Timber Ridge 55-trpah issue

[bond1973]

I pretty much did just that. I removed those wires so I didn't mess them up. As for the vacuum... he had me change the hose from gray to black and change one of the wires.

 

[Shannon Hackenberg]

Great glad it worked for you and hope what he told you do works

 

[bond1973]

He's tried to call me back this morning to check on me, but I've been busy a lot lately spending quality time with my snowblower. It's a pain in the arse getting through to their support, but things like calling me back after hours last night and calling to check on me this morning...definitely a positive thing...since I'm not entirely enthused with the stove itself thus far. I think I've just been spoiled by my Heatilator... lol

 

[Shannon Hackenberg]

Yes agreed can be a pain with getting through to them but I have had them call me after hours,how is the stove working?I wasnt very happy my first year either now I would buy another one

 

[bond1973]

I had it set to 7/7 last night, for a while, to heat it up downstairs (newly finished room in our raised ranch) and then dropped it to 4/5 or 3/4 overnight...room was 68 this morning until my wife closed the door to the still unfinished side of the basement and the temp in the finished room made its way up to 75. Fire seems to be burning well, blower was blowing...seems good. Still don't think it was necessarily the change in settings...or if it was...I fear the actual problem "catching up" and rearing its ugly head again. Wondering if cleaning out the auger/hopper had anything to do with it....and/or all the jiggling around of stuff while working on it. I don't know. Glad it's running good now.

I am hoping I'll just get used to the stove and be happy with it. My upstairs stove has been SO easy (probably too easy) and doesn't need nearly as much cleaning, so I'm a bit biased for now. Everytime a problem crops up I think "I'm selling it this summer/fall and buying another Heatilator damnit"...we'll see. Again...such excellent support is a reason to hang in there with it.

 

[Shannon Hackenberg]

Ya I hear seems funny that it ran all the time really well and you did not have change the settings,I still say its a the vacum switch,one thing I like about this stove one switch thats it most englanders have 2,anyways wish you the best of luck to you nice talking to you about it and do not worry first year I had mine I was very close to just smashing the hell out of it with a sledge hammer lol.All good know

 

[bond1973]

Wasn't the settings... doing it again. I can't afford all the time off from work to keep calling support on this damn stove...

 

[slvrblkk]

You could temporarily jump out the vacuum switch just to take that out of the equation.

 

[bond1973]

It did start running well after the last incident... not sure if a bad vacuum switch would/could be so intermittent. Cleaning it all out again... dropping the auger again and cleaning that out. Wondering if the pellets I'm using have too much sawdust mixed in clogging it up... once again there were incidents where I hear the auger turning properly but numerous turns go by with minimum pellets.

 

[MaryH]

Start from scratch?

Empty the hopper. Vacuum out fines. Throw a hand full of pellets in, and see if it feeds proper.Sift pellets "this time" to rule that out. If it's windy out, just drop them down into a bucket, and let the wind blow away the dust.
Leaf blower the exhaust - beat on the metal plates, while doing so. The fines clog the exhaust A LOT.. We got some crappy pellets recently, that we had to leaf blower every 5 bags (glad they are gone)
"Dollar bill test" the door gasket.
Remove the convection blower (reuse gasket), clean the fins, and vacuum the convection passageways

"I have removed the auger once because I had a problem with the pellets backing up and jamming in there...that time I could hear the auger wasn't turning fully"

It was jammed with "something". Fiines, most likely...but could be some overly long pellets, got stuck in the auger tube.

*edit to add...maybe something is still stuck in the tube?

 

[CladMaster]

In the bottom of the hopper, is there a plate with a screw in it ? If so, this adjusts the fuel (pellets) being feed into the auger, it's a manual fuel feed adjustment plate. The bigger the opening, the more fuel is allowed to be fed into the auger.

 

[bond1973]

Cleaned it all out... pulled the auger and cleaned that, put it all back together and am awaiting flame now... fingers crossed.

To anyone with this stove... are you using big box pellets or stove shoppe pellets? What is your daily/weekly cleaning procedure, if you don't mind sharing.

Thanks All

 

[MaryH]

Cleaned it all out... pulled the auger and cleaned that, put it all back together and am awaiting flame now... fingers crossed.

