Heatilator eco cab50 - Strange issue

I'm in need of the forum's expertise. Our heatilator eco cab50 is having a strange issue at startup, sometimes. This model utilizes an external manual thermostat. If the temp in our home drops to the temp set on our thermostat, the stove kicks on and runs through it's normal startup routine and fires up no problem. If we manually move the dial up on the thermostat to turn on the stove, the following sequence happens.
-Stove kicks on
-Feeds initial pellets
-Ignites
-Then the flame burns out with no follow up feeding of pellets and the fan doesn't turn on
-I depress the reset button
-The cycle starts over with the initial feed of pellets
-Once the flame burns down again, I depress the reset button one more time
-The stove finally runs through normal start up

It seems like the temp disc that tells it to engage the fan and resume the pellet feed needs replacing. But the thermostat symptom has me second guessing myself. I don't mind hitting the reset switch, but I'm guessing our ignition element is gonna burn out sooner than I'd like.
I didn't see this in other threads. If it is, feel free to move this post.

 

What brand is your thermostat?

 

Not sure. I'll check when I get home. It's the one that came with the stove.

 

I never used the one that came with my stove. I picked up a digital lux thermostat cheap and it works great.

Not sure if that's your problem or not.

 

Just the basic model from home depot? That's not a bad idea. I might grab one for the hell of it. Thanks.

 

Joe...make sure the thermocouple wire is touching the front of the ceramic cover and that the inside of the ceramic is free of ash. When the flame goes out is the call light still on?

 

Oh and make sure the thermocouple is aligned correctly over the firepot.

 

The thermocouple is the ignition element, correct? I noticed ash build up on it occasionally. Typically we'll open the door and blow it off when the stove is off. Now that I reread your post, I'm guessing the finger shaped piece is the ceramic cover and the thermocoupler sits inside it. Is that right?

 

Correct...thermocouple should be on top of burnpot with the white ceramic cover on it. Sometimes the wire works its way out. It needs to be fully pushed into the cover.

 

Gotcha. Thanks. I'll take a look tonight.

 

Also, make sure there isn't any ash inside that ceramic cover too.

 

It does this only when you manually turn up the thermostat? When letting the thermostat donuts thing does it work fine?

 

Yep.

 

that is a very odd problem.
i can add to the convo, that i've been using the thermostat that came with our heatilator for 5 years now, and it has been very reliable.

if you have any leeway to open the feed gate more, you could get more pellets in the pot on startup.
it's possible this will allow full heat up so the stove runs as it should.
it will take some time for the auger channel to fill at the increased volume after doing this.


and of course the usual "is the venting clear" including the outlet from the combustion blower into the pipe.

these are just kind of generic suggestions, but it is sometimes amazing what just cleaning everything can do.

i'm not assuming you haven't cleaned the venting, but those are the two things i would do first for a start up problem that doesn't seem to have an obvious cause.

 

another thing i've had happen that caused ignition issues, is that sawdust built up at the top of the auger channel, and that closed down the size of the opening to the drop chute.
this happened partway into the 4th season of the stove's life.
i cleared it away and full flow returned.
iirc, i poked a wire up there, but also blew air through a tube to fully clear the deposit.
if you use air, you probably should disconnect the vacuum line as the opening to the vacuum switch is in that general area and positive pressure can damage the switch fairly easily.

you could just pull the auger, but that is a pain without decoupling the motor from the auger itself (though i have managed it)
as i said, i was successful just poking and then blowing air to clear the build up.

i know little about diagnosing/fixing thermostat issues, so if the problem lies there i have no suggestions.
hope you get this worked out.
failure to start has been an issue i've had w/ the heatilator a couple of times, and that's where my suggestions come from.

 

I am wondering if when you manually turn up the heat on the thermostat that it only holds that temp momentarily, telling the stove to start up. Then, the stat goes back to being satisfied, not calling for heat. And the stove goes directly into shut down. Right after the startup sequence.

 

And also wondering if the resetting tricks the controller temporarily and has it running in manual mode until it hears from the tstat again.

 

He should be able to tell and see if the call light is on through the startup process.

 

Thanks for all of the input. I pulled the thermocoupler, cleaned it and secured it back in place. The wire did seem a bit loose and there was quite a bit of ash inside it. I also opened up the feed gate. I ran the stove through two startup cycles and it seems to be working so far.