Quadrafire Reversing Feed Motor

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flexbert

New Member
Jan 26, 2011
7
Nova Scotia, Canada
Hi all,

This is my first post here. I have a Classic Bay 1200, which I purchased new in January 2002. I just wanted to say that through searching on this forum I found the problem and fixed it. Many thanks to the contributors here. If you're interested, here's the not so short version of my problem.

The stove has been working great - the only thing I've had to do besides cleaning and a bit of painting was to replace the convection blower last year. This year I started to experience unexpected shutdowns. The stove would come on normally when the thermostat demanded heat or on power up if the room temp was below thermostat setting or with with a manual reset. At some point it would shut down, with no unburned pellets in the firepot but the call light on. Sometimes the stove would stay on for 15 or 20 minutes, sometimes it would stay on for many hours, but almost always it would shut down at some point while the thermostat was still demanding heat.

I started with the manual and the first thing it says is that the stove may be out of fuel - not the problem. Next it suggests snap disc #2, so I replaced snap disc #2 and it continued to experience the shutdowns. The next culprit on the list was the vacuum switch - since the stove would often burn for many hours, I was pretty certain that there was a good vacuum and that this was not the problem - I also figured I could come back to that if needed. The next thing the manual says is the control board. While I am willing to spend the $250-$500 (from a quick online search, that was the price range I found) if it is needed, I'd rather spend a little more time digging into the problem.

So, that lead me to this forum and I found some similar problems. I started going through the troubleshooting recommended on some of those posts i.e. make sure the stove is clean, clean, clean - check; thermocouple - clean the cover, make sure it is touching the end, make sure it is positioned correctly over the firepot - check; etc. None of these seemed to be my problem, so I thought I might have to go back and check the vacuum switch, clear the hose, etc or worse yet, bite the bullet on a new control board. I then came across a couple of posts that talked about the feed motor reversing sometimes. That made me think - there has been a strange noise coming from the feed motor periodically, almost a buzzing noise when it is trying to feed pellets. This noise isn't there all the time and it started near the end of last season - the stove was working great then so I didn't think too much about it and then over the summer, the pellet stove was furthest from my mind...

So, I removed the pellets from the hopper so I could see the bottom part of the auger turning when the stove was restarted. During the startup cycle the auger turned normally, feeding pellets into the firepot. It ignited and started to burn. After a while, the stove fed some more pellets. I wanted to keep watching until I heard the buzzing noise and see if the feed motor was reversing when this noise came on. I only had to wait a few minutes and sure enough, the auger reversed when the buzzing noise came on. I observed it reversing a couple more times, each time the buzzing noise happened when the auger reversed so that clinched it for me - I now knew my problem.

Now to the solution - Quadrafire now makes an in line capacitor jumper to resolve a failed capacitor in the feed motor system. I went to my local dealer and they did not have the part. However, I explained what was happening to the service manager and he had heard of this, but did not have the part in stock (part # 213-2150) and has not yet ordered one in. He did say that when they install new feed motors they often do not use the supplied capacitor jumper kit that comes with the new feed motor and he was nice enough to raid a new feed motor he had sitting on the shelf and give me the jumper kit with the in line capacitor at no charge !! That'll keep me coming back and it wasn't even the dealer where I bought the stove !!!!

I next take the cover off the feed motor and start looking at the connections. The feed motor has a four pin connector on it with only three pins used, in the positions 1,2 and 3 with pin four unused. The matching connector on the jumper that the dealer supplied me with also has wires running from pins 1, 2 and 3 with pin four unused and the wire colours matched the existing jumper, so that's all good. However, on the other end of the jumper provided by the dealer, the end with the capacitor wired in it, it uses pins 1, 2 and 4, while the matching connector on my stove uses pins 1, 2 and 3. I decided to move the connector and wire that was at that end of the "new" jumper to position 3 so that it would match up with the stove. I wired it back in, replaced the feed motor cover and left the hopper almost empty so I could observe the auger turning. On the startup cycle, the auger turned normally and I observed and listened for about 15 minutes. No buzzing, no reversing of the auger.

