I am the proud owner of a Whitfield Pellet stove, purchased in Aug. 1997.  After 4 years of use, being on constantly from November to March each year twenty four hours a day, one day the stove stopped running.  I tried to resolve the problem.  There were pellets in the hopper, power to the stove and the RED "heat" lights were on and the RED feed light would blink on and off every few seconds.  I also heard the motor run every time the RED feed light would to go on.  I emptied the feeder and watched the action of the feeder screw.  The motor would hum for the 4 seconds but the screw would not turn. I could turn the auger forward and back a bit, so the auger didn't seem to be jammed by anything. (I later found out the motor/auger is not bolted to anything and I was turning the whole assembly.  So a pellet or other item could have become stuck between the auger and tube)  It was February and cold and needed the warmth so I checked the tech page at the Whitfield web site (now owned by Lennox, that should keep the Pellet Stove department viable for years to come).  No help but the basics I already tried.  Their page stated that you should call a "professional" to resolve any other problems. The stove was installed by myself after years of having a standard fireplace, then a coal stove and now this pellet stove.  It was also a Sunday, no one to call and ask.

Update - 12-'03: Your Whitfield pellet stove runs for only 30 min. then turns off even with pellets burning in the pot. Easy fix!  Need a "low heat temp" switch.  Gotta have heat.  You can (for a couple of days) jump over the switch screwed on the exhaust fan to keep the stove running until the part arrives.   Click here to see photos of how to do this (assuming you have tools, knowledge and the replacement part)

Personal thoughts: I get a number of E-mails about dead control panels.  If you see my story, I have my pellet stove plugged into a UPS for back-up power.  I am also thinking it has protected the control panel (about $280 + ) from various voltage surges.  So my suggestion. Buy a $60 - $90 + or so UPS and plug the pellet stove into it. A standard "surge strip" has a $2 part in them.  The UPS will have a very nice voltage filter PLUS if the power goes for a second or 5 minutes, this will protect the control panel from various electrical problems. Plus it will give you a few minutes of backup should the lights go out for a minute or two.  Remember, the stove will expel smoke if the power is out even for 2 seconds.

This is an image of an electrical circuit to a Winrich Pellet stove.  More information then Whitfield ever gave.  From this image you can see they also have heat sensors for high and low cut off.  This is for reference only.  The scan is not so good.

Link to Wood Pellet Stove parts for various models

1.  I realized that the motor and electronics were working.  The two blower fans worked, the dual purpose of forcing air through the heat tubes (provides heat to the room) and pulling air out of the top of the stove to the exhaust tube (negative pressure).  I saw the RED feed LED (light) would go on and off. This is basically an electronic board that turns on and off a small feed motor (120 volts - warning!) that is geared down and turns a feeder screw that pushes pellets into the fuel chamber. The feeder screw only makes a turn or two each time the light is on. The longer the light is on the more it turns and feeds more fuel. The electronic board (priced about $250) just creates an closed circuit to the small motor depending on the number of RED heat lights on.  On only one heat light and every 10 seconds the feeder screw would make a 1/2 turn pushing in just 4 or 5 pellets.   My pellet stove has heat setting up to five lights.  On five, the feed LED light would go on and off every two second, pushing in many pellets.  You would need the GREEN blower light on a very high number to keep up with the heat setting on five or the safety electronics would turn in and stop power to the feeder.  An external thermostat works differently, it turns the feed and blower to low until the thermostat calls for heat again and the control panel returns to the previous settings.  More on that later.  If your "over heat" switch is broken (red label switch by back center - should be closed and provide a circuit below 200 degrees or so) your feeder motor will not get power, it seems directly wired to the motor circuit.  Jump that and see if the motor feed.  THAT "OVER HEAT SWITCH" NEEDS TO STAY UNJUMPED - get a replacement.

2.  If your heat lights (or dial) are up above two and after pressing the feed light and the feed LED does not continue blink, your high heat safety sensor could be broken.  In the back of the stove, bottom center.  It is a bi-metal switch that, when heated to a certain degree, will change from the "open" circuit (over fire) to closed circuit until the temperature is lowered.  So this sensor will have two wire connection to allow electricity to flow to the feeder motor.  Sometimes after years of use they could break. Basically it is the same thing used in a coffee maker.  When this bi-metal element gets to a certain temperature, it turns off the hot plate until it cools and turns on again keeping the coffee to a certain temperature for hours.  Over the years I have not heard from anyone about the "over heat" switch going. It's not like the "low heat" switch always going on and off with starting the stove.

