Quadra fire 1200 help needed. Creosote!

[jdstg58]

Hi All
Just found this Forum, and need help.

I have a Quadrafire 1200 pellet stove that is cooking lots of creosote. The glass in the door turned black, the heat exchanger cleaning rods are stuck and the tubes are coated in a glaze of creosote. I had given it a full cleaning about 3 weeks ago, and it had some creosote, but not like this. I cleaned all I could today, but the heat exchanger rods are stuck. I tried to blow through the vacuume tube with compressed air, but it seemed pluged.

Any suggestions or help would be great! Thank you.

What should I be checking?

 

[kappel15]

You are burning real dirty. Time to clean entire exhaust path from firebox to exhaust cap. Miss no area. When was the last time the exhaust fan was removed and cleaned? You will need to pull vac hose entirely off and make sure it is clean and not cracked. You will then have to stick a pc. of stiff wire thru the nipple that the hose attaches to on the drop chute to clear it. As far as cleaning all that creosote, time to google fireplace products to see what they recommend to clean it off. I think Rutland makes something. We had another person that had the same issue and her stove was real dirty, and she needed a new combustion fan. Let us know how it goes. kap

 

[jdstg58]

Ok, I got the vacuume hose off and the brass plug on the drop shoot were plugged solid. Both are cleaned and back on.

To my knowledge the fan has never been removed, just vacuumed in place. I will try to remove now.

Could this be due to an air leak in the door gasket?

 

[kappel15]

If you remove the combustion fan, you will probably need a new gasket as they don't take well to removing the fan. The vac switch is suppose to shut down the auger if there is no negative pressure in the firebox, This can be caused by plugged exhaust, bad door gasket, broken glass in door, plugged vac hose and nipple, bad vac switch. Since the switch didn't shut down the auger, I am assuming the switch is bad too. I am still betting there is some blocked exhaust path either in stove, or in exhaust pipes. kap

 

[jdstg58]

I removed TH fan and cleaned. It's fins were coated with a crust of creosote. But it still spun freely. I scraped it all off and vacuumed it out. Tomorrow I'm going to buy a new door gasket and install.

Is there a way to test the Vac switch, or should I just replace?

The heat exchanger cleaning rods are still stuck due to creosote. Would this also cause a blockage?

 

[kappel15]

You can do a continuity test on it by lightly sucking on the hose and doing a continuity test on the spade connectors . The cleaning rods stuck will not cause a blockage. But the tubes need to have clearance all the way around them for the exhaust fumes to flow past. Don't forget behind back brick, and don't forget the exhaust pipe. kap

 

[jdstg58]

Ok quick update. I have a door gasket on order, and put the stove back together while I wait. I needed to use it even if burning dirty for the day.

With the Vacuum hose cleaned, it is burning hot. No creosote. It's also completely burning the pellets down to glass again. Much hotter!

Thank You for your help!

I think we have it fixed.

 

[kappel15]

Glad you are up and running. Always nice when the OP replies back with results. Stay warm. kap

 

[jdstg58]

Hi All
The stove continued to have major creosote problems through most of the winter. We had a great technition come and work on the stove and it stumped him for a couple weeks.

Long story short. The Quadrafire Classic bay has a small welded in metal screw in the top of the ash pan area that stops the sliding bottom of the fire pot in the correct position when closed. The screw broke off allowing the fire pot floor to open just enough to break vacuum and cause a slow inefficient burn full of creosote . Very small, easy to miss part that can cause huge problems. Just wanted to give a heads up. Think the stove is 12-14 years old and burns like new. Night and day difference.

 

[Lake Girl]

Thanks for posting back ... fixed the title of the thread. Better late than never!

 

[kappel15]

That would be a tough one to find. Glad it was found, and you are back to burning. What is strange tho, is usually if that breaks, or you loosen the floor past it, the floor will come all the way out to the front of the pot. kap