Woodmaster 4400 will not stay up at temp, new problem

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biglsells

Member
Oct 25, 2015
12
Caledonia MI
ok I have been running my woodmaster 4400 since September, never had a problem keeping it at 170 degree water temp. When it drops to 160 the vent fan kicks on and brings it back up.

However... all this last week I will get up to feed it and the blower has given up due to low water temp around 110/112. I re-start it and it does not recover, max temp I can get to is around 140's. I just fixed a couple things I found to be wrong (flapper that opens when fan kicks on was not connected and blower motor was hanging on by 1 bolt, replaced blower with new and repaired flapper connection). I thought this thing would be screaming by now, but no go. Never had a problem burning any kind of wood, still working my way through my pile of seasoned / somewhat seasoned wood so nothing there has changed.

Now - a few questions and comments that may lead to some helpful information. I had been also burning pallet lumber which seems to make awesome fast heat but also makes a lot of creosote. It's been about 2 weeks since I stopped burning it simply because it burns up so fast. Also, is the flu damper rod that you pull out before you open the door supposed to do something? I always pull it out first (it's been stuck with tar a few times) then open the door and still get a mountain of smoke in my face. After leaving the door open for 6-7 minutes I can watch the water temp rise from 140-150 that fast, closing the door and coming back 20 min later and it's back down around 143 ish. What gives? Also, while the door is open and the fire is roaring I get no difference in amount of smoke / flames licking out what that damper pulled out or pushed in.

Is something clogged or plugged? What should I do? I'm able, just have no clue what happened. Smoke is always coming out of the stack so I just assumed it is venting properly. Any help is much appreciated.
 
Sounds like you have built up so much creosote that your exhaust path is restricted...I would start off by thoroughly cleaning the unit and Fluepipe...
 
First year using the machine. As I burn wood I will clean the super fine ash from the front of the burner every few days and scrape creosote from door, edges, is there some other regular maintenance that should be done? I was thinking that today I will let it burn down and then clean out the chimney again to make sure it is not plugged.
 
It's a dirty PITA but after every couple of months of burning I sweep the chimney, clean out the HX and firebox..I also throw in 2-3 scoops of Rutland Creosote Cleaner..I do this about 3-4 times per week. Not exactly sure how much it helps, but it's cheap enough, makes me feel good, my unit always burns nice and sweeps clean ...
 
I am guessing the HX stands for heat exchanger and is that the series of cross members in the top of the fire box?? Sorry for the lack of knowledge. I have a round bristled flue brush, would that work for scrubbing the top of the firebox or do I need a special tool?
 
Well I believe I found the problem. Got on top of the roof with a chimney brush and when I looked down the 6" pipe I saw this, it was restricted to about an inch! It was hard to get it all out but it is completely clean and breathing great now. Stopped smoke from weeping from the damper doorand when I close the door the fan no longer sounds like it is fighting some dark force. Hoping that was it, if not, not sure what else it could be, I'll let you know if this fixed my issues.
 

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Thinking your manual should cover the questions you had about regular maintenance needing done?

You must have had a lot of smoldering going on to create that - suspecting most of it happened in warmer weather periods when it was idling.

At least you have more of a handle on it - good luck going forward.
 
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