To anyone with this stove... are you using big box pellets or stove shoppe pellets? What is your daily/weekly cleaning procedure, if you don't mind sharing.

Thanks All

Leaf blower...did you?

Our stove HATES crappy pellets...whether they come from a box store, or a stove shop. The fines kill it.

Got 10 bags of Presto-logs tonight,from K-mart, and scooped the Freedoms Pellets out (all we could get last week) the stove is running clean, and HOT, once again, on the Prestos.

With the Freedoms ( that came from a stove shop), the ash pan was full daily, and the only way the stove would run, was leaf blowering it almost daily. It WAS the pellets..rough handling, or they suck, really means nothing at this point in time - we'll mix them for when it gets warmer. They got us through "that" shortage.


Normal cleaning, is dump the ash pan every few days (depending on weather, and stove settings), and leaf blower/ vac out the stove, every half ton.

We do beat the crap out of it, while leaf blowing, it jars the ash, from the turns, in the passageways - and you can see the crap come of the vacs exhaust.

Automotive vacuum hose, adapted to the ash vacuum, stuffed as far into all the nooks and crannies gets a lot too, but the leaf blower gets out what you can't get to with that.

 

[bond1973]

I haven't leaf blowered it. I have a leaf blower... not sure if it works or if it has the right attachment...unfortunately I may have crazy expectations due to how fantastic my other stove has been the past 2 or 3 years. Damn close to putting this stove on Craigslist and spending the extra for another of what I already have. Wasted my one family night, 3 hours, AGAIN on this stove. Anyway...I don't know if it's running down there or not. Afraid to go look. Thanks for all the responses.

 

[MaryH]

I'd suspect your exhaust is clogged, at least partially, from some bad pellets.

We never even considered fines, in our stove, until the last month, when the different brands of pellets we got, were loaded with them.

I think you will be happy with the stove again, like we are, once the exhaust way is cleared, and you are using good pellets.

"SOME" stoves, have zero problems with fines, or even sub-par pellets....

 

[bond1973]

Well... just checked on it before heading to bed.... it's running... not sure it's 100%, but it went from 51 degrees a couple hours ago to now 63 degrees down there. I will bust out and check out my leaf blower and Google the process. Thanks again to the helpful people out there.

 

[Polar Bear]

Cleaned it all out... pulled the auger and cleaned that, put it all back together and am awaiting flame now... fingers crossed.

To anyone with this stove... are you using big box pellets or stove shoppe pellets? What is your daily/weekly cleaning procedure, if you don't mind sharing.

Thanks All

I attempted to use big box store pellets at the start of the year with little success. The stove was cursing me for trying to save a quarter, so I listened. Bought a premium <0.4% ash softwood pellet and haven't looked back.

 

[Polar Bear]

Not very noticeable, but apparently. Tested the vacuum sensor and thermal sensor... have another question now for those familiar. It was suggested to take the auger right out...I couldn't as the OAK tube was in the way...any trick to removing it? I could only drop it down.

My buddy is looking into a Timber Ridge from Canadian Tire. Your thoughts? User friendly?
Is it essentially a Summer's Heat or Englander?

 

[bond1973]

Same company makes Englander, Summer's Heat and Timber Ridge. When it works it works well. Mine's causing me a lot of grief, but from what I've read about pellet stoves the experience can vary greatly depending upon many factors. I got mine online, new add a scratch / dent at amfmenergy.com. I'm certainly finishing our the season with it.... see what happens after that. There are people happy with them, in this thread even... just hoping I get the hang of this thing soon.

 

[bond1973]

So... just wanted to come back and update this. I ended up contacting woodpeckers.com and got some better quality pellets. The stove has been running much better since then. I haven't had to pull the auger since and clean that out and I haven't had to pull the inner plates and clean in those locations every couple of days. First time I got some LG's then started getting Cleaned Pacific. Still getting E2's at startup when I DO have to shut it down, but the pure hell u was experiencing has passed. Thank you all for your time and assistance.

 

[Lake Girl]

Pellet quality does make a big difference. With hardwood pellets in my stove, I have to open the hopper and stir the pellets to settle them so they don't bridge. Glad you're having better luck with the stove now... with better pellets!