I hate my Mount Vernon Pellet stove...

[debbiels1979]

The worst mistake we ever made was buying a mount vernon pellet stove. I hate it. It worked good the first year and somewhat ok last year but this year has been nothing but a constant headache. For the past couple of weeks, it has been backing up and the pellets want to catch on fire in the shoot and now it doesn't want to drop pellets. I am so angry right now I had to walk away before I kicked the you know what out of it. It's no fun to have no heat when it's cold outside. I keep the stove clean and have taken the side panel off and hit the so-called "magical" reset button inside the stove. Nothing. I have cleaned everything I can think to clean. I give up. I guess I can wait two weeks for some technician to take his time to get out here.

If anyone has any clue why it won't drop pellets, please let me know.

 

[BIGISLANDHIKERS]

So this is the older style Mt Vernon...not the AE model?

 

[debbiels1979]

Yes, we had it installed early January 2005.

 

[tinkabranc]

Don't give up yet. I am not familiar with the Mt Vernon myself, but there are lots of
knowledgeable people on this site that are familiar with it.
I am sure someone be will be along soon with suggestions to
help resolve your issues.

 

[debbiels1979]

Thanks. I am just so fed up. You don't know how many times I have woke up in the middle of the night with no heat because it is acting up again. I am going to try to empty out the pellet hopper (which is full ofcourse) and try tinkering with the auger that feeds the pellets. At this point, I don't know whatelse to do. I hope someone has some advice. Thanks again.

 

[webbie]

Is this unit under warranty?

Tough time of year. If stoveguy13 is around on the forum, he knows quite a bit about Quads.

But, as another Pellet Head here mentioned "there are lots of people local who can fix my oil burner, but only one who can fix my pellet stove". That is something that a Pellet Stove shopper and user must keep in mind with ANY brand.

You mentioned keeping the stove clean, but is the complete venting system cleaned out each year, etc? Many dealers suggest a full systems cleaning and lube every year (some dealers schedule these during the off-season to stay busy AND make certain that they have fewer problems when the new season starts).... Some of the pros here have shown us pictures of the dust mounds inside blowers and other parts of the stove and venting system.

 

[MainePellethead]

I am not to knowledgeable on the stoves themselves....but this was part of a post that another pellet operator posted...is your stove bridging? Could this be your problem with what this person had to? Just a thought...


......The only functional issue we had was pellet “bridging”, and it only took a call to our dealer who was able to talk us through the process of loosening the auger motor-allowing the bridged pellets to fall through the chute (this was very simple and can happen if too long pellets are used). ..................

 

[debbiels1979]

The dealer we went through is such a waste of space. I called for help once last winter and was told they would see me in two weeks and I said "It's 17 degrees and I have no heat!" The first winter we had it, it was used very little because we had a very mild winter and we were lucky last winter because it was mild too. However, we have used it heavily this winter and this is what we have got. I'll be honest, I called last winter when it acted up and asked if anything needed to be serviced or checked yearly and they told me no and now you are saying it should be checked yearly. I am really frustrated now. I hope someone can help.

 

[debbiels1979]

My dealer isn't open again until Monday. I am on my own. My next step is tinkering with the auger. If I can't fix it, trust me I will be the first voice they hear Monday morning!!

 

[stoveguy2esw]

My dealer isn't open again until Monday. I am on my own. My next step is tinkering with the auger. If I can't fix it, trust me I will be the first voice they hear Monday morning!!

ok, i am not familiar with quads , but i build pellet stoves and am familiar with the concept as anyone , i have a few questions and the answers may help me help you.

1. does the unit have a "open door switch" ? if so , is it a vacuum switch or a push switch?
2. (especially if the unit is simply stopping fuel feed) is it running n an external "off/on" t-stat ?
3. have you caught it during its "failure" and if so , how is it shutting down , is it simply not feeding and shutting down from time/temp like its outta fuel? or "boom" like its unplugged?

gimme a bit of specific info , maybe i can figure this out

 

[webbie]

That is a really bad sign that they said it does not need yearly service! Anything like this with dust, motors, tons of wood going through it, etc....will benefit from a complete clean and lube job in the off-season. My first guess is that your vent might be partially clogged, which would of course entail removal of the insert and cleaning of the pipe.

