Hello. I am a new member to the site and I have a question about my Quest pellet stove. I recently purchased this as a back up heat source. The stove is in great shape except for the fire brick which I have ordered. The stove works as it should with the exception that once in a while if I run the convection fan on the high setting it will suddenly stop blowing, while the exhaust and auger keep working. After a few minutes it will start blowing again. If I run it on low speed there seems to be no issues. I can not find anything that states this is normal operation. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks
Whitfield Quest wp4 weird convection fan issue
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Bioburner
Moderator
Need to take apart and blow the dust bunnies out of the fan fins and the motor windings and a couple drops of oil if the motor allows. The thermal overload is probably taking the motor out of action to cool down.
Welcome. The Quest is a good little stove. A good cleaning of all workings and motors can keep that around 20 year old stove going for many more years. An air compressor is this stoves next best friend.
Welcome. The Quest is a good little stove. A good cleaning of all workings and motors can keep that around 20 year old stove going for many more years. An air compressor is this stoves next best friend.
Thanks for the info. I have oiled the fan motors but I have not actually taken them apart to clean them out. It never occurred to me that it would have a thermal overload but once you said it it seems obvious now. Another small issue I see is that there seems to be to much combustion air even with the damper all the way down. The reason I say this is because I seem to have a lot of sparks flying around when pellets fall into the pot, I am new to pellet stoves so maybe this is normal. I was thinking it could be because of the worn fire brick allowing it to draw to much air even with the damper closed. Any thoughts on this ?
Bioburner
Moderator
Firewall brick should have no effect on the draft on that stove. I have one. Now if the stove was blowing the fire out after a time you may have a bit to much draft. An active pot with some pellets dancing is normal and what keeps the stove running without having to clean the pot. Now the draft flap may not be fully functioning and may need some attention to get it to close some more.
I will look into that when I get a chance. I know the lever has full a full range of motion via the cable but maybe there is a issue with the actual flap. Thanks again and I will post my findings when I get the chance to do so.
Snowy Rivers
Minister of Fire
The Fan motors can be given a quicky job stating with the vacuum cleaner.
With the access panels open to allow a visual (Stove unplugged) The end of the motor can accumulate dust, pet hair and other junk.
Vacuum this area well, then use a computer duster can can blow through the holes in the motor to get any remaining junk loose, then vacuum again.
The Squirrel cage fan wheel collects tons of crap too, and this can cause an imbalance condition (vibrations)
A soft 3/4 inch paint brush can be used to carefully brush the fins to loosen the crap, then a good blow.
Toss a towel over the air outlets and turn the fan on, and the towel will catch the crud.
The best way is to remove the fan and use compressed air to really get the crud out.
The Whits had an issue with the triac speed control and it could be the triac getting ready to leave.
If a good cleaning does not remedy things, this may be the issue.
Good luck
With the access panels open to allow a visual (Stove unplugged) The end of the motor can accumulate dust, pet hair and other junk.
Vacuum this area well, then use a computer duster can can blow through the holes in the motor to get any remaining junk loose, then vacuum again.
The Squirrel cage fan wheel collects tons of crap too, and this can cause an imbalance condition (vibrations)
A soft 3/4 inch paint brush can be used to carefully brush the fins to loosen the crap, then a good blow.
Toss a towel over the air outlets and turn the fan on, and the towel will catch the crud.
The best way is to remove the fan and use compressed air to really get the crud out.
The Whits had an issue with the triac speed control and it could be the triac getting ready to leave.
If a good cleaning does not remedy things, this may be the issue.
Good luck
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