I have an older quadirafire 1000 pellet stove and I am getting big time clinkers. I adjusted the air and gave it a cleaning and nothing seems to help, I have not had any problems with it until I fired it up this year. I am hoping that someone can lead me in the right direction on more troubleshooting that I can do. the pictures that i have uploaded is what I got after running it for 20 hours.
Huge clinkers burning dirty
- Thread starter cousinles
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SmokeyTheBear
Minister of Fire
Gaskets, check all of them including the burn pot gasket.
Burn pot holes make sure they are original size.
Loose ash pan covers.
What are you burning for pellets?
Burn pot holes make sure they are original size.
Loose ash pan covers.
What are you burning for pellets?
Thanks for your reply. I checked my pot gasket and it is good. My other gaskets I held a bic lighter up to them to see if i could see a draft and i did not . I don't know if that is a good way to check them but that is what i did. my burn pot hols I poked a small screw drive through them, I suppose that may not be good enough. the pellets i am burning are instant heat from TSC but all pellets seem to be doing the same thing just some worst than others.
jtakeman
Minister of Fire
Did you move any ash around the burnpot???
There are 2 streaks in the top pic on the right side of the pot. Very indicative of a bad burn pot gasket. Air is shooting out of the blown gasket. Which does not allow the ash to settle there.
Thats what I see. That airloss will definitely aid in a clinker or a bad burn.
There are 2 streaks in the top pic on the right side of the pot. Very indicative of a bad burn pot gasket. Air is shooting out of the blown gasket. Which does not allow the ash to settle there.
Thats what I see. That airloss will definitely aid in a clinker or a bad burn.
DexterDay said:
Good eye, that does make sense. them ashes cant move without air blowing on them, I will check it out thanks.
jtakeman
Minister of Fire
Good eyes dex, That definetly looks like a leaky gasket!
les, once you get the pot out to change the gasket. Take a drill bit to the burnpot holes and get them cleaned out. Carbon would always build up on my quad in them holes. I would make sure they were clear while doing my normal cleanings. You'll know when they are getting plugged when it starts smoking real bad on start up.
les, once you get the pot out to change the gasket. Take a drill bit to the burnpot holes and get them cleaned out. Carbon would always build up on my quad in them holes. I would make sure they were clear while doing my normal cleanings. You'll know when they are getting plugged when it starts smoking real bad on start up.
SmokeyTheBear
Minister of Fire
Not quite as bad as last year when a fellow discovered one of his bolts was gone and his gasket kinda worn on one of them quads, I think he was cleaning the stove out a couple times a day.
He finally tore it down and got it really clean and discovered the busted bolt etc...
He finally tore it down and got it really clean and discovered the busted bolt etc...
Now my thermocouple is bad.I wonder if the bad gasket has anything to do with ruining the thermocouple? This stove is really annoying me lately, never had a single problem with it until this year. I guess I will have to order another one along with my gasket. does anybody know of a good trust worthy website I can get these parts from?
SmokeyTheBear said:
Actually when I was doing my maintence on it that bolt on that side was loose and I snugged it up. that should have gave me clue there was a problem with the gasket then.
SmokeyTheBear
Minister of Fire
les said:
When I replaced my burnpot gasket last year (gonna catch some flack). I used a 1/2" flat gasket and cemented it onto the bottom of the burn pot. It is now a permanent gasket, that doesnt need changed every time the pot is pulled...
I cleaned the surface really well, and laid down the included cement, tyen wrapped the 1"2" flat gasket around the pot. Making sure the ends butted together tightly. The gasket is 1/2" wide, by about 1/8" thick.. Some may say not to do it. But I have not had an issue with it. That material will last much longer. I only remive the pot once a year to fully clean scrape, and paint....
My stoves pot also only had 2 bolts, so I added 2 more (holes were in pot base, just had to add same size self tapping screws) this provides a good even seal sround the entire pot. Dont know how many, or how the 1000 pot is?
I found a new pot gasket in my garage, the last people who owned my house left me a spare. I changed the pot gasket and bypassed my thermocouple so i could test the stove. I am still getting clinkers but now they are rock hard and glassy like ,so I bought another bag of pellets to test, they were north american pellets and they burned great no clinkers or ash in the pot. I think the problem was a combination of my pot gasket and bad pellets. I think there is a pound of sand in every bag of these instant heat pellets. Some parts of these clinkers stick to a magnet. oh well I have 20 more bags of instant heat to go and I will not buy them again.
SmokeyTheBear
Minister of Fire
les said:
Seems there be silica and such in those Instant Heat puppies but you definitely had an air flow issue and that was solved by the gasket fix up. Likely if you could get even more air flow the clinkers would get smaller but there is a limit to the amount of air flow you can have without blowing all of the pellets out of the pot.
Don't you just love clinkers? ...... <bear making his getaway ..... ;-) .
Actually after i changed the gasket i had to turn the air down a little bit because it was blowing half burned pelletsp out of the pot.
les said:
Does the 1000 have a damper (or air control) on it?
My 1200 has only 3 settings for Feed-rate and then a High/
Low switch for the blower (a feed plate on the inside to restrict fuel also).
Just wondering? Dont know why Quad wouldnt want there stoves more adjustable... They are the easiest stove to run, but it would be nice to see added features.
stellep said:
The correct name for them is "Instant Heat-less"....one of the worst pellets going. Not far from Inferno territory.....scary. :ahhh:
redhot1
New Member
Why is it the pellets with the super names like "Instant Heat" or "Nation's Choice" all SUCK? Almost seems like the better the name on the pellet bag sounds, the trashier they are. How about a new pellet with the name of "Super Clinker" or "Wish you had some heat":lol:
HopeItBurns
Member
redhot1
New Member
HopeItBurns said:
Ha Ha! How about adding to yours. How about "Super Burn Pellets" Buy a ton and we'll give you free dirty glass in every bag. What a deal you won't be able to pass on. Hurry, they won't last long! (and we mean that literally. When burning, they don't last long!)
Almost sounds like some of the garbage I have!
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