Desperate need of help....

[scrapper69]

Hi everyone! I'm new here and have been reading a lot of your posts..... but I'm having a major problem with my Mt Vernon AE Pellet stove. I haven't been able to use it for weeks.... It's freezing here and I've had 2 service guys come out and I honestly don't think they know what the heck they're doing! I've had that stupid "AUGER JAMMED" info come up a billion times and we've cleaned the stove from top to bottom and the first service guy replaced the air pump and then a disk saying each time that was my problem.... then when it read auger jammed again he said it's your mother board! and when I refused to buy that part, my stove was actually turning on.... Of course I would have to disconnect it then plug it back in but it worked for 2 weeks without any problems... then it stopped working again and said auger jammed and we tried to unplug it and plug it back in and we cleaned it out some more but to no avail, so I had a different service guy come out and he checked it and said "check your wiring" then called someone because my stove would start up and you'd see a fire start then the motor would go in reverse and shut down the fire.... So he said I needed a new optical sensor... So we replaced that today, and it's still doing the same thing..... Fire would start then the motor would go in reverse and shut it all down.... So I tried reading more info on here about this type of stove... my hubby went to check on the thermocoupler which was mentioned a lot on here and we found ours to have a broken piece right where it connects.... now we've had 2 service guys come out and mess with all the wiring and now I have this piece broken? Any way... hubby tried to plug it in without this outer connector piece and my stove would not turn on ... it would do the autoclean then try to start, but nothing would turn on and the auger jammed would come on. He tried holding it in place cuz the piece looks like it doesn't fit right with the outer connecter being broke off.... So after several attempts, he tested the wire with his power tester and said there's power going to this wire..... But I told him I thought it's probably not working right since we found this wire to have a broken connector..... So he put the connector piece back on and plugged it in.... It wouldn't start up right, then he tried to manually start it by throwing the pellets inside the stove and it started up and turned to ss-low... then said auger jammed..... so now he thinks maybe the motherboard is bad..... Were as I think it's the thermocoupler, since we found it partly broke where the connector connects to the motherboard..... My stove is 3 yrs old and I'm having a hard time believing that the mother board is the problem when it's not that old..... I thought it would
be a problem if other things were issues too... like the autoclean didn't work right, or it just wouldn't turn on at all? Or something else? I honestly don't know..... and I'm desperate to get my heat back on... I'm using portable heaters and they're costing me a fortune as is this stove! So any help or input from all of you wise pellet guys & gals would be most helpful to someone who knows very little about this thing!
Thanks in advance for any help or guidance you could give me!

 

[Dgopetactical]

The mother board could be the problem, my stove is 11 months old and the board had to be replaced, it was under warranty though.

 

[LMPS]

Sorry you are going through all this. I will first say I am not an expert, but do own the same stove and have for five years. So, my comments are from my experience not from technical knowledge that others have here. So, others that are experts might have much better information. With that I think the simple answer is to replace the thermocoupler as that is much less expensive to do than a mother board. The question is would a bad themocoupler cause the auger jam message and that I do not know. Is it feeding pellets at all when it does start? If so then I would say the auger is working. Also, are these service people from the place you purchased the stove? Have they called Quadra Fire? Again sorry I am not an expert but this is my opinion.

 

[Phil Do's fire.]

I had a similar problem with a quadrafire pellet stove. It to was diagnosed with a motherboard issue and Quads are known for them. Mine actuallu ended up being a bad auger motor. try unplugging the auger and run independent power to the auger. An old lamp cord cut off and used would suffice. If the auger turns ok, it's not the problem. If the motherboard is detecting a jammed auger, doubt it's the board.

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

Do not hot wire that auger motor, your auger motor is a lower voltage DC unit, IIRC.

 

[Phil Do's fire.]

Do not hot wire that auger motor, your auger motor is a lower voltage DC unit, IIRC.

Hey smokey Thanks, i forgot it was a mt. vernon

 

[scrapper69]

Gosh Dgope...I hope it's not the motherboard.... it's one thing I can't afford at this time... I've already spent money on other smaller parts so I may try LMPS idea to order the thermocoupler.... And yes, one of the service guys was from the place I bought my stove.... He really didn't look like he knew what he was doing..... the second guy was from a different place and was more informative but he too could not figure out why my auger was turning on then going in reverse.... but he didn't think it was the motherboard.... he thought it was the optical sensor..... which we replaced and it's still not right.... And yes.... we called Quadrafire.... to which they replied with the 2nd service guys name after we told them the first guy really wasn't doing his job correctly...... and the 2nd service guy had said to us that the other guy had only been to 1 class? WTH? How is that gonna fix my stove is what I thought.... If there's any other ideas out there please let me know....

 

[rparker]

check all of the wiring connections. Had strange operating issues with my Quad until I did this. The spade connections to the snap disks were the culprit. Just because they "look" ok does not mean they are. A couple of minutes with needle nose pliers to tighten the connections might do the trick. It really can be that simple. Oh and always unplug before doing anything with the electronics.

 

[scrapper69]

Well we got the Thermocoupler part in the mail yesterday and put it in.... boy that was a JOY! NOT! Any way stove is still not working? I know I've read threads were people talk about the motor going in reverse but no one ever seems to say why? or how it was fixed.... Does anyone have any ideas? Should I replace the motor next? Motherboard? It does the auto clean, and you can hear it start up, pellets drop in the stove then the fire does start.... but then the motor goes in reverse and we get the auger jammed message each time...... I'm really at a loss..... I've had 2 guys come out and replace parts or say it was the optical sensor and it's not any of those things.... What do I do next? My portable heaters are not keeping my house warm! But I'm sure the electric company is enjoying my electric bill! Any other suggestions would be greatly appreciated... )

 

[Harvey Schneider]

I think that there are three possible causes. Lets start with understanding that the control board generates the drive for the motor windings. So the three are the control board, the wires and the motor. This is related to the current in the windings not the optical sensor.
The easiest and least costly thing to check is the wiring. Are the connectors fully seated at the control board. I don't remember there being a connector at the motor, but those wires should be visually inspected.
The motor windings can be checked with an Ohmmeter for continuity.
Finally is the control board driving the current the the motor windings need.
A decent electrical tech should be able to look at the motor phases and tell if they are getting to the motor
I'm trying not to be too technical with my descriptions, but I don't want to dumb it down to the point where it doesn't make any sense.