Quadrafire not lighting. Any tips?¿?

oilfieldwife said:

First off bare With me this is my first year managing our pellet stove. And of course everything breaks while hubby is out of state.

Yesterday it wouldn't do anything at all. No power, no light, no nothing. So I did some investigating and pulled off the side panel and pulled out the fuse. (I didn't even know it had a fuse til I seen the black button thingy labeled "fuse" lol!!) It was blown. So I ran to town got a fuse and she worked perfectly all night. But now this morning it isn't lighting. It'll start up and drop pellets but doesn't light. I cleaned it good and made sure the pot didn't have any clinkers. I am going to try and clean the pipe tomorrow. Not quite sure how to do that. Maybe take the shop vac outside and stick in the pipe? Anybody have any ideas on what could be wrong? Thanks!!

Click to expand...

My ignite hasn't worked since day one ... I use handful of pellets in the tray and torch with lighter ... Works everyday and has never failed... Cheaper than new ignitor or board for it

Welcome to the forum. You survived the first challenge of recognizing, finding and changing the fuse! Hope you remembered to unplug the beast before working on it... want you to be safe and not short something out.

Do you have the copy of the manual? - very helpful for tips on troubleshooting and cleaning out the internal exhaust path where fly ash gets trapped. What model of Quadrafire? Classic Bay? Some of the forum members will likely recognize it right off... helpful if you add the model in your title.

Exhaust blower comes on, pellets drop, but no fire. Sounds like the ignitor is shot. You can bench test it (to confirm that it is the ignitor and not the control board) or just get a new one. Stove shop near you?

Keep us posted ....

Classic Bay 1200 manual - troubleshooting on page 26 http://hearthnhome.com/downloads/installManuals/7014_179.pdf

PS - if kap or tj show up, listen to them... you can always use the search box up top to see if someone has already received help with ignitor

5500junk said:

My ignite hasn't worked since day one ... I use handful of pellets in the tray and torch with lighter ... Works everyday and has never failed... Cheaper than new ignitor or board for it

Click to expand...

Good point - pellets can be manually started with gel starter or hand sanitizer if it is just the ignitor that is gone. Control board problems make it dicey to determine if stove will function safely.

Lake Girl said:

Good point - pellets can be manually started with gel starter or hand sanitizer if it is just the ignitor that is gone. Control board problems make it dicey to determine if stove will function safely.

Click to expand...

Mine does just fine. Because of safety slip under the lid, I grab handful of pellets and put it in burn pot. With my stove the pellets won't drop if door open and lid closed, so ignite them with torch and close the door tight then pellets start to drop.... Cheap and easy and been doing this for years

Never had a stove with an ignitor. Takes all the adventure out of it owning a stove for heat. I'm into primative myself......

Lake Girl's right. It's probably the igniter that shorted out and blew your fuse. Since it didn't blow the fuse the second time, it sounds like you could do what the rest have suggested and start the fire with a handful of pellets, some hand sanitizer, and turn the heat up on the thermostat. To KEEP the fire going, you may want to set the stove to a lower setting so it never reaches the thermostat setpoint and shuts off.

oilfieldwife said:

I am going to try and clean the pipe tomorrow. Not quite sure how to do that. Maybe take the shop vac outside and stick in the pipe? Anybody have any ideas on what could be wrong? Thanks!!

Click to expand...

Sorry, forgot to respond to this part ... Do you have a brush for the venting? Between the brush and shop-vac, you should be OK - just use a drywall bag for the shop vac and make sure the stove is cold... What configuration is the venting? (ie, straight out, out and up, up and out?) Clean-out?

The Leaf Blower Trick is pretty handy if you have a leaf blower with the vacuum option. Search the forum (box top right) or youtube. If you try this, remember to disconnect hose off vacuum switch or leave stove door open.

Keep us posted!

Lake Girl said:

Sorry, forgot to respond to this part ... Do you have a brush for the venting? Between the brush and shop-vac, you should be OK - just use a drywall bag for the shop vac and make sure the stove is cold... What configuration is the venting? (ie, straight out, out and up, up and out?) Clean-out?

The Leaf Blower Trick is pretty handy if you have a leaf blower with the vacuum option. Search the forum (box top right) or youtube. If you try this, remember to disconnect hose off vacuum switch or leave stove door open.

Keep us posted!

Click to expand...

