No fan on low manual setting.

[green wood]

hello...looking for help on our older quadrafire. As the heading states...works fine on high or med in manual mode. If we start at medium then switch too low, stove will run fine on low until about 40 minutes as normal..... then the fan comes to a stop.....stove will sit there for hours and I believe still drops pellots...just no fan.
I read a post about blowing the vacuum line out. where is that located please?.
A pre curser to the issue as the stove was running fine until my woman forgot to clean the ash pot out while i was away hunting. stove backed up and start catching pellots on the lower bin on fire. snap disc went off and stove turned off like it should thank goodness. when i got home i cleaned out the mess best i could as she dumped water down the chute to put out the fire....so i had a mess. Not sure if that had any thing to do with the issue now we're having but i wanted to throw it out there. She also said the control box came unfastened and fell out as she was trying to fasten the side door...ugh. I knew I shouldnt of gone to the mountains

 

[green wood]

27 views and no advance at all?

 

[Ssyko]

What model stove? (Sorry if it is in your signature but they don’t show up on a mobile device). Is it the convection blower (room blower) shutting off? Or combustion blower?

 

[kappel15]

A little more info on when it stops would help. Esp the 40 minute thing. Look in your manual where the vac hose is that runs from vac switch to back of auger tube. Make sure to pull it off and it is clear inside and also check nipple it hooks on, on back of auger tube. I don't think this would be the problem since stove runs otherwise as if something was plugged on vac switch, it would shut feed down. I would be more concerned on how clean stove exhaust path is. And as Ssyko said, which fan shuts off. kap

 

[green wood]

What model stove? (Sorry if it is in your signature but they don’t show up on a mobile device). Is it the convection blower (room blower) shutting off? Or combustion blower?

Hi. sante fe model and its the room blower. Stove works perfect on manual mode on high or med. Soon as i put it to low it takes about 30 mins then it slowly stops blowing heat. We always have run this stove the last two seasons on low. No issues. You can hear it drop pellots...and it will maintain a fire. just doesnt seem enough to kick on the blower. Just had the stove cleaned by a local business. We had an issue end of last year were it wouldnt light....we didnt know how to clean it 100% is what they told us. Said it fired up for them great soon as they cleaned it properly. That was in the fall...again..stove starts fine. I did read its not good to start it on low setting? thats all ive ever done and never had an issue until end of last winter. Not sure the reason for that....but it will start on low or med. Just wont maintain blowing heat on low or if you go from med too low...or high to low. I disconnected the vacuum line, which is next to the control box on mine. and blew a can of compressed air through it. That was one thing we read online to do. ? I also tried adjusting the handle in the hopper...i had it out when she let the ash pile up and it caught the lower end of the hopper pellots on fire.....i had to clean and vaccum the pellot feed tube out. I thought maybe i didnt get it back in the exact spot it was...and on low ...the firepot wasnt getting enough feed to maintain?

Im goin to check the theromcoupler in the pot tonight...its hanging in the pot a good amount. Maybe the wires arent touching the end? i would think if that was the case....the stove wouldnt work on any setting though. Its just the low setting were it wont maintain enough fire or heat? to kick on the blower. got us puzzled.

 

[kappel15]

Your Santa Fe doesn't have a manual setting. It just runs. Only the AE has a manual or auto setting. I would say you need to adjust your feed rate to feed more fuel to stove. You are not producing enough heat on low setting to keep conv. fan running. Some stoves it will turn on and off running on low. I would set your feed rate on high, according to your manual and then see how it runs on low. And remember it takes about 15 minutes for adjustment to be seen in pot. Let us know how it goes. kap

 

[green wood]

Your Santa Fe doesn't have a manual setting. It just runs. Only the AE has a manual or auto setting. I would say you need to adjust your feed rate to feed more fuel to stove. You are not producing enough heat on low setting to keep conv. fan running. Some stoves it will turn on and off running on low. I would set your feed rate on high, according to your manual and then see how it runs on low. And remember it takes about 15 minutes for adjustment to be seen in pot. Let us know how it goes. kap

im not sure i understand your comment about stove not having a manual setting. I has a black box that attaches to the back of the stove with a off setting....therm setting....and a on setting. ? Ive mostly used the on setting as the thermostat doesnt seem very effective nor economical on fuel.
Either way I thought i had figured this thing out.....I bypassed the vacuum switch ( mine looks like a silver rectangular box) with a paper clipped wrapped in electrical tape. it seemed fine. until last night and after loading it before bed......i got up to a cold home and a dang near full pellot hopper. Im befuddled. im not sure how to adjust feed rate btw. my control box (7000-205) is clear plastic and has a lil knob sticking through...is that it?

