Combustion blower issue with quadrafire

[Ne1]

I have a quadrafire castile pellet insert with an unusual problem, the control box one day actually popped and shorted out, no power absolutely nothing was coming on so I replaced the control box along with a worn thermocouple, I plugged the stove in and got the blinking blue lights which was encouraging but the combustion blower did not come on, I had a slightly noisey bearing with the combustion blower prior so I replaced that thinking I need it anyway and the blower may have an intermittent issue and why it was not coming on, it still did not come on when the stove was plugged in, I performed the diagnostic test on the control instructions which powers up the auger,ignitor,room fan and most importantly the combustion blower, they all came on so has anyone seen this where the combustion fan comes on in diagnostic mode but not when it is out of that mode? I also was given another new control module to rule that out. Still the same.Thanks in advance

 

[kappel15]

Does the red call light come on when you turn the thermostat up?

 

[DMKNLD]

Hey Ne1, welcome here to this forum, sorry about your Castile problem. Hopefully we can help get you back running.

Did you check the electrical spade connections between the wiring harness and the exhaust blower to make sure they are good ? You're sure you got the right replacement blower for it ? Assuming your old exhaust blower still works, you could try plugging it into the stove's wiring harness with it out of the stove (remember to UNPLUG the stove first), then plug the stove back in and see if the old blower starts up, just to rule out your new blower being bad 'out of the box' , which has been known to happen on occasion, especially for after-market non-OEM blowers.

If neither the new blower or the old blower will turn on, I'd be wondering if you cooked the wiring harness somewhere between the control box and the exhaust fan when your control box shorted out? You can check to see if there is voltage getting to the exhaust blower motor if you have a multi-meter and some basic electrical testing skills.

Hopefully kap will sign on here to give any other ideas - he is a Quad tech and a wizard on all things Quad related.

Regards, DK

 

[Ne1]

Hey Ne1, welcome here to this forum, sorry about your Castile problem. Hopefully we can help get you back running.

Did you check the electrical spade connections between the wiring harness and the exhaust blower to make sure they are good ? You're sure you got the right replacement blower for it ? Assuming your old exhaust blower still works, you could try plugging it into the stove's wiring harness with it out of the stove (remember to UNPLUG the stove first), then plug the stove back in and see if the old blower starts up, just to rule out your new blower being bad 'out of the box' , which has been known to happen on occasion, especially for after-market non-OEM blowers.

If neither the new blower or the old blower will turn on, I'd be wondering if you cooked the wiring harness somewhere between the control box and the exhaust fan when your control box shorted out? You can check to see if there is voltage getting to the exhaust blower motor if you have a multi-meter and some basic electrical testing skills.

Hopefully kap will sign on here to give any other ideas - he is a Quad tech and a wizard on all things Quad related.

Regards, DK

Thank you for your response, both blowers work by themselves and both blowers work when they are installed in the stove only when the control is put in diagnostic mode which uses the harness and connections, this is very strange

 

[Ne1]

Does the red call light come on when you turn the thermostat up?

Thanks, yes the red call light comes on but because the combustion fan doesn't that's all that happens

 

[Ne1]

The person at the stove place said the fan should come on when the stove is plugged in and stay on for several minutes, he said the fan is wired right out of the control and will come on regardless, the strange thing is as I mentioned is the control operates the fan in diag mode so what changes in diag mode? Same control and wiring and connectors

 

[kappel15]

Talking to Quad, the only thing we can come up with is if something was wired wrong. I know it sounds impossible but there is no other explanation except two bad control boxes? When you did the diagnostic, did you jump the vac switch and the #1 snap disc, while the stove was unplpugged? Then plug appliance back in and run diagnostic? And then in what sequence does the components come on? And are you sure the thermocouple wires are making good contact? kap

 

[Ne1]

