Wood Pellet Stove Electrical Hookup and T-Stat Hookup question?

[Don2222]

Hello

I just put in a double gang elctrical workbox with a 20 Amp duplex outlet. The bottom has constant AC for the pellet stove with the surge protector. The top AC outlet is on the interior light switch for the hearth rope lighting.

The other half of the double gang work box contains the connector for the thermostat. Got all these parts except T-Stat at home depot. Cheaper than Lowes even if I did get the 5% with their charge card!!

Anyways the thermostat wire from the pellet stove can be inserted into the holes and the gold contact screwed down over it. For alot more money the wire could be attached to bannana plugs and pluged right in!

Anyway, the wire from the back of the bannana jacks goes thru the wall to the room T-stat. It is a Lux DMH110 lighted version from Lowes and can be used for a 24v heat system that the Pelpro needs.

Before it goes to the T-stat it goes into the octagonal workbox below it, where the 2 conductor feed wire comes in from the main house. Then a wire goes from this box to the T-Stat.

So if I connect a SPST toggle in the main house to close one of the leads to the T-Stat, then the T-Stat could be turned on from the main house and the pellet stove would start. Is it that simple??

I will need 50 feet of 18-2 for the whole job!

See pics below.

Last pic shows Stove fire up after switch was turned on but only 37 Deg inside so I will have supper and then go out to a warm shed!!

 

[DexterDay]

Your an electrical genius Don..... Good Work.

See you have Rope lighting in the Shed too....... ;-P

Is that stove burning better now? Creating good heat? (Shed stove)

 

[Don2222]

Your an electrical genius Don..... Good Work.

See you have Rope lighting in the Shed too....... ;-P

Is that stove burning better now? Creating good heat? (Shed stove)

Hi Dexter

Thanks, I had 2 - #18 Guage wires left in the ground unused. So I thought this would be a good use for them. LOL

The stove is burning now, boy for a stove that I saw working before purchase it still had quite a few issues

After painting and adding new fire brick, I replaced the door gasket.
I thought that would be good enough but I am glad I set up this little test bed in the shed!

When trying to go thru the start cycle I found that I had to replace the L120 Low Limit Switch and the F140 Fan Limit Switch!
Then it ran for a couple of days and the convection blower seized up!! Got a new Fasco Equiv for the old A.O Smith Blower from CSH
Now it is running but it will not shut down properly, both blowers keep running. I found that can be cause by a Power Surge in the line that zapped the control panel from whoever had it before I am running it on a surge protector!

So I was going to get the T-Stat add on module and T-Stat for $199.00 but I found that Pelpro in Alberta has a new updated control panel with the T-Stat module built in for $289.00

So this new panel should fix everything. I am hoping that it fixes the combustion blower slow speed start. This morning it was 42 in the shed and it still took about 5 mins for the convection blower to come up to speed and produce enough vacuum to pull in the vacuum switch and let the auger turn without shutting down.

The Pelpro is very different than the Avalon Astoria because it has much higher CFM convection blower so the heat coming out is at a lower temp. I may put in a rheostat to slow it down more, I will see.

The damper is real touchy too, I pulled it out all the way today and the fire went out!!

All in all, I think it will be a good stove once I get used to it. The Auto-On/Off or Auto-Hi/Low is a real nice feature. The ash pan is a good size and there are 2 big square holes on each side of the burn pot for the ashes to fall into the pan. So cleanings can be far apart! I may need an OAK for the shed too, it is new and really tight. The 4 heat settings are good, so far of the 3 blower settings I use LOW, that is what the support tech recommends. Luckily I got this stove at a very good price so I am still ahead! Thanks for asking.

 

[Don2222]

Hello

The pellet stove had the shed up to 85 Deg F when it was real cold the other day creating an ice dam on the roof by melting the snow and it refreezing on the roof edge! Luckily I had sofit vents and a ridge vent put in when building so if I add the rafter vents and foil over them on the inside of the rafters that will fix that issue!! In the meantime the Grace Ice and Water shield on the roof is protecting the roof and shingles!!