3. Repair of my problem was my next adventure.  I pulled off the exhaust pipe, pulled the outside air tube to the bottom of the floor ( I have outside air, actually crawl space air, feeding the stove from a floor opening from a former fireplace) and moved the stove around to get to the back.   I'm trying to remember here, as this repair was done last year.  I did not photograph the repair, I was in a hurry and for some reason did not have film that day. (days before digital !)  Not good for a photo nut not to have film.    I removed the center back steel plate.  It's just a number of screws, the back slides up and out so you really don't need to remove the screws.  From that vantage point I could see the feeder motor, the feeder screw.  It's not anything fancy, just a small impedance motor (no brushes to wear out) that I could see spin when the feed light when on.  I turned on the stove without the exhaust pipe connected.  MAKE SURE YOU BLOCK THE EXHAUST PIPE OR ASH WILL FLY EVERYWHERE WHEN YOU TURN ON THE STOVE!
    Without any heat the stove will turn on for 30 minutes until the control panel checks a heat sensor that close a bi-metal switch (if the fire is hot enough) to ON making contact to the circuit board to continue to run the fan.  This is how the stove starts without a fire for those first 30 minutes.  If the fire does not start or the fuel runs out, this switch senses "no heat" and does not continue the exhaust power.  Should your starter fire not get hot enough, a room full of smoke! How nice.  I usually have a chunk of fire starter stick and a half a hand of pellets to start the stove.  That works every time.   If your stove turns on, feeds and turns off (fan) when a good fire is still going and the stove starts to "smoke" , that is your problem.  It's a bi-metal safety switch not turning on to continue the control panel.  There is a safety feature like this on your gas and oil burner.  The gas burner safety is by the flame of the water heater or furnace.  No heat and that sensor cuts off the gas switch after you push the "ignite" button.  On an oil system a sensor checks after a number of seconds, when there is a call for heat, if heat is coming from the furnace.  If not it shuts down as not to spray oil all over the place.  Furnace turns on with a timer, the bi-metal switch gets hot and keeps the furnace running, no heat and the furnace goes into safety shut down where you have to reset the furnace sensor.  This was not my problem, just explaining another one that the pellet stove could display.  If the feed shuts OFF after a medium to high fire after many minutes, it could be the  "over fire" safety switch that is defective.  Going off at a too low preset.    Follow the wires from the power controls.   There should be two, one for "over fire" (RED) and one for "heat" (WHITE).   The "over fire" is a bi-metal that will reset after the heat is low enough.  Don't know about other stoves.  Easy to check with a resistor checker.  At normal room temp the switch should be on (allow electricity to flow)  WARNING AGAIN - THE WHITFIELD AND MANY OTHER STOVES SEEM TO BE 120 VOLTS.  YOU CAN GET ELECTROCUTED IF YOU DON'T PULL THE PLUG!

    I then removed the power to the stove and placed the power plug next to me.  A nice safety feature since once or twice I did not do that and have come close to getting zapped or killed since I thought the power was off to the item I was repairing.  I remove the motor assembly to the feeder screw. Big time allen wrench was needed. Basically the motor, a small ac motor in a box, was attached to the feeder screw by an allen wrench.  Don't know the size but if you are up to this point you should OWN a bunch of allen wrench sizes.   Since this is American made, you don't have to contend with metric  size allen wenches. Don't strip an allen bolt, real, real hard to get out. The motor actually just sits in it's position and is not bolted down or anything.  There is a small space the motor can move back and forth and rubber bumper it sits on.

