New Mt Vernon AE, First Error

[Nahum.Gardner]

We recently replaced a near 40 year old Blaze King wood insert with a Quadrafire Mt Vernon AE. I installed it myself and it has been working great for about a month. We have put about half a ton of Bear Mountain softwood pellets through it in the last month.

This morning we awoke to no fire with an error on the wall unit: "Bad Drop Tube TC". I power cycled, checked connections/wing nut and nothing. pulled the thermocouple and tested it on a meter with a lighter and it was fine. when I put it back in the stove fired right up.

The TC was still warm from the test when I powered it back up, maybe that was enough to trick the board into starting? Should I get a new TC to have on hand? I this a regular $5 "K type" that Quadrafire wants $75 for? Any other parts I should stock, I have the extra high temp igniter that came with the stove.

Thanks!

 

[kappel15]

It could of been a fluke, that you took care of by just removing it, and re-installing. I would check again when it is cold. If it is new enough, you can get it checked under warranty.Usually the only time there is an issue with this is if the area under the wing nut gets rusty enough to cause less contact. You could also use a thumb tack or pin to make the "0" female fittings a little tighter for better contact. The conv. blower has 11 or 12 speeds( I think they changed the amount) which increases as stove gets hotter. You could buy a cheap one, and find same end to put on it, and try it. kap

 

[Nahum.Gardner]

Well, nothing funny yet. Keeping my fingers crossed! I may have slightly altered the connection end with my test probes, maybe that fixed it. I don't like flukes!

 

[kappel15]

Neither do I. In your best interest, I would report it to the dealer you bought it from, so it is documented. kap

 

[Nahum.Gardner]

thanks for your help kap, I will let them know. Its been going strong all week without a hitch. temps outside have been in the 20's F and we've been going through about 70lb of pellets a day