This is definitely OFF topic !
but I am faced with either buying a $400.00 silly circuit board for my pellet stove or replacing it with a cheap timer....
so I am doing the latter !
........ this wood pellet stove I got about 3 years ago from Tractor supply
it is a Pel Pro PP130B .
I have no idea how many people out there use pellet stoves but here in Northern California they are fairly abundant....
the price of wood pellets is high and getting higher every year but it stays lower than anything except natural gas.... and we don't have natural gas here.
...
so at the moment I am using my wood stove to burn pellets in a cast iron skillet
that I've drilled a hole every 1/4" through the bottom of the skillet
and then dammed up the sides around the skillet so that air is drawn through the pellets.... it works but only barely...
.....
I got up early one morning a few days ago and the house was cold and I found a note left by my Kid saying the stove quit.
upon further investigation it was apparent that the Auger motor was not turning.... so I went on line and ordered a new one. (that was the only component besides the circuit board that I do not have a back up for)
..... so I took the motor apart and tried to see why it quit..... lubed it up
put it back together and tested it and what do you know it worked just fine
...so I put it back in the stove and tried it and nothing... still not feeding pellets. so I contacted Pel Pro the people I bought the stove from and asked how come they don't have the circuit board on their parts list and was told that they did.... (I had just not seen it) and they want a whopping $400.00 for it.....
.....well I got to thinking about that and I've decided to convert the pellet stove to a timer instead of the circuit board
I'll need at least 4 toggle switches a momentary contact switch and at least 2
110vac idiot lights....
the fans will both be hooked to the same switch and be full blast as they really should be in the first place... the way it was the Room fan was speed controled to blow a little on low and full blast on high... which is stupid beyond words you want as much heat from the wood pellets as you can get so the fan should be blowing full blast all the time ...
so it will be on it's own toggle switch. (the exhaust fan and room fan will both be hooked straight to the switch )
next is the Auger motor. the Auger motor is a 2 RPM motor which is very strong but turns very slow so it will have to be on longer than my old stove I had previously converted to a timer because a circuit board failure.
the on / off of the Auger motor will be controlled by the timer I had just ordered from Amazon for $24.95 ... it is a 110vac affair that has 2 knobs on it to easily control the time durations of on and off.
on one leg going to the motor from the timer unit I will run the power through the snap switches on the pellet stove for safety the 2 snap switches prevent over heating and shut off power to the Auger if it gets to hot... a necessary thing for your own safety ! also on this line I plan to add a momentary contact switch to 110vac (normally open) so at anytime independent of the timer I can push the button and turn on the Auger motor and feed in some pellets. a handy thing I did to my last pellet stove.
in addition to all that I will need a switch to turn on the igniter... sense this stove has a self ignite/start arrangement on it ....all I will need to do is flip the switch (that why the extra idiot light so I won't forget I left it on.)
and the fire will light....
.....
sense I previously did this to my old stove a very small pellet stove
I have a leg up on how to do it.... it's not that hard but getting all the wiring sorted is the hardest part....
this timer I ordered is a plug into the wall unit and plug your appliance into it type thing not really conducive to this kind of project but it does have the 2 knobs on it to make it alot easier to get the timing right to keep the house warm.
.... using this idea the safety system will only be on as long as the Auger is on.....and that is fine as if it gets too hot the Auger will not come on to feed more pellets and get a thermal run away.
(it stops it from burning down your house by not feeding it any more wood pellets.... so that is still going to be working in the system.
...what will not work.... the vacuum switch will be gone and the switch for the hopper lid.... I could hook it up to the power if I wanted but it is actually a pain in the butt because if you lift the lid to put in more wood pellets
it stops the Auger from feeding more pellets.... and if you take too long
your fire will go out and it has to restart.
so the Hopper lid switch and the vacuum switch will no longer be on the thing.
the Vacuum switch activates then the door to the hopper is opened or the door to the burner is opened and the exhaust fan is what makes the suction that turns it on or off. it pulls a small amount of air from the hopper through the Auger tube to make sure fire does not burn up into the hopper
a pirty ingenious method of keeping fire out of the hopper.
....
at the moment I am in the middle of getting the wires loose and things disconnected, I pulled the circuit board and found that it does have a fuse in it but it looks to be in good shape( i can't be that lucky right ? ) so I will just continue with my plan to put in a timer.
1 switch for the power to the timer
2 1 switch for the fans
3 1 switch for the igniter
4 3 idiot lights one for the igniter and one for the power to the timer and Auger feed.
5 1 Momentary contact switch for auger feed
6 one timer ( on it's way)
total cost will be close to$50.00 by the time I am done but I have the switches already, but need the idiot lights. and timer.
I have wire and soldering iron and crimp on connectors.
.....
for my last stove I drew up a schematic wiring diagram and I think I will do that again as it made it alot easier hot having to remember what I was going to do with that wire half way through !
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if you have any questions feel free to ask !
Bob.......