Mt Vernon AE tripping house breaker

[Erica]

I've had a Mt Vernon AE for 2 years now. We bought it 2nd hand and have been learning the ropes of maintenance & repairs as we go. We replaced the ignitor the first year, the comb blower last winter and the thermocouple most recently in the spring and shut it down for the summer. We turned it on this week to find a comb blower jammed error. I went through the troublehlshooting process and realized that somehow I assume during the thermocouple install last spring, the old(cut off & left in the stove) comb blower cord got plugged into the control board. I corrected it and plugged the new one in and the stove worked for about a day. Now the breaker for the room the stove is plugged into keeps tripping. We thought it was a faulty breaker and replaced it to no avail. There is no issue with the breaker when the stove is unplugged, and we have not moved it or changed any appliances on the breaker since we bought the stove 2 years ago. I went to the local stove shop in town and they told me to check the grounds and said if it wasn't just a loose ground or wire, a faulty control board could cause the stove to back feed, causing a tripped breaker. Do any of you have experience with this? I have NO background in electrical or computers and what little I know about the stove to date for replacing the things I have, is from the manual and this site. They want $175 to come diagnose it and another $850 if it's the board. I've found it for $539 on multiple stove sites and mentioned that to them but they say it is probably junk and will only used quadrafire parts. Is this something I can dx myself and install? Is it worth the extra $500 to have them do it? Is there anything else it could be that I should check before biting the bullet? This repair is looking like it will cost more than we paid for the stove : /

 

[kappel15]

Most sights you are finding those boards on are Quad parts, but make sure they are before you buy. I have not heard of a board feeding back to trip a breaker. And yes, you can install the control board yourself. The wire harness's are numbered, but I would take pics or write down as you unplug them. And be sure to notice which direction they are plugged in as if you turn them around, the polarity will be backwards. And always unplug stove before doing this. And be gentle as the wire harness's are fragile. Can you tell us what year stove you have? kap

 

[Erica]

Thanks for you're response! It says mfg date was Nov 2008. This is what I'm working with. Are there any glaring abnormalities? Is there a diagram where I can double check to be sure everything is in the correct position? I'm arty a loss and dont see anything like this in my forum searches this far. Thanks again!

 

[kappel15]

Did you get an owners manual with the stove? IF not, you can download one from Quads website. And why do you have the old exhaust fan wire harness still laying in there? Those two green wires going to the back panel are the ground wires. Are they connected to the panel? Check connections. On my 2006 stove, the grounds go to panel at the bottom underneath the control board. They have spade connectors on them. kap

 

[Overfireinthehole]

Just for the heck of it, have you tried plugging it into a different outlet?

 

[bags]

Most sights you are finding those boards on are Quad parts, but make sure they are before you buy. I have not heard of a board feeding back to trip a breaker. And yes, you can install the control board yourself. The wire harness's are numbered, but I would take pics or write down as you unplug them. And be sure to notice which direction they are plugged in as if you turn them around, the polarity will be backwards. And always unplug stove before doing this. And be gentle as the wire harness's are fragile. Can you tell us what year stove you have? kap

Kap! You are the man on these! Hope your doing well. Drive On! Good to see you here, Pellet burning Brother

 

[heat seeker]

If you can, try reversing the plug in the outlet. The plug is probably polarized, so you can't, but give it a try. If you have a meter, make sure the outlet is wired correctly.

Then, I would unplug the stove, then disconnect the blower motor, igniter, convection blower from the control board. Then plug the stove in and check the breaker. (This is assuming that the breaker trips right away when you power up.) If the breaker is okay, unplug the stove again and connect only one of the items you disconnected, and power up again. If the breaker is okay, unplug and connect one more item. Rinse and repeat until you connect the item that trips the breaker.
I doubt that the board itself could trip a breaker, at least without showing some burn marks. I suspect a pinched wire, caused during previous work on the stove.

 

[Overfireinthehole]

Since it happened after you plugged in the cut wires, my money would be on a board short.

 

[heat seeker]

Is there a fuse on the board? If it doesn't blow, the problem is probably not on the board itself, but it could be. If no on-board fuse, look for damage on the board itself. 20 or 30 amps running through the board (enough to trip the breaker) would do some damage, even if only for a brief time.

 

[Overfireinthehole]

There is a fuse inside the board. Somewhere I have a picture of an AE board that actually caught fire from a power surge that shorted out the 120 into board and yet somehow the onboard fuse never blew.

 

[heat seeker]

Maybe the fuse didn't have time??? But it sounds like there was plenty of visual damage! And, just maybe, the MOV protected the fuse, but not the board.

 

[Overfireinthehole]

 

[kappel15]

The power supply harness from the power supply to the control board wears out. When the white romex connectors start turning brown, it is time to replace it. kap

 

[Overfireinthehole]

That could have been the culprit, but the harness was so fried I couldn’t tell. We had a lot of lightning and surges that year so I was thinking that.

 

[Former Farmer]

Just for the heck of it, have you tried plugging it into a different outlet?

Make sure the new oulet is on a different circuit breaker. How old is the house? Is the breaker an AFCI type breaker?

 

[kappel15]

That could have been the culprit, but the harness was so fried I couldn’t tell. We had a lot of lightning and surges that year so I was thinking that.

It is a weak point on these stoves. You would think they would beef em up a bit, to save a customer big bucks on a control board. kap

 

[Overfireinthehole]

It is a weak point on these stoves. You would think they would beef em up a bit, to save a customer big bucks on a control board. kap

You would think the would beef up the ash dump handle on the E2 and Trecker so they don’t bend so easy. Quad makes quality when they feel like it.

 

[kappel15]

Is there a fuse on the board? If it doesn't blow, the problem is probably not on the board itself, but it could be. If no on-board fuse, look for damage on the board itself. 20 or 30 amps running through the board (enough to trip the breaker) would do some damage, even if only for a brief time.

There are two fuses in the control board. kap

 

[Paul C.]

Did you ever figure out what it was? Having the same issue here. Not sure if it’s a power supply problem or control board problem. I don’t see any pinched wires that could cause a short, and the problem is intermittent. I can run for months and not have an issue, then trip the house breaker 2x in a day...

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Thanks for you're response! It says mfg date was Nov 2008. This is what I'm working with. Are there any glaring abnormalities? Is there a diagram where I can double check to be sure everything is in the correct position? I'm arty a loss and dont see anything like this in my forum searches this far. Thanks again!