I have recently been having a problem with my Mt Vern AE. The other night I woke to a smokey smell in the house and found a pile of unburnt pellets in the ash pan. The stove missed an ignition and dumped the pellets into the ash pan, on the second try the stove caught, but once it reached temp it then dumped the hot ash on the unburnt pellets, and since they were under the burn chamber the smell weeped out of the ash pan gasket instead of up the chimeny. I couldn't figure why the stove missed ignition so I cleaned the stove COMPLETLY!. When it burns it burns awsome, but right after I cleaned it it missed the first ignition, so I called my dealer, the said probably the ignitor. They gave me a new ignitor. I installed it and wouldn't you know missed the first ignition. I let it run for a while and it repeated that but only when the stove had cooled for a while. I am burning Bare Foot pellets which I had already burnt for the last two months with no problems. Anyone have any thoughts?
Mt Vernon Missed Ignition
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Did you just get more of the Bare Foot pellets? Might be a different mix in the pellet. Are you burnpot holes cleaned and open?
Bkins
Bkins
same pile of pellets from the yearly purchase. I cleaned it incuding the burn pot holes even the ones you need a mirror to check, when it burns it burns really clean and hot no lazy flame at all.
There is also a fuse on the control board under the cover for the igniter. It is shown in the manual I believe but it is not easy to replace. I have had one stove blow that particular fuse when the igniter died. it was just easier to change the control board cause you have to take it out anyway. But if you aren't in warranty still it may be the fix if that is it.
I have seen the ignitior glow, the problem is it either doesn't glow long enought or something, I had the stove unpluged while I installed the ignitor.
When it misses ignition are you getting partially burnt / charred fuel in the ashpan, or totally raw fuel?
Also when it does light, do you get a lot of rolling smoke in the firebox or does it smoke for just a few seconds and then take off?
Also when it does light, do you get a lot of rolling smoke in the firebox or does it smoke for just a few seconds and then take off?
does it ever come off from startup or does it make it to SSLow? can you tell me when it autocleans, during startup, SSLow, SSmed? I'm leaning towards a bad thermocouple. I know this is an obvious question, but is the stove and venting clean? Also how long does it take to light after it feeds fuel? should be lit within 3-5 minutes
A few will be chared but not that many. That is the part that bothers me. It is all. Clean. There is no smoke at all when it misses. It seems to be an occasional Problem it worked fine all last night.
Any chance this is happening after running the hopper out of pellets? Mine will somtimes miss an ignition if I have run out of fuel and then refilled. The auger will empty out and it will take a long time for the pellets to get in to the burnpot. By the time they do its too late and it dumps what is there and starts another start cycle.
Another thought is to get a mirror and check that the ignitor hole is open. I have seen them get filled with a clinker and even bent so it is narrowed.
Did you take off the exhaust motor? What color is the exhaust motor gasket? Did you drop the fireback? Did you scrub the exhaust? Everything you are describing is cleaning related.
You have a blockage somewhere
STAY OUT OF THE CONTROL BOARD THATS NOT THE PROBLEM.
You have a blockage somewhere
STAY OUT OF THE CONTROL BOARD THATS NOT THE PROBLEM.
Yes I have cleaned it all. Including the blower it starts off whit then gets yellow I bought a sheet and make my own gaskets. I have removed the fire back. I have. With a mirror scraped the entire fire pot. Being dirty was my first thought.
You know if you order a new gasket from Quad, it will be a red silicone gasket that will last for years.
I had a similar issue this week and it turned out to be that my igniter went. I am still under warranty for the igniter (2 Years). My local stove shop came out next day and replaced it without issue. The tech was happy that it was the igniter and not the fuse because the fuse is a pain to change.
I just re re cleaned everything and it still was clean. I tried to light the stove and just as the stove was dumping the unburnt pellets into the ash pan they caught fire
The igniter is either good or bad, no such thing as a weak igniter. It sounds as if your thermocouple in the burn pot is bad. Is the ceramic housing tight against the thermocouple? If not this could be a reason for your problem. If you are still under warranty get your dealer to come look at it.
I had the same problem with my stove last year. I thought that I had cleaned everything but I did not take the baffle off and clean the heat exchanger. There was a lot of build up back there and it was causing all of the problems
I had a call in the other day he suggested a few things which I knew weren't going to work but I did try them. Adjusting flame height, which had no effect.
Are the pellets getting dumped too soon or is it taking too long foor them to light? If they take a normal time to light and the stove doesn't continue to feed and then dumps it sounds like the thermo. If they are taking too long to light check and see if your exhasut fan in on. Unless I am mistaken the exhaust fan creates the air movement needed to start the fire.
BIH
BIH
it is just taking too long to light, not lighting before it goes into auto clean. I hear the fan and when it does catch the flame is active and clean.
You never answered my question about how long it takes to light when it does work, do you get a lot of rolling smoke?
I am guessing there is something you have not cleaned, did you clean the pit below the rear fins? If you have an older unit there will be some fins in your way, I can give you instruction for snapping them off. I usually take a piece of 1/2" polypropylene tubing and tape it to the end of a crevice tool to get down in there and vacuum. There is instructions for it in the newest manual on the Quad site.
I am guessing there is something you have not cleaned, did you clean the pit below the rear fins? If you have an older unit there will be some fins in your way, I can give you instruction for snapping them off. I usually take a piece of 1/2" polypropylene tubing and tape it to the end of a crevice tool to get down in there and vacuum. There is instructions for it in the newest manual on the Quad site.
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