Pellet Stove Question

[DrRemulak]

This is probably an easy one for those of you that understand pellet stove technology better than I do.

I have a Lopi Pioneer stove that is relatively new (purchased last December). In the last couple days I noticed that after running for several hours, the fire had gone out. The stove kept feeding pellets until the pot was filled. At some point the fault light came on. If I empty the pot and restart it seems to work fine again.

Any ideas about what is causing this would be appreciated. If there is a problem I'd like to catch it under warranty. Thanks in advance.

 

[frink]

I have a Lopi Pioneer Bay insert and have had the same problem when running the stove on low. My problem was from the pellets I was using. After experimenting with several brands of pellets I found that the longer the pellet, the more they tend to get stuck in the auger. With a long pellet (> 1 inch) the auger will turn several times and nothing will come out, then the next turn a whole bunch will drop and put out the now dying fire. I switched to LG which are all very short (< 0.5 inches) and the pellets feed regularly even on the lowest setting, and the stove does not go out

 

[hearthtools]

This will happen if you are using a thermostat and the stove is Turning on and off is short amount of times and your stove is still warm.
the ignitor will not turn on if the stove is still hot.

Turn the feed rate down a little if your stove cycles on and off every few hours.

This is why I do not like the On and off stat mode.
would be nice if they gave the option to set the stove to go Hi and low with the thermostat.

 

[begreen]

This will happen if you are using a thermostat and the stove is Turning on and off is short amount of times and your stove is still warm. the ignitor will not turn on if the stove is still hot.

While that may be true for some pellet stoves, I don't believe it's true for all brands. I'm certain it isn't for a thermostatically controlled Quadrafire like the 1200i or our stove was defective. And not true, I would expect for other Quads. That would be bad design, especially if it let the auger motor run and fill the pot. The Quad is designed so one doesn't mess at all with feed rate unless required by a major change in pellets.

MSG can you confirm or refute if I am in error for other Quad models?

 

[hearthtools]

I was only referting to the Travis Pellet stoves

The ignitor is not on a timer it is on a System Limit switch that shuts it off after the fire/Stove heats up.


There is one dispute of the FULL FEED or not at all.
If you have a smaller home with quad. your stove shuts off and on a lot. NO IN BETWEEN HEAT SETTING
Like a dragster 200MPH or STOP.

with ALL other pellet stoves with a stat you have an option to control the feed so your stove will not cycle on and off 15 times a day and over use the ignitor.

All my other stoves we set the control board to go from USER FEED RATE setting to Low when the stat was not calling for heat.
That way there is no chance of a fault out if the burn pot is dirty and the stove will not light.
and you are not over using your ignitor.

Would be nice if Travis had theire ON AND OFF like the Altar had
if the thermostat called for no heat it would go to Low for 3 hours but if it cycled Demand and No demand in 3 hours time it would stay in Low mode.
then if the Thermostat never called for heat in 3 hours then it would shut off the stove.

 

[begreen]

Quads control the fan and *burn rate* with one easy switch. This allows them to cover a large range of temps. In the shoulder season we typically would run ours on medium. We found the stove to be very flexible and it never short-cycled. This may have been because the thermostat was in the hallway around the corner from the stove. It also had a digital temperature differential control so one could reduce the sensitivity if desired. But if one has put too large a stove for the room or area, then I suppose it might short cycle, the same as any other oversized appliance might.

From the Mt. Vernon manual:
2. Heat Output Controls
This appliance is equipped with a heat output control
knob that has four settings or burn rates; low, medium,
high, and quad. The appliance will turn on and off as the
thermostat demands. When the thermostat calls for heat,
the appliance will start up at the burn rate for which it is
set. If the appliance is set at one of the lower settings, it
will run quieter but take longer to heat up an area than if
it were set at a higher burn rate. The quad setting is the
highest burn rate and produces the most heat with the
largest flame and burns at the highest rate of about seven
pounds of fuel per hour. Regardless of the burn rate,
when the area is warm enough to satisfy the thermostat,
the appliance will shut off.

 

[hearthtools]

Sorry I forgot the NEW quads got smart
but all the older ones were 100% or off

 

[begreen]

I think this info was for the older Mt. Vernon, but will check. Same info, but only 3 speed in the older 1200i we owned. As far as I can tell most Quads are designed this way. It says it regulates the burn rate as well as the fan speed.

Castille and 1200 info:
2. Heat Output Controls
This appliance is equipped with a heat output control
switch that has three settings or burn rates; low, medium
and high. The appliance will turn on and off as the
thermostat demands. When the thermostat calls for heat,
the appliance will start up at the burn rate for which it is
set. If the appliance is set at one of the lower settings, it
will run quieter but take longer to heat up an area than if it
were set at a higher burn rate. Regardless of the burn rate,
when the area is warm enough to satisfy the thermostat,
the appliance will shut off.

edit: yes, the prior post is for the older style mt. vernon.