Quadrafire 1200 Insert pellets exploding instead of burning

[dragynmyrlin]

I cleaned the stove thoroughly yesterday and installed a new door gasket. Last year the flamed burned to one side and after inspecting the door I could see there was a small gap in the gasket. But, the stove burned okay otherwise. Started it up yesterday and initially it burned beautifully. Low hot yellow flame, nice heat output. That was on a half bag of last year's pellets. Then I added new Green Supreme. The flame got really high so I lowered the load rate. There was a lot of sparking initially. With less feed, there is little fire and it seems that when the pellets drop it is so hot they just explode so I have virtually no flame but plenty of heat. However, clearly they are not burning. It seems there is too much vacuum or intake air but I don't see a damper or adjustment either on my stove or listed in the manual. Not sure what to do, half a bag of pellets overnight in 30 degree temps outside seems a bit much, and only set the temp to 67 degrees for the stove. It got so hot I got three small cracks in the door glass during the night. I shut it off this morning and checked the stove for ash and there is virtually none in the pot or catch tray but the glass is complete coated already. Not sure what to do.

 

[slls]

If you sealed your air wash it will burn hotter, and blow out pellets. Need to reopen air wash or cut down air flow at intake.

 

[DexterDay]

X2 on the airwash. Did you mess with the gaps at the top of the glass? This will make the stove have MUCH more vacuum and blow pellets out of the pot. Along with raising internal temps. Stove was designed to have the air come in through the top. This will affect many different things if clossd.

The glass cracking means it will have to be replaced along with the glass gasket for the door. Which means you will probably have to redo your door gasket again.

If its not the air wash. Is the door to the ash clean-out all the way closed. If its left open a little. A lot of air will come through the gap.

 

[dragynmyrlin]

I'll be darned, I thought the gaskets were missing at the top of the glass so I filled them in. Thank you very much for the info, was just about to put a dimmer switch on the combustion air to slow down the air.

 

[dragynmyrlin]

So my next question would be, since the glass is now cracked, is where to buy the glass. Is it tempered glass or is it specifically stove glass. The only thing I found online was an entire door for $500. We didn't pay that much for the stove.

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

It is a ceramic glass, whatever you do, do not put tempered glass in that door.

Consult your manual for the recommended glass.

 

[dragynmyrlin]

thanks. found a dealer in the next town over so we'll see what they can do for me.

 

[dragynmyrlin]

ok, so the stove is clean, fixed the air problem. Also had intermittant feed on the pellet drop last season so took that auger out. The plastic block was somewhat loose so I tightened the set screw. Put it all back together and got it running last night. Seemed fine. Dumped in a bag of pellets and turned it off for the night. Went to turn it on this morning and doesn't work. I can hear the blower come on, fuse is good, snap discs are fine. Auger is not feeding pellets. Emptied the hopper pretty much, checked that there was power to the motor, which there was. Turned it on again and the auger started to run. My question is I guess, if the auger motor is bad or going bad, will this make the auger intermittant? Without the weight of 40 lbs of pellets it seems to work.