    You will note, this is the problem, that the motor faces up at an angle.  With the motor, and gearing off, I could turn the auger screw with no problem.  That means nothing was locked between the screw and auger wall.  A twig or something else falling into the auger could jam it good as the feeder motor is not made for power.  I CAREFULLY plugged in the stove again while watching the Pellet Stove control panel to see the feed light go on and saw the motor spin but could not see the main any of the other gears turn.  Oh, oh.  A stripped gear or something bad.  Knowing that this was a specialty item I assumed I was holding $95 or higher priced gearbox that was dead.  (I received a message Dec. 23, 2001 that someone paid $107 for the motor and auger part from a link then found on my page.)  After removing the power plug again and placing the plug by the motor location to make sure I knew it was unplugged I removed the plug to the motor/gearbox assembly.  (DO NOT TAKE APART THE GEAR BOX - SOMEONE DID AND SPENT MONEY FOR A NEW ONE AS HE COULD NOT GET IT BACK TOGETHER) I took apart the gearbox making note of what screws came from where. Writing them on paper for correct reassembly.  Opening the gearbox I find it full of greased gears and no metal filings that used to be gears.  I then noted the problem.

(Update: getting to the back see if the small motor shaft can be pushed UP by 1/8 inch by your hand.  If it can, see $.06 fix below)

    After 35,000 hours the bottom motor gear's "fiber bushing" wore out and allowed this tilted motor to slide down.  This moved the motor with a gear on it's shaft to lose contact with the first gear.  So the motor was just spinning, not making contact with anything.  This was caused by the back of the motor facing down wearing out that fiber washer.  I was very happy.  The back of the motor came off like any of these simple motors with two screws and two through bolts.  I went off to find a replacement washer to push the motor up and touch the first gear again.  I was unable to find a fiber one but did locate a metal washer that did the same thing.  The metal washer went towards the back bushing and the old fiber washer in front protecting the armature of the motor.  You can't replace that bushing with a metal washer as it will wear and make electrical contact with the motor, shorting it out.  I'm sure I could have gone to the store and found a replacement fiber bushing the right size.  I applied some synthetic motor oil to that bearing location on the motor.  The front part of the motor is inside the gearing area and had lots of grease to lub it.  Whitifeld states the blower motor bearings are "lubed for life" but I oiled them anyway with synthetic motor oil.   Just a few drops into the holes.  I replaced the motor, the electrical contact to the motor, the back and took out the cloth blocking the exhaust.  I placed everything back together and started the stove with only a bit of fuel in the hopper to check the movement.  The RED feed light went on, the screw turned.  Happy, happy, joy, joy.  This took about 45 minutes of time, not including locating my tools and stuff.

Click here to see photo 1:  I picked up two new auger motors on E-bay for dirt cheap. The blue washers is visible and you can see the space needed. 
This also shows the two screws holding the armature in place.  They can be removed to add a washer without tearing anything else apart.
Click to see photo 2:  The motor upside down showing the space between the armature and the back. 
Click to see inside of of a replacement auger.  Note; not much grease and the large end shaft has no grease on either side of the shaft.  If you plan to take off the cover, you must push the main shaft through the cover.  If you try to lift out the mail shaft gear, a bunch of other gears will fall out, as well as washers and spacers.   Getting them back together will be very difficult.

4.   That was last year, February 2001.  We have just turned on the stove this October 26th 2003 and I remembered I did not add this to my home page.   I could have called some "professional" and replace the motor.  Two house calls ($$$$ each time?) and the motor that I could only guess would be in the $80 range ($107) for a stove that cost $2400.  I do not know if the "professionals" know this easy solution.   I did write to Whitfield and noted their "problem".  They responded with a form letter not stating they had any "design flaw".   I can only state that the problem was: their fiber washer when gently pressed by a rotating motor wore out, that wear of the washer thickness caused a loss of contact to the other gears.  Repair item would cost six cents.  Depend on who changes that six cent item OR replaces the entire motor is your repair cost after 35,000 hours.  Will it happen again, you bet.  I will state that the auger and bearings supporting the auger are made to last.  The gearbox has some thick metal gears that will last a real lifetime since they are also encased in grease.  Good old U.S.A. quality!   The motor has no torque so if something did get into the auger, the motor would just stop and hum.  A jam could not burn out the motor as the system only requires a few seconds of power.  Motors usually are built to shut down automatically if the motor overheats.  That feed motor is indestructible, they are typical exhaust fan, shop vac and those types of motors.  You know those types last for 20  years and this feed motor is only on for a few seconds every minute to feed the fire.   The front bearing is in grease and the back bearing is copper but that back motor bushing will wear down.  Whitfield states the blower fan and rear auger bushing is "lubed for life".  The front and back auger bearings are copper and "oil soaked" but how many months are they on?.  A drop or two of that SPT and synthetic oil sounds good there.  Not too much, they are by the heat.  Bottom feed stoves I would never oil the auger bearings.  They surely get very hot.  Anyone with information on bottom feed augers?  There are oil holes on the fan, even covered by a cap on my model.  They should go to an internal wick that holds lubricant by the bearing, and provide oil as it is used up.  The electronics have lasted four years.  Like any electronics in radios and computers they should last some 10 - 15 years or longer.  The electronic controls are not by any "hot" areas and have always been cool to the touch, so any capacitors or other electronics that make up this part should not fail from the stove's own heat.

