Englander 10 CPM pellet feed problem?

My CPM is starting to behave in an odd manner. Since I installed the SCF 050, the CPM has been my "shoulder" stove. I use it on cool days where I don't need the furnace running 24/7, and I use it on the ultra cold days when the furnace isn't enough. I've probably burned about 70 bags of pellets total in it this year.

The last few days I've been having trouble with it at start up. It's on a sky tech 3301P thermostat, and off/on mode. It starts up, igniter ignites pellets, goes into whatever settings I have it at, and then stops feeding pellets momentarily. A minute or two or three later, it starts feeding pellets again. I've caught it in the act twice, and it's started feeding pellets again within a minute.

However, there have been multiple instances where it apparently stopped feeding enough to let the fire go out, but then started feeding pellets again. I got home from work today to a cool house, a stove that was slightly warm to the touch, and a burnpot full of unburnt pellets. No ash, nothing.

Once it gets through the start up phase it runs perfect. No problems. It ran most of the weekend, and it ran all evening and night last night without an issue. I'm typically running at level 3 or 4 (of 9). The auger motor is a little over a year old, and not making any funny noises.

Thoughts?

 

Hmmm...your vacuum switch might be on it's way out.....as long as you know your stove and vent are clean it could be pointing to this. If you toasted 70 bags and haven't cleaned it, that might be your problem too. The only way to check the switch is to jump it or replace it. If you are going to temporarily jump it to test it, you need to unplug the stove before you do anything.

Have you changed pellet brands?

 

Clean the area behind where the temperature probe is attached along with the rest of the system.

 

I'm pretty sure it's not a dirty stove. It's been cleaned regularly even with light usage. I've been burning Sets all winter, and this batch seems pretty ashy, so I'm having to clean on a regular basis to keep the window clean.

I'll look into the vacuum switch.

Temp probe? I wasn't aware that the CPM had one. Then again, I learn something new every day.

 

Good point Dex....that could have just enough ash in it to make the stove act up...

Check the vac tube too, make sure there are no cracks and that the ends are good where they slip on.

 

It has to have one (to tell the convection system it has a fire going and it is time to turn on the convection blower or it no longer has a fire, etc...) it is on the exhaust side IIRC but Pete can correct me if I'm miss remembering what he told me earlier this season when I needed to know where it was so someone could clean behind it (ashed up it was).

 

mithesaint

Temp "probe" is actually the copper fitting with the white covering on the wire....it goes from the control board to the top of the exhaust plenum.

As for the flaky pellet feed, double check your vac switch connections, and also give the vac port in the firebox a good toothpick cleaning & stick a vac hose over it to suck it clean. If it still acts funny, temporarily connect the vac switch leads together and start it up....if it acts fine, the switch is flaky.

Also, check the exhaust and do a deep clean on the stove & pipe.....not enough airflow can cause low temps in the exhaust and cause the temp "probe" to tell the control board that there's no "proof of fire" and cuts off the auger so burnpot doesn't overflow.

 

I'm pretty sure it's not a dirty stove problem. I know, everyone says that in late February. I pulled the blower and cleaned the vent and behind the plates about 20 bags ago, and it's burning fine, so I don't think it's dirty.

Trouble shooting is tough because it doesn't it every time. It was only happening every 3rd or 4th start up.

My ignitor was starting to take longer than normal to start a fire, so I pulled that out and replaced it, cleaned up the pipe, and reattached the vacuum hose. So far it's started up three times and worked perfectly all three times. We'll see.

 

Remember, that stove has steel firebox walls. After you remove the fake firebrick, you can give the back wall some real good bangs with a hammer.....I used to get a LOT of baked-on ash falling down to those trap doors.

 

Unless the pellets had a lot of moisture, any brand should light about the same.

The 10-cpm is a multi-fuel stove, and the ignitor is designed to ignite anything you throw in the hopper. I burned pellets (even the worst Infernos), straight corn, grass pellets, grass/wood pellets, and coffee pellets....they ALL ignited w/o any issue.

But I did have an ignitor that, after 3 yrs, only got hot on 1/2 it's length. It still lit the stove, but it took a long time. A new one had ignition in about 1 1/2 minutes.

 

That is fast

 

Stove lit normally again overnight. That's four times in a row...

 

Five times. Better stop counting. I'll jinx myself, and it's cold out.

 

mithesaint , how's the stove doing today?

 

6 times. I probably better stop counting. Gonna get REALLY cold tomorrow night. Double digit negative temps, but this time the wind will be blowing. We've been cold before, but it wasn't windy those times. Looks like we're gonna have some serious windchills later this week.

Not sure if it was the ignitor, or the tube cleaning, or reattaching the vacuum tube, but she's behaving for now.

 

%#$&(&#@!!!! It stopped feeding overnight, fire went out, resumed feeding, and I woke up to a burn pot full of fresh pellets.

The vacuum switch is now bypassed. We'll see how it goes.