Quadra-Fire Classic Bay 1200 quits burning

[UpstateSledder]

This pellet stove was one my father bought and is at our camp which is about 3 hrs away. He has since passed and I have now inherited what seems recently to be a nightmare. The problem is the stove burns for between 10-20 minutes and then dies down and stops. It seems as though it stops calling for fuel. The flames get smaller and smaller and eventually there's just a little pile of pellet coals in the burner. This is what I have done so far, as far as trouble shooting goes...

I have cleaned the entire stove, removed burn pit and cleaned thoroughly, inspected it and the ignition, cleaned and vacuumed the heat exchanges, cleaned and vacuumed all the pellets and dust from the hopper, cleaned all the fans, and checked the vacuum line. Inspected the thermocouple and its ceramic cover. I jump the thermostat on the back of the stove to see if it might be that, to no avail. I also have played with the feed setting and the placement of the ceramic thermocouple cover, adjusting each 1/4" at a time.

Somethings I noticed while monkeying around...

the wires for snap disc #2 (don't remember what color, thinking purple, but the ones that control the blower) have been unplugged from the snap disc and jumped
I see in the owners manual there is mention of a control box. My best guess is that this is suppose to be on the right hand side of the stove under the reset button and controls for the blower and heat output. However I don't have anything there. Again, there is a wire harness @ the bottom (below the reset button) and there is a jump wire there also.

This stove has burned for a few years with out any problems in it's current state/setup and nothing has been changed on it. I'm at a lose as to what I should do next. My guess is the control box is pretty important, but again it has been working fine without it.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[heat seeker]

Sounds like it's not making the proof-of-fire switch, so it thinks there's no fire and shuts down. Someone who knows Quads will show up soon with a much better answer.

Snap discs should not be jumped except for short-term testing. They are there for safety reasons, and eliminating one by jumping is asking for trouble.

Welcome to the forum, BTW!

 

[DexterDay]

No Control Box?? When you open the hopper, there is a Box on the inside/right. Its stainless just like the hopper. If you tirn off the lights in the room, you should see some light inside here. In order to get inside that box. You must pull the heat shield off behind the right side (top door). Once you pull it off, you should be able to get to the box. It wouldnt be doing what its doing without a control box.

Without a box, it would do nothing.

Do you have the feed plate "Wide Open"? If not, start there. Open the feed gate and set stove to High heat.
Also, what pellets are you burning? And how old are they?

Its possible the T/C is bad and not sensing the fire. Im not good with the lights on the control box. If it wont run constantly on High with the plate all the way up, then there is definitely a problem.

Did you clean the ash clean-out? Its a Square plate, with 4 screws. Open the lower right door and you should see it. Its about 4" square. This area builds up a lot of ash. Can restrict air flow tremendously.

 

[UpstateSledder]

No Control Box?? When you open the hopper, there is a Box on the inside/right. Its stainless just like the hopper. If you tirn off the lights in the room, you should see some light inside here. In order to get inside that box. You must pull the heat shield off behind the right side (top door). Once you pull it off, you should be able to get to the box. It wouldnt be doing what its doing without a control box.

Must have missed it then, from the owners manual I though teat would be located below the reset button, and if not what is the wire harness coming out of that "box" that is jumped?

Without a box, it would do nothing.

Do you have the feed plate "Wide Open"? If not, start there. Open the feed gate and set stove to High heat.
Also, what pellets are you burning? And how old are they?

Tried that, started wide open on high and worked all the way down, then again on low. Pellets are from last year, good quality, can't pull the name off the top of my head right now though.

Its possible the T/C is bad and not sensing the fire. Im not good with the lights on the control box. If it wont run constantly on High with the plate all the way up, then there is definitely a problem.

Replaced it and the ceramic cover last spring, pulled it out and checked it and everything looked good.


Did you clean the ash clean-out? Its a Square plate, with 4 screws. Open the lower right door and you should see it. Its about 4" square. This area builds up a lot of ash. Can restrict air flow tremendously.

It was full, and yes cleaned, re-cleaned the exchangers, and re-vacuumed it.

 

[DexterDay]

I know the stove in and out. But dont know all the electronics. Understand the operation, just not how it all falls together. My only other thought is to watch the auger. Count the time between cycles and post them.. Both the "On" times of the auger and the "Off" times. There is a capacitor that had to be put on older models because the auger would spin backwards sometimes. Which will cause the fire to die.

Until another member comes along, thats all I got. Watch your auger and time when it spins. You can use a flashlight and look in between the gap of the hopper and where the heat exchange tubes/grill is and see a small gear on the auger motor.

 

[heat seeker]

And make sure it always turns in the correct direction.

 

[UpstateSledder]

And make sure it always turns in the correct direction.

Clockwise Got it, and have looked. Sometimes it does seem to stop after it's been burning for 10 minutes or so. That's why I thought maybe the thermocouple was calling for heat. I checked the whole wire, I removed it out of it's holder and placed it all the way to the side of the stove, away from the flame, and it did the same thing. My major problem is the nearest dealer is over 1 1/2 hrs. away and really don't want to pay 3 hrs for them to ride on top of whatever they are going to charge me to fix it. But I appreciate all the help/opinions I am getting here. I just have checked/done everything I can think of

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

Get a current manual and check the wiring diagram against what is in your stove, then you'll know where the capacitor needs to go, that auger didn't just reverse direction it also stalled. I'd also after turning the power off and unplugging the stove remove the control box and re seat it, then plug the stove back in and give it a try.

ETA: Oxidized contacts on the control box has caused problems before.

 

[UpstateSledder]

I'd also after turning the power off and unplugging the stove remove the control box and re seat it, then plug the stove back in and give it a try..

So the control box is under the hopper, where the numbers are for the feed adjustment? Probably some dielectric grease would help too?