Actually both are a good idea depending on how much power the leaf blower has and now sensitive the diaphgragm in the vacuum switch is. Only takes a second to pull the hose, much easier than a ruptured diaphragm.

SidecarFlip said:

Actually both are a good idea depending on how much power the leaf blower has and now sensitive the diaphgragm in the vacuum switch is. Only takes a second to pull the hose, much easier than a ruptured diaphragm.

Click to expand...

Except on my stove... have to peel the pretty majolica sides off to get to the vac switch But, I need to do that to get into the internal inspection ports and to clean blowers. Unsealed hopper allows pellet dust to settle into the body of the stove.

Likely the igniter is bad.

These are located in the bottom of the fire pot.

What model of Quad ???

At that age it is very likely the ignitor is bad. Nice work on the fuse! Just fire it by hand as my fellow USSC owner 5500junk stated. It'll keep you warm just the same.

Fire starter gel or hand sanitizer starts until you get a new ignitor The manual is your new best friend - take the time to read and re-read! Spend some time using the search box and reading here as there are usually tips that will make your life easier - that aren't mentioned in the manual.

Page 32 of the manual point #19 - not familiar with the Classic Bay or how ashy your pellets are but many folks clean exhaust pathway after every ton burned to avoid problems. Not sure what there may be for a gasket - check to see if you need a replacement before opening! Be careful not to damage blades on exhaust blower. Others that have the classic bay can give you better details on what else needs attention...

Page 34 G goes through ignitor replacement - Remember to unplug the stove if you attempt this!

Keep us posted!

Glad you got it going but no newspaper next time ... pellets and hand sanitizer/starter gel. Or the following:

From another thread posted by stoveguy2esw (Englander stove tech): wax and sawdust bricks for lighting woodstoves , you can get em in our local grocery store for about a buck and a half for a pack of 3. put em in a bag and hit with a hammer to break em up , one starter block should be good for a dozen or more lightings. i would think a palmfull of these crushed up starter medium would be all you need, turn the unit on with door open , most stoves will not feed when door is open but exhaust blower will run , light the starter and give it time to get going, ease door shut , fire should be established pretty well by the time the pellets arrive. tried and true method ive used for our older manual start units for years
https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/manually-lighting-a-pellet-stove-again.15801/

Keep warm and let us know how you make out with getting a new ignitor

Lake Girl said:

Except on my stove... have to peel the pretty majolica sides off to get to the vac switch But, I need to do that to get into the internal inspection ports and to clean blowers. Unsealed hopper allows pellet dust to settle into the body of the stove.

Click to expand...

I also have that issue... What I did was remove the sheet metal hex head screws that secure the side panel that covers the diaphragm switch (and assorted components) and replace them with thumbscrews so I can do a 'toolless' removal in about 5 seconds. You'll find appropriate thumbscrews at your local hardware store......

You might want to run a bead of blue RTV along the seams of the hopper (inside or outside) to mitigate the dust issue. Seems as though no sealant on the seams is kind of a poor design (in lieu of a Chicago lockseam at the joints).

Have hubby do a continuity test on the new igniter to make sure it is good. Or he can use an old lamp cord and hook wires to it and plug in to see if it starts getting hot. If it works, make sure connections are good on igniter and wire harness to it. If all this is good, it could be the control box. Would be nice if you knew someone with a stove to test it in, or if a dealer is near you that could test it in one of his stoves. kap

You may also want to observe the lights on your control box. What color is on when the stove is not burning? A bad thermocouple can cause your igniter not to turn on.

Your thermo-couple is the 'proof of fire' for your Quad. If it is bad you will get an amber / yellow light flashing in the control box.

When the TC is working normally, after the initial pellet drop and ignition (whether manually or by the igniter), the TC will sense whether there is fire or not in the burn pot. Once it reaches 200 F a green light should come on in your control box and your auger will start the feed cycle again. Then once the TC senses 600 F the green control box light will turn to red, indicating your stove is at normal operating temps. Shut down once the T-stat temp has been reached is essentially the reverse of the above.

Swapping your control box into your F-I-L's stove should reproduce the problem in his stove if the box is the problem. UNPLUG of course before you do, or he'll really be a butt head if you crisp his control box ! You could try re-seating your control box first to make sure it isn't just a poor electrical connection somewhere on the circuit board.

Here is the start-up sequence for Quads,which may help in figuring out where to trouble shoot: