Cab50 not feeding

[scoggins]

Had a problem with my cab50 recently. It pumped out a lot of smoke, the inside of the firebox including the glass went black. Once it had cooled down I opened the door and noticed the thermocouple protector was broken.

I ordered a replacement thermocouple and protector from Amazon and replaced the broken ones in the stove. Yes, I would/should have got OEM parts from a dealer but I’m in northern BC and was going to take 2-3 weeks to get parts. Amazon was 5 days.

I replaced the thermocouple and protector today. The stove lights and drops pellets but does not continue to drop pellets. The control box has a constant red light (I don’t see a green light). It flashes blue twice every now and again, this is normal.

The thermocouple is all the way inside the protector (touching the end), the thermocouple couple protector is longer than the one I replaced so it’s fully in the burn pot.

I checked the #2 snap disc and have continuity. The auger is feeding pellets when I push the reset. Exhaust blower turns on also. Convection blower comes on if I feed enough pellets with the reset button. Thermostat is open all the way.

I’m thinking the Amazon parts I picked up are wrong or it’s a reverse polarity issue with the thermocouple. Any different ideas out there before I go playing with the wiring?

 

[Ssyko]

Swap the connectors for the thermocouple. Aftermarket have been known to be reversed

 

[scoggins]

Swap the connectors for the thermocouple. Aftermarket have been known to be reversed

Thanks for the response. I swapped the connectors and now have a flashing orange light that indicates a bad thermocouple.

Swapped them back, and flashing orange light has gone. Still not feeding pellets.

Can a thermocouple be too far into the burn pot? There’s at least 1.5” overhang.

 

[stovelark]

So, are you saying that with thermostat turned up, you get a red call light and the stove will not start its cycle? But if you hit the reset button, the exhaust blower will come on, it'll drop pellets and ignite, warm up and the convection blower comes on, and will continue to feed or not? The blue lights on the control board tells you the position the control board is in. You never see the green light on the board indicating 200 deg thermocouple reading and red light indicating 600 deg burnpot temp? If not, could be the control board...

 

[scoggins]

So, are you saying that with thermostat turned up, you get a red call light and the stove will not start its cycle? But if you hit the reset button, the exhaust blower will come on, it'll drop pellets and ignite, warm up and the convection blower comes on, and will continue to feed or not? The blue lights on the control board tells you the position the control board is in. You never see the green light on the board indicating 200 deg thermocouple reading and red light indicating 600 deg burnpot temp? If not, could be the control board...

So, are you saying that with thermostat turned up, you get a red call light and the stove will not start its cycle?

correct

But if you hit the reset button, the exhaust blower will come on, it'll drop pellets and ignite, warm up and the convection blower comes on, and will continue to feed or not?

Does not continue to feed

The blue lights on the control board tells you the position the control board is in. You never see the green light on the board indicating 200 deg thermocouple reading and red light indicating 600 deg burnpot temp?

blue lights are on. Red light is on. No green light.

If not, could be the control board...

I’ll try to get the one set of folks in town who still deal with pellet stoves to come take a look.

 

[stovelark]

Sorry to hear you're having issues. One thing I did not ask, did you try and bypass the vacuum switch? How long since the exhaust path has been cleaned? It doesn't sound like that's the issue but I'd clean the exhaust motors and path just to rule that out as the culprit... Stay warm.

 

[scoggins]

Sorry to hear you're having issues. One thing I did not ask, did you try and bypass the vacuum switch? How long since the exhaust path has been cleaned? It doesn't sound like that's the issue but I'd clean the exhaust motors and path just to rule that out as the culprit... Stay warm.

Thanks, I appreciate your responses. I could have a go at the vacuum bypass. Not sure how to go about doing that.

 

[stovelark]

I like your enthusiasm, but be careful there's AC on the wires going to the vacuum switch. You can jumper the two wires, put a paper clip in between, but ensure power is off doing that, and do not let them touch ground. You're taking the vac sw out of the circuit, so just do that momentarily for testing. The vac sw is a safety mechanism, not allowing feeding of pellets if exhaust path is blocked. Good luck, stay warm.