Sorry you have no heat! I would generally council against anyone using a Pellet Stove for the only heat in a house - just too much to go wrong and too few mechanics to fix it.

I suspect you will get this taken care of and learn something in the process, which will help you maintain and troubleshoot it later. So it won't be all bad....except for the "cold" part.

 

[debbiels1979]

That is a really bad sign that they said it does not need yearly service! Anything like this with dust, motors, tons of wood going through it, etc....will benefit from a complete clean and lube job in the off-season. My first guess is that your vent might be partially clogged, which would of course entail removal of the insert and cleaning of the pipe.

Sorry you have no heat! I would generally council against anyone using a Pellet Stove for the only heat in a house - just too much to go wrong and too few mechanics to fix it.

I suspect you will get this taken care of and learn something in the process, which will help you maintain and troubleshoot it later. So it won't be all bad....except for the "cold" part.

Well, fortunately, I do have a propane stove in the back of the house which does an awesome job heating that part of the house. The bad part is the pellet stove heats the living room and partial upstairs. We have a very large home and we rely on the pellet and propane to properly heat the house and when one is missing, you can definately tell.

I am honestly considering ditching this pellet stove and having another propane installed in the living room. I just have to talk my husband into the idea. For the amount work and expense that goes into these pellet stoves, I just find them not worth it. My husband is a long haul truck driver and is gone for over a week at a time and so when their is a problem, it's just me. I can't go running to my husband to fix it like many women can. Anyway, I am going to do what I have to do to get this thing running again and move forward.

Still, I appreciate any advice anyone can give!

 

[debbiels1979]

My dealer isn't open again until Monday. I am on my own. My next step is tinkering with the auger. If I can't fix it, trust me I will be the first voice they hear Monday morning!!

ok, i am not familiar with quads , but i build pellet stoves and am familiar with the concept as anyone , i have a few questions and the answers may help me help you.

1. does the unit have a "open door switch" ? if so , is it a vacuum switch or a push switch?
2. (especially if the unit is simply stopping fuel feed) is it running n an external "off/on" t-stat ?
3. have you caught it during its "failure" and if so , how is it shutting down , is it simply not feeding and shutting down from time/temp like its outta fuel? or "boom" like its unplugged?

gimme a bit of specific info , maybe i can figure this out

Thanks for taking the time to try to help me. I will try to give you as much info. as possible.

1. Unfortunately, I am not sure what you are referring to as an "open door switch."
2. If I understand correctly, then yes it does operate on an external off/on thermostat. There is a thermostat on the wall which I push forward to turn the stove on.
3. Yes I am present everytime the stove fails to start properly. As far as shutting down, it is simply not feeding and shutting down like it is out of fuel. The stove will run for maybe 10 or 15 minutes like it would normally but no pellets are dropping and so it shuts down.

Thanks.

 

[Xena]

1. Unfortunately, I am not sure what you are referring to as an "open door switch."

Do you have a manual for the stove? If you do, then I'd suggest you read through it
in order to familiarize yourself with the terminology and everything else about the
makeover of the stove. There might be a troubleshooting section in it as well.

If you don't have the manual you can download it in pdf form
(broken link removed to http://www.quadrafire.com/Customer_Care/Installation_Manuals.asp)

 

[webbie]

I still suspect the simple thing - that the flue is partially blocked - the stove might start because it thinks it has draft (has a little), but then the vacuum switch decides at some point that it does not have the up-flow in order to vent the products of combustion....so it shuts off. If nothing else, a flue or heat exchanger blockage may have to be taken out of the equation before any other trouble shooting makes sense.

 

[begreen]

The worst mistake we ever made was buying a mount vernon pellet stove. I hate it. It worked good the first year and somewhat ok last year but this year has been nothing but a constant headache. For the past couple of weeks, it has been backing up and the pellets want to catch on fire in the shoot and now it doesn't want to drop pellets. I am so angry right now I had to walk away before I kicked the you know what out of it. It's no fun to have no heat when it's cold outside. I keep the stove clean and have taken the side panel off and hit the so-called "magical" reset button inside the stove. Nothing. I have cleaned everything I can think to clean. I give up. I guess I can wait two weeks for some technician to take his time to get out here.

