Mt Vernon error code

[Caribfan]

I came home tonite to chilly house and a "bad tc burn pot" error code. I pushed the reset button the stove fired up fine. It has been burning normally for about 1-1/2 hrs now. Has Anyone else encountered this? I will be interested to see what it does at shutdown since one of the troubleshooting items had to do with the autoclean mechanism.

 

[tsmith]

Make sure the thermocoupler is touching the inside edge of the ceramic cover. If not it won't read the fire top temp. right and will shut down. I attached a Quadrafire troubleshooting manual for you it will explain all the error codes and how to fix them.

 

[Caribfan]

Make sure the thermocoupler is touching the inside edge of the ceramic cover. If not it won't read the fire top temp. right and will shut down. I attached a Quadrafire troubleshooting manual for you it will explain all the error codes and how to fix them.

Thanks. It ran fine all night it because I woke up this morning and it was off - target temp satisfied. I took the opportunity to give it a pretty thorough cleaning - took the baffle off and vaccuumed down the exhaust ports. I cleaned off the the TC cover as it was starting to develop some spots of caked-on ash. This years batch of MWP has been VERY ashy for me. If the problem happens again I will dig into it this weekend

 

[serveprotect]

How does one check if the wire is making contact with ceramic cover? Do u loosen the bolt holding it on near the burn pot?

 

[Madcodger]

TSmith,

Thank you for posting the troubleshooting manual. I think my dealer charges more than my doctor, so it's nice to be able to diagnose things myself before calling them.

 

[Caribfan]

OK the problem is back. I haven't tested the thermocouple but I really don't think that is the issue because when I press the reset button everything fires up just fine and the startup sequence is mostly controlled by the thermocouple and the TC isn't displaying any other signs of being faulty. The other area mentioned in the troubleshooting manual is the autoclean system. This error seems to occur after the autoclean cycle. Does pushing the reset button "clear" the error code, allowing the stove to startup and run until the error happens again? Because if that is the case then the error code must be coming from the autoclean system since the stove starts and runs fine until the burn cycle "times out" and the stove goes into autoclean.
Anyone have any input?

 

[tsmith]

How does one check if the wire is making contact with ceramic cover? Do u loosen the bolt holding it on near the burn pot?

Yes, loosen that bolt and with your finger and thumb push the ceramic cover tightly against the thermocoupler and hold it there while someone else tightens the bolt again. You may also want to remove the ceramic cover and remove any ash built up inside it and clean the cover with some water and a rag.

 

[Caribfan]

OK from the lack of response I assume that you are all pondering this error code mystery so here is some more info. On 3 consecutive shutdowns the error code appeared during the shutdown. I unplugged the stove and plugged it back in to start another autoclean cycle to see if that would prompt the error code and it went through the autoclean without a problem. I then cleaned the stove and emptied the ashpan and bumped the t-stat up so it would run all night. It ran fine all night - it would have gone through 3 shutdowns/autocleans in the overnight period.
the last time I cleaned the stove was on Wednesday (5 days ago). I have probably gone through 3 or 4 bags since then so the stove wasn't very dirty. Although I have been burning MWP and this years batch is the ashiest pellet I have ever burned in my short pellet burning career.
I will clean the TC cover when I get home tonite and see if that makes a difference going forward.

 

[Madcodger]

I am fairly certain that you can't prevent the stove from autocleaning just by bumping up the temperature. Even in manual mode and on battery backup (the situation most designed to avoid autoclean) the stove will shut down to clean itself every few hours. Running on AC (i.e., any "normal" mode) I believe it will autoclean between every 2-3 hours no matter what you do, per the manual tsmith provided and my own observation.

Based on this I suspect autoclean did occur, and that it merely creates a condition that sometimes leads to the situation you experience (a need to restart) rather than being directly the cause. Achieving target temp and shutting down for a while would also likely cause this from time to time, I suspect. I suggest you try the steps suggested (remove cover, clean, dry, replace securely) and see if that helps.

FWIW, I get a minimum firepot temp error more often on softwood setting than hardwood, and my stove performs less efficiently (dirtier flame) even with a good quality softwood pellet. I have switched back to a super premium hardwood and the hardwood setting, and no more errors since. But YMMV, and I don't have an explanation for that... Good luck with it.

 

[Caribfan]

You are right, I can't prevent the stove from going into shutdown/autoclean. I guess my post was a little unclear. It DID go through 3 autoclean cycles overnight (I assume, since I was in bed) and restarted fine with no errors. I have bumped up the t-stat so the temp won't be satisfied and the stove will continue to cycle. With that being said it also ran all day and all night yesterday - autoclean cycle included - without an error. I only seem to get the error after burning a few bags and ash has accummulated. So perhaps this does have something to do with the TC or the TC cover being filled with ash. I will clean it tonite and see if that helps any going forward.

 

[tsmith]

It could also be that sometimes your autoclean floor is not closing all the way this can cause it to not relight and then go to autoclean again. Sometimes it will work the 2nd or 3rd time and other times it won't. I would scrape the pot and floor good and then lube the floor rails with some High temp lube. I usually grind the pot floor with my dremel tool with a grinder wheel to get the deposits down to the metal so it don't hang up. I lube the rails with a dielectric lube.

 

[Madcodger]

Tsmith,

Can you please share brand of dielectric lube and where we might find it? Thanks!

 

[tsmith]

http://www.amazon.com/Permatex-2205...id=1384349029&sr=8-3&keywords=dielectric+lube
http://www.autozone.com/autozone/ac...ByKeyWord=dielectric+grease&fromString=search

Try these, as well as probably any automotive store, it is basically a grease used on spark plugs and electrical contacts to keep them dry, but it works well as a lube on high temp items too. I have been using it for years and it doesn't seem to attract dirt on the rails either. I apply some every time I clean the stove, it don't take much.

 

[slls]

After 5 yrs I will only burn softwood pellets, then I can dump the pot anytime with no sticking.

 

[Madcodger]

Ah! That! Thanks - I think I have a tube in the garage. D'oh!

 

[Caribfan]

OK here is an update for anyone who may have this problem. I have continued to get this error every 5-6 days. I clean the stove, and everything is fine for 5-6 days then I get the error again. I switched pellets, scraped the burnpot, and removed and cleaned the the ceramic TC cover. I still get the error every 5-6 days. Today I got the error 12 hours after a cleaning. I removed the nut that attaches the autoclean motor arm to the autoclean mechanism. I tried to move the autoclean system by hand and could barely move it. It took a few minutes of wrestling with it to get it smoothly move back and forth. As I moved it back and forth, quite a bit of carbon buildup fell into the ashpan area. I lubed the rails with dry graphite spray and replaced the nut.

I found a thread on this forum about a Mt vernon AE owner doing this a couple of times a year to prevent carbon buildup on the autoclean system and keep it running smoothly. Judging from what I saw today, this may have been the problem. Keeping my fingers my crossed for an error-free week.