Pellet stove won't keep running

[heat my feet]

Hi everyone. First time posting her. I'm at my wit's end!

I recently bought a used (2009) Quadrafire Castile FS pellet stove. It needed a thermocouple as per the flashing lights, and the previous owners statement. I replaced the TC and the ceramic tube with what I believe is a pellet head TC.

Now it fires up the first time when the thermostat calls for heat. The red call light is on . It drops pellets as it should, the first time. However, it will burn out the first set of pellets, and will not drop more. The stove just shuts itself down, and the red call light is still on. If I turn the t-stat down, and up again, the stove cycles one time and does the same thing.

I gave the stove a thorough cleaning. The exhaust fan works. The combustion fan works. The vacuum switch makes continuity with a slight vacuum applied. The hose is clear. The snap discs have continuity on #1 & #3 with stove off, and #2 is open as per wiring diagram. The fuse is good. Burn pot is clean and closed.

The fire in the burn pot seems kind of low, maybe because it’s not gettin enough pellets? Could it not be getting the TC hot enough so it shuts itself down? I hit the reset a couple of times to advance more pellets, and it gets SO smokey, the exhaust blower can hardly keep up, and the elbow to the outside leaks smoke around the seams until it lights up. Then it clears up. I got it hot enough one time to have the room fan start.

I don’t want to just start throwing parts at it, but I want to make it work. This will be a back up source of heat for my 85 year old mother-in-law.

Thanks in advance for any help you can give me.

 

[Canadianchill]

Without knowing exactly your stoves sequence of operation, it is hard to pinpoint the problem.

I do however beleive that you have covered the majority of the device specific troubleshooting.
Was the TC the exact replacment? That is the key device that will tell the main board that it is good and hot - and that the exhaust + convection blowers should start and ramp up.
From the sounds of it, the auger should be running more on startup, so that a larger volume of pellets can burn and create more heat.
Is there a circuit diagram anywhere that can be reviewed?
I am no expert, but it sounds like you are figuring it all out - the difficult issue with some of these newer stoves is the control board, and how it is programmed with specific sequences for startup, shutdown etc. Those are the hidden details that only good documentation will illustrate.

 

[heat my feet]

Without knowing exactly your stoves sequence of operation, it is hard to pinpoint the problem.

I do however beleive that you have covered the majority of the device specific troubleshooting.
Was the TC the exact replacment? That is the key device that will tell the main board that it is good and hot - and that the exhaust + convection blowers should start and ramp up.
From the sounds of it, the auger should be running more on startup, so that a larger volume of pellets can burn and create more heat.
Is there a circuit diagram anywhere that can be reviewed?
I am no expert, but it sounds like you are figuring it all out - the difficult issue with some of these newer stoves is the control board, and how it is programmed with specific sequences for startup, shutdown etc. Those are the hidden details that only good documentation will illustrate.

Thanks for the reply. The convection blower does ramp up, at least it did the one time it got hot enough to do it. I was thinking the new TC might be the problem, as while there is continuity, it may not be sending the correct signal. I am going to open up the auger feed some more as it may not be sending enough pellets. I'll try this first, then if that doesn't work I'll get a genuine Quadrafire TC. I have seen a few reviews where the aftermarket ones have given some people problems.

 

[heat my feet]

So after hours of diagnosing, cleaning and testing everything but the control unit itself, and after hours of posting, emailing, calling, and looking, I read a review from an aftermarket TC from Amazon.

He posted the leads were backwards! I thought no way! It is a resistor, right? The heat creates voltage, and polarity shouldn't matter, as long as it sends a signal to the control. Besides, yellow wire to yellow wire, red to red. Male connector to female, and female to male, right?

WRONG! I switched the leads after making little leads to connect male/male & female/female, AND IT WORKS FINE!

Next time I'll buy OEM parts from a dealer. Lesson learned. At least I didn't spend a ton of $$ switching parts for nothing!

Thanks for the help. Stay warm.

 

[Canadianchill]

I was going to say earlier, just switch the leads and test.
It is hard to trust nowdays IMO.
I too like to search for the deal, but sometimes its not worth it! Great to see that you figured it out!