OMG I am really starting to hate my Austroflamm Pellet Stove.

  • Active since 1995, Hearth.com is THE place on the internet for free information and advice about wood stoves, pellet stoves and other energy saving equipment.

    We strive to provide opinions, articles, discussions and history related to Hearth Products and in a more general sense, energy issues.

    We promote the EFFICIENT, RESPONSIBLE, CLEAN and SAFE use of all fuels, whether renewable or fossil.
  • Hope everyone has a wonderful and warm Thanksgiving!
  • Super Cedar firestarters 30% discount Use code Hearth2024 Click here
Status
Not open for further replies.
You have a blockage in your stove exhaust is not coming out you got plenty air from your motor exhausted and going out you got a blockage if you blow out your stove it'll work
My stove is when exact same thing start up it was fine because it start up it use a lot Air
 
My stove is when exact same thing start up it was fine because it start up it use a lot Air
Damn talk texting , when it starts up it uses less air then when it goes through the motions the exhaust can't get out
 
I dealt with a similar problem last year on the same model stove, turned out to be a failing hall sensor on the combustion blower. Gotta replace threshold blower assembly fer that ones do it pricey.
What is this threshold blower assembly you are talking about? Do you just mean the Combustion Fan it's self?
 
I have blown my stove out 3 X within 2 weeks using the leave blower on suction. I have completely dissembled and CLEANED CLEANED CLEANED. All the fans, the air sensor, the ports all the holes the exhaust pipe. Installed an OAK. Removed the back plates in fire box cleaned all back there. That stove hates me. LOL Replaced the main board, replaced the air sensor. replaced the combustion fan, ok i know a lot of money spent but like I said earlier I do like the stove and plan to keep and use it for years so the money is not all wasted and I have replacement parts now right :) Nothing changed.After start up Horrible tall lazy sooty flame with eventual pellet pile up.

I found a work around that I am using now. Put a fan behind stove redirected OAK from outside air to air blown into tube from fan. This works quite well. Still not perfect but no more lazy sooty flame. No more pellet pile ups only thing I can see now is the flame is dark orange when it should be a brighter color right? I know it is not a permanent solution but danged if I can figure out what to do next. Actually I do have gasket material on order from car masters and will replace the large gaskets under the backing plates. That's it I am stuck and now that I have a work around it is not a pressing major priority. Although I surely do want to master this Austroflamm and get it fixed right!

I absolutely appreciate every thought, idea, and answer on this thread. Any ideas about why that work-around works? what would make that work? The fan is just directed at the tube not forced into it or anything. I put a medium paper cup on the end of tube to gather a bit more air but it still is just setting in front of fan.
 
I have blown my stove out 3 X within 2 weeks using the leave blower on suction. I have completely dissembled and CLEANED CLEANED CLEANED. All the fans, the air sensor, the ports all the holes the exhaust pipe. Installed an OAK. Removed the back plates in fire box cleaned all back there. That stove hates me. LOL Replaced the main board, replaced the air sensor. replaced the combustion fan, ok i know a lot of money spent but like I said earlier I do like the stove and plan to keep and use it for years so the money is not all wasted and I have replacement parts now right :) Nothing changed.After start up Horrible tall lazy sooty flame with eventual pellet pile up.

I found a work around that I am using now. Put a fan behind stove redirected OAK from outside air to air blown into tube from fan. This works quite well. Still not perfect but no more lazy sooty flame. No more pellet pile ups only thing I can see now is the flame is dark orange when it should be a brighter color right? I know it is not a permanent solution but danged if I can figure out what to do next. Actually I do have gasket material on order from car masters and will replace the large gaskets under the backing plates. That's it I am stuck and now that I have a work around it is not a pressing major priority. Although I surely do want to master this Austroflamm and get it fixed right!

I absolutely appreciate every thought, idea, and answer on this thread. Any ideas about why that work-around works? what would make that work? The fan is just directed at the tube not forced into it or anything. I put a medium paper cup on the end of tube to gather a bit more air but it still is just setting in front of fan.

Can you hear the combustion fan speed up and slow down when it's running? I wonder if the there is a broken wire in hall sensor circuit between the fan and the control board? That stove should run correctly if the exhaust path is clear and you have a new main board and combustion fan. Just throwing it out there as there just aren't that many things that should cause this. Still sounds like there isn't enough air flow and that is either caused by the combustion fan going too slow or some kind of blockage....but we've ruled that out, right? ;)

In particular, if you have your "forced air induction" external fan pushing air in, the air sensor should see the "extra" air flow and tell the combustion fan to slow down. I use the ceramic 1/8" sheet from McMaster-Carr for my stove. Be aware that it is flimsy and you might get a couple of deep cleanings out of it before it falls apart. It's cheap, so no big deal.
 
