Quadrafire Mount Vernon non AE model. Trouble firing up at times.

Okay,

I don't want to be long winded but here it goes. Purchased a used Mount Vernon Non AE model used about a month ago. This unit is horizontally direct vented out of the house. The problem I am having is that sometimes the stove will fire up without any problem when the thermostat calls for heat. Other times, the red call light is on but stove is not running. It appears that it is dropping pellets upon the call for heat but it dies out after catching. What I am wondering is, does this stove need to have the outside air kit installed? Would relying on the inside air of the house instead of having an outside air kit contribute to this problem. If anyone responding has some questions to ask me in order to fix this problem, please don't hesitate to ask. I love this stove but when I have to get up at 2AM because it didn't fire up, it gets dissapointing.

I would guess that the pot is dirty when it is missing start up i would not think it has anything to do with a need for outside air.

Can you tell me what most people are cleaning their pots with? I bought this stove used and it didn't come with any type of scraper.

it comes with a putty knife type tool you just ned keep all the air holes in the pot i use a wire brush sometimes as well

Sounds good. I used a scraper and wire brush on my drill tonight. Hopefully the stove doesn't misfire tonight. Thanks for all the help. What a great site.

Just to add my two cents worth. I too have a Mt Vernon and is not AE. I have gotten ahold of some really bad pellets and kinda stuck using them. To make a long story short, I have the problem of not starting up correctly occasionally and it happens only when the pot needs a good cleaning. I have to clean the pot alot because of the poor quality pellets I am stuck with. I don't know what kind of pellets you have but I wish you good luck!!

Either pot is dirty where the igniter slot is or the vacuum switch hose has is partially blocked, either in the tube or in the barb welded to the auger chute.

What does this vacuum switch hose do. Does it has something to do with the auger? I just tried a different brand of pellets overnight and it appears that it worked fine during the night. Time will tell. I still would like to know what the vacuum switch does.

The vacuum switch is a saftey device. It detects when there is a vacuum (Negative pressure) in the auger tube, which means that the combustion blower is going and the door is closed. If the vac switch does not trip the auger will not move.

I understand now. The problem isn't that there aren't any pellets. For some reason the auger would put pellets into the pot but they wouldn't fire. I've been cleaning the pot and it seems to be making a difference. I really need to find something to clean the pot with. I guess some sort of putty knife would do the trick.

Putty knife and a tough large blade flat screwdriver. Make sure the igniter has not been on recently and reach way down in the front of the pot, there should be a slot about 1.5" wide. Make sure that is nice and clean, if its blocked the heat from the igniter wont get to the pellets. You can also pull the igniter out and see the slot from there. If its really bad you might be able to pull the whole pot out to inspect it really good but the cheap rivnuts will prob just spin and then the pot is stuck unless you have some extra bolts and rivnuts.

About the stove not firing when leaving it overnite on a thermostat. I mentioned this in another post and maybe it only happened to me and applies to me but this did happen to me and I know there is nothing wrong with the stove.The nite it happened,there was a storm that passed and the barometer was way way low-whether this had anything to do with it,I donno. Anyways,when I left the stove before going to bed,I had the draft open pretty much full.When the stove shut off somewhere in the nite and tried to restart,the pellets would not catch because the draft was open too much.I found this out the next morning when I restarted and the pot wouldn't lite until I realized the draft was open too much.I'm pretty sure in my owners manual as well,they mention something about this.Hope this helps .

Quad units dont have "draft" settings.

Which is one of the reasons I chose a Quad...very simple set and go type of stove. The thing really runs itself...love it.

Yeah after reading about other stoves on here it sounds like many have a bunch of dials and settings on them. Quad unit have LOW, MED, HI. And you turn them on or off, that's about all there is.

They pretty much are a plug and heat type of stove. I believe that my problem was a combination of a dirty pot and the pellets. Just tried 4 bags of another brand and they seemed to fire up just fine. I've been cleaning the pot with a steel brush once a day and everything seems to be okay for now. I am going back to the pellets from my first ton tonight so I will see how it does. This site is full of great info. Thanks for all the quick replies.