E6 error code on a pellet heater means the temperature sensor in the hopper has been triggered and the pellet heater shuts down for safety reasons. It’s similar to the E4 error code but instead has to do with a sensor in the hopper. The two main causes of the E6 error code are the feed rate of the heater is too high, resulting in a bigger than normal fire which is causing the pellet heater to overheat, or the room fan is set too low or faulty.
What to Do if You Experience E6 Error Code
If you experience an E6 error code, the first thing you must do is clear the error from the system so you can restart your heater. To do this simply hold down the thumbs up button on the control panel for a few seconds. Your pellet heater should emit a beep noise and the error will be cleared from the screen. Your pellet heater is now ready to restart. However, if this doesn’t clear the code switch the heater off at the wall. Wait at least 10 seconds and switch it back on. That should clear the error but if not try doing the thumbs up button again to clear it.
Feed Rate too High
You might get an E6 error code on your pellet heater because of the feed rate. When your heater is feeding too many pellets into the burn pot, the fire will be bigger than normal. If it is too big it becomes too hot and this becomes a potential safety issue, which is why the E6 error code is triggered and your pellet heater shuts down to prevent it over heating. There are two main reasons the feed rate on your pellet heater may be too high. First, if you have recently changed pellets this could be the cause or second if the heater has just been installed, either new or second hand, the feed rate setting may need adjusting.
If you’ve recently changed pellets, then the length of the pellets could be the cause of the feed rate problem. In a perfect world different brands of pellets would be similar in length and quality (read my wood pellet length post). However, you’ll find different brands can vary greatly in length. This usually isn’t a problem but it can be. If your pellet heater was tuned to burn medium to long pellets and you switch brands to pellets that are very short, you’ll possibly experience an E6 error. Basically, short pellets will feed through your heater faster than they would when burning longer pellets.
The other cause of a feed rate issue and E6 error is your pellet heater just wasn’t tuned properly when installed. Factories set their pellet heaters to a default feed rate. Most of the time this is fine but sometimes it just isn’t. Your pellets may be much shorter than what the factory used. Again, the end result is too many pellets are being fed into your burn pot and the fire is bigger than it should be.
Fixing the feed rate issue is simple. First, if it’s because you are burning really short pellets, going back to the brand you were burning previously, the longer pellets, will fix this problem. If you aren’t or don’t want to do this because you’ve purchased a pallet of the short pellets, then you will need to adjust the feed rate. The same applies for your heater if it is newly installed and wasn’t setup right. Increase the feed rate slowly and test. You will need to adjust your feed rate for all heat level settings. Keep increasing the feed rate until the fire reduces in size and the E6 error code stops being triggered.
Room Fan
If the feed rate on your pellet heater isn’t triggering the E6 error code then it could be the room fan. The room fan is faulty, not operating as it should or the room fan speed settings are too low. The room fan blow air through the pellet heater which is heated by a heat exchange. If the room fan speed is too low, then the heat exchanger is getting too hot. Without sufficient air blowing over the heat exchanger it will over heat. Each of the heat settings on your pellet heater will have a different room fan speed. This means you may need to adjust the room fan speed on one or more heat settings depending.
To adjust the room fan speed you need to increase the voltage setting. Increase it by 1 or 2 volts and see if that fixed the E6 error code. It shouldn’t matter what make or model pellet heater you have. Both the exhaust and room fan speed is controlled by either increasing, to speed up, or decreasing, to slow down the voltage of the fan. If you try adjusting the voltage and it doesn’t fix the problem then your room fan could be faulty or on its way out. If the room fan isn’t spinning at all, then it’s definitely fault and needs to be replaced.
E6 Error Code Summary
An E6 error code on a pellet heater is caused by excessive heat. The hopper in the sensor detects unusually high levels of heat within the pellet heater and shuts down to prevent further over heating. The main causes of this are feed rate or the room fan not operating at correct speed. Feed rate problems can be due to incorrect tuning or a change in pellet length. Simply reduce the feed rate so fewer pellets are fed into the burn pot reducing the size of the fire.
If your room fan is spinning too slow, increase the voltage to speed it up. If the fan is making a weird noise then it may need to be replaced. If you are unsure of how to do any of the above then it is strongly recommended you book your pellet heater in for a service.
The PFTas pellet heater manual will provide some brief and basic information about Error codes.
