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[smithbr]

My 1450 recently started doing the same thing (first fired, February 2016).  About a month ago, we had a major blowback in the firebox, threw a bunch of small coals into the electrical box via the main vent.  I cleaned it out, but I think the grit is causing the solenoids grief (main vent chiefly, but I've found one side of the boost vent stuck open too).  I cycled them a dozen times today after hitting them with WD40; if that doesn't solve it, I'll disassemble them and do a thorough cleaning next time we have decent temperatures.

smithbr - I've had a few blowbacks over the past 5 plus years operating the 1400.  The first time it happen, scared the bugger out of me.  You should see the inside of the air box where the solenoids are located; it's costed black with liquid creosote, to the point where some has leached out through the seal.  I now have lines of liquid creosote running down the outside of the air box.  I've been wondering if that's the reason the flap on the primary air elbow ended up on an angle, instead of laying flat?  When it angled on the elbow, water over temp'd due to air entering the firebox non-restricted, never closing off.  Roger
Roger

Yep.  Our air box is a disaster zone, especially now with some backdrafting creosote due to our hx clog (separate post).  None of the wiring in the air box is compromized, but the connectors, all surfaces, and the solenoids are absolutely filthy.  There's certainly some design features at work here.  I realize they're mostly designed to be simple to debug and maintain, but when you read of items corroding so badly that they need replacing after one or two years of operation, it's more than a little disappointing.

[smithbr]

Oh, and by the way, back in early Jan I reported that WD40-ing the solenoids worked well.  Still working, just redid them today as insurance while clearing the heat exchange tubes.

[5050racing]

Big time find,wasn't hitting over 1000 deg looked at the solenoids and found one of the 2 high solenoids not opening had a spare lucky with this weather coming!! 

[smithbr]

How did you spot that?  With the positive air pressure in the electrical cabinet on my E1450, I'm not sure I want to go messing around in there when the reaction chamber is hot enough to hit stage 3 combustion.  Is there a way to manually override the controller to exercise all the solenoids without actually having a fire going?