While it may not be conclusive yet and I have not been sitting watching/listening, so far (it's been about 5 hours now) all seems to be good. The basement was cold and the thermostat is still demanding heat and the stove is still running. I am pretty confident that this has fixed it. I would not have found this info without my searching on this forum - great info here and while I probably won't be a regular on this forum, I will certainly keep it bookmarked if I run into problems in the future.

Thanks !!!

--flexbert

Classic Bay 1200
Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
 
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Reactions: Brando717
Hey, why NOT be a regular? A lot of people on here have Classic Bay's and might have questions that you can answer or at least lend advice to them. You've had the puppy for 11 years so you know how it runs and the symptoms/solutions for when things aren't right. We NEED YOU! Bookmark this and visit.
 
rbchimp said:
Welcome to the boards from another HRM'er. What dealer did you go to?

I went to Ultimate Home Comfort in Bayers Lake. As I mentioned, the service manager was great and based on this experience I would recommend them.

--flexbert
 
flexbert,

Welcome to the group, Glad you shared the tale with us and a job well done. The local dealer sounds like a keeper too! :)

Enjoy your stay and your newly repaired toy!
 
tjnamtiw said:
Hey, why NOT be a regular? A lot of people on here have Classic Bay's and might have questions that you can answer or at least lend advice to them. You've had the puppy for 11 years so you know how it runs and the symptoms/solutions for when things aren't right. We NEED YOU! Bookmark this and visit.

Time management ;-)

What I meant by not being a regular is that I probably won't visit daily but I will visit when I think of it - maybe a couple of times a month (at least during the heating season ...). I already have one forum that I'm addicted to and I get enough grief from my better half when she looks over and sees me on that one.

Cheers,

--flexbert
 
'Getting grief from the other half' is a given! I just turn off my hearing aid! My stove's not as noisy then, either! :cheese: What's your other forum, out of curiosity and nosiness.
 
tjnamtiw said:
'Getting grief from the other half' is a given! I just turn off my hearing aid! My stove's not as noisy then, either! :cheese: What's your other forum, out of curiosity and nosiness.

My obsession is rennlist: http://forums.rennlist.com/ It has tons of info on Porsches. Although not currently a Porsche owner, I am looking at buying an older Porsche 911 (78-89).

Cheers,

--flexbert
 
flexbert said:
tjnamtiw said:
'Getting grief from the other half' is a given! I just turn off my hearing aid! My stove's not as noisy then, either! :cheese: What's your other forum, out of curiosity and nosiness.

My obsession is rennlist: http://forums.rennlist.com/ It has tons of info on Porsches. Although not currently a Porsche owner, I am looking at buying an older Porsche 911 (78-89).

Cheers,

--flexbert

Small world. When I was in the Navy I bought my brother's Porsche from him. It was a 1963 356B Super 90 with airport gearing, which means it was set up for gymkhanas. (sp?). Great California car with no rust. Bad part was that some stupid mechanic jacked it up with the floor jack on the motor! Caved in the magnesium alloy crankcase so that's why my brother sold it to me. $500! I worked on engines so I took it apart and took the halves of the crankcase to a specialized welder I knew. He bought rods from Porsche in Germany to match the alloy, clamped it down and welded all the pieces together. The two halves go together with no gasket or anything. It never leaked a drop in all the years I had it. It only had 50,000 miles on it at the time but I put all new rings (4 per cylinder for the Super 90 engine), bearings, valves, springs, etc and drove the heck out of it. What a screamer! It was geared so low that it red lined at 90 mph in 4th. Ah, the good ole days. That car goes for well over $100,000 if you can find one. Several years back there was one on Barrett Jackson and when they showed the engine compartment, it was painted like I had painted it in non-standard colors. It had to be mine!
 
