Convection Fan Issues With Leisure Line Econo Line Stove

I have a leisure line Econo line stove in my walkout basement. I am heating about 750 Sq feet downstairs and letting heat travel upstairs to keep my gas heat from coming on as often. Stove and coal trol work great and maintains heat like a champ. I have noticed,however, that the built in convection fan never comes on. I tested on a regular outlet and it works fine but when plugged into coal trol it never seems to come on. Any suggestions on why this is? What in the coal trol logic determines when the convection fan comes on?
Is the speed variable on this or just on or off?

Just curious.

Hi flourite, I'm moving your question to the CoalTrol forum for the experts to answer.

Greg L

If you could do a test it would help determine if there is a problem or not.

First, plug the convection blower into the Coal-trol's convection plug. Next, press and hold the Menu button of the thermostat until the word "FEED" appears, it should take roughly 5 seconds. Then press the Menu button once more, normally. It should now read "TEST". Press the Down button. The thermostat will now start cycling through all the motors that are plugged into the Coal-trol. Each motor will be turned on for about 5 seconds, in sequence.

Does the convection blower come on?

If it doesn't that usually indicates a problem with the control module (the unit on the stove's hopper). Call us at 315-299-3589 to troubleshoot this a bit more and we'll help you out with getting any replacement part you might need.

The fan may NOT be a "shaded pole" type motor, which makes it a variable speed.

The Coaltroal will vary the speed depending on feed rate. The motor may not like it and not turn on unless it has enough voltage from the CoalTrol, that is why it works when you just plug it in and not hooked to the CoalTrol.

Try the Manual Override for the Fan Control and put it up to 99% and see if it comes on, then vary it down and see if it slows down or shuts off.

Get the Mfr & model of the fan, someone on here can probably look it up and find out if it can vary or not.

More info on the fan control
Convection Blower On Stove is Not Working

If the troubleshooting that Paul suggested indicates that the control is indeed powering the fan and the fan can indeed be speed controlled, you may just never be observing when the Tstat is calling for heat. As WNY said the fan speed is dependent on feed rate, If the stove stays in the idle mode the fan will never run at any discernable speed.

To check and see if the fan is supposed to be running and is not you can also press the menu button till the settings menu comes up, then press it till you get to fee rate, if this is less than 15 or so you will probably not see the fan running. One way to make the fan run is to adjust the temperature to 2 or 3 degrees above current temp and then be patient, as the stove feeds coal to catch up the fan should run.

Thanks for all the suggetions. I will try them tonight when I get home and follow up with another post.

This forum is great!!!!

Ok we can officially close this out. The convection fan worked in test mode.

It does not operate when I have heat setting low enough so it does need much output to raise the room temperature to desired level. I cranked thermometer setting up to 78 and put an ice pack on thermometer sensor. Sure enough a couple minutes later the convection fan kicked on. Therefore the col trol module is working OK. Sorry for the false alarm. Word of note my coal trol thermostat seems to be between the TS1 and TS2 models sort of a hybrid. It looks more like TS1 but has the limited functionality of the TS2. I like the new TS1 with its additional settings and the ability to manually control the convection fan if so desired. May spring for an upgrade if priced right.

I also confirmed that the convection fan on this leisure line model is either on or off as the convection fan did not change its speed as I adjusted feed rates or temperature settings. The fan is relatively quiet and seems to have a good amount of push so I think it is matched well with the stove and do not think a variable speed blower is really necessary for my set up.

Thanks again everyone!

YOu could get a Temp. Thermostat and adjust it so the fan comes on at a certain temp. I have one on a box fan in the basement to move some of the hot air around. I use it in the attic for an attic fan in the window during the summer. It keeps it much cooler.

You can probably find one at a local HomeDepot or equal.

ie.
http://www.smarthome.com/3018.html

Thanks WNY but after further investigation everything is working fine.

If I want to use the convection fan manually I will just switch it over to a nearby outlet that I have a switch set up on, but to be honest the heat distribution for what I am using it for seems fine without the fan and I now know that it will come on when the coal trol tells it to.

No sense in using anymore elctricity than I have to even though running such a small fan is probably very cheap.

Maybe I will get ambitious later this winter and cut a hole in my ceiling above the stove and install a floor vent to heat the upstairs but right now too much holiday stuff on my plate!!!

Happy Turkey Day!