Wallas Troubleshooting Help

J

John S

New member
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
 
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?
 
Dora~Jean":3ekzn1n9 said:
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?
Click to expand...

If the pump is truly shorted out, you are buying a board and a new pump. If it is an open circuit, then you have chance.
 
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,
 
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
 
terraplane":2zqmtns9 said:
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
Click to expand...

I think the fuse you are referring to is the one on the circuit board. If it is, I've already checked it and it is good. Is that the same one you are referring to??

Thanks
John
 
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.
 
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
 
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.
 
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.
John S":2hmgymql said:
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.
Click to expand...
 
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.
 
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.
 
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.
 
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.
 
Last Sept. we took a cruise in the SJ islands and one morning my Wallas would not start. I found the fuse was blown. I replaced it and it worked okay for dinner. The next morning I turned it on and went into the cockpit. when I came back into the cabin it was full of smoke. I looks under the wallas and could see that electrical components were burning up. I pulled off the main power lines and aired out the boat.

On the way home I stopped at Scanmar and took in the stove. The knew I was on my way home and had little time so they worked on it right away. The tech person said that it should not have burned up like this unless it had been exposed to saltwater - which it had not. They replaced the circuit board and checked out the stove and I had it installed in the boat by 1pm - all for no charge! (I had about 200hrs on the boat so not a lot of use on the stove)

I don't know if the Wallas has some inherent problems or if Scanmar will do this on a regular basis but I sure was happy that they stood behind their product for me.

Steve
 
THAT is sort of the understatement of the year...the majority of the posts about Wallas problems relate to problems when the battery voltage is too low...

marvin4239":5539h5ta said:
From reading all the posts it sounds as if they may be voltage sensative.
Click to expand...
 
Have two boats with WALLAS equipment which are several years old. One has a 950 Stove/Heater, the other a 1300 stove. No problems except when I put some old fuel in the 950 (my fault). Replaced the fuel and all OK. If you only want a stove I highly recommend the 1300. Scan Marine has been great and supportive.
Zelpha
 
Update

I talked to Mike today (the technician) at Scan Marine. He said there was NOTHING wrong with my stove. Started up and ran fine.

I don't get it and am concerned. He said it was one of the cleanest stoves he has seen. He says, he thinks it isn't getting run enough. (Even thought it failed on its 6th straight day of running 24 hrs a day.)

He said he did bang the pump HARD! He said he knows how to hit the pump to make them work. I beat the pump and manually ran the pump on a 12 volt battery successfully. So I'm confused.

Now I get to pay to return it. If you're just joining this thread you can look above to see all the things I tried to make it work before sending it in. I really think it will quit again on my upcoming 3 week voyage, but we'll see.

Just thought I'd pass it all along.
 
I don't get his statements:

I talked to Mike today (the technician) at Scan Marine. He said there was NOTHING wrong with my stove. Started up and ran fine.
Click to expand...
He said he did bang the pump HARD! He said he knows how to hit the pump to make them work. I beat the pump and manually ran the pump on a 12 volt battery successfully. So I'm confused.
Click to expand...
First he said it ran fine right out of the box, then he said he had to "bang the pump HARD"??? Was that a 'preventative maintenance bang' before shipping it back, or, a 'startup bang' to make it run "fine"?

Seems important.
 
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