If anyone has any clue why it won't drop pellets, please let me know.

By any chance was there a recent change in the brand of pellets being burned?

It sounds like the auger might be jammed with crud (usually a lot of sawdust) and/or the pellets are bridging the auger entrance at the bottom of the hopper.

 

[debbiels1979]

1. Unfortunately, I am not sure what you are referring to as an "open door switch."

Do you have a manual for the stove? If you do, then I'd suggest you read through it
in order to familiarize yourself with the terminology and everything else about the
makeover of the stove. There might be a troubleshooting section in it as well.

If you don't have the manual you can download it in pdf form
(broken link removed to http://www.quadrafire.com/Customer_Care/Installation_Manuals.asp)

Thanks for the link. However, I know my stove very well. Inside and out and this is why it is so troubling. I may not know all the terminology but I know my stove and every little noise its makes. I am suspicioning that the auger may still be jammed and I need to figure how to get in there enough to thoroughly get all the junk out.

Thanks again.

 

[begreen]

Before trying any disassembly, take all the pellets out. Then turn the stove on and watch the auger to see if it is turning. (You may need to hit the reset button to start it.) If not, then the problem is most likely either a failed high heat snap switch or the vacuum switch circuit is open. This can be due to the hose being cut or pulled off the control, but it could also be that the door is no longer sealing tightly and needs either a latch adjustment or a new gasket.

Testing these circuits is fairly easy, but requires some electrical knowledge. Let me know if I should stop here or go on.

 

[debbiels1979]

The worst mistake we ever made was buying a mount vernon pellet stove. I hate it. It worked good the first year and somewhat ok last year but this year has been nothing but a constant headache. For the past couple of weeks, it has been backing up and the pellets want to catch on fire in the shoot and now it doesn't want to drop pellets. I am so angry right now I had to walk away before I kicked the you know what out of it. It's no fun to have no heat when it's cold outside. I keep the stove clean and have taken the side panel off and hit the so-called "magical" reset button inside the stove. Nothing. I have cleaned everything I can think to clean. I give up. I guess I can wait two weeks for some technician to take his time to get out here.

If anyone has any clue why it won't drop pellets, please let me know.

By any chance was there a recent change in the brand of pellets being burned?

It sounds like the auger might be jammed with crud (usually a lot of sawdust) and/or the pellets are bridging the auger entrance at the bottom of the hopper.

I too suspect there is some sort of jam. I just need to figure out a way to get into that small space with my hand to get it thoroughly cleaned out. Thanks.

 

[debbiels1979]

Before trying any disassembly, take all the pellets out. Then turn the stove on and watch the auger to see if it is turning. (You may need to hit the reset button to start it.) If not, then the problem is most likely either a failed high heat snap switch or the vacuum switch circuit is open. This can be due to the hose being cut or pulled off the control, but it could also be that the door is no longer sealing tightly and needs either a latch adjustment or a new gasket.

Testing these circuits is fairly easy, but requires some electrical knowledge. Let me know if I should stop here or go on.

.

I am going to check the auger. I still suspicion a possible jam because I have had jams in the past and could not get it to drop pellets. I hope it is that simple.

When you are referring to the door, I assume you are speaking of the main front door. I hate to sound stupid but just want to make sure we are clear.

Also, I have very little electrical knowledge but I am willing to try!

 

[begreen]

We're cross-posting. See my previous post for some more inspection points while you have the hopper empty.

 

[debbiels1979]

I am going to go check several things on the stove. I am starting with the auger. I hope it is as simple as a jam. I was so frustrated lastnight that I really didn't try that hard to clear the jam. Hopefully, my patience is restored and I will be successful.

Thanks...

 

[begreen]

I hear you. Best of luck, we're pulling for ya.

 

[debbiels1979]

I had no luck today. I have read and re-read my manual and I am at a lost as far as what to do. I have resorted to plugging in my electric heater to warm it up in here. I am still looking for ideas for things to do or check. Thanks everyone!

 

[GVA]

Is the combustion blower running?
Air intake unobstructed?