castile not feeding

[Barrett]

it just stopped feeding pellets last night. the red light is calling for heat, it flashes blue 4 times, twice in a row when you plug it in.

here's another STUPID quadrafire design flaw- the 2nd snap disc (controls the auger) is wicked buried, you really have to take the entire stove apart to get to it and then replace a gasket. frickin morons. you seriously have to take out the convection and the exhaust blowers, not to mention 200 screws and disconnecting lots of wires it used to be in a very easy spot, god only knows why they moved it.

any other ideas on easy things to check? i called the dealer, still waiting for a call back.

and what would cause this? the manual says overfire, but i've never had this problem, and the current pellets are kinda cold and lousy.

thanks

 

[Shortstuff]

I'm not saying that this may be your problem, but the last post I made was about a similar problem I had a couple of weeks ago. Read my post here and you'll see how it turned out.

If this was to happen again, the first thing I would do is using a flashlight and mirror try looking up the pellet drop chute to see if there are any pellets up there and if necessary using a coat hanger or something similar to ensure there are no pellet(s) jambed up there. If all seems well, I would probably take all the pellets out to make sure that my auger was in fact turning.

This is just one thought.

Steve

 

[mgambuzza]

I went through this once before also - caused by bridging of the pellets across the chute area. First verify the auger is turning without the pellets dropping. I then unplugged the unit, removed the back panel, removed the screws from the auger motor and pulled it towards me (causing pellets to clear from the bridge). I then reinserted the motor, replaced the screws, replaced the panel, then plugged in. It has operated flawlessly since.

 

[Barrett]

seems i've fixed it, yay!

the vacuum tube was blocked, i took it out, blew through it, and had a giant cloud of pellet dust.

i forgot to mention in the original post that i vacuumed out the auger and everything, it wasn't turning or making any noise.

the service tech left a message telling me to clean the stove. i'm glad he was so concerned i had no heat and it was 15 degrees outside.

 

[jtp10181]

i'm glad he was so concerned i had no heat and it was 15 degrees outside.

Pellet stoves are not meant to be a main/primary heat source, they are for supplemental heat. Most dealers do not do "emergency" service for hearth products. We tell people, sorry we will be there when we have an opening, turn on the furnace (or whatever you would otherwise use for heat). You should always have a reliable primary heat source.

Snap disc: according to the current manual disc #2 does not have a reset button on it anymore, why would you have to get at it? Sounds like its on the back side of the drop tube (according to the manual) which I can get at with one arm and my eyes closed (stove or insert).

Glad you got it working though. Cleaning the vac tube is the one thing they don't mention in the manual, I have no idea why. Make sure you disconnect it from the vac switch before blowing into it. My fav way is to leave it on the stove and blow it out, this clears out the barb on the drop tube as well as the hose.

 

[Barrett]

Snap disc: according to the current manual disc #2 does not have a reset button on it anymore, why would you have to get at it? Sounds like its on the back side of the drop tube (according to the manual) which I can get at with one arm and my eyes closed (stove or insert).

QF sent me a new PDF about the #2 snap disc. it really does seem like there's no way to get at it with out total disassembly. please, if you can tell me how to get to it easily, i'd love to know. why else would i have to remove both blowers? but thank god that wasn't the problem.

 

[jtp10181]

If its on the back of the drop tube like it says in the manual, that's right where the #3 disc is also, which has a reset button on it. I have checked the reset on #3 a few times on various stoves and inserts including the castile. Never had a problem reaching it with only taking the side side panel off.

Can you email me this pdf so I don't have to bother Quad about it?

 

[Barrett]

If its on the back of the drop tube like it says in the manual, that's right where the #3 disc is also, which has a reset button on it. I have checked the reset on #3 a few times on various stoves and inserts including the castile. Never had a problem reaching it with only taking the side side panel off.

Can you email me this pdf so I don't have to bother Quad about it? [email protected]

sorry, i printed the pdf and didn't save it. i called quadrafire and the guy offered to email it to me, probably your best bet. it's 7 pages long, and a very tedious thing to get to. definatly not like what is in the manual that came with the stove.