Castell Vacuum Switch SRV 7000-531 Factory Set @ ?

[libby]

PLEASE: Help determine Range of Castell / Santa Fe. Drop Chute vacuum reading IE: Pre Purge .8 / High Fire - Bin 1/2 full .10 / Post Purge .12 . Cannot get confirmed (Set Point ) to determine OLD switch. Reading may drop to .6 after several hours operation. Can someone please confirm the FACTORY SET POINT, of a new Switch or the General Range. Often feed declines / stops. The Cleaning of the Exhaust path / all components Fire Pot holes / slot, behind Panels, including the 1/4 barbed fitting into Shute and new hose material is completed. Induced blower is operational, not stopping or slowed, (newer installed part) due to bearing noise. No Blowing of Positive Air into Switch. Today I will measure the cycling, opening / closing
(- pressure) of current switch, by barbed tee; at low input of Gauge, in series with switch and drop chute fitting

Additional information/diagram of Fire Pot Air Flow Diagram as related to Induction % up thru Pot vs Down Drop Chute, out - into Induction Blower Fan Wheel, behind clean Panels, out Flue. The above Mag. Gauge measurements are consistent.

I have assumed the dis-function is Vacuum dropping below .10. Without buying a new switch, or accepting the operation closed / open pressure of current OLD switch. There is NO seen listing of SET POINT on old Switch or ability to determine SET POINT of a new Switch.

This flue and current install has been working / years / maybe intermittent unseen, auger stopping / slowing, or(reversing, not yet determined) for sometime. Is there any chance that this Vacuum Proving Switch is being used as cycling device = varied vacuumed reading: for drop timing, based on Pellet height in the pot as ? Older Grey Control Box, LED's seem correct as related to T/C or cover contact.

 

[kappel15]

A stove will have between .08 and .11 inches of water column in the firebox with the stove set on the High feed rate. The vacuum switch is strickly a safety device that will shut down the auger if there isn't a negative draft in the firebox. This can be caused by a bad seal on door gasket, dirty exhaust path(stove and pipe), broken glass on door. DIrty nipple on drop chute that vac hose attaches to, dirty or cracked vac hose. Bad vac switch. If you are having issues, jump the two vac switch wires together and make sure they can't ground out. If stove runs better, you have one of these issues. A possibility is the auger capacitor is going bad. What year stove is it? kap

 

[libby]

A stove will have between .08 and .11 inches of water column in the firebox with the stove set on the High feed rate. The vacuum switch is strickly a safety device that will shut down the auger if there isn't a negative draft in the firebox. This can be caused by a bad seal on door gasket, dirty exhaust path(stove and pipe), broken glass on door. DIrty nipple on drop chute that vac hose attaches to, dirty or cracked vac hose. Bad vac switch. If you are having issues, jump the two vac switch wires together and make sure they can't ground out. If stove runs better, you have one of these issues. A possibility is the auger capacitor is going bad. What year stove is it? kap

Kap: Checking with Gauge the switch is closing at .4 /.5....open at .1 .So I mounted the Gauge, to keep track. Jumper is applied. Using ohm meter on switch, but need lead clips and new battery. Yesterday gauge was only connected to Chute. Seems like handing the switch / sucking the hose for vacuum reading, contact open and close. Thanks for the conformation of cycling range, I have no other stoves to compare with, and no sticker on current switch. If I get a generic switch from Grainer I will set closed at .4 I did see Cold stove pre-purge at .16 and dropping with fire burning, towards .9 .10 where it seems to hold at high rate. I'm trying to watch Gauge for run time / conditions that may cause readings lower than .9

 

[kappel15]

Only thing vac switch does is close when vacuum sucks, to allow power thru to auger

 

[tjnamtiw]

It's my experience on LOW with the hopper empty, there isn't enough vacuum to close the switch.
If you want to monitor the performance of the switch, why not run a wire from the output side of the switch to a meter and then to chassis ground? You should see a constant 110v.

Oh, and what the heck is pre-purge? And it's a Castile.

 

[libby]

It's my experience on LOW with the hopper empty, there isn't enough vacuum to close the switch.
If you want to monitor the performance of the switch, why not run a wire from the output side of the switch to a meter and then to chassis ground? You should see a constant 110v.

Oh, and what the heck is pre-purge? And it's a Castile.

Thanks: You guys for reply to this switch set point. I did find a Grainer .05 - .12 Attempting to set close .5 open .3 differential is fixed at .2. I do have the Gauge and new Switch mounted, upright outside the unit for now, Jumper at wires. Each time the system starts, Induced / Exhaust Blower starts, pre-ignition purge begins. Cold Stove; The vacuum increases from 0 quickly to .6 continues slower to .12 / .15 /.16 After ignition, drops off to .10 / .9 and holds steady for hours. I have observed decline to .8 ? The old switch was working intermittent, I did catch it failed open, last night at .10" Heat sensitive?So each time the stove starts, get a chance to set and check close at .5 After shut down / fire out, post-purge. Try to check open at .3 as the Blower shuts down. I did try to suck the hose and determine set point But wanted to check while attached I will get around to checking gauge, for lower Vacuum reading at Chute while the Bin is low enough to see Auger rotation, and set for Low Indoor Blower Speed. Is the signal from the Controller pulsed to co-inside with Indoor Blower speed setting? That would not be constant?

 

[kappel15]

The vac switch runs independent from the control box. Only thing the vac switch does is sense a negative draft in firebox,thus closing circuit allowing power thru to auger system.