The only time I believe I hear any change in the combustion fan is when I restart the stove. It seems to speed up then or at least the air speeds up and makes a nice FAST short bright flame. I have not stood right there and observed the fan to see if it speeds up and slows down. When ever I do look it looks the same speed every time. Soon as start up is over I do not ever hear any change in fan. I also believe yes I have cleaned that stove top to bottom multiple times. I do not know where a blockage could possibly be that I have not poked, prodded, vacuumed, blown, brushed out or used the leaf blower trick on. All gaskets seem tight and fine dollar bill trick on door too. No clinkers or at least very little. If I do not use my "forced air induction" work around the fire pot will pile up pellets.

The broken wire you are wondering about in hall sensor circuit between the fan and the control board must not be on the combustion fan wiring right? Because with a new combustion fan installed that would have taken care of that. So where would I check for that broken wire?

I just received my roll of ceramic 1/8" sheet from McMasters. do you double it or just go single layer?
 
The only time I believe I hear any change in the combustion fan is when I restart the stove. It seems to speed up then or at least the air speeds up and makes a nice FAST short bright flame. I have not stood right there and observed the fan to see if it speeds up and slows down. When ever I do look it looks the same speed every time. Soon as start up is over I do not ever hear any change in fan. I also believe yes I have cleaned that stove top to bottom multiple times. I do not know where a blockage could possibly be that I have not poked, prodded, vacuumed, blown, brushed out or used the leaf blower trick on. All gaskets seem tight and fine dollar bill trick on door too. No clinkers or at least very little. If I do not use my "forced air induction" work around the fire pot will pile up pellets.

The broken wire you are wondering about in hall sensor circuit between the fan and the control board must not be on the combustion fan wiring right? Because with a new combustion fan installed that would have taken care of that. So where would I check for that broken wire?

I just received my roll of ceramic 1/8" sheet from McMasters. do you double it or just go single layer?

I just use a single layer. It seems to work fine.

The combustion fan has motor leads and hall sensor leads, correct? Looking at the tech manual, there are four wires for the motor/capacitor (one is a ground) and two wires for the hall sensor with a separate plug. The wires I would check are the hall sensor wires. The wiring would be between the fan motor and the circuit card. Did the fan come with a pigtail that goes all the way to the circuit board? Sorry I can't look at mine, it's about 1000 miles away.
 
Not sure if this tech manual has been posted yet or not. If not, enjoy.....and be careful please. Lots of good info in this manual. Pull up a chair next to your stove and look it over.
 

Attachments

1992 Austroflamm Integra.........Today I meticulously cleaned the pellet stove AGAIN! took out backing plates vacuumed brushed everywhere in there. New gasket on lower plate. I had just cleaned the motors a couple weeks go so did not do them this time. Scrubbed the heat tubes with a brush and vacuum then used a tooth brush for more thorough cleaning. Used a coat hanger to get at the square holes behind the tubes all of them. Vacuumed the round tube that leads to the square holes used flash light to check them...clean.. Brushed out vent pipe then decided to change it by removing the 5' horizontal length replaced it with 3' from back of stove to end cap. Did leaf blower trick. not much came out but let it run for a good 3 mins anyway. Nothing changed flame still lazy and too tall.

1. replaced main board (joe)
2. replaced air sensor
3. replaced both snap disks
4. replaced combustion motor & gasket (jason)
5. replaced backing plate gasket
6. air pot full clockwise pellet rate full counter clockwise
7. installed oak or no oak makes no difference
8. cleaned that saustoflamm way too often the foxfire upstairs is a way better running stove

Austroflamm has very nice short active flame during start up cycle, soon as it hits the 15 (approx) minute mark it goes Lazy Tall sooty. This is getting to be a fight now between me and that stove I will get the better of it and WIN lol I swear I will.

Below is a photo of the flame at about 20 minutes after starting it will stay that way the whole time stove is burning. Never gets any better well that is unless I turn it off and do the start up cycle again then its great for about 15 mins.

Whats left? Hall sensor? what is it? Where is it should I change it?
 

Attachments

  • [Hearth.com] OMG I am really starting to hate my Austroflamm Pellet Stove.
    too.webp
    5.3 KB · Views: 239
Last edited:
1992 Austroflamm Integra.........Today I meticulously cleaned the pellet stove AGAIN! took out backing plates vacuumed brushed everywhere in there. New gasket on lower plate. I had just cleaned the motors a couple weeks go so did not do them this time. Scrubbed the heat tubes with a brush and vacuum then used a tooth brush for more thorough cleaning. Used a coat hanger to get at the square holes behind the tubes all of them. Vacuumed the round tube that leads to the square holes used flash light to check them...clean.. Brushed out vent pipe then decided to change it by removing the 5' horizontal length replaced it with 3' from back of stove to end cap. Did leaf blower trick. not much came out but let it run for a good 3 mins anyway. Nothing changed flame still lazy and too tall.

1. replaced main board (joe)
2. replaced air sensor
3. replaced both snap disks
4. replaced combustion motor & gasket (jason)
5. replaced backing plate gasket
6. air pot full clockwise pellet rate full counter clockwise
7. installed oak or no oak makes no difference
8. cleaned that saustoflamm way too often the foxfire upstairs is a way better running stove

Austroflamm has very nice short active flame during start up cycle, soon as it hits the 15 (approx) minute mark it goes Lazy Tall sooty. This is getting to be a fight now between me and that stove I will get the better of it and WIN lol I swear I will.

