2006 quadrafire mt. vernon t-stat /operation question

  • Active since 1995, Hearth.com is THE place on the internet for free information and advice about wood stoves, pellet stoves and other energy saving equipment.

    We strive to provide opinions, articles, discussions and history related to Hearth Products and in a more general sense, energy issues.

    We promote the EFFICIENT, RESPONSIBLE, CLEAN and SAFE use of all fuels, whether renewable or fossil.
Its on setting 2 already. The thermocouple with the cover installed is sitting 2.75" into the pot(measured from the tip to the bracket that holds the thermo couple in place. So the tip of the cover is darn near the center of the pot.
- the thermo couple is parallel to the top edge of the pot so its sitting level side to side if that makes sense, not angled down towards the inside of the pot.
-pellets are the hardwood pellets from Lowes. I'm not home to see the bag or brand but I'm sure its these...https://m.lowes.com/pd/40-lb-Wood-Pellets/3506840

I can take some detailed pictures when I get home today from work...
 
From edge of pot, it should be sticking in 3/4 to an inch. And just for the heck of it, use a mirror and flashlight, and look in bottom of pot at igniter slit to make sure it is clear of any debris or clinker pc.'s kap
 
From edge of pot, it should be sticking in 3/4 to an inch. And just for the heck of it, use a mirror and flashlight, and look in bottom of pot at igniter slit to make sure it is clear of any debris or clinker pc.'s kap

I don't see an ignitor slit. Here's a pic of the pot.

I don't see how the TC can be 3/4" from the edge when the cover is 4" long itself.the cover can't bend so of you only have 3/4" exposed, the TC cover needs to bend a 90* angle and go down through the stove??not making sense to me. Here's a pic
 

Attachments

  • IMG_20171122_160415.jpg
    IMG_20171122_160415.jpg
    148.2 KB · Views: 100
  • IMG_20171122_160425.jpg
    IMG_20171122_160425.jpg
    121.5 KB · Views: 126
This TC adjustment better?

Fire picture is with TC adjusted to just under 1", stove on manual "quad" setting, controller on position 2 (+10%), auger slid out (not maxed but close) . Flame barely reaching top of pot.
 

Attachments

  • IMG_20171122_161450.jpg
    IMG_20171122_161450.jpg
    107.3 KB · Views: 107
  • IMG_20171122_161458.jpg
    IMG_20171122_161458.jpg
    160.4 KB · Views: 124
  • IMG_20171122_163101.jpg
    IMG_20171122_163101.jpg
    117.1 KB · Views: 131
Think of where the igniter is. In front of pot. That is why you have to put a small mirror in pot and shine flashlight on it to see the slit in front/bottom of pot. And you still need to feel auger motor shaft for a while to see if it is reverseing some of the time, which says the capacitor is bad. And sometimes if you have extra long pellets, they can bridge at bottom of hopper also. You can try pushing down there, to b reak up any blockage, to see if it helps feed. kap
 
Last edited:
okay i will check out those items today once the stove cools. last night was the first night the stove ran all night long!!!!!! i had it in manual mode on medium. i played with the auger setting and the control board setting. i had it on setting 1, auger motor adjusted and had a decent flame on high and quad. so i bumped to medium and let it go to see what happened. ran all night. while experimenting i found i still have 2 problems:

-unit will not maintain a flame and run on LOW knob setting. it will on medium, high , and quad. i will double check for the slit in the pot and try to check the auger. im still a little unclear on what/where i need to be looking at to see it reverse...will i see the "feed spring" in the hopper actually spin in reverse?

-next problem may be a skytech issue but im not sure. we know the stove runs continuously in manual mode, medium and higher. so i set it to medium, put the receiver box in remote position, and turn stove on with remote in Thermo mode. set my desired temp (lets say 75*). unit will turn on, burn, make temp and shut down. call light goes out. eventually the tstat calls for heat, red call light comes on, exhaust fan comes on, a few pellets drop, but no fire ever starts and unit shuts off. never to restart on its own again. things i have done: relearned remote, replaced batteries in controller and receiver and relearned again. no difference.

happy thanksgiving to everyone. hope you enjoy the day
 
If it ran all night with no issues, I am guessing that the auger motor is fine. Getting it to run on low is hard to do on the Quads. You have to start it in med. and then turn to low after it gets going. But on restart, it may not start. As far as other issues, I know nothing about the tstat you have. Maybe try a cheap normal tstat and see how it does. kap
 
I wired in a spare Honeywell digital thermostat. Unit is doing same thing. Lights initially. Makes temp, shuts off. When it goes to restart, it feed pellets, lights a good fire, than stops feeding. Fire goes out. Red call light on. Ill have to push the reset button to make it stay running.

-my other issue is no matter what settings I use my flame never looks like this...
 

Attachments

  • QDF_pelletST_MtVernon-AE_195x177.jpg
    QDF_pelletST_MtVernon-AE_195x177.jpg
    5.6 KB · Views: 79
Horizontal and the pic of an AE, not your stove. Is the firepot floor closed on bottom of firepot. No big gap? And is there too much ash in pot? If there is too much, it can't fire up. Runs all nite, and then acts up again. Got me scratching my head. On the second try of firing up, does it ever get hot enough for the green light to come on? It only has so much time to get proof of fire, before it goes into shut down mode. I would also think of auger running backwards, but it ran all nite. Otherwise I would tell you to feel the auger motor shaft to see if it is reverseing sometimes
 
No big gap
Not to much ash, I vac'd it this morning.
Green light does come on. When t stat calls for heat and it ignites, it's a darn good flame, light turns green, than usually it sound like it just stops feeding pellets.

How to I feel the auger shaft? I see the mirror. I see the coil or the spring looking thing that drags the pellets in.
 
Sure beginning to sound like auger reversing,or bad bushing.The auger motor is mounted on a bracket,that is partially open.You can see this,behind right stove panel,but,to watch the auger shaft running,you would need a mirror or borescope.Here is some ok videos showing this.
 
  • Like
Reactions: kappel15
That spring thing is you auger shaft the augermotor is connected to it.
 
In the video you see the box like housing just past the auger motor. the auger shaft and motor shaft are in there. you can stick a finger in there and feel the shaft turning.
 
Out of curiosity, any resolve to this? I just bought an '04 Mt. Vernon to flip but it looks like I'll be keeping it and selling my 1200 instead.