hello all,im having serious probs with my 6 year old maxfire 115.woke up other aday stove off blinking #3light,found out conv fan brngs bad,replacd brngs,fired up stove,conv fan ok now but still #3 light wont even start a light,checked wiki on #3light and did following,tried bypassing snap switch-still didnt help,checked the r36 resistor color code for update,which i have!checked all connections ok,was in the process of checking thermocouple,with wifes hairdryer plugged into same recep as cornburner(wrong thing to do)and fried i beleive the motherboard,now no lights come on at all and no mechanical stove movement did check mother fuse 120 volts both sides of fuse.any help greatly appreciated here now 3 weeks no heat!

Un-plug the stove for a few minutes. Then plug back in and let us know what you see or hear.

Ouch, Mike, and welcome to the forum.

Sounds like you were doing all the right things. Where did you apply the heat with the hair dryer? If in the area where the TC enters the flue, that's diagonnally opposite the motherboard, and I'd have a hard time understanding how you could have cooked the motherboard. I'm hoping that it's something simple. Hope that you're not hurt by me asking, for starters, whether you have 120 volts ac where the power cord enters the stove?

i tried unplugging unit and waiting no change,i pulled t/c out of box and was applying heat to the end of it when hair dryer surged,when that happened,all lights on unit shut off,the hsirdryer was pluggd into the same recep as the stove
.i have 120 volts at plug and i have it both ends of fuse on m/b which ells me fuse is ok!

Can't say that I get it, Mike. The hairdryer and the stove shared the same ground, so there were likely no ground loops. The Type K thermocouple wire goes up to a range of 2400 degF or 1200 degC generating about 41 microvolt per degC, or about 55 mV at max temperature, which I'd have a hard time imagining you reached with the hair dryer. I'd also have a hard time imaging that the mb would take much offense to a max 55 mV dc, but who knows?

I'm not sure what you mean when you say the the hairdryer surged. There was a power line surge? If so, that could have affected your mb irrespective of the hair dryer. Any other electronic devices in home house acting up since the incident?

When you say that the fuse is good, you're speaking of the vertically-oriented fuse on the mb, not the horiz fuses on the igniter board, right? I'm really hoping for a simple resolution to your prob.

Is the red LED on the mb on?

When you unplugged the power cord, you left it off for at least 30 seconds before plugging back in?

corny i wasnt aware that the hairdryer wasnt hot enough,i was just trying anything to figure it out,all i know is airdryer shut off like they all do because they pull alot of amps,i pushed reset button on dryer dryer come back on but stove didnt,no light at all on stove.the fuse im checking is the mother board fuse not the 2 igniter fuses,i did leave unplugged for 24 hrs first time and plugged back in with no lights.

no other devices affected by this

Mike, for the purpose of your test, the hair dryer should have been fine. All you needed to do was create a temperature rise to generate a few mV for the stove to detect.

I was wondering "aloud" whether you heated the TC so much that your mb objected to an excessive mV sigmal. My uninformed guess was that your hair dryer couldn't have heated the TC wire enough to do that. I've since done a bit of googling and found that they (hairdryers) are usually protected from exceeding about 140 degC. Then they kick out, as yours did. Usually because the air flow is blocked, as you might have done during your test. At 140 degC, your TC wire generated between 5 and 6 mV, definitely within the design range of the board. So I'm not thinking that you killed the board with your hair dryer.

That said, if you have power at the mb fuse, but not the mb LED, there could be something wrong with the board. Perhaps you might want to label your wires and pull the board so that you can get a good look at it. Look for any damaged traces or charred components.

Another thought, still hoping for a simple solution, is to make sure that the fuse is seated properly in the clips. My limited experience with the Bixby fuse holder clips (on the igniter board, anyhow) is that they are soft and don't necessarily grab the fuse well after its been pulled and replaced.

simple would be good corny,but not thinking so in this case.ive been a diesel mechanic for 20 yrs and have troublshoot many 12 an 24 volt systems,not too much involving 120 volt though or electronics without using a scantool.anyways did check and no luck seated good.where can i send this board out to get fixed,if fixable?and do you think the #3light problem i spoke of earlier has anying to do with the other,meaning could it be a mother board problem also?or could i get it fixed so all powers up and still have #3 ligh problem?