5. Electronic Thermostat - You can have a thermostat to attempt to keep the room temperature to a certain preset level. The thermostat I purchased was an electronic LUX. The manual states NOT to use electronic thermostats, 12 years and no problem?? Again the booklet or website provides no information as to why you can't use electronic ones.  I think I remember it has to do with resistance, the electronic ones don't really break the circuit, just up resistance.  I guess this one does, it's cheap too, some $20 or so.  The two stove wires go to W and RH contacts. These are CLOSED when the temperature is below the preset temp, acting just like the jumper wire in the back of the stove.  When the room temp hits my 75 degree preset, the contact open and the stove goes into low mode, low blower and low feed speed that both blink to show you they are in forced low mode.  Any type of furnace wire can be used to mount the thermostat in a location.  Just use the same two colors at each end.  It doesn't matter what color or polarity.   Hence you can set the stove to 3 and when it gets to whatever temp you set, the stove goes down to low until it gets to below the thermostat preset then back up. You can even set the automatic setback timer to set higher or lower temperatures by day or weekends that leaves the house at preset temps that will work with your schedule.  A simple contact switch hooked to the back furnace thermostat contacts can bypass the thermostat at any time and keep it on the pellet stove setting. If you use the thermostat bypass, it may just bypass until the next preset temp time over rides it.

Yes, the fuel you use, Stove Chow (best I found in North East but seem to no longer be in business) or other local brands,  determines the amount of soot left over.  I went back to Stove Chow.  The Agway brand was not as good.  UPDATE: Dry Creak pellet fuel in '03 is very good.

Yes, the glass gets dirty, many attempts to stop that have failed.  Depending on my type of fuel determined how may days it would take to block the view of the fire.  There is some type of "glass cleaner" that is suppose to help. Haven't tried it yet. (UPDATE: Rutland hearth and stove silicon glass cleaner.  Gets it crystal clear, until it gets dirty again but wipes off with a paper towel for many weeks)

Yes I "OIL" the fan motor - I use an oil can with synthetic car oil.  Heard long ago from another homeowner web site  "someone had trouble with a cook top fan repeatedly squeaking.  He finally used synthetic motor oil on the fan and no more squeaks every other month".  The synthetic oil is great for HOT applications like that cook top fan and this fan right next to a fire blowing hot exhausts gases.  Basically the motors have a copper bushing that was soaked in oil during firing.  The oil is absorbed into the bushing and "permanently lubs" the bushing, there is "felt" surrounding the bearing that gets a shot of oil during assembly.  The oil is absorbed towards the bushing when needed.  There may or may not be caps to them.  If no caps. remove the motor and turn on one side and drip a few drops by the shaft waiting  a hour or more until the felt absorbs it and then a drop.  After many hours 4 or 5 drops on that side should have absorbed, turn to the next.  Or you could c-a-r-e-f-u-l-l-y drill small holes into the felt holders or disassemble the fans if they squeak.  Don't blame me if they don't go back together.  That is a last resort.

Do you have baseboard heat.  A 75% of STP motor oil treatment (yep, that old sticky gunk) and 25% synthetic motor oil and my old furnace guy swears he never had to replace the hot water pump bearings he's worked on for some 20 years.  That's my mix, he used straight STP, kind of hard to pump that through those oil cans.

My owners manual says have a "professional' check out the stove each heating season and to oil the blower motor each year but Whitfield now states that oiling the fan yearly is no longer necessary.   The oil holes are on my blower motor, they may not be on yours.  I just dust off mine, oil ever other year and bring on the two tons of fuel I use each Nov. to March.

