Whitfield hopper fire

[Rose]

The fire basket in my Whitfield filled up with pellets (set on 3 heat and 3 blower), and backed up into the hopper causing them to start to smoke. I got out all the pellets into a metal bucket, turned the stove off, but by this time the auger part in the hopper was red hot.

The ash pan, the fire basket and all that I can see to clean is cleaned out often.

Now I have relit this stove after cleaning what I can see again, and it looks like the pellets build up and back up eventually into the hole from the hopper. I turned the pellet feed dial way down, but it is still happening and I am having to check it every hr or so to make sure it is not built up high.

My husband is away at the moment in another state on business and I really want to get this sorted. I think I may have found someone to come and service it, am waiting on a call back but am not sure when that will be.
We had a chimney sweep come in the summer but as he was only here 15 mins at the most, I dont think he did much, other than look at the chimney.

I found the manual, and removed all the clinkers/ash from the bottom of the grate. There was hardly anything.
I dont know where the heat exchange tubes are to clean them out, or what they look like.

Is it easy to remove the side firebricks and get them back in? I'm thinking they need doing.

Sorry for all the questions....we inherited this stove when we bought the house, and after buying a ton of pellets I need to be able to use it. With DH away often, it comes down to me who is useless at this kind of stuff, but I can bake fresh bread any day! LOL.

Rose

 

[imacman]

The ash pan, the fire basket and all that I can see to clean is cleaned out often.

Rose

Rose, it sounds to me like the stove needs a serious cleaning. The things that you mentioned above are not enough....there are many other places that have to be kept clean so the combustion air can circulate properly. It just sounds like the stove is choked w/ ash, and can't get enough to keep the fire burning properly.

Has the stove pipes ever been cleaned completely? Have the blowers ever been removed and cleaned? Do you have the manual for the stove?

 

[Rose]

I don't know when it was last cleaned by a pellet stove professional. We had the chimney sweep here in June but he was here only about 15 mins and I don't think he knew much about pellet stoves at all.

I have a call in to a firm and am hoping for a call back soon. It was very frightening having the pellets in the hopper get hot and catch alight.

I do have the manual, so will see what it says about cleaning the blowers.

Thanks for your reply.

Rose

 

[imacman]

Make sure that whoever comes to service it has worked on pellet stoves before....don't spend $$ with someone that has little or no pellet stove experience.

There are "hidden" areas on most pellet stoves that have to be cleaned out periodically. Since you said that you got the stove when you bought the house, I think you need to assume that the entire stove, including the combustion blower (especially!), the convection blower, and the entire exhaust pipe need to be cleaned.

Also, if the chimney sweep was there for only 15 minutes, there is no way he could have cleaned the stove properly.

While your waiting for the service call person to show up, DO NOT try running the stove again. I hope you have another heat source in the house in the meantime.

Also, specifically, what model of Whitfield stove do you have? If you have to post a thread in the future here, make sure to put the make & model in the title line....you'll get more responses that way from people that are familiar with that particular brand/model.

Keep us informed on what happens after the service call, and make sure the service person stays there until after you have started the stove back up & it seems to be running correctly.

 

[Rose]

OK....I found the rod above the combustion chamber door and pulled it a lot of times. I peaked into the chamber and a lot of smoke/dust was happening, so my guess is that it was very dirty.
I need to take out the side firebricks, not sure how easy that will be, but I'm willing to give it a go. My booklet does not have great diagrams at all. Apparantly there are 2 screws that hold the bricks in.

 

[Rose]

There are some numbers letters on the manual.
L30 BF-2 I also see Whitfield Advantage written somewhere and on an slip of paper in the manual is says Grainger 2L001 but that may be a part?

Not sure if that is what you are looking for. I do appreciate you taking the time to give me advice.

It's been getting pretty low at night time here, but it warmed up yesterday and is not too cold today so hopefully we won't need it. I am sure the cleaning I am doing should help. It is not linked to any sensor and does not light automatically, although I think it used to. (Previous owner said something about that part no longer working)

I have had to use it since the fire, and have the pellet build up problem which like you say is due to parts being clogged up I am sure. I just have had to watch it does not get too high, and scrape off pellets to keep it safe. Not ideal at all, but it was 24F the other night and so I got up through the night to make sure it was ok.

I have read the entire manual and don't see instructions for cleaning out the combustion blower or the convection blower. Could they be called something different? I know I sound dum as a rock, but where are these located and how can I access them. I've still had no call from the company I was hoping would return my call. I have been searching the internet and calling everyone I can think of to get someone who knows about pellet stoves to come and service ours. It's been very frustrating.

Rose

 

[imacman]

There are some numbers letters on the manual.
L30 BF-2 I also see Whitfield Advantage written somewhere and on an slip of paper in the manual is says Grainger 2L001 but that may be a part?