 

[tjnamtiw]

IMHO you're over-analyzing the crap out of a simple switch set to tell the stove if there is or isn't enough vacuum to start feeding pellets. The rest is just recreational nonsense to feed your inquisitive mind. Not that that is a bad thing. I've been accused of the same thing BUT just put the d@#$ thing in there and stay warm! Why you didn't just buy the OEM switch is beyond me since you most likely paid more for the Grainger part.

 

[libby]

IMHO you're over-analyzing the crap out of a simple switch set to tell the stove if there is or isn't enough vacuum to start feeding pellets. The rest is just recreational nonsense to feed your inquisitive mind. Not that that is a bad thing. I've been accused of the same thing BUT just put the d@#$ thing in there and stay warm! Why you didn't just buy the OEM switch is beyond me since you most likely paid more for the Grainger part.

IMHO The (newer) factory recommended, altered part is necessary, because they installed an unreliable component. Air flow set point,
open / close, could not be determined prior to purchase. No adjustment, high cost, shipping + additional wait. This Castell has had several failures, to many. Thermocouple, 3ea / 1ea for draft induced blower, 1ea for room blower, air switch, door gasket. The (- range) of draft operation is why not buy more crap from this uncaring manufacture. The fact that I'm here asking you, and not them. Cold start 15" / Pellets in pot dropping to 12" / ignition dropping to 10" / operational at high fire 8"....So why can't the manufacture give pertinent information? cause they want money thru the system they set up to keep the equipment broken. Think home Heat and Cooling equipment, are unreliable? This Quad - Fire far exceeds the unreliability of any Refrigeration Manufacture. Try calling this dump factory... Cleaning / Vacuuming each use, almost outweighs desire to turn on. I'm ready to set a Propane bottle outside and use gas on the next model. All this factory does is try to screw the customer at all times, from design all the way to part sales, and if you were to pay for Service? add 500.00 + , each year of operation. Next part will likely be the Auger Motor, then Ignition Coil, then start over at Thermocouple , then Control Box , then start on the snap disk safety's. ......endless. Grainger Part was 45$ + new hose and fittings to add Gauge and test port 15$. On top, is the treat removing and installing the Bricks at the Rear, for cleaning every couple months. Air Flow Diagram for Induced Draft Flow, showing basic flow path would be useful. Thank You for replying with information on this site, as this discussion is 100% more than you can get anywhere connected to the crap Factory......... Again Thanks

 

[tjnamtiw]

IMHO The (newer) factory recommended, altered part is necessary, because they installed an unreliable component. Air flow set point,
open / close, could not be determined prior to purchase. No adjustment, high cost, shipping + additional wait. This Castell has had several failures, to many. Thermocouple, 3ea / 1ea for draft induced blower, 1ea for room blower, air switch, door gasket. The (- range) of draft operation is why not buy more crap from this uncaring manufacture. The fact that I'm here asking you, and not them. Cold start 15" / Pellets in pot dropping to 12" / ignition dropping to 10" / operational at high fire 8"....So why can't the manufacture give pertinent information? cause they want money thru the system they set up to keep the equipment broken. Think home Heat and Cooling equipment, are unreliable? This Quad - Fire far exceeds the unreliability of any Refrigeration Manufacture. Try calling this dump factory... Cleaning / Vacuuming each use, almost outweighs desire to turn on. I'm ready to set a Propane bottle outside and use gas on the next model. All this factory does is try to screw the customer at all times, from design all the way to part sales, and if you were to pay for Service? add 500.00 + , each year of operation. Next part will likely be the Auger Motor, then Ignition Coil, then start over at Thermocouple , then Control Box , then start on the snap disk safety's. ......endless. Grainger Part was 45$ + new hose and fittings to add Gauge and test port 15$. On top, is the treat removing and installing the Bricks at the Rear, for cleaning every couple months. Air Flow Diagram for Induced Draft Flow, showing basic flow path would be useful. Thank You for replying with information on this site, as this discussion is 100% more than you can get anywhere connected to the crap Factory......... Again Thanks

So I take it that you don't like your stove?

How long have you had the stove that you've had that many failures? Three thermocouple failures is very questionable since they RARELY go bad but they DO get blamed a lot of times for failures elsewhere that an uneducated (as far as stove troubleshooting goes) service person can't find. Removing the 'bricks at the Rear' every COUPLE OF MONTHS could be pointing toward part of your problem! Those should be removed every week or so along with the top plate. It only takes a few minutes to PROPERLY clean your stove.

You're comparing a wood burning space heater to an HVAC unit, which is not only unfair but also unrealistic. If you expected to have something that you could just feed pellets and turn on the thermostat, you were seriously misled and, pardon my French, naive. As for calling the manufactureR for advice, as you read posts here, you will soon learn that VERY, VERY few manufacturers will accept calls for help. They will refer you to your dealer that you bought the stove from. If he goes out of business, you are basically on your own. This is a major problem with these pellet stoves and we all know it now.

Also, anyone buying a pellet stove that doesn't have some mechanical/electrical savvy is in for a world of problems unless they have the money to pay service people for every little problem. If you have the time to screw around with a special vacuum switch and analyze set points, then you SHOULD have the know how to trouble shoot your stove. My stoves both still have the old style vacuum switch and I've had no problems. You WILL have problems if you blow INTO the switch from the hose end instead of away from it. You WILL have problems if you use the leaf blower trick to vacuum your exhaust path and forget to remove the vacuum hose from the switch.

Perhaps you got a lemon for your Quadrafire CASTILE but my guess is that you've spent more time trying to micro-analyze each problem instead of using good old common sense to find out what the problem really was.

A final bit of advice > Get a Quadrafire vacuum switch, install it, clean your stove regularly and enjoy it.