Wallas Troubleshooting Help

John S · Posted: Mon Mar 24, 2008 6:27 pm Post subject: Wallas Troubleshooting Help

I need help from experienced Wallas self repair types.

My Wallas 95D fuel pump quit pumping after I had been using the stove contiuously for approximately 6 days, Day and Night use.

I called Scan Marine and he said to check the glow plug (I did, it is working GREAT)

Then they said to tap the pump. (I knew that trick and had already tried it)

He said after that it wasn't user serviceable and send it in for most likely a $400 circuit board.

I checked the two black wires going to the pump for voltage during the start process and there is NO voltage at the pump. The pump is enclosed in rubber so I assume that checking across these wires would be correct.

Our Supply voltage to the stove is OUTSTANDING, batteries are fully charged and many attempted starts have been with 14 Volts available.

Visual inspection of BOTH circuit board shows no burned or obviously damaged components.

Anyone have an idea before I have to send this thing to Seattle and shell out the big bucks????

Thanks

Dora~Jean · Posted: Mon Mar 24, 2008 10:17 pm Post subject:

Can you easily disconnect the pump and check the open circuit voltage from the circuit board? Perhaps the pump is shorted out internally. Are there any fuses you can check?

T.R. Bauer · Posted: Mon Mar 24, 2008 10:56 pm Post subject:

John S · Posted: Tue Mar 25, 2008 2:08 am Post subject:

I called back and talked to Mike, the technician, at Scan Marine. I wanted to positively make sure it wasn't a fuel pump problem only. He told me I could disconnect the fuel pump from the stove and test it with a 12V battery. He had me jumper one one lead of it to a battery and then momentarily touch the other wire to other battery terminal. I heard the pump click. By momentarily touching the wire over and over to the battery I was able to make the pump push all the fuel out of it. So........looks like the pump is OK. With no other ideas I pulled the Wallas from the boat today to package it up and spend the BIG money! It's not sent yet, so any other ideas would be appreciated.

Thanks,

terraplane · Posted: Tue Mar 25, 2008 7:18 am Post subject: wallas

I had a malfunction of my Wallas about a year and a half ago. Some of the similar circumstances. Turned out it was a fuse. The fuse was located down in the guts of the stove..kind of front center, difficult to find, Pulled it out with needlenose , replaced, stove worked again.

terraplane

John S · Posted: Tue Mar 25, 2008 1:00 pm Post subject: Re: wallas

terraplane · Posted: Tue Mar 25, 2008 4:23 pm Post subject: wallas

John,
Probably, ....it is kind of in the middle of all the whatamajiggers...i guess that 's the circuit board.

tom

Pat Anderson · Posted: Tue Mar 25, 2008 8:37 pm Post subject:

Well, our Wallas did not ignite when we turned the switch on Sunday morning at Andrews Bay. The battery voltage was low, but we had the engine running and the meter on the Navman was showing 14.6 volts. The light on the switch went on momentarily, then off, then a phenolic smell and the Wallas was deader than a doornail...I will look for the fuse (good luck to me, I am kind of like Terraplane, it all looks like "thingamabobs" in there - wouldn't know a fuel pump or a glow plug if I tripped over it, expect I can recognize a fuse though), but the odor leads me to think something got fried when it called for more voltage/amperage than the damn battery could deliver. It appears to me that there are only two kinds of Wallas owners - those who have had problems and those who are going to. I know Bob Austin disagrees, but I would NOT get another Wallas stove/heater combo. If this one is indeed fried, I am not the least bit inclined to pay Scan Marine the big bucks to have it repaired, we will replace it with something a bit simpler and more reliable.

ppriest · Guest

Has anyone inquired of the Wallas distributor exactly what the common failure mode or modes is/are?
If the failures are totally random, then one might be as well off to replace the unit with a different stove/heater and hope for improved durability.
If the failures tend to fall into one or two categories, then we might all be in a better position to request an accomodation when the unit fails, OR to dope the problem out ourselves and share the fix.
Carrying some spare fuses, if that's all it usually takes, is only modestly painful, especially if access is not a major effort; although repeated failures of the same fuse usually indicates a flaw in the design or sizing of other components.