Hmmmm...new to a pellet stove, not new to cars but give me a choice between a Porsche or a pellet stove and I'm taking the PELLET STOVE!! :lol:
 
DobieMom said:
Hmmmm...new to a pellet stove, not new to cars but give me a choice between a Porsche or a pellet stove and I'm taking the PELLET STOVE!! :lol:

Yea, but....................... looking for something smartass to say. :) Redlining a Porsche and speed shifting it and then heel and toeing it around a corner somehow is more fun than scraping a burn pot.

Oh, that is a good website. I looked over the 356 forum but not much there obviously because these suckers are rare! My Sonar Chief had two Speedsters that he and his wife road raced. Lucky bugger.
 
I have a CB 1200 and have only been burning for 3 yrs. This the 1st problem you had had in 8-9 yrs?? No igniters, gaskets,etc.. I clean mine weekly... If not... Then bi-weekly at the latest (Deep Clean). I can only hope i get that long of use on mine before something goes wrong. Welcome to the Forum, and everyones better half hates there "hobby" because it really does not invlove them.. I am on this Forum more when I'm at work (Blackberry Phone) than when I'm home. I have found this site so addicting. I didnt realize there were this many "pellet burners" out there. Not a fan of iburncorn forum, cause i tried it, and its not for my Quad. Anyways congrats on the fix......
 
DexterDay, there is a whole section on iburncorn devoted solely to Quadrafire and it is supported by a VERY knowledgeable guy by the name of Kap. They have a new website now too.
 
forgot the linky........ bad me :red:

Thanks, FMT
 
FordMastertech said:
tjnamtiw said:
DexterDay, there is a whole section on iburncorn devoted solely to Quadrafire and it is supported by a VERY knowledgeable guy by the name of Kap. They have a new website now too.
Linky http://www.iburncorn.com/new-forum
Old link http://forum.iburncorn.com/
The Quad sections are down near the bottom of the page.

Ooops.. I definitely was not clear on that one. Didn't mean it wouldn't help me out. Just not a fan of the way its set-up. Avatars,etc. (Craig has done a wonderful job with this website).
What I meant by not for my Quad, was the actual "burning of corn". - tried it, and its not for me. I'm sure there are just as many, if not more reputable "burners" on that site. Many who may be on both. So again, sorry if I offended anyone. My personal preference is this Forum. For the sole reason I don't burn corn. Thanks for the links, FordMastertech and tjnamtiw. I didn't know they had sections on specific models.
 
DexterDay said:
I have a CB 1200 and have only been burning for 3 yrs. This the 1st problem you had had in 8-9 yrs?? No igniters, gaskets,etc.. I clean mine weekly... If not... Then bi-weekly at the latest (Deep Clean). I can only hope i get that long of use on mine before something goes wrong. Welcome to the Forum, and everyones better half hates there "hobby" because it really does not invlove them.. I am on this Forum more when I'm at work (Blackberry Phone) than when I'm home. I have found this site so addicting. I didnt realize there were this many "pellet burners" out there. Not a fan of iburncorn forum, cause i tried it, and its not for my Quad. Anyways congrats on the fix......

I did replace the door gasket about 3-4 years ago, but I consider that normal wear and tear. Also, I think that that I mentioned in the OP that I replaced the convection blower last year. As for other things, knock on wood (pellets that is ;-) ) I have had no other issues. I clean mine every 5-7 days and do a full clean (tear everything apart) twice a year - once before the heating season and once mid season. I did forget to mention in my OP that earlier this season (sometime in December I think) I replaced the igniter with the spare that came with my stove but it didn't fix anything, so I am pretty certain that the original igniter is still working.