 

[nailed_nailer]

Don,

A SPST switch in your Thermostat wire will open the circuit. It would work fine. Except

You have to account for the voltage drop to run the switch from the shed to the house.
You may load down the thermostat line too much. I'd be surprised if you didn't.

A better way would be to put a switched relay out by the Thermostat that allows thermo connection when closed.
Bunch of ways to do this, poke around for a circuit design that works for you.

Other option is to use a Thermostat with a wireless remote.

More $$$$, LOL
---Nailer---

 

[Don2222]

Don,

A SPST switch in your Thermostat wire will open the circuit. It would work fine. Except

You have to account for the voltage drop to run the switch from the shed to the house.
You may load down the thermostat line too much. I'd be surprised if you didn't.

A better way would be to put a switched relay out by the Thermostat that allows thermo connection when closed.
Bunch of ways to do this, poke around for a circuit design that works for you.

Other option is to use a Thermostat with a wireless remote.

More $$$$, LOL
---Nailer---

Thanks Mike

I do have 12 volt 18 Guage alarm wires running the same distance and they work fine. Therefore the 24 volt should also be fine. If not I can easily add a relay.

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

The last thing you want is a another moving part (relays) in the loop. Fewer moving parts good, more moving parts bad. Get some #8 and fish it through, you won't have to worry about a voltage drop then ;-). Just remembered what they said about power buses for DCC controlled model railroads, bigger is better.

 

[Don2222]

The last thing you want is a another moving part (relays) in the loop. Fewer moving parts good, more moving parts bad. Get some #8 and fish it through, you won't have to worry about a voltage drop then ;-). Just remembered what they said about power buses for DCC controlled model railroads, bigger is better.

#8 Guage LOL, talk about over kill!! Like when my friend used 12 Guage Romex Electrical wire for his home stereo speakers. He said cheaper than that Moster Cable!! Yes, cheaper and probably better but I could not hear any difference!!

#18 should be fine and I will let you know how it works. Thanks

 

[Don2222]

Hello

Well, it took a few hours to run a line to a switch! Find all my tools for the job and move all the junk out of the way in the basement and cleaning up and putting all the tools back took the most time!!

Anyway, I tested the resistance at the workbox under the T-Stat. That is the #18 2-Conductor wire going underground and thru the switch. It read just about zero ohms! I have an older analog Volt-Ohm-Meter and I like it!!

So flipping the switch down turns the T-Stat off (Opens up the Yellow wire on the T-Stat going to the Pellet Stove) and up closes the wire so the manual Digital T-Stat is connected to the Pellet Stove and set for 70 Degrees with a "swing" setting of narrow by default. Wth no jumper the "Swing" is Wide!!

That means crap so I have to call Technical Support tomorrow and have them tell me how many degrees narrow vs. wide is

See pic below.
Switch is inside basement on the warm side next to door that leads into the unheated garage.

Click to Enlarge

 

[Don2222]

Hello

Well, I talked to 2 support guys at Lux and got to different answers!!

The 1st guy that does the testing stated the specification for the "Swing" Settings are:
Narrow = 1/4 Deg F which is the 1 setting on other Lux T-Stats
Wide = 3/4 Deg F which is the 3 setting on other Lux T-Stats


The second guy told me the actual way it works is:
Narrow = .75 Deg F
Wide = 1.25 Deg F

So when I told the second guy what the 1st guy stated he said
The 1st guy stated the specification but there is a 0.5 degree F delay or lag when turning on and off so he adds that to the spec!! In other words if the T-Stat is set to 70, the wide setting will turn the Stove off at 70.75 but since the Temp is still rising it will go up to 71 Deg before falling.

In discussing the purpose of these settings he said they were there to emulate the old mercury manual thermostats and older Boilers or Furnaces that need some delay to give them the time they need for their on and off cycles.

So this is not really made for a wood pellet stove which sometimes needs a greater 2.0 Deg F "Swing" Setting.

Therefore I will try it on the Wide and see if it works out, if not I will have to return it!!