that are referenced on the butkus site are no longer viable since Lennox removed them from their site.
Noticed that some of the links to manuals that are referenced on the butkus site are no longer viable since Lennox removed them from their site.
To clean these stoves, you need to first clean the ash from the fire box.
Remove the fire pot.
Vacuum the entire fire box good.
On each side of the fire brick outer panels is a sheet metal plate that has two screws holding them. and the plates have a key hole slot.
Loosen the screws and slide the plates up and off the screws
Once both plates are off, GENTLY tip the fire brick panels toward you and turn slightly toward the center of the stove and remove them.
Now remove the center panel by tipping it to you and carefully rotating it.
You will see the first set of ash traps, one on each side.
Clean these well.
There are two screws on each side ash baffle in the little channel area.
Remove these screws and then wiggle the baffles toward the center of the stove and tip out at the top and remove.
THESE CAN BE like a Chinese puzzle, so just pay attention how the come out.
These have a slot/hole near the top that is where the draft pulls through.
Now you can clear the inner baffles.
A bottle brush works well to clear out the inner passage that leads to the exhaust fan.
To open the side panel, unscrew the draft rod itself and slide it out of the side door.
Remove the two screws that are right behind the stove door (door open)
The side panel can now swing towards the rear, revealing the exhaust fan and other parts
STOVE SHOULD BE UNPLUGGED WHEN YOU GET INSIDE IT.
There are two rubber plugs in the exhaust fan motor body, one near the fan end and one near the outer end.
Remove these and put a couple drops of BLUE 3 in 1 oil or 20w oil down each hole.
Make sure the fan turns easy.
To get the rubber plugs back in, use blunt nail the will fit easily inside the plug and push the plugs back in.
Plug in the stove and press the start button, make sure the fan runs at speed.
Replace the side panel, and the draft rod.
With the draft rod all the way out, place the set collar so there is 1- 3/4" from the side of the stove panel to the inner edge of the collar.
NORMAL run position is with the rod pushed in so the collar touches the stove panel.
You can adjust the draft rod outward to get a more brisk fire (Generally for direct vent applications the rod may need to be a tad farther out)
To finish a deep clean, you need to connect the suction side of a leaf blower to the vent pipe and (with stove door open) run the blower until the blast coming out is clean.
This will suck any remaining crap out of the stove.
Once the stove is clean, the fire should burn fine.
Be sure the air tube that goes from just below the fire pot to the rear of the stove is clear.
The narrow door on the front lower of the stove is the ash pan cover and you can see the air pipe from in there.
My avatar is of our Whitfield and should be just like yours.
Ours was purchased CHEAP because it would not work.
Choked full of ashes and crud and smoked up the P O house, so they sold it for $200
These stoves must be kept relatively clean to work right.
On pellet fuel, the normal tear down and deep clean will likely be every month maybe if you run it 24/7
We run nut shells and our clean times are much closer to every two weeks to clean and suck it out.
While you are cleaning, did you vacuum the mechanical cabinet ?? BE SURE TO UNPLUG THE STOVE FIRST
Also, blow out the room air squirrel cage.
Place a damp towel over the room air vents at the front then blast the fan with air directed into the fan wheel.
DO NOT OVER SPEED THE FAN TO warp speeds, just give it a good blow into the cupped vanes to dislodge the dirt/dust
Note
If the exhaust fan does do achieve approx 3000 rpm and or does not run it will need to be replaced.
If the fan does not run or runs very slow, check the power coming to the fan.
The fan is powered through a TRIAC on the control board and the various fuel feed settings change the fan speed.
A failed triac can cause the motor to fail as well.
If there is no voltage at the fan, be sure to connect a temporary cord to the fan and plug it into the wall and see if the fan runs at full speed.
If a failure of the control board has occurred, fit a new controller.
Good luck
Keep us in the loop.
Snowy
Remove the fire pot.
Vacuum the entire fire box good.
On each side of the fire brick outer panels is a sheet metal plate that has two screws holding them. and the plates have a key hole slot.
Loosen the screws and slide the plates up and off the screws
Once both plates are off, GENTLY tip the fire brick panels toward you and turn slightly toward the center of the stove and remove them.
Now remove the center panel by tipping it to you and carefully rotating it.
You will see the first set of ash traps, one on each side.
Clean these well.
There are two screws on each side ash baffle in the little channel area.
Remove these screws and then wiggle the baffles toward the center of the stove and tip out at the top and remove.
THESE CAN BE like a Chinese puzzle, so just pay attention how the come out.
These have a slot/hole near the top that is where the draft pulls through.
Now you can clear the inner baffles.
A bottle brush works well to clear out the inner passage that leads to the exhaust fan.
To open the side panel, unscrew the draft rod itself and slide it out of the side door.
Remove the two screws that are right behind the stove door (door open)
The side panel can now swing towards the rear, revealing the exhaust fan and other parts
STOVE SHOULD BE UNPLUGGED WHEN YOU GET INSIDE IT.
There are two rubber plugs in the exhaust fan motor body, one near the fan end and one near the outer end.
Remove these and put a couple drops of BLUE 3 in 1 oil or 20w oil down each hole.
Make sure the fan turns easy.
To get the rubber plugs back in, use blunt nail the will fit easily inside the plug and push the plugs back in.
Plug in the stove and press the start button, make sure the fan runs at speed.
Replace the side panel, and the draft rod.
With the draft rod all the way out, place the set collar so there is 1- 3/4" from the side of the stove panel to the inner edge of the collar.
NORMAL run position is with the rod pushed in so the collar touches the stove panel.
You can adjust the draft rod outward to get a more brisk fire (Generally for direct vent applications the rod may need to be a tad farther out)
To finish a deep clean, you need to connect the suction side of a leaf blower to the vent pipe and (with stove door open) run the blower until the blast coming out is clean.
This will suck any remaining crap out of the stove.
Once the stove is clean, the fire should burn fine.
Be sure the air tube that goes from just below the fire pot to the rear of the stove is clear.
The narrow door on the front lower of the stove is the ash pan cover and you can see the air pipe from in there.
My avatar is of our Whitfield and should be just like yours.
Ours was purchased CHEAP because it would not work.
Choked full of ashes and crud and smoked up the P O house, so they sold it for $200
These stoves must be kept relatively clean to work right.
On pellet fuel, the normal tear down and deep clean will likely be every month maybe if you run it 24/7
We run nut shells and our clean times are much closer to every two weeks to clean and suck it out.
While you are cleaning, did you vacuum the mechanical cabinet ?? BE SURE TO UNPLUG THE STOVE FIRST
Also, blow out the room air squirrel cage.
Place a damp towel over the room air vents at the front then blast the fan with air directed into the fan wheel.
DO NOT OVER SPEED THE FAN TO warp speeds, just give it a good blow into the cupped vanes to dislodge the dirt/dust
Note
If the exhaust fan does do achieve approx 3000 rpm and or does not run it will need to be replaced.
If the fan does not run or runs very slow, check the power coming to the fan.
The fan is powered through a TRIAC on the control board and the various fuel feed settings change the fan speed.
A failed triac can cause the motor to fail as well.
If there is no voltage at the fan, be sure to connect a temporary cord to the fan and plug it into the wall and see if the fan runs at full speed.
If a failure of the control board has occurred, fit a new controller.
Good luck
Keep us in the loop.
Snowy
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