Quadra Fire Castille (new) - I think I'm having a "bridging" problem or a "clogging" problem and I n

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Xian

New Member
Dec 31, 2009
7
Pittsburgh, PA
Hi all. I'm sorry for the elementary nature of this post, but I'm very new at this.

I started burning a new Quadra Fire Castille Insert in November. I only burn it at night after I get home from work, so I've been using only about 5 pounds of pellets a day. I would drop in a half-gallon each night before I started the stove and then I'd turn the stove off before they all burned down (in other words, my hopper never really emptied itself out). I was using pellets I got at Home Depot. Everything was great until last week.

Last week I ran out of the Home Depot pellets and I bought 10 bags of a new brand of pellets at Sam's club. The pellets seem to be bigger and "harder" than the ones I was using at Home Depot. The Home Depot pellets never exceeded 3/4" in length and crumbled easily when pressed. These others sometimes get up to 1" or 1.25" and don't crumble as easily.

Now, my stove sometimes stops feeding pellets. Sometimes I fire up the stove and no pellets are fed to ignite the fire. I don't even hear the feed mechanism making any effort at all. I have to remove most of the pellets from the hopper and hit reset every few minures for about 10-15 minutes total and then it randomly begins to operate.

Once I get it lit, it operates normally for a while and then the pellets just stop pouring out. I can hear the feed mechanism trying to deliver the pellets every 6 seconds but none fall into the burner. It sounds like it's trying and trying to feed pellets, and the efforts happen more and more quickly over time, and then the unit shuts down after the fire dies.

If we remove most of the pellets from the hopper by hand (which is a major pain since this is an insert and it's tough to reach down on there) the problem seems to go away temporarily. When we get to the point where's there's about a half-gallon of pellets in there, things seem to start working again. I don't know if that's because we've sufficiently jostled things around or because having a lower volume of pellets in the hopper makes some sort of difference.

Anyway, does this sound familiar to anyone? I read my manual and I see words like "bridging" which I assume means "clog." But I don't know how to stop that from happening or how to "break" a "bridge" if one occurs. I don't know how to check if my "augur" is having a problem. I really don't understand what's going on at all.

Thanks in advance for any tips.
 
It seems pretty obvious that it's the pellets. You had no problem with the first ones, but had an immediate problem when you switched. What brands are the pellets?
 
The new pellets are Pennington Nature's Heat Pellets. http://www.naturesheatpellets.com/

Obvously, I'd be thrilled if it's just the pellets. I do have one last bag of the "old" pellets in my garage (I can't remember the brand and I'm not at home right now) -- maybe I'll try to run them through.

Are "bad" pellets common? Shouldn't a new Quadra Fire be able to handle any old "standard" pellets? Or do I need to be a savvy pellet consumer?
 
I fought the bridging problem last year. It would happen every 3-4 days over night and shut down the stove. Tried waxing and polishing the hopper and different settings on the pellet burner but nothing helped. I even thought about modifying the pellet hopper. Nothing made any difference.

This season the problem stopped completely with all settings back to normal. After pondering this for a while the only thing that was absolutely different was the length of the pellets.

Last year I purchased several tons that were made by a reputable but new plant. My dealer had warned me the pellets had been made too long. But they burned great. Now I realize the only time the pellets bridged and stopped the pellet burner was when I was using the long pellets. Absolutely.

This year I am using pellets from the same plant adjusted to put out shorter pellets. The pellets are about 1/4" to 1" long. I've had no bridging problems this year.
 
Thank you for the responses.

What exactly is "bridging?" Does it mean the pellets are piled over an open hole to the hopper but are arranged in a way that they don't fall into the hole? If that's the case, it might explain why the problem seems to go away when we start removing pellets by hand. Eventually, we must be removing enough to "break up" the "bridge."
 
Last year a friend got a bad batch of pellets from sams club clog his stove up with clinkes and would not burn. I would take them back.
 
Xian said:
Thank you for the responses.

What exactly is "bridging?" Does it mean the pellets are piled over an open hole to the hopper but are arranged in a way that they don't fall into the hole? If that's the case, it might explain why the problem seems to go away when we start removing pellets by hand. Eventually, we must be removing enough to "break up" the "bridge."

You are correct. That is what mine does. I doesn't seem possible but that's what is happening.

