Hi. I'm new to the forum and just bought a used cb 1200 that needs some work. I have to say first that I'm a huge fan of the site and have read a bunch of posts that I think are pointing me in the right direction to solve my problem. I still can use some specific help though. So when I got the stove the auger chute was completely jammed with pellets that had soaked up some moisture and formed a cake. The first thing I did was clean that out but now the fire in the pot is always very low and the burned pellets seem to fly all over the place making a sustained fire almost impossible. I can't figure out whether this is a feed rate issue or an air flow issue or both. One thing I did notice is that the burn pot had a pretty significant gap in between the clean out plate and the pot. I tried to shim the plate at first to get a better seal and it did seem to help a little bit although the seal still wasn't great. Yesterday I took the burn pot out and really scraped and cleaned it up so that the seal is tight. Now I'm waiting to get a new burn pot gasket so that I can test it out again. In the meantime I was just wondering if anyone thinks this is going to solve my problem or if it sounds like something different. The auger seems to be running right although I'm not really sure how many pellets it is supposed to dump. It will run for the minute or so upon start up and then will turn about 6 times a minute to feed the fire dropping maybe an average of 5 pellets or so per time. I have the feed rate adjuster all the way open. The thermocouple seems to be working fine and turns the green and red light on as expected as well. If anyone has some advice on what my next steps should be I would greatly appreciate it! Thanks!
Quadrafire CB1200 burns out
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Make sure there is no bridging at the top of the chute. Look up.there with a mirror.
As for cycle times. The auger has an "On" time of 95 seconds at start up. So when you get the call for heat, the auger turns for 1:35 straight.
High "on" time is 7.5 seconds
Med is 6 seconds
Low is 4.7 seconds
If the auger is spinning that amount of time, then all should be well. The gap for the cleanout plate shouldn't be to big. If you can fit a dime in the gap, then it should.be adjusted. Plate can be taken off a placed in a Vice (plate steel, its ok) and bent slightly. Its easy to go crazy with a screwdriver and a hammer when cleaning the carbon off the bottom of the pot.
Sounds like your pretty squared away. Looking forward to pics.
Welcome to the Forums.
As for cycle times. The auger has an "On" time of 95 seconds at start up. So when you get the call for heat, the auger turns for 1:35 straight.
High "on" time is 7.5 seconds
Med is 6 seconds
Low is 4.7 seconds
If the auger is spinning that amount of time, then all should be well. The gap for the cleanout plate shouldn't be to big. If you can fit a dime in the gap, then it should.be adjusted. Plate can be taken off a placed in a Vice (plate steel, its ok) and bent slightly. Its easy to go crazy with a screwdriver and a hammer when cleaning the carbon off the bottom of the pot.
Sounds like your pretty squared away. Looking forward to pics.
Welcome to the Forums.
Well I put the burn pot back in and I still have the same problem. I checked the chute and there is no bridging as well. The auger seems to be working correctly. I'm really starting to feel like my combustion fan is pulling too much air through the pot to sustain a fire. Is there any way to adjust the combustion fan speed? The other strange thing is that if I block the intake area it doesn't seem to slow down the airflow much at all. Is that normal? Also does anyone know what number setting the control box should be on for the CB1200? Just want to be sure that is right at least. I was at my local dealer today and the sales guy showed me another quad pellet stove that was running. When he adjusted the 3 position computer setting the combustion fan and blower were adjusted. Does the CB1200 also function like that? I don't think my combustion fan changes at all when I change the setting. Does mean I have a control box issue? I know I have a lot of questions here but If anyone has advice I would definitely appreciate it. Thanks dexterday for getting me started!
When you run through the settings (High/Med/Low) the combustion fan should run down in steps. Its RPM is fixed to the Setting. So Yes, you may have an issue.
You should definitely be able to hear this. The best way to see if its working as it should (easist to hear).
1. Turn the stove "On", then turn it right back off. (This starts the stove, the CB always starts up on "High" setting).
2.- When you turn stove off (immediately after turning on/just cycle it) The exhaust blower will be running (only blower) go to the control panel and cycle to another setting. If working properly, you should hear the blower step down (low) and step up (med or high).
Again, this is just a test and the stove should not be starting up when you do this. Turn it on (turn t-stat up / or turn On depending on the stat you have, then shut it off right away)
If you set the stove to Low before you do this test.. (when its off and not running) The stove should kick on (High blower), then when you shut it down, the blower will revert to your setting (Low blower).
Hope this helps..
You should definitely be able to hear this. The best way to see if its working as it should (easist to hear).
1. Turn the stove "On", then turn it right back off. (This starts the stove, the CB always starts up on "High" setting).
2.- When you turn stove off (immediately after turning on/just cycle it) The exhaust blower will be running (only blower) go to the control panel and cycle to another setting. If working properly, you should hear the blower step down (low) and step up (med or high).
Again, this is just a test and the stove should not be starting up when you do this. Turn it on (turn t-stat up / or turn On depending on the stat you have, then shut it off right away)
If you set the stove to Low before you do this test.. (when its off and not running) The stove should kick on (High blower), then when you shut it down, the blower will revert to your setting (Low blower).