 

[Ssyko]

the feed rate is adjusted inside the hopper, you have to pull the slide up a little at a time. see pg 11. https://downloads.hearthnhome.com/installmanuals/SANTAFE_MBK_PELLET_OWNERS_7050_146.pdf

snap disc #2 controls the convection blower (2 purple wires) you can jump them and test that the blower is good. if so then replace #2 snapdisc. if not, test the blower with an old lamp cord and plug into the wall outlet.

 

[kappel15]

What year stove is it, and do you have an owners manual ?

 

[green wood]

I see a vin...but no year stamped anywhere. No manual...bought used off of craigslist. Control box says 2005




btw....i had the stove cleaned by a stove repair shop in oct before season. honestly ive had more problems this season so far than the others...pretty discouraging. Maybe moving it? One ton burned through it so far, split between another stove i run on low in the basement.

 

[kappel15]

Can you post pics of the stove and that box? None of it makes any sense. kap

 

[green wood]

Can you post pics of the stove and that box? None of it makes any sense. kap

sure can......

 

[green wood]

 

[green wood]

 

[green wood]

bueller....bueller........anyone ?

 

[kappel15]

Nice pics, but not one of the box on the back you talked about. This stove is an older model. It should run off a thermostat, and only have a switch on the back that says low med high. IT runs all 3 motors at the same time. And I would suggest you download a manual from Quads website or some place, so you will understand the stove more, and helps us, help you. kap

 

[green wood]

this is what stinks about the interenet...things get too mixed up. im not sure what box i spoke of.........? i thought you meant the control box you wanted too see. yes i knew it was an older stove.. box says 2005 so....... im not sure about your comments on the thermostat........the black box is a unit that fastens to the back of the stove.....and has a on and off and therm setting if you want to use the remote control. maybe this was an add on? and yes my stove has three setting....low med and high

 

[green wood]

 

[green wood]

like mentioned...ive tried using it in therm mode...and it doesnt seem effeicent as in just regular manual mode.....

 

[Ssyko]

that box on the floor does not look like a quadrafire add on. why is it there?
I think i know what you mean by "MANUAL" (not being turned off and on with a thermostat). if your stove's convection blower is coming on and off we have 3 possable scenerios, #1) the convection blower is operating normally till it reaches its internal temprature threshold and is shutting itself off, meaning the motor is whooped. #2) the #1 snapdisc is failing due to age , heat, cause it can. #3) the stove is choking and cannot keep the #1 snap disc above the 120 to keep the blower operating.
That being said I would do a thorough clean out of the stove and vent pipe, remove the lil black box and toss it. then run the stove knowing it is clean then see if the blower still shuts down.

edited the snap disk due to wrong manual open at the time

 

[kappel15]

Ya, that is an add on for remote. I just use a tstat on mine. Only reason I can think of, that you lose conv fan on low, is maybe the heat exchanger tubes are too dirty to stay warm enough to trip #1 snap disc, which runs conv. fan, or feed rate is a tad low. I would download a manual as I suggested, so you can understand the operation of your stove, and how to clean it. It will also tell you how to set the flame height, which is using the feed adjusting rod in hopper. As far as the dial on the control box, that is different settings for different stoves. Yours should be on 6. And always, make sure to unplug stove before installing or removing a control box, or you run the risk of toasting it. Just pulling the heat exchanger rods works for short cleans, but you need to remove the heat deflector, to expose the heat exchanger tubes, to do a good cleaning. Also pulling the left and right brick in back, to get piles of ash behind them. Let us know how it goes. kap

 

[hinkle]

Does the Quadra Fire have a setting similar to Harman that the distribution blower does not run on low settings? It's just called fireplace mode and it just produces radiant heat. Without pulling the manual out I believe the fan would not kick on until exhaust temps hit 350.
I recently did this while my distribution fan (room fan) had a bad bearing and would scream at an unbearable level but it was in the teens or less and still wanted to get some kind of supplemental heat.

 

[kappel15]

No.

 

[green wood]

Sure is factory...says quadrafire right on it. Crazy none of you have heard or seen this before. It's not that the stove doesnt run the fan on low....it just comes n goes
Like it's on a thermostat. Like mentioned I bypassed the vacuum switch......stove runs now...... but I've run this stove on low for a few seasons and that s the way we prefer it with our set up. And like mentioned. It was professional cleaned thoroughly in the fall before season.

 

[Ssyko]

I stand corrected. i ran my cb1200 for 19yrs with just a tstat, no add on. If you run on low most of the time it probably needs another good cleaning. pull the combustion blower and vacuum in the camber an brush off the blower petals. at low is when the stoves burn least efficient and creates a lot of ash and soot. and the quality decline of most brands of pellets are requiring more frequent maintenance cycles.