I just read the Whitfield on-line manual. They require an Adobe Acrobat plug in but with modems it may take some time to download that program and then more time to download the big manual file. You can then save it to your Hard Drive after you download it.  Their manual shows a metal the outside air pipe and end 45% bend.  I would make sure that is covered with a screen or wrap a plastic or metal screen at the end or bugs will use that as a hiding place and cut off your air supply making the fire a "slow burner".

This stove basically heats my one floor 40' square house in New Jersey. I have a "more power" UPS hooked up to this stove.  It has saved me a few time went the power died.  As you see from my other pages my two additions were done with 2X6 walls and insulated 10" floors.  A unheated crawl space is below the main house, but the furnace is located there keeping it around 40 degrees in the winter.  No insulation under the main house but wall to wall carpet.  My oil furnace uses about 200 gallons a year which includes all domestic hot water.  My pellet stove is on 24/7 from Nov. to March.  It is usually on heat #1 but when the temp drops below 25 it goes to 2 or 3 during times were are home and awake.  Fuel is about $3.75 per 40 lbs. when purchased by bag or $3.30 per bag by the ton.  Delivery is $18 per ton (well worth it as the discount purchase price is during July or Aug. and a hot time to throw around bags) and they are stored in a portable wood shed.   I have a rather large 5 inch hole the floor that did provide "outside air" to a former fireplace in the same spot.  I have a hose connected to a shop vac in the crawl space and through that hole an "outside air" hose going to the crawl space.  When the fire is out I vacuum the ashes to an old basement shop vac.  Twice a year I empty it and clean off the air filter.  Makes stove cleaning a dream.  (NEVER DO IT WITH HOT ASHES - EVER) A extension cord to the shop vac runs through this floor hole and I just plug in the extension cord to the wall to turn on the shop vac when I need to clean.  I let the stove die for 15 min to cool, clean and startup by 20 min.

Contacts:  (Chris Greenwell, San Francisco, CA)  stated:  < I have a whitfield stove and the problem was that the pellet screw wasn't turning (feeding the pellets).  Out of frustration, I took a coat hanger and jammed it in and out of the tube where the pellets fall out.  Much to my delight, it actually cleared away some clogged pellets and the screw started feeding pellets again!  So now I have heat!  I saved myself some loot and now I can be warm instead of cold.  I really appreciate you taking the time to write me though. >

Quick fix - My stove started to act like it was on heat 2 or 3.  Lots of flame when on heat #1. I used a screwdriver and turned the + / - dial by the feed screw.  Just a bit back and forth.  That fixed it.  It could have been that the contact on that variable resistor was lost/dirty and feeding at the max rate rather then the middle of the range.  Now the stove is feeding correctly again. Great when the temp is around 40°.

Fire going out after a hour - 

Smoke Smell cure?
If you ever get an infiltration of a smoke smell, not smoke itself but rather a heavy smoky scent - It is more than likely the failure of the gasket on the door to your ashbin below the firebox. Mine failed but I never thought much of it until this smell invaded my house....the blower must have been pushing air through that area and "freshening" the air with the lovely smell of smoke. If you miss that fireplace scent in your house than that is one surefire way to get it.....

More on smoke smell
Thanks for the suggestions, I think last night I found our issue. While cleaning the ash out last night I noticed that ash was falling in front of the ash pan door as I was scooping it out of the inside. So I looked very closely and found a small screw sized hole on the deck that came out in front of the ash pan door. I don't know if there was a screw there or a spot weld or something that we have knocked loose in our cleanings, so I put a screw in the whole and the smell is better. Hopefully that was it, I looked at the booklet on the stove and it does not show a hole there? Any way thanks for your tips! Thanks Carrie

Hartman Pellet stove - fuse blows
I went though every wire to check for shorts. Checked all three motors individually with 115 volts. All were working fine. So as I did process of elimination, I found that the large circuit board was shorting out. I changed both boards. I paid $96.00 for the bad order feed motor, Which I first found to be open circuited. $292.00 for both circuit boards. I did the work by myself.

