Mt Vernon Quadrafire issues again and again and again!!!!!

[actionjackson208]

Ok, so since my last post about not being able to get pellets to feed and hearing a raspy noise coming from the auger, I pulled the auger out and vacuumed out the excess pellet dust and cleaned out all the jammed up pellets which I believe was caused by crappy pellets that I bought a ton of like an idiot from tractor supply. These are Ozark Wood products. They are very inconsistent with size! Some are nearly 5 inches long! Its ridiculous really. I'm going to contact them about this issue. Anyway, after cleaning it all out, it ran pretty good for about a day then shut off because pellets wouldn't feed. I was able to stick a wire up the pellet chute and a bunch of pellets fell into the fire pot. So the big ass pellets were getting bridged around the chute. That lasted about 8 hours then it shut off again. When I went down to check, the fire pot was full to the top with pellets and up into the chute overfilling the pot! I was shocked as I've never seen that before. I cleaned the pellets out and scraped the fire pot to make sure nothing was blocking the air holes or ignitor slit. Started it back up, ran for 12hours then shut down with the same overfill issue. I'm so done with this pellet stove! Very inconsistent. So I again cleared the mess up and started it back up. Pellets fell into the pot and a fire started like normal, but a lot of pellets were falling now so I adjusted the hopper slide adjuster nearly closed and that stopped that issue, but about a half hour later, the stove just shut off, no slowly shut down, just shut off with a normal looking fire going! Never had this issue before. After I let it cool down about 40 minutes or so, I opened it up and checked the fire pot, but there was nearly nothing in it, and everything looked normal. Plugged it back in and now no response at all! No nothing. Owner manual says to check the fuse. Is there only one fuse which is located in the control box? Small glass fuse? Or is there another one somewhere that may have blown and why? Snap disc 3 looks the same as it always does, so I don't know how I could try to reset it. I checked the mail panel in the house, nothing tripped. Of course its gonna be 20-30 below 0 tonight and tomorrow with wind chill here in NJ. Please help! Dynamite is my next step

 

[Bkins]

Man oh man you've had your problems. How many bags of the long pellets do you have remaining? Time to get some normal length ones and try to eliminate that part of the problem.

Yes, there is a fuse on the back of the stove where the cord plugs in and one on the control board but I've never had mine apart and have no plans to do so.

Where in NJ are you located? Maybe I can come help you sort the sucker out but I'm not a stove expert either. I do have the same stove and other then normal maintance I've not had any issues. I have had my stove just about completey apart. Maybe another set of eyeballs may see something your missing. I'm in Freehold.

 

[actionjackson208]

I have about 15 bags left! The first 20 bags burned fine, then the noise started happening in the auger. I'll try to add pics of the moister pellets which some are half the size of a sharpie!
I took the control box apart and saw the little glass fuse and that looks fine. I'm not sure if I see another fuse anywhere although in front of the vacuum switch there are two wires plugged into a black thing that very well might be a fuse? I am located in Hopatcong, NJ, Sussex county. Pretty far from Freehold. My wife used to work there. Its almost 2 hours away. Appreciate that though

 

[kappel15]

There should be a fuse in a fuse holder on the junction box. Some of the snap disc #3 have reset buttons, some don't. The ones that don't reset themselves when stove cools off. Did you try hitting the reset button? Did you turn thermostat up to call for heat? A majority of your issues is those pellets. And always unplug stove before removing or installing the control box, or you will short it out. kap

 

[actionjackson208]

Junction box? I see near the power cord there is a black plastic thing that 2 wires are plugged into. Looks like it may be a fuse? Snap disc 3 has a red little knob in the middle that just spins. I can't figure out how to reset it. Yes I tried the thermostat too. Thats all good. I always unplug before anything

 

[kappel15]

The reset button is a push type. Pops out when thrown, and you push it back in to reset. Yes, right above the power outlet and tstat terminal is the fuse holder

 

[actionjackson208]

Yeah, then the snap disc must not have tripped because you can't push the red little knob in. The black plastic plastic thing near the power cord is the fuse then? Ok, I disconnected the 2 wires but how the heck do you get it out? lol…..the struggle

 

[kappel15]

On the back side of the stove you should be able to push in and turn the cap off the fuse holder

 

[actionjackson208]

Ok, let me give that a try and see. Any idea why the fuse would just go like that?

 

[Bkins]

Unplug the stove. The round black thing is a cap. You push it in and turn it counterclockwise to get the fuse out. I'm pretty sure it counterclockwise but I could be wrong. The cap is spring loaded so it will take a little bit of pressure and twisting to get it off. No junction box on this stove as far as I know.

I totally agree with Kap that a bunch of your problems are coming from the pellets you are trying to burn. Sound like just plain junk and they by themselves will cause problems in your stove that will like like you have a stove issue, when it's really the pellets.

The first year I burn pellets I bought from a local supplier that made their own. I learned my lesson after having relate issues and not enough pellets being fed to the stove due to the length of the crap things. I ended up smashing the bags to try to break up the long ones and then had to sit by the stove and hand break the long ones I missed. I had 3 tons like this. I bought 4 bags first to try and they burned good but the pellets were hot and cold as far as quality.

