I'm a long-time wood heat veteran, but new to pellet stoves. I picked up a used Quadra Fire Castile and I'm having some teething pains. I went through all the resources I could find on the forum, but I could use a little help / reassurance. Thanks in advance for any forum wisdom.
Initial Condition:
The stove hasn't been used in years, and was stored in a dry garage. It has very minor rust on some of the screws and unpainted metal panels. The fire pot had a fair amount of rust / scale. It was very clean - no debris in the feeder mechanism, no visible ash anywhere. The ash door was frozen in the closed position. It's installed in a basement with 6' of vertical flue and plenty of available air (drafty / leaky basement).
First Fire:
When first plugged in, the combustion blower did not turn. Manually rotating it got it spinning with a fair amount of bearing noise. With a small handful of pellets in the fire pot, the stove started, but no pellets fed. With a few more manually added pellets, it got hot enough for the circulation blower to come on.
Cleaning:
I tore it pretty completely apart. I lubed the bearings on the two blowers and the pellet feeder, and made sure they all turned freely. I freed up the ash door (Just had to loosen the pivot bolt a little). I took out the top baffle and the 'cast brick' panels. Almost no ash behind them. I cleaned up the fire pot and made sure the air holes were clear. All gaskets looked almost new.
Current Condition:
It starts, runs, and feeds pellets. However, it has the 'lazy flame' condition and generates a lot of soot - especially on the 'medium' setting. Haven't tried 'low' yet. I went through the lazy flame sticky thread, and I don't see anything else that I missed. This stove has no inlet air control that I can determine. The pellet feed rate is adjusted by a sliding gate that is already in the lowest feed position.
Questions:
Initial Condition:
The stove hasn't been used in years, and was stored in a dry garage. It has very minor rust on some of the screws and unpainted metal panels. The fire pot had a fair amount of rust / scale. It was very clean - no debris in the feeder mechanism, no visible ash anywhere. The ash door was frozen in the closed position. It's installed in a basement with 6' of vertical flue and plenty of available air (drafty / leaky basement).
First Fire:
When first plugged in, the combustion blower did not turn. Manually rotating it got it spinning with a fair amount of bearing noise. With a small handful of pellets in the fire pot, the stove started, but no pellets fed. With a few more manually added pellets, it got hot enough for the circulation blower to come on.
Cleaning:
I tore it pretty completely apart. I lubed the bearings on the two blowers and the pellet feeder, and made sure they all turned freely. I freed up the ash door (Just had to loosen the pivot bolt a little). I took out the top baffle and the 'cast brick' panels. Almost no ash behind them. I cleaned up the fire pot and made sure the air holes were clear. All gaskets looked almost new.
Current Condition:
It starts, runs, and feeds pellets. However, it has the 'lazy flame' condition and generates a lot of soot - especially on the 'medium' setting. Haven't tried 'low' yet. I went through the lazy flame sticky thread, and I don't see anything else that I missed. This stove has no inlet air control that I can determine. The pellet feed rate is adjusted by a sliding gate that is already in the lowest feed position.
Questions:
- Does it make sense to try and restrict pellet feed a bit more? I could extend the existing gate a bit.
- What is the approximate expected rate of pellet consumption for the Castile when running on 'high'? I could see if my feed rate is at least rational.
- I'm still hearing a bit of bearing noise on the combustion fan. Is it worth just replacing it on the assumption that it's running slow?