Dead Circuit Board
My Sister purchased a used whitfield II pellet stove insert.  I forwarded your page to her (her address copied above)  .  She had a TV repair tech resolder her circuit board (It had a loose capacitor from the move to her house)

No Feed

Feed auger would get stuck
thank you for writing back so promptly I removed the auger and found burs on the sides of the auger which I removed with a grinder, the motor seems to be working fine.  What kind of pellets should i be using ?  The pellets I have came with the stove I'm sure they are old this is probably the problem (old pellets can grab moisture and become soft, possibly squishing between the auger and tube.  New pellets are very hard) thank you for your knowledge

Another auger stuck problem

Cleaning the stove
One thing I did not mention.. when you clean... bang and bang a lot the insides and back. I have received a few E-mails with "slow burn" that was resolved because their stove did not allow getting the back metal parts off.  Getting a powerful vacuum cleaner (watch shop vacs, their filter may not catch the fine dust) at the back corners and banging the metal (not denting it) and the ash finally fell and was able to get removed allowing the fan to suck out the air again.   Be careful as ash will start to fly

New circuit board
Here are a list of things that the service man has done:
1)The first thing he did was clean behind the fire bricks and also through the vents behind.
2)He also passed a cleaning sponge through the straight  exhaust pipe to the outside and there was dirt but no obstruction.
3) He has oiled both fans.
4) He has unplugged the old exhaust fan and temporarily replaced it with a new one. When it is plugged in, it does the same thing: runs fast on 5, but spins considerably less on any other setting below 5. By this he deduces that it's not a weak fan but a bad signal going to the fan.
He replaced the circuit board and the stove is working properly again.

Cleaning Glass

Reliant Pellet Stove parts
<< The Phone number that is listed on the Internet for Reliant Pellet Stoves is incorrect. I called the number that is listed and got a pellet stove company in California. It was through them I received the correct listing for American Energy Systems from Minnesota.  This company carries parts for the Reliant Pellet Stoves. Their number is:  320-587-6565 or 1-800-495-3196. My husband and I have been searching for parts for our pellet stove for over a year - we've taken our stove to several dealers and repair shops but each time all we were told was that the manufacturer went out of business and parts are no longer available for the stove we have. I didn't think of going on the internet for the info I needed. This morning I finally did and found the parts in less than an hour - thanks to you for the info you have posted on what to look for when problems arise with pellet stoves. >>

12-6-'05  - Price for control panel near Scranton PA, $350

Stove Keeps Going Out

<<<Smoke from Stove: >>>

I have a Winrich pellet stove which rather suddenly stopped feeding pellets. It would feed briefly and then stop altogether, but that only lasted for a very short time until it completely failed to feed. First thought was a jammed auger, but I turned it backwards and forward by hand pretty easily, so it wasn't a jam. I then watched the auger motor as I hit the manual pellet feed button. I could hear a slight hum, and the motor spindle might turn and then stop. I could, by hand, get it sometimes to turn again and it might go for a few seconds and then it would stop again, while the motor still hummed - so it was getting juice. I took the motor off and checked it out (bushings, etc.) and all looked fine. I then took off the auger gearbox by removing the retaining bolt that holds the gearbox spindle to the tail of the auger. I then carefully opened the gearbox and quickly saw that the gears were dry and all the grease was in one little ball. After carefully noting the positions of the gears, washers, and nylon bushings, I disassembled the gears and applied grease. After reassembling the gearbox and getting it and the motor back on the stove, all was fine. The problem was that the gears were too dry and the friction thus too strong for the auger motor. Note that the auger motor and gearbox on this stove are nearly identical to the ones in the links above for the Whitfield.
<<<< As noted on my $.05 fix the Whitfield auger motor had plenty of grease in it.  Maybe other makes aren't as greased.  I did hear from one stove owner that took apart the auger gearboxes and did not write down where the parts were and had to get a new motor/gearbox.  Another owner found the bottom bearing (above 2 items) worn that would bind and stop the feeder.

Pellets not dropping all the time - fire going out.

Told them to get a fiber washer.  He was not too mechanical but was going to try it.

A forum for pellet stoves - www.stove and spas.com

--- Pellet Stove parts -  parts -  parts ---

Pellet stove parts (2007)

parts places

Another site to try

energypartsplus.com

1-877-977-2787

They are in El Dorado, Calif.

Clint Ayer