Good luck. By the way; what's tapping the pump supposed to accomplish?

Paul Priest
Sequim

John S · Posted: Wed Mar 26, 2008 4:16 am Post subject:

Sad day as I gave up on fixing the stove myself and sent it to Scan Marine in Seattle.

I used an EXCELLENT repair manual put together by someone on this website to check some of the basic normal problems. Look for the manual under the electrical forum, I believe. I had printed it previously and had it on the boat. MOST common failures are covered in this manual.

Scan Marines answer to any fuel pump problem on two different products I have worked on repairing so far is to tap as hard as you are comfortable on the pump to free it up and start it pumping again. The pump is actually a selonoid and I guess it frees the stuck selonoid.

Alternatives! What is the alternative to the Wallas 95D that doubles as both a cabin heater and two top stove. I would like to hear about any reliable options out there that would fit in approx. the same hole.

Pat Anderson · Posted: Wed Mar 26, 2008 9:15 am Post subject:

You are probably not going to get a "two-fer" like the Wallas. Something like a Webasto heater and a butane stove, or maybe propane for both if you are comfortable with gas that causes fires and explosions when it leaks...But there are better, more reliable and less expensive options out there. The Wallas is just too complicated, if there was ever a contraption that violated the KISS principle, this is it.

lloyds · Posted: Wed Mar 26, 2008 10:48 am Post subject:

I'm with you Pat. When I upgrade boats it will have either webasto or espar, and I will cook with the butane. I have a single burner portable butane stove now on the 16 and it is remarkable. Don't know why I screwed around with the coleman propane stoves for so long. They are also about 5 times as good, and faster, than an origo. Origo is the poster child for KISS but you better have an hour for that hotdog, and a lot of rags for the condensation.

marvin4239 · Posted: Wed Mar 26, 2008 4:21 pm Post subject:

I've got the Kenyon butane single burner stove the factory is installing and it works great only down side is the butane canisters only last a couple days. The rare times I need a second burner I use a Magna kettle in the cockpit. I'd like to have heat but from all I've read tbe Wallas isn't very reliable. From reading all the posts it sounds as if they may be voltage sensative. If I had one I look into some sort of voltage stabilization device that would protect you from low voltage and spikes.

Capital Sea · Posted: Wed Mar 26, 2008 5:06 pm Post subject:

Well I do not have the answer. I do have a few questions for those who have had this problem.
1. does the fan kick on and things just never heat up, and then on inspection you found the pump was not pumping?

In my land trailer which has propane heat, if the battery is low then the fan kicks on (though it is running slow, I think) but no gas will flow. This is a safety device aimed at preventing the unit from stopping hot with no way to cool down or expel all of the gas.

2. Have you tried a total disconnect from power as a sort of cold boot of the electronics?

3. This one may help others. Do any of you have a house battery? Is the stove running off the starting battery?

Ever had a low battery in an older car and go to start the car with the lights on? The lights dim as you crank right? So if the above estimate of the cause is in the ball park, ie: that the stove system can be damaged by flux in power levels, then it follows that it would have a longer life if ran off a second battery or was ALWAYS shut off when cranking and if we watch battery levels very closely.

marvin4239 · Posted: Wed Mar 26, 2008 6:27 pm Post subject:

If in fact the stoves are effected by voltage variations something like this is what I had in mind http://www.powerstream.com/dc-buck-boost.htm If you are running the stove and cranking your engine you could have less than 11 volts going to it. On the other hand if your batteries are being charged by the outboard you could have 14 volts or more going to the stove. For all I know the stove may have some protection built in or it may not have any affect but it's something to think about.