After finding the stove shut down from bridging, I can slowly sink my fingers down into the pellets over the open hole to the slide plate and listen carefully. I can hear the pellets tinkling down at the bottom of the hopper on to the slide plate. That tells me they are jammed up and not flowing down into the slide plate and auger. And that I have cleard the jam with my fingers.
 
Xian said:
Thank you for the responses.

What exactly is "bridging?" Does it mean the pellets are piled over an open hole to the hopper but are arranged in a way that they don't fall into the hole? If that's the case, it might explain why the problem seems to go away when we start removing pellets by hand. Eventually, we must be removing enough to "break up" the "bridge."

You got it. Bridging is usually from long pellets, Longer than the 1 1/2 spec from PFI. Seeing that you burn so little. Try to break them up before you start the stove again.

Sometimes I fire up the stove and no pellets are fed to ignite the fire. I don’t even hear the feed mechanism making any effort at all. I have to remove most of the pellets from the hopper and hit reset every few minures for about 10-15 minutes total and then it randomly begins to operate.

This is a different problem. Sounds like the stove is not creating vacuum or the vacuum switch tube is clogged. Remove the tube from the vacuum switch(at the switch) and blow air towards the stove. This should fix the delayed start up. If not then you may have a bad door seal or vacuum leak somewhere.
 
Basically means what you think, longer pellets getting hung up in the feed chute and/or hopper opening. You may want to try and adjust the feed gate, crack her open a little more to deal with the different fuel. As an aside, my folks have the same stove, mom called last week and said it was not working. I went out and took a look, was planning on replacing the auger because I thought it was slipping, it was running but pellet drop was intermittent. Being the smart guy I am (honestly, just thought maybe...), prior to 'going in' I emptied the hopper, used a narrow vac hose and shop vac to do so. Low and behold, the last suck presented me with a piece of cardboard from unwrapping presents. Apparently when picking up after the big evening, the piece wound up in the pellet bucket, then dad filled the bucket and dumped it in the stove. Sometimes it is not what you think! Do the feed gate and keep us posted.
 
"Now, my stove sometimes stops feeding pellets. Sometimes I fire up the stove and no pellets are fed to ignite the fire. I don’t even hear the feed mechanism making any effort at all. I have to remove most of the pellets from the hopper and hit reset every few minures for about 10-15 minutes total and then it randomly begins to operate.

Once I get it lit, it operates normally for a while and then the pellets just stop pouring out. I can hear the feed mechanism trying to deliver the pellets every 6 seconds but none fall into the burner. It sounds like it’s trying and trying to feed pellets, and the efforts happen more and more quickly over time, and then the unit shuts down after the fire dies."

Here is something I run across every now and then, caused by long pellets. If you were to look up the "drop tube" above the firepot with a mirror and flashlight, you could have a long pellet blocking the pellets from falling down when they hit the opening at the top of the feed spring. Usually it will be stuck in the tube corner to corner and the pellets will back up behind it and not feed. take a coat hanger, screwdriver or something that will reach that far up and dislodge the pellet.
 
Open your feed by backing off the thumb screw in the hopper and this will allow the chute to be opened more. Remember to tighten the screw when done.

Eric
 
Thank you for all the responses. It has been very helpful and I'm learning a ton about my unit at least.

I've got the unit burning now. It's burning the old pellets and has been running fine for about a half hour. But it took me forever (15 minutes) to get it started. When I turned up the thermostat to start the unit, it fed no pellets. I ended up getting frustrated and tossing some in the hopper manually. After about 5 minutes, it started feeding normally.

One of you suggested that I adjust the feed adjustment rod. I've done that (several times) and it does not appear to make a difference in anything except for my flame height. Good suggestion though.

I think there may have been (or may be) two problems. (1) maybe the pellets weren't perfect for my unit; and (2) something is wrong with my startup. Someone suggested that I remove a tube and blow into it. I can try that when the unit is cool. But if it was a vacuum problem, would it be running smoothly now? I'm reluctant to start pulling tubes out (I'm not necessarily a handy fellow) unless it's truly a potential problem.