Not sure if that is what you are looking for. I do appreciate you taking the time to give me advice.

It's been getting pretty low at night time here, but it warmed up yesterday and is not too cold today so hopefully we won't need it. I am sure the cleaning I am doing should help. It is not linked to any sensor and does not light automatically, although I think it used to. (Previous owner said something about that part no longer working)

I have had to use it since the fire, and have the pellet build up problem which like you say is due to parts being clogged up I am sure. I just have had to watch it does not get too high, and scrape off pellets to keep it safe. Not ideal at all, but it was 24F the other night and so I got up through the night to make sure it was ok.

I have read the entire manual and don't see instructions for cleaning out the combustion blower or the convection blower. Could they be called something different? I know I sound dum as a rock, but where are these located and how can I access them. I've still had no call from the company I was hoping would return my call. I have been searching the internet and calling everyone I can think of to get someone who knows about pellet stoves to come and service ours. It's been very frustrating.

Rose

So you have a Whitfield Advantage. The reference to Grainger might have been a note for a part number at Grainger...possibly a motor or fan that had to be replaced by the original owner.

Other names for the combustion blower could be "exhaust blower", and the convection blower could be called the "room air" blower.....those are the only ones I know. Those blowers have to be physically removed from the stove to be cleaned correctly. Access is usually by removing panels on either the sides of the stove, or back, or both.

There is a forum member that knows quite a lot about Whitfields. maybe you can send him a PM. His forum name is "Mr Whitfield". Also, another forum member by the name of "Hearthtools" is a pellet stove service technician and has seen & worked on most every stove going. They may be able to help you more than me, as I've never owned or worked on a Whitfield.

 

[Rose]

Thank you.
Just got a call from my husband, there is a chance he will be home this weekend, so I may get him to come on here and ask questions about removing the side panels and cleaning. Being an industrial maintenance guy, he may understand the above, but I am not technical at all, and the thought of taking the thing apart scares me. Taking the bricks out was enough! LOL

I have spent the last hr cleaning the stove. I figured out how to take the brick walls out and clean behind them, there was a lot of ash. I also took out the entire fire box thing and cleaned as much as I could underneath it. There was a spout looking thing, and I cleaned inside that using a bent over paper clip, it seemed to have a lot of ash built up in it too.

I swept all the sides, back and bottom of the interior and looked like a chimney sweep when I had finished! My children thought mum had lost her mind.

Got one call back from one company, they wont service any pellet stoves that they did not instal, but were happy to sell me one!
Still hoping on another lead for a professional pellet stove person.

Rose

 

[imacman]

Thank you.
Just got a call from my husband, there is a chance he will be home this weekend, so I may get him to come on here and ask questions about removing the side panels and cleaning. Being an industrial maintenance guy, he may understand the above, but I am not technical at all, and the thought of taking the thing apart scares me. Taking the bricks out was enough! LOL.........Got one call back from one company, they wont service any pellet stoves that they did not instal, but were happy to sell me one!
Still hoping on another lead for a professional pellet stove person.

Rose

Glad to help, Rose. You'll find that most everyone on this forum is very helpful when they can.....a nice bunch!

As for your problem getting a service person, try using this web site. put your zip code into the "Installers" space......I know it says "Installers", but many of them that you'll get listings for will also service pellet stoves. Make sure you ask them if/when you call.

(broken link removed to http://www.stovesdirect.com/installers.php)

Good to have a husband that's a maintenance guy....he should have no problems taking the stove apart.

Keep us informed on the progress, and when you get the stove up & running, we'd love to see some pics!!

 

[hearthtools]

most of the information on how to clean this stove with photos of the heat exhange is linked in the yellow sticky pages at the top of the pellet room

Sticky: ROUTINE Pellet stove MAINTENANCE


Follow this link for whitfield but this page will help with most pellet stove problems
http://www.hearthtools.com/parts/whitclean.htm

and here is a full photo detail on how to clean behind the firebrick
http://www.hearthtools.com/parts/adavantageII_clean.htm

 

[hearthtools]

oh and FYI
the fan setting on the control board has NOTHING to do with the fire
it controls the room air blower speed and has no effect on the fire.

the air rod control on the stoves right your left is to adjust the air draft to the fire in the burnpot.

 

[imacman]

I knew Rod would come to the rescue. I totally forgot about the cleaning info in the yellow stickies. :red:

 

[hearthtools]

I knew Rod would come to the rescue. I totally forgot about the cleaning info in the yellow stickies. :red:

that is why we put them there so people can find the info fast. but some people over look it.
so now I changed my Sig line to have the link to the quick links to find help.

 

[imacman]

so now I changed my Sig line to have the link to the quick links to find help.

NICE!