Burning corn in the Mt Vernon AE

[BIGISLANDHIKERS]

Bought a bag of corn yesterday to burn im my Mt vernon. I did a complete cleaning including exhaust and firepot before using it. It burned real nice. The flame was much more blue than with pellets.

The problem I had is the same problem I had when I tried burning corn about a year ago after getting this stove. A clinker forms and doesn't drop when it cleans. When I came home today it had a minimum firepot temp error. The corn was backed up into the drop tube and it had burned about an inch into the tube. The flame height was set on -5.

I have this problem a bit with pellets but to a much smaller degree. The clinker forms on the left hand side and doesn't drop. With corn the clinker spans the whole pot...but also starts on the left.

I really like this stove but I feel it has a few MAJOR design flaws. At best this stove should be considered a pellet stove only. I don't trust it buring corn. The autoclean design is flawed. I can count on gravity to keep my feet on the ground but not to clean my stove. There needs to be an active mechanism that either pushes or stirs the clinker that corn creates. The lack of holes on the firepots left side confuses me and I believe adds the problem.

Going back to pellets.

BIH
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[jtp10181]

We burned straight corn in our showroom model, for about 4 or 5 bags. Never had a clinker problem that blocked the whole pot.

You should have your dealer call Quadrafire about the clinker on the left side problem. They will need your serial number. There might be something out of whack with your pot or autoclean system that causing the clinker formation. When we burn pellets I don't ever see clinkers in the pot or ash pan.

 

[MAD44]

I have the same problem with my Castille Quadra Fire. I've had better luck with burning a corn/pellet mix. Either 50/50 or higher percentage wood pellets. I've noted the same problem with the fire pot, minus the uneven burning. I have had the corn back up from time to time. The stove has to be cleaned more often when burnign corn and because the pot doesn't stir the straight corn tends not to burn up as quickly so it starts to build in there creating backups, especially during startup. During cleaning, I've had to sit with a hammer and screwdriver to chip the clinker out because it has gotten as hard as cement. And, yes, that can't be a good thing. With the mixed burn, I have found that the clinker is much more loose and will drop to the pan with little effort. I agree with you that the design is flawed in all the Quadra Fire machines. They should have some type of stirring device in the fire pot. I also believe that a slow constant turn of the auger plopping pellets/corn into the pot would create a more consistant burn rather then having the auger turn quickly shooting pellets/corn down a shoot scattering fly ash everywhere and dousing the flame for a few seconds. Very poor design in my opinion, but it's bought and paid for so I'm stuck with my purchase. Good luck!