WhitField Optima 3 FS pellet stove issue

[4thunder]

Okay, so new to pellet stoves and this forum, so thanks for the opportunity.
I know zero about pellet stoves....and pellets.

Just bought a new to us house and inherited said WhifField Optima 3 pellet stove.

Had issues with it, so I hired a tech to look at it. He went through it, and deemed it safe and working.

Well, it faults out, at times, and other times runs for days. I love the heat, dislike the inconsistency.

Right now here is what I see going on:

Power it on, it goes into what I will call startup mode.
Pellets feed, so I can only assume the auger assembly works.
The pellets ignite, and flame up, so I can only assume the igniter works.
Once the stove gets to burning good, it comes off of startup, and into run mode for maybe a minute or two, I didnt time it.

And here is where it gets odd. Pellets stop feeding, fire goes out, It goes back into startup/shutdown mode.

I had just cleaned it by pulling all the ash I could find out of it, but failed to clean the photo eye.

First recommendation would be to clean the photo eye lens, I presume?

Thanks in advance.

4T

 

[MButkus]

The only thing that kills pellet feed... vacuum check. Chimney blocked ? If the vacuum check sees pressure in the chimney, it will shut off feed to the auger. You can check that switch with a multi meter or short it. Always fix the switch or the problem.
The photo eye keeps the stove running for 20 min or so, then photo eye kicks in to see if stove still has fire.

 

[4thunder]

The only thing that kills pellet feed... vacuum check. Chimney blocked ? If the vacuum check sees pressure in the chimney, it will shut off feed to the auger. You can check that switch with a multi meter or short it. Always fix the switch or the problem.
The photo eye keeps the stove running for 20 min or so, then photo eye kicks in to see if stove still has fire.

MButkus,

I do not believe the chimney is blocked, but I will sure double check.

it was not blocked at the beginning of our season, and hasn't run much to this point..

Let me get this straight, I can check this switch by shorting the two connectors together?
I believe there is a small hose on that switch, could it be that as well?

One more question if I may, the stove seems to remember what stage it was in when the power is pulled.
For example, if I unplug it when it was in shtudown mode, it seems to come back to the shutdown mode.
How can I reset the stove so it starts from "startup" mode.

Sorry I have so many questions, but the manual the previous family left with the stove is missing pages.
I have a lot to learn if I am going to use this pellet stove this winter...and a short time to learn it.

Thanks for your response and time.

4T

 

[Mt Bob]

Sounds more like an eye problem.When plugging back in,pretty normal,a safety thing. https://www.manualslib.com/manual/92284/Lennox-Optima-3-Fs.html?page=22#manual

 

[4thunder]

Sounds more like an eye problem.When plugging back in,pretty normal,a safety thing. https://www.manualslib.com/manual/92284/Lennox-Optima-3-Fs.html?page=22#manual

Bob Bare,


Thank you for your response first off, and the manual.
I was looking for Whitfield's manual, not lennox. I dont feel so smart right now.

Yiou might be onto something here with the photo eye idea.

I didnt time it, but we might be at that 20-30 minute mark.
The stove seems to startup and drop pellets, ignite the pellets, stop feeding, then go right into shutdown mode.
I didnt hear the fans go into the low or run setting this time, and it shutdown without a fault most of the time, but once wtih a fault.

The "cover" that the photo eye see's through is really dark, is that normal?

Not sure I have the patience for this... LOL.

4T

 

[4thunder]

Okay, so I did a better job of keeping track of it this time, I think.

turned it on,
at 5:00 minutes ish large fire, full burn pot.
at 7-8 minutes, dropped a few more pellets
at 10 minutes, fire almost out.
at 13 minutes, dropped more pellets but no flame.
at 16 minutes, dropped more pellets and they re-ignited.
at 21 minutes fans stopped, fault light on and small flame still in burn pot.

Not once did the stove go into what I call run mode (I had the heat and fans set both on low..)

4T

 

[Mt Bob]

my bet is it's the eye,dirty,or failing.It can be jumperd/bypassed for testing.

 

[4thunder]

my bet is it's the eye,dirty,or failing.It can be jumperd/bypassed for testing.

Bob Bare,

I would love to hear more about how to by pass the photo eye or flame sensor.

I dont think it is dirty, as I removed it tonight and wiped the eye and cover clean, but thanks for the info.

the cover was almost brown, but what little i found on the interweb says it should be that color, so I think I am good there.

I will have to lean towards faulty at this point, but I am not sure with what little knowledge I possess.

thanks again,

4T

 

[Mt Bob]

Make a jumper wire,unplug the sensor,jumper the 2 wires together that go back to control board,then light/test stove.Same test can be preformed with the vac/pressure sensor.Always unplug stove before doing any of this.

 

[4thunder]

Bob Bare,

I had tried this jumper once before, and the stove didn't act right. My guess now is it might have been in shutdown mode and I unplugged it,
jumped it, plugged it back in and was still in shutdown mode, so no fire no feeding of pellets. I am learning, slowly.

so I jumped the photo eye or flame sensor as suggested, and started the stove, no ignition phase but the burn pot filled up with pellets.

so I manually start the burn pot, and now the pellets feed just fine, and stove seems to burn and put out heat just fine.
fans are working...I will order a new flame sensor tomorrow. I promise I wont let this thing run un-watched with this jumper in place.

thanks to both of you gentlemen, bob bare and mbutkus.

4T

 

[MButkus]

I do not believe you can jump the photo eye. I have a paper for testing a Whitfield Photo Eye. I believe they work like a oil furnace model. When starting it checks for a certain resistance, if not it shuts off. After so many seconds (oil) it checks the resistance from the eye that sees a flame so the resistance is low (but not shorted) so it continues to run. I really feel they were thinking wrong when they put an electric eye in a stove that gets dirty. My heat sensor switch has only gone bad once in 20 years. When opening the dead sensor, the contacts were dirty from the sparks. Cleaned them and it worked again, but I already bought another sensor. Can you E-mail me ? I have the manual and the eye test paper (need a ohm meter)

http://butkus.org/whitfield_operate/whitfiled-profile-cds.htm

The eye is a standard oil burner type... Not very expensive from a oil company supply store.

 

[Lake Girl]

If a replacement is needed, this one is compatible with some of the whitfields and fairly easy to get and far cheaper than most suppliers. $24
http://www.homedepot.com/p/Honeywel...m-Sulfide-Flame-Detector-C554A-1463/203464518

Credit to the forum member who found this out!
https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads...anding-blinking-clicking.134881/#post-2024813

 

[4thunder]

If a replacement is needed, this one is compatible with some of the whitfields and fairly easy to get and far cheaper than most suppliers. $24
http://www.homedepot.com/p/Honeywel...m-Sulfide-Flame-Detector-C554A-1463/203464518

Credit to the forum member who found this out!
https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads...anding-blinking-clicking.134881/#post-2024813

Lake Girl,

Thank you for the response as well. I appreciate it.

4T

 

[Mt Bob]

https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads...ery-anyone-try-this-see-pics-it-works.132882/

 

[Mouse4x4]

Will that conversion work on the optima 3 stoves, if so I am game and ready to do it. The eye seems to foul up very quick on my stove.