Pellet heads!! What's up today?

Very went below 40ºF last night. 41º for our low up on the hill. The valley was 38ºF when I got up.

Had a stove mishap last night that was a bit scary. Woke up at 2 am and felt rather warm. Noticed the furnace blower was on for more than usual. Got up and looked at the stat. Temp was 74ºand should have been 69º for the overnight setback. Headed down to the basement and saw the stove was idling(low fan speeds), But the fire was huge in the burnpot. Auger was running no stop and not the usual 3 seconds on 18 seconds off! Stove control was unresponsive to the off button?? Hit the auger buttons auntil the auger stopped running continuesly. Hit the off button and the stove shutdown.

Let the stove cycle off and then did a power reset to see if it was just a fluke. Nope! After the restart and cycled through the start up, The auger started its run normally and then the auger started to run continues again. Again tapped the auger feed button until the auger stopped. Hit the power off and I let it cool off. I think the auger relay on the board is sticking. Won't know for sure, But will test at a later date as I will need to repair as the boards are now over $400 clams!!

I put the only board I had left in it, Which is the original board that came with the stove that has a bad relay on the ignitor. So I have to manually ignite the stove with this board in. But at least the stove is making heat and I avoided the oil monster!

I'll start a thread/post stepping through the repair and pic's if ya all are interested?? I think I have 2 that need repair in the stash now. So the one that was in the stove and doesn't power on plus this one. I'll use the one that doesn't power on for parts. And then I'll repair the board thats in the stove now with the bad igniter relay. I may test why the other board doesn't power on as well. And order the parts I rob from it at a later date. Should be a fun winter project!! Got to go and look for all my soldering chit and my solder sucker heat station. Their out in the mess in the garage somewhere!!

 

Triac? Most likely wouldn't be able to get a response after cycling the auger button. Generally that is a stuck or sticking relay IIRC. We will see once I dig into the test stage.

 

I have the Omega service manual. It goes over a few tests of the board, But thats about it. Most techs just replace the board. Some send back to manu for refurb, But thats even rare. I've done a few harman boards for friends/neighbors. Mostly the Potentiometers and thermistors.

Whats needed is the board schematics. Along with a parts list. Hard to see the mini part numbers on those componenets and Having to ring out the circuits is a PITA!! I've gotten my way around the Applied Control Electronics boards only because I own them myself. I even have a programmer for the main chipset if I need to reprogram the chips on the DHC 4041 boards.

 

I had the genny still hooked up as we had a tree accroosed the wires down the road. I was afraid it might take out paower again. But they took care of it yesterday. So I finally put it away. Also played in the shed garage a bit looking for my soldering irons/kit! But gave up cause I got hungry. So dragged out the pellet grill and did burgers for lunch.

Like a spring day out there!! Almost don't want to take my usual mid day nap!

 

The stoves high limit would have tripped if it got to 250ºF. I must have caught it before it got that hot. I had to replace the high limit a while back as it went fluky and wouldn't reset. I had it jumped until the new one came in. I'm glad it happened after the new one was installed. Could have been real bad! But this might be why the old high limit quite??

I ordered another as a spare so I wont need to risk it with a jumper. Also ordered a low limit to have on hand. I will also be ordering several other spares so I won't have to mess around. Soon to be our only source of heat until we can swing the heat pump system. After calling around not many places near me carry spares on hand. So its not as easy to just go run and grab them. Some items are odd like the 3 rpm auger motor. And the ignitor(which I already have a spare for). Plus pricing is high at the local shops. ESES and some of the online shops are more frugal friendly.

Now I just need to repair my control board to work correctly again. I may even go as far as making the board relays socketed for easy replacement.

 

They are my 1st choice for sure!