06 Quad Castile shutting down

[tugboatguy]

1. Hi all,I have a 06 castile f.s.when running on high setting for about 45 min. I hear a loud pop, snapdisc, then it shuts down and is too hot to touch !! I mean hot like it has never been !! When it is on high the flame is 6inches or so above the fire pot,kinda lazy, it's never shut down before. Today I got a brush with flex rod, ran it thru the pipe till not any dust came out, vac the inside, pulled all the plates got around the heat exchangers really good.cranked it up and same thing! I went thru about a half ton of currant earlier this year, then got some Barefoot. Didn't happen till the Barefoot. I've burned Barefoot in the past and had no problems. Not really thinking that is the problem, just letting everyone know what I'm doing.there was a lot of build up on the thermocouple cover, so I took some emery cloth to it and cleaned it hoping the build up was giving it a false reading, no such luck I know airflow is everything, but I don't think I can get it any cleaner. I'm kinda out of ideas so any insight would be great, it's gonna get cold next week and being restricted to medium sucks!
2. Thanks in advance

 

[heat seeker]

Is the convection motor running up to speed and moving enough air into the room? That's what keeps the stove cool. If it's stalled, or clogged with dust/hair, it won't move enough air.

 

[DMKNLD]

Hello tbg,

Is your convection / room air blower working ? Or the convection blower fins and / or heat exchanger tubes are obstructed maybe, with dust bunnies / cat hair balls / etc ? You didn't say which snap disc blew, but I'm guessing it's your #2, which is a high limit switch if your firebox temp gets too hot, ie heat isn't being transferred out of the firebox and exchanger tubes.

Did you reset any of the snap discs ? Some have the red reset button in between the terminals, others are the auto reset type.

The thermocouple (TC) is your proof of fire switch, which senses the fire pot temps at start-up and re-initiates the auger feed after the initial pellet drop, so assuming your pellets are feeding OK that shouldn't be the problem.

If your convection blower isn't working, which is controlled by the #1 snap disc, that may also be your problem, interupting the convection blower circuit function. Check the convection blower status and report back.

Good luck !

 

[kappel15]

Make sure all the holes in the pot are clean, esp. the 4 in the angled bottom. Make sure pot floor is closing. After the pop, it just the auger shuts off, it is snap disc #2. If whole stove shuts off, it is snap disc #3. Stove is getting too hot for some reason, but there is also the issue of lazy flame. Flame height is right, but needs to be more active. Chance of it over feeding? Exhaust fan ever been cleaned? Others have all ready covered the convection fan. kap

 

[tjnamtiw]

Make sure all the holes in the pot are clean, esp. the 4 in the angled bottom. Make sure pot floor is closing. After the pop, it just the auger shuts off, it is snap disc #2. If whole stove shuts off, it is snap disc #3. Stove is getting too hot for some reason, but there is also the issue of lazy flame. Flame height is right, but needs to be more active. Chance of it over feeding? Exhaust fan ever been cleaned? Others have all ready covered the convection fan. kap

4 small holes in angled bottom AND 4 small holes on opposite side at bottom front. Is trap door shut completely?

This still doesn't explain shut down unless like others have said the convection/room blower is clogged or bogged down with bad bearings or dead mouse

 

[kappel15]

4 small holes in angled bottom AND 4 small holes on opposite side at bottom front. Is trap door shut completely?

This still doesn't explain shut down unless like others have said the convection/room blower is clogged or bogged down with bad bearings or dead mouse

AND 4 small holes on opposite side at bottom front. Two on each side of igniter housing. lol

 

[DMKNLD]

I'll add leaky tadpole gasket door seal and / or degraded fire pot gasket as a trouble shoot for tbg's lazy flame issue.

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

Get out the brushes, vacuum, scrappers, chimney brush and clean that damn thing from stem to stern, including all venting, blowers and their cooling fans, lubricate all that you can (read the makers plate). Pay particular attention to the heat exchanger and all exhaust passages. Also cleaning the bats and anything else out of the room side of that heat exchanger.

Then make certain that your flame height is correct for the pellets you are burning.

 

[tjnamtiw]

Get out the brushes, vacuum, scrappers, chimney brush and clean that damn thing from stem to stern, including all venting, blowers and their cooling fans, lubricate all that you can (read the makers plate). Pay particular attention to the heat exchanger and all exhaust passages. Also cleaning the bats and anything else out of the room side of that heat exchanger.

Then make certain that your flame height is correct for the pellets you are burning.

With an emphasis on CLEAN.

You DO notice that tugboatguy has not answered anything, right? Have you done anything that we suggested? Checked anything?

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

With an emphasis on CLEAN.

You DO notice that tugboatguy has not answered anything, right? Have you done anything that we suggested? Checked anything?

Well, how can he have time to post on here when we have basicly told him to do a full tear down and rebuild , he is likely still trying to find his tool collection.

 

[tugboatguy]

Hey all, thanks for all the input. We'll first thing I did was have the wife check the output side of heat exchangers, I was at work for a few days. She found there was a slight difference between low,med,and hi. So thanks to all for leading me to the convection blower. Had her go to a local Quad dealer and pick one up. About $20 more than online, but it was waiting for me when I got home.

Pulled out the old one, some dust bunnies in there, when I spin it you can hear the bearing starting to grind,cleaned ,vac all up in the exchanger. Fired it up and run thru the settings. Works great !!

Still a lazy flame on high. So more cleaning to do. Replaced the ex. Fan last Feb. so I know I have good flow going out

 

[tugboatguy]

I keep the holes in fire pot clean, dig around them with some wire every time I clean it.there seems to be a lot of pellets dropping in,but the feed plate in the hopper in set at minimum, has been since the first year I have had it. There's a lot of sawdust in the auger, and it falls out with the pellets, not a ton but it's there. Only way I can think to clean it really good is to pull the auger clean out of the right side and vac it out. I'm sure that's not causing the high flame but cutting some air flow coming in ?

 

[tugboatguy]

The shut downs were def. the blower, it still gets hot but no where near how it was . I didn't know there is a gasket on the fire pot I'll look into that.

Thanks for all the info, I'll be addressing all of them as time and weather permits !!

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

Damn he yammers on here, gets all kinds of stuff to check, then hands it over to the real worker.

No more info from us until the missus is allowed to talk to all of us old folks.

 

[kappel15]

Easier way to clean fines out of auger is wait till the hopper is empty, and suck fines from bottom of hopper. Shake auger a little and all will fall down. And the fines don't have anything to do with air flow. You can watch around pot edge and see if ash is being blown up around it, and you know air is escaping and not going thru pot for better flame. You may want to look down your heat exchanger tubes too, to see if there is any blockage there. kap

 

[tjnamtiw]

The way that cleaning the 8 small holes was addressed ("dig around them with some wire") leads me to believe that no real effort has been made to REALLY clean them out completely. Get a 9 mm or .380 caliber bore brush used for pistols, bend the threaded end a little to allow you to get the brush into the holes, and have at it!

As for the exhaust fan, you may THINK you have good flow going out but, until you clean as Smokey said, you really don't know. Also, make sure that dump valve is closed all the way and look under the burn pot to make sure that the dump valve isn't sagging down away from the bottom of the pot. Also, do the dollar bill test on the door gasket.