Quadrafire Santefe reliability issue

igniter needs replacing

After it has ignited, does it run normally or the flame dies out?
Do you have to hit the reset button again to get it going?
I would check the slot at the front of the firepot where the igniter is and try cleaning that slot.

Make sure your thermo coupler is in the correct position. Ceramic cover inserted all the way into the burn pot and the probe all the way to the end of the ceramic cover.

Eric

where do you have the feed adjustment set at? How are the pellets, long or short? Does it do it when starting from cold or will it do it when it is warm too?

Well, there is one possible cause > "Don't think I have ever played with" the feed rate. There is no way you can go through a season without tailoring the feed rate on the Sante Fe to the pellets you are burning. As the length varies, and it will, you have to change the slide to maintain a 4" average flame height on HIGH. If your pellets got longer, they won't feed as well and you won't get enough to maintain the fire or you might even be bridging across the top of the feed chute. Take a small mirror and a flashlight and look up the feed chute. You should not see any pellets up there, only the auger. See if there are any pellets or small animals jammed between the end of the auger and the housing or blocking the feed chute.

You could also be having the dreaded failure of the capacitor on the auger, which will make the auger go in reverse occasionally. Of course, that screws up your feed big time. I haven't had the problem yet so I'm not sure how you can check for that since the door has to be closed to get the auger to turn.

Maybe the stove prefers the hardwood pellets.. some stoves are picky about what you feed them.... you can also pull the feed rod out a little this may help it, I have had to adjust mine a few times when getting new pellets, my stove does not like pellets that are 3/4 inch or longer it likes very short ones, about 1/4 inch to 1/2 inch long works best in mine.

yes, the stove is VERY particular about pellet length. I just switched to another hardwood pellet to use them up from last year and the length is longer than the others. I saw a big change in the flame and the heat output. Had to open the slide about 1/4 to 3/8" to get back up to temp. I would definitely sloooowly make adjustments to the feed and see what happens.

If you want more pellets to drop, move your adjustment to the right. I know that my owner's manual is very confusing with the picture they show. It is actually UPSIDE DOWN OR REVERSED and it looks like you move it to the left for more feed. When you move to the right, you are opening the feed gate.

All possible ideas but to me it sounds more like a draft issue. When was the last time you cleaned the exhaust blower and chimney on this unit. Check the voltage to the exhaust blower as well. Should be 120VAC

JC93 said:

All possible ideas but to me it sounds more like a draft issue. When was the last time you cleaned the exhaust blower and chimney on this unit. Check the voltage to the exhaust blower as well. Should be 120VAC

Click to expand...

Voltage with the motor hooked up and running will only be around 120v on high, it will be lower on med and low. If I remember right low was like 70 some volts?...........

You can try oiling it, but I would start looking for a new one, as it is on it's way out.........

As far as I know the blowers on the Quad's cannot be oiled, and some places are asking big bucks for the blowers. If your Santa Fe is an insert, 5 years old it might be the Rev B model, but you can look at this page for blower prices. Combustion blower for a Santa Fe at this place is $210 and Convection room blower is $149. If it's squeaking it might be on the way out, and if it were me I would just replace it.

Some guys here have tried cleaning, and putting lubrication on them and it didnt do any good when the bearings are tired and worn its time for a replacement. These blowers, and parts are direct Quadrafire replacements, not generic parts. If I had to change my blower, I'd go for a factory replacement this way I know it will drop right in without any modification as you might get with a generic one size fits all type of blower motor.

You didnt say which blower it was, but hopefully it just needs cleaned up.


Good luck,