--flexbert
 
tjnamtiw said:
Small world. When I was in the Navy I bought my brother's Porsche from him. It was a 1963 356B Super 90 with airport gearing, which means it was set up for gymkhanas. (sp?). Great California car with no rust. Bad part was that some stupid mechanic jacked it up with the floor jack on the motor! Caved in the magnesium alloy crankcase so that's why my brother sold it to me. $500! I worked on engines so I took it apart and took the halves of the crankcase to a specialized welder I knew. He bought rods from Porsche in Germany to match the alloy, clamped it down and welded all the pieces together. The two halves go together with no gasket or anything. It never leaked a drop in all the years I had it. It only had 50,000 miles on it at the time but I put all new rings (4 per cylinder for the Super 90 engine), bearings, valves, springs, etc and drove the heck out of it. What a screamer! It was geared so low that it red lined at 90 mph in 4th. Ah, the good ole days. That car goes for well over $100,000 if you can find one. Several years back there was one on Barrett Jackson and when they showed the engine compartment, it was painted like I had painted it in non-standard colors. It had to be mine!

Even smaller world - I am currently in the (Canadian) Navy !!

Very cool on the 356. I don't know a lot about 356s, but that sounds like it was a screamer of a car and would have been a blast to drive: Low gearing + light weight = FUN !!

And here's me saying I wouldn't be a regular, getting sucked into the vortex of this forum, albeit somewhat off topic... Part of the reason that I can do this now is that I'm currently off recovering from shoulder surgery so I have time on my hands right now.

--flexbert
 
Yes, the 356 was a LOT of fun. I had a header exhaust system on it that was quite LOUD but luckily I was dating the Sheriff's daughter at the time. :cheese: I took it in to have it inspected one time at the local German auto shop and the mechanic, a big German guy, took it out for a test drive. I could hear him go around the block screaming through every gear and downshifting like a F1 driver. He came back in with the biggest grin on his face and said 'Dat's really a runner!'.
It and my 69 427 vette were the most fun cars I've ever had.

Oh, I was in the submarine Navy during Viet Nam.
 
I too clean my stove regularly. Try to do it every weekend. At the lastest 13 days. Every day I scrape the pot clean the exchanger, with my home-made bristol brush. (Quads scraping rods don't work that well. And clean the baffles and a quick wipe of the glass. 10 mins tops. The deap clean is more involved and includes the leaf blower trick. I take the whole stove apart at the end of season and repalce gaskets and so on. I hope I too can get as many yrs of enjoyment with the minimal replacement like you. So far no replacement parts and still runs like new.
Glad you got it fixed and thanks for sharing. That is Definitely something I will be looking out for in the future. Hope your shoulder gets better. I have injured both of mine (Dirtbike and ATV racing) Seperated shoulder, torn ligaments, broken collarbone. Not fun at all. Get well and Stay Warm..
 
My motor has been lately acting up. It makes a very destinctive noise. It at times sounds like a gear striping. And It clicks louder at times. I was wondering exactly what part number do I need to fix it. I see Feed Motor Capacitor/Jumper Wire part number 230-1920 and Feed motor capacitor part number 230-2150. My stove is a 02 model and pretty sure it doesn't have anything like this on it.
 
Lineman30 said:
My motor has been lately acting up. It makes a very destinctive noise. It at times sounds like a gear striping. And It clicks louder at times. I was wondering exactly what part number do I need to fix it. I see Feed Motor Capacitor/Jumper Wire part number 230-1920 and Feed motor capacitor part number 230-2150. My stove is a 02 model and pretty sure it doesn't have anything like this on it.

For me, as I mentioned, the dealer took the capacitor jumper kit out of a new feed motor and although there was no part number on it, it looks exactly like part # 230-2150 (I found this picture of it at an online dealer: http://woodheatstoves.com/feed-motor-capacitor-p-2062.html ). Mine is an older model as well (installed new in Jan 2002) so there was no in-line capacitor, but this worked for me. As I mentioned in the OP, I did have to move one of the pins on one end of the jumper from position 4 to position 3 to line up with how my stove was wired. It is still working so far (about 24 hours into the fix), so it does seem to work with the older model of CB 1200.

Cheers,

--flexbert
 
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