Another question: in my manual, it says that vacuum can be impacted by a near-empty hopper. Is that correct? We were keeping the hopper nearly empty because we thought the weight was creating the bridging of the bad pellets. A potential Catch-22 -- if we filled it up, it would stop feeding during operation, but if we keep it empty, it doesn't start without 15 minutes of hassle. Does that make sense?
 
Yes, the air will pull through the hopper if empty, not too many pellets, I would think so. I keep mine as full as I can, the heat actually helps dry some moisture out of them.
The hopper lid has no seal, with a top loader the chances of a hopper fire is remote, bottom loaders, different story.
 
AZ Pellet Guy said:
Last year a friend got a bad batch of pellets from sams club clog his stove up with clinkes and would not burn. I would take them back.

That is a completely different problem. Not enough burn air, silica or chlorides in the pellets. His issue was the pellets never even getting to the burnpot.

But I agree with one thing....if the bridging is due to the pellets being too long, yes, that would be another reason to return them.
 
You say the hopper never really emptied out- BUT, if the auger wasnt getting anymore pellets because there were no more pellets at the feed tube, the next time it was supposed to fire up, you would get only a couple of pellets at start up which wouldnt really get a fire going. Try kepping the hopper full, hope it works. Ive got a catille insert and have only had that problem after I ran out of pellets and refilled hopper but takes a while to get an empty auger to start cycling pellets again. Good luck, and a happy new year.
 
Yeah, I've learned that it takes a good while for an empty auger to start dropping pellets again. What I can't figure out is why the emptying is occurring in the first place.

I've concluded that it's not the pellets -- I switched back to the old brand and am having the same issues.

It boils down to this: pellets don't arrive when they're supposed to. If I get the unit started (which now takes 10-15 minutes and several resets), it runs for a good while, then the pellets stop falling and the unit shuts down. I've tried everything suggested in the manual except for the vacuum hose, but to check that, I'd have to pull my unit out of the wall. I'm unsure how to do that. I also don't know if that hose can get clogged after only a few weeks of burning.

I'm bummed. I guess I'll have to try a service call.
 
Xian said:
Yeah, I've learned that it takes a good while for an empty auger to start dropping pellets again. What I can't figure out is why the emptying is occurring in the first place.

I've concluded that it's not the pellets -- I switched back to the old brand and am having the same issues.

It boils down to this: pellets don't arrive when they're supposed to. If I get the unit started (which now takes 10-15 minutes and several resets), it runs for a good while, then the pellets stop falling and the unit shuts down. I've tried everything suggested in the manual except for the vacuum hose, but to check that, I'd have to pull my unit out of the wall. I'm unsure how to do that. I also don't know if that hose can get clogged after only a few weeks of burning.

I'm bummed. I guess I'll have to try a service call.

I think you can get at the vacuum switch when you remove the left side panel. Just a couple of screws and its off. Pop the hose off the switch and blow some compressed air into it. Quad has the tube hooked to the auger housing. Each time the auger turns it could force a little saw dust into the tube. I had to do this on a regular basis whith my quad. Easy fix and not worth calling in a service tech IMO. I am sure they will charge you as this is deemed regular maintenance.
 
jtakeman said:
I think you can get at the vacuum switch when you remove the left side panel. Just a couple of screws and its off. Pop the hose off the switch and blow some compressed air into it. Quad has the tube hooked to the auger housing. Each time the auger turns it could force a little saw dust into the tube. I had to do this on a regular basis whith my quad. Easy fix and not worth calling in a service tech IMO. I am sure they will charge you as this is deemed regular maintenance.

Thanks for the tip. I just tried to take your advice, but my hose isn't visible from the left (or right) panel. It's in the back of the unit. I can see it if I use a hand mirror, but not well enough to reach back there, find it, and properly dis- and re-connect it. The only way that I could get to it is if I slide the unit out from the wall, and I'm not sure how to go about doing that.

My Castille actually has nothing at all on the left side behind the panel. All the wires and stuff are on the right side.
 
Just a final followup -- I had a service call today and the problem was a defective vacuum switch. The switch was supposed to be housed in plastic and embedded into a metal box. The plastic housing was cracked so the switch was very loose in the metal box and wasn't holding the vacuum.

The defect was covered under the QF warranty so I wasn't charged the $60 for the part or the $100 for the call. All in all, a happy ending to a frustrating situation. The stove is burning away merrily as I type.
 
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