Buy some other pellets and mix them in after you get your stove ironed out. You are in a area that I know has really great pellets. They may be out of stock at this point. Spend some coin on good ones if you can find them and go from there.

 

[kappel15]

Good question on why the fuse went, if it went. If fuse is fine, you may have to try and jump the wires together on the #3 snap disc to see if the disc is bad.Just be sure that it can't ground out on anything and toast your box. kap

 

[actionjackson208]

Ok so here are some pics of what I think is the fuse. One pic from the side panel and one from the back. It looks like there is a switch on the back of it, but it does nothing. I can't get it out! He last pic is of the right side panel trying to show the snap disc 3. I disconnected the vacuum hose and unplugged the wires going into the snap disc. I still have not made any progress

 

[Bkins]

The switch on the back that says 7 amp I don't have on my stove. Instead I have the cap that we have spoken about. When was the build date on your stove? Should be on a sticker on the inside of the hopper as I remember.

That switch looks to me to replace the fuse and may very well be a resettable fuse. Do you own a volt meter and know how to use it? If you do, take the wires off the 7 amp rocker switch and see if power goes through it. It should allow power to go through it in one position or the other. If it doesn't, it's bad and needs replacing. If it does make note of the position and leave it there.

Usually what causes fuses to blow are shorts or high current draws.

At this point it might help to put in order what you have done on your stove. I know you had another post going and I don't remember what you have replaced or done at this point.

I'm going to see if I can find your other post and start your story from the beginning.

 

[heat seeker]

That looks more like a circuit breaker to me. It has a current rating, but I see no way to open it up to access anything.

 

[Bioburner]

Dynamite is my next step

It burns very well, just don't get to big a pile.

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

Good question on why the fuse went, if it went. If fuse is fine, you may have to try and jump the wires together on the #3 snap disc to see if the disc is bad.Just be sure that it can't ground out on anything and toast your box. kap

Last image might give a clue as to why that fuse or breaker went pop, igniter connection is crappo.

 

[kappel15]

Looks like the wires from the #3 snap disc to me.

 

[heat seeker]

On closer inspection, that might be a fuse holder. You would push in, then to one side (or down) to release the fuse.

It's hard to read, but looks like it has a 32 VDC rating, which would not be used for incoming power, so it may be to protect the control board.

 

[Harvey Schneider]

That looks more like a circuit breaker to me. It has a current rating, but I see no way to open it up to access anything.

Those circuit breakers are usually push to reset. Nothing comes off or out.
similar to:

 

[heat seeker]

Correct! I said that to indicate there was no fuse inside. Now I see that it's indeed a breaker, from your pictures. The OP's apparently isn't tripped, but it could be defective.

 

[Harvey Schneider]

Correct! I said that to indicate there was no fuse inside. Now I see that it's indeed a breaker, from your pictures. The OP's apparently isn't tripped, but it could be defective.

With severe overloads, such as a short circuit, the contacts usually weld together resulting in a conducting condition with no protection against future overloads and no indication of a problem. They are cheap, convenient and unreliable. I dislike them almost as much as I dislike snap disk thermal switches.

 

[actionjackson208]

The manufacture date is October 2003. That pic is exactly what that black thing it. Now I know its a circuit breaker. Thanks Harvey. I don't have a volt meter to test anything out. Let me ask this question, the top connection to snap disc 3 appears to be a bit burnt looking. When I took it off the red plastic piece broke free from the connection and it was difficult to remove it from the snap disc itself. If the snap disc is bad, would I get any response when I plug the stove in? Because right now, I plug it in and get nothing. I took the control box out, which is new this season, and removed and inspected the little glass fuse and that looks fine

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

Looks like the wires from the #3 snap disc to me.

Yes, that is likely the case but I don't have a picture of the insides of that particular stove and no reference for the angle of the shot, that looks like the source of the breaker going none the less.

 

[actionjackson208]

Bkins, so far this season, I've replaced the control box, ignitor, fire pot gasket, door gasket and side clean out gasket. One time, the #2 snap disc tripped and I was able to reset it and it worked again. My earlier problems were with getting the pellets to drop. Auger was making a raspy noise. I cleaned the whole stove again, removed the auger, sucked out all the pellet dust and cleared a jam caused by these ridiculously long pellets. Then it worked fine for maybe a day. Then it shut off unexpectedly and I came downstairs and found the fire pot over filled with pellets up into the chute. I cleared that all out, cleaned the fire pot again, which had next to nothing in it, started it back up and it worked again for about 6 hours or so. Same thing happened. Firepot overfilled with pellets. Cleaned it all out, tried again and it burned for about an hour or so, then just completely shut down. Fan stopped, no power at all. Now I get no response when I plug it in. I've checked my electric panel to see if the circuit breaker tripped and it did not. So I checked the thermostat wires and connections and they are good. Fuse in control box is good. Snap disc 3 could be the suspect, but I'm not sure if it was bad, if that would stop the stove from at least coming to life when I plug it in?

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

That sounds sort of like a vacuum issue, bad gaskets, crud in the exhaust system or inside the stoves exhaust passages. Any sticky deposits anywhere and exactly which model of the Mt Vernon is this?