Below is a photo of the flame at about 20 minutes after starting it will stay that way the whole time stove is burning. Never gets any better well that is unless I turn it off and do the start up cycle again then its great for about 15 mins.

Whats left? Hall sensor? what is it? Where is it should I change it?

There are two sets of wires coming off the combustion motor 2 blue and 1 yellow (one set) and the other set has 3 wires going into a Molex (?) connector(red, black and white.) This connector has a male fitting. Each set of wires is wrapped in rubber coming out of motor.
Both sets pigtail into a capacitor.
2 blue/1 yellow go to terminal block
the one with connector fits in the female end going to circuit board.
Here is a pic of (broken link removed to https://stovesandspas.com/product/austroflamm-integra-combustionexhaust-blower-102831/)
For the time being I would re-adjust the air and auger settings back to 12 o'clock and measure the voltage to both should be 2.5 v dc on each

What setting are you on after startup?
 
Last edited:
RP,

I don't see where you answered a question from a couple of pages ago. A question was asked about whether you checked to make sure the auger motor is a 1 RPM motor. Some auger motors are 2 RPM and it's possible it was changed at some point. They look the same but that would double your fuel feed rate and probably make it uncontrollable. From looking at the troubleshooting section of the Tech Manual I posted above, a broken Hall sensor wire would make the combustion fan run faster, not too slow. It's worth a look anyway. If you haven't downloaded that Tech Manual I posted above, do yourself a favor and print it out. It's for your vintage stove and is something you should have handy. It shows where to check for voltages and gives you the correct ranges. It doesn't make sense to poke and hope when you have the troubleshooting document and flow charts. Also, did you check to make sure the jumper is still in place for the t-stat connections? I can't remember if you did that. It sounds like the start-up sequence is good but when it hands off to the run program and sensors to run the stove it stumbles.
 
FWIW When I replaced my auger motor I put in a 1.1 RPM although I can see where a 2rpm would not be good.
 
FWIW When I replaced my auger motor I put in a 1.1 RPM although I can see where a 2rpm would not be good.
I don't think 1.1 would be a problem, I think that is what was supplied from the factory. 2:1 could be bad and I know some stoves use 2:1 on their auger motors. St. Croix and Englander come to mind.
 
This is sounding like a circuit board issue or a vacuum/pressure switch thing.

First off, get the sides off so you can see Wasssssup.

Make sure the combustion fan turns easily.
If thew motor has oil holes, lube it with light weight synthetic oil (0-20 synth motor oil)
Fire up and then watch the exhaust fan.
This stove should have a vacuum switch that measures vacuum at the fire box.

Trace any rubber lines back to the fire box and make sure they are clean (As in blow through them)
Make sure the vacuum switch is working (test with vom and suck lightly on the hose to close the switch)

If these seem OK then refire the stove and watch the draft fan.

Very well could be that the draft fan is slowing down as it heats up and is stopping, thus shutting down the stove.

Good luck

Snowy
 
Connect an AC voltmeter to the combustion motor terminals during a startup sequence and report back with what your voltage is before and after the flame changes from lively yellow flame to sooty long lazy flame.

When I have seem this in the past, the combustion fan was cutting out and causing the flame to go lazy.

It wasn't intuitive though because the fan rotor was still spinning (you could see it spinning), not under it's own power though. The flame and combustion gases were actually spinning the fan rotor in the exhaust stream. The stove won't burn right though and won't sustain combustion.
 
If you haven't fixed your stove yet it sounds like the air sensor. I have three of the Austroflamm Integras between by house and my shop and got them all used and needing work. In the process of learning I once installed the air sensor backwards and it caused a similar problem. The small plug with four wires can be put on backwards also if you don't look at it carefully.
 
Snowey, Circuit board and air sensor have been replaced. There are no vacuum tubes in this unit air is regulated by electronic air sensor
I am thinking along the lines of skibumm that something is not connected correctly on the terminal block either the thermostat jumper between terminals is not connected. or missing or there i where is another wire(s) to the terminal block are not in the right place or a crimped/ damaged wire somewhere..
Ranch packer could you take a pic of your terminal block removed to show your connections from the combustion motor /convection side??
 
I have a stove like this sitting in my shop, but have not messed with it as yet, so I have no hands on experience with the model.

I am still thinking that the issue is the exhaust fan.
 
Make sure the air sensor is installed facing this direction as in this picture and the plug has the white wire to the front of the stove. When you changed the air sensor was it with a new or used one. The air sensor can cause the combustion fan to run very slow. If your stove is warm and in operational mode, after startup and you have a lazy flame, try unplugging the air sensor. That should cause the combustion fan to take off and run much faster. If so, I think the problem is in the air sensor or the wires and/or connectors for the sensor.
 

Attachments

  • [Hearth.com] OMG I am really starting to hate my Austroflamm Pellet Stove.
    DSCF4551.webp
    120.4 KB · Views: 330
Last edited:
Status
Not open for further replies.