Hope this helps..
Originally I could not hear any difference when the control box was on setting #5. I decided to try different settings to see what happened and on setting 1 I can hear a difference. Its not very significant but I can definitely hear it. Any setting above 2 and I can't hear a difference.
Nicholas440
Feeling the Heat
There should be almost no gap between the bottom swing plate of the firepot, it is just enough to the plate to move. My Quad swing plate is very stiff to move it has to be perfectly clear of any carbon or it wont move. If you have more of a gap there you get more air into the bottom of the pot than you need. There is a nut on the bottom swing plate you can adjust for proper clearance.
Welcome to the forum . Good luck..
Welcome to the forum . Good luck..
I ran the stove this morning with the control unit on 1 and on the low speed setting and I was able to maintain a small fire. Still not sufficient to heat anything but at least better than before. I could also clearly hear a difference in the combustion blower speed between the three settings. If I turned the speed up I would blow all the burning pellets out of the pot though. Right now the burn pot cleanout door has almost not gap. I have a little more confidence now that the control unit is functioning properly but the air movement might still be too high for some reason. The only other thing I can think of is that the pellets that I have are burning up too quickly and therefore flying out of the pot. Is that something that can happen with low quality pellets. I bought them from home depot. Thanks again!
SmokeyTheBear
Minister of Fire
So it turns out that the pellets did make a huge difference. I can't believe it. I found a bag of dry creek pellets to try out and now I'm up and running. I still feel like either the feed could be a little quicker or the air flow a little slower but the stove definitely works now and the flames are cosistently level with the top of the pot to about 2 inches over on the high setting. I also found some green superior pellets at Lowes that seem to work just as well. I think Agway kind of ripped me off for the dry creeks at $8. a bag but it was worth it to solve the problem. Anyway huge difference compared to the first bag of quality one pellets I got at home depot (for my stove at least). I still want to try some other pellets to see if theres one thats best for my stove. I feel like a pellet that burns longer with a high air flow might be the way to go. Or maybe a pellet that people have to turn their feed rate down with?? Anybody have any suggestions? Thanks again for everyone's help!
jtakeman
Minister of Fire
Funny how a pellet change can make such a difference! Thought they were supposed to be all the same? ;-)
SmokeyTheBear
Minister of Fire
SmokeyTheBear said:
Smokey- 1st post he said he has the "Feed rate adjuster" all the way open.
And he still has a small flame.
Oper600- To much air is what these stoves look like they have. But if you lower the flow even a little bit, there is a drastic change in burn.
My door gasket was shot last year and the difference in flame wasn't enough to notice. The only thing that I noticed was the ash clumping and building up in the pot. Just that little reduction is all it took to throw it out of wack
So it seems like a lot of air. But these stoves are designed that way. (Unleas its been modified or has non stock parts??)
SmokeyTheBear
Minister of Fire
DexterDay said:
I'd start looking at the vacuum or that damn capacitor on the feed motor if that gate is in fact open all the way or perhaps he has pellets the size of logs.
I was reading up about the auger motor capacitor last week. It looks like the motor is not reversing and is turning at the proper intervals. Would a new capacitor do anything for the auger. Could it be less powerful or slower without the capacitor? I guess I could measure the RPMs. As far as the vacuum sensor goes how can that effect the feed rate? Is it a run/ no run situation if there's no vacuum or the line is plugged or something. Thanks again.
SmokeyTheBear
Minister of Fire
oper600 said:
If your vacuum switch is changing state it will disrupt power to the auger, which prevents it from turning for as long as it should. Thus less fuel in the pot.
The reasons for it to change state are many.
Also if the coupling between the auger motor and the auger is loose the motor could be turning the proper amount but the auger might not.
The effects from a bad capacitor go from failure to move at all to being random in direction of rotation. This can change every time the auger is told to move. This makes for really weird feed situations.
SmokeyTheBear
Minister of Fire
Have you checked for a fines plug where the pellets should be being picked up by the auger?
Your auger can't really lift the fines so they can effectively reduce the feed rate to a very low amount.
Your auger can't really lift the fines so they can effectively reduce the feed rate to a very low amount.
Oper,
I see you live in boston. I dont know how far away Princeton is from you but Hubards Farm have decent prices on pellets. Dry Creek, Barefoot, Turmans, NEWP, Valeo or something like that, all for 6 and no tax. I have a Heatilator PS50 and from what i read i think the 1200 is pretty much the same as mine. I went thru pellet after different pellet and found it likes the Turmans much better than all. I tried the dry creek and they were good but the the turmans kick a@@. Can go thru 3 bags and very little ash, no clinkers and beautiful heat.
I see you live in boston. I dont know how far away Princeton is from you but Hubards Farm have decent prices on pellets. Dry Creek, Barefoot, Turmans, NEWP, Valeo or something like that, all for 6 and no tax. I have a Heatilator PS50 and from what i read i think the 1200 is pretty much the same as mine. I went thru pellet after different pellet and found it likes the Turmans much better than all. I tried the dry creek and they were good but the the turmans kick a@@. Can go thru 3 bags and very little ash, no clinkers and beautiful heat.
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