I have a Mt. Vernon E2 purchased new in 2017 that is not responding to the thermostat. It runs fine manually (better than when it was on the thermostat, actually), but the stove is not responding to the thermostat, at all. I hear a "click" in the thermostat when I adjust the temperature, but the stove doesn't do anything. It simply runs until I turn it off. I've replaced batteries in the thermostat, unplugged the stove for awhile and plugged it back in, etc. The dealer in town where I purchased it is no longer in business. I am looking for some troubleshooting I can do prior to replacing things. The thermostat is 80$ on Amazon, and the control board is 300$. Thank you in advance.
Mt Vernon E2 not responding to thermostat
- Thread starter dmitchel1975
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Are the stat wires clean and tight at the stove/stat ?
Is there continuity in the stat wires ?
Where I would start
Is there continuity in the stat wires ?
Where I would start
Curious as to where the remote T'stat is and what type of wire you ran and the location of the wire in relationship to the unit and when you did your fall cleanout (I presume you did at least) did you happen to dislodge the lead ends on the mother board?
80 bucks for a remote T'stat sounds steep. I bought the cheapest millivolt Honeywell digital I could find at Menards for 15 bucks. You really need to check the continuity of each lead and check the connections on the motherboard. If the T'stat is clicking, it's competing the circuit but if the wire has an open or the lugs aren't secure on the motherboard spades, it won't complete the circuit.
80 bucks for a remote T'stat sounds steep. I bought the cheapest millivolt Honeywell digital I could find at Menards for 15 bucks. You really need to check the continuity of each lead and check the connections on the motherboard. If the T'stat is clicking, it's competing the circuit but if the wire has an open or the lugs aren't secure on the motherboard spades, it won't complete the circuit.
Thank you for the reply. It is a hardwired thermostat and it is located about 5 feet from the stove, on the wall behind the stove, installed by the dealer who sold me the stove. I checked continuity, and I also checked for a change in voltage between when the thermostat clicks "on" and "off". I can't remember the exact volts or which instance the volts changed, but I think when the thermostat was below temperature (so not telling the stove to turn on) there was some voltage and none the other way. I swept out the dust from the area where the control box is located, but I cannot see anything wrong in there, and I wasn't very aggressive with my cleaning, either.
I read that quadrafire stoves require quadrafire thermostats, which is why I priced one on Amazon. I'd gladly put a generic little honeywell on the wall, but was concerned I'd hurt something in the control panel of the stove. It seems to me like the thermostat is doing its job, but the stove isn't responding, because of the fact that I hear the click in the thermostat and it changes the voltage. I'll look closer at the control box and see if I can find anything loose, but I don't think there is anything.
Clean and tight. I removed them from both and put them back in. The thermostat changes from 0 volts to some volts (I didn't write it down and don't remember how many) when the thermostat clicks from on to off. I think it sends volts when it tells the stove to turn off, but not certain. Anyway, it seems like the thermostat is doing its job, which worries me about what might be wrong in the stove itself.
Oh, and I should add that the stove worked fine for the first few weeks after cold weather hit, and now it doesn't. So the change occurred after some usage, not during the summer while it wasn't used.
Have a friend with one and he has Quad t'stat as well and he had an issue with his. I'll have to call him and see what the cure was. Nothing worse than a cold stove on a cold night.
Spoke to a stove repairman for the only company in business here, and they cannot come out to see the stove until December. He did walk me through something on the phone--told me to put the two thermostat wires together at the wall and see if it shut the stove down. I did, and it did. He said this indicates a problem with the thermostat, and he said that my stove does NOT require a quadrafire thermostat, and that any generic thermostat will work. Will pick one up tomorrow and try it. He said that the next step would be the control board, so I'm obviously hoping the thermostat fixes it, because the control board is 300$ and it's ridiculous for that to fail when the stove is not even 4 years old.
Go to your local box store (Lowes or Home Despot or Menards and get yourself a cheap millivolt Honeywell like I have. It will be a single program (not programmable set back) basic digital for about 15 bucks. Mine works like a charm.
Lost my first control board about 6 months after I bought my unit, but it was my own fault. Didn't have a surge supressor in line with the outlet and my board was 450 bucks back then.
BigJohnfromCT
Feeling the Heat
I just lost my second cable modem in 2 years after a lightning storm. This one also took out my 6 port network switch, but fortunately not my router. The stuff is all plugged into surge protectors, but the RG6 cable wasn't so this time I bought a couple inline coaxial surge lightning protectors. Hope it helps.
Well, I don't have a surge protector on mine, either, but I will from now on. Thermostat didn't fix my problem, so I guess I'm buying a new control board.
Go on Amazon and get yourself a Tripp Lite wall receptacle mounted suppressor, they work +10 and hard mount to the switch plate. Have 2 LED that tell you if the outlet is properly grounded and if the suppression is active. Around 30 bucks and worth every penny.
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