Hi Kap, I really appreciate your help and time, I did unplug the stove and jumped the vac switch and 1 disc, I don't remember the exact sequence but the exhaust blower cycled first and I think the ignitor was last, im wondering what could be wired wrong that would allow all those things to operate in diag mode? I was told and not sure how acurate that the exhaust blower wiring comes right out of the control and will come on when plugged in no matter what the other components are doing, in other words for the initial cycle it does not rely on any other info until heat is called for. I thought when the first control box went maybe it took some wiring to the blower out but with it working in diag mode I can't see how that could be the case. The first control I put in was just plugging it in so I didn't disturb the blower wiring at that time. This is so strange I feel I'm missing something obvious, I did replace the thermocouple but that plugged in tight and the connections looked good, I noticed a connector on top of the junction box next to the call light that has a yellow jumper wire, wondering if that should be changed, my original box was for a 3 speed and apparently that was discontinued and I was given a 4 speed which told me in the instructions how to set for 3 speed, these are all oem parts, I even changed the control setting to see if it made a difference. If you think of anything else please let me know and again thank you!

 

[kappel15]

I don't know who told you this, but 3 speed control boxes are not discontinued. And a 4 speed control box will ONLY work in an old style Mt. Vernon stove. kap

 

[Ne1]

BINGO, I just called them and the person at the counter was incorrect, I spoke with the owner and he said they gave me the wrong one. Kap, thank you so much, it has been a week of driving to get parts and replacing after work, again, thank you!! Tom

 

[kappel15]

Let us know if you get your stove going now. And I am betting you have a spare exhaust fan now too! kap

 

[Ne1]

Your betting right !

 

[DMKNLD]

Glad you guys figured this out together. I haven't had to mess with the diagnostic mode feature on my Castile, so I learned allot from your post, and from kap as always, with his amazing scope of Quad knowledge. Yours is certainly not the first nor the last 'charlie foxtrot' experience with a dealer 'misadventure' we've heard about on this forum. I know dealers are 'doing their best, as they have it figured out', with the caveat there being some dealers have it figured out better than others.

If I choose to try to save some money by going on-line and order a part, or I get incorrect information on-line, then obviously that's on me to make it right. But I expect a dealer to be able to either know, or know how to accurately find out, whether a part is discontinued or not. It also seems to be a reasonable expectation that when they sell me a part - at a handsome markup for them - that it is the correct one for my stove, and that they will have the correct information about it. It sounds to me like your dealer failed you on a number of those fronts.

Hopefully they are at least 'making it right' after the fact. I'm fortunate that I have an excellent local Quad dealer, who knows I like tinkering and maintaining my stove, but he has always gone above and beyond in customer service. He has let me take home parts out of his demo floor model stove to troubleshoot in my stove when I was having control box and vacuum issues, which he then offered to either sell me a new control box or sell me his floor model one for 1/2 the cost of new, which I gladly took him up on saving $150 ! 5 seasons later now it is still going strong. That is why I buy any parts I need from him now to support his 'bricks and mortar' stove shop business, and I will certainly give him my future business when I upgrade with another stove. Unfortunately, it seems my experience is the exception rather than the norm with stove dealers.

Let us know when you are completely back up and running.

Cheers, DK

 

[Ne1]

Will do, in fairness to them they told me to bring the original fan in and showed me it worked and told me I didn't need one, they also talked me out of a new ignitor, I replaced the fan anyway because the bearing was noisey and kinda a pain to get to so while I was in there I thought I would do that too. I reminded them I buy from them instead of going online, this is the first experience like this with them, all other times have been great. Thanks for everyone's help and I will let you know if that does the trick.

 

[kappel15]

Glad they are in your corner. Stay warm. kap

 

[DMKNLD]

Will do, in fairness to them they told me to bring the original fan in and showed me it worked and told me I didn't need one, they also talked me out of a new ignitor, I replaced the fan anyway because the bearing was noisey and kinda a pain to get to so while I was in there I thought I would do that too. I reminded them I buy from them instead of going online, this is the first experience like this with them, all other times have been great. Thanks for everyone's help and I will let you know if that does the trick.

Good to hear they were looking out for your best interests as a customer. I appreciate that every proprietor is going to have service glitches on occasion. It is how as a business that they respond to it, at the end of the day, that makes people remain a loyal customer, until proven otherwise. Stay warm !

Regards, DK