Quad Santa Fe pellet feed problem.

[Geezer]

The last week or so I've been running into a problem I can't quite figure. I turn the stove on in the morning, and it dumps pellets like it should. Then the fire will die down, and no more pellets will dump. I reset the stove with the thermostat, and the pellets dump again, fire lights, sometimes it will then keep going, other times reset. Oh, and sometimes, but not always I hear a clicking sound which I assume is the auger or motor. The last 10 bags of pellets I had were a brand called "Dry Creek" which I never used before, don't know if it has anything to do with it. Any thoughts?

 

[Bioburner]

Open the feed gate a bit. Sounds like the pellets are not making enough heat to satisfy the probe over the fire. Have you cleaned and made sure the probe is properly in the ceramic protector?

 

[tjnamtiw]

Did you notice that the pellets are longer than the others you were using? If they are, then BioB's advice is good. Whenever you start using another brand of pellets or a new lot of the same ones, you should readjust your flame height on HIGH so it's like 4 to 6" high. It's the ONLY adjustment on our stoves so no excuses! hahaha

If they are long, then also look up the drop chute with a flashlight and small mirror to see if they are bridging over up there. It can happen very easily and is often the cause of inconsistent feeding.

 

[Geezer]

Bioburner, I always clean the ceramic housing, but no I didn't check the thermocouple seating I'll make sure I do next cleaning. And TJ, yes the pellets are longer without a doubt. I'll adjust the hopper when I shut down and let you know how I made out. Thanks!

 

[tjnamtiw]

Bioburner, I always clean the ceramic housing, but no I didn't check the thermocouple seating I'll make sure I do next cleaning. And TJ, yes the pellets are longer without a doubt. I'll adjust the hopper when I shut down and let you know how I made out. Thanks!

You don't have to shut down to adjust the hopper feed. In fact, you don't want to! Just open it up about 1/4" and wait 1/2 hour or so to see if the flame height is better. If not, go another 1/4". Remember to do this on HIGH.

 

[Geezer]

You don't have to shut down to adjust the hopper feed. In fact, you don't want to! Just open it up about 1/4" and wait 1/2 hour or so to see if the flame height is better. If not, go another 1/4". Remember to do this on HIGH.

At least on my stove TJ it has a feature where if you leave the hopper door open too long, say more than a minute it begins to shut down. The hopper was full, and the adjustment lever has a set screw and a wingnut which were buried. I emptied the hopper, and it seems the lever was in the wide open position. I pulled the set screw, opened the adjustment a little more and tightened down the wingnut. I'll post back again when I see if it worked.

 

[tjnamtiw]

Yea, take that set screw out and chuck it. Just use the thumbscrew. Also, there might be some other screws that keep it from sliding easily. Loosen them up a little. Then you can adjust it on the fly. Open hopper, adjust, and close lid. If it was already wide open, had you adjusted the flame per the manual with the smaller pellets? You don't need to overfire it and waste pellets.

 

[tjnamtiw]

One other thing. On my manual for the Sante Fe, the picture of the adjuster is BACKWARDS!. The lever needs to get pulled to the right.

 

[Don2222]

If it is not one of the above this problem can be caused by a bad vacuum switch or bad feed motor.

 

[Geezer]

One other thing. On my manual for the Sante Fe, the picture of the adjuster is BACKWARDS!. The lever needs to get pulled to the right.

That's affirmative TJ, to the right, or up slope on the hopper ramp. I actually had to open the adjustment past what was allowed by factory adjustment just to get a decent flame height. My thoughts now are my stove just doesn't like these pellets, but over the next couple days time will tell.

 

[tjnamtiw]

I had similar pellets a couple of years ago that were many times 3" long! I also took out the gate and elongated the slot so that I could open it wider. I did get the occasional bridge across the drop chute up at the auger though. Now I run it as far closed as it will go. Hang in there. You'll have all summer to play with it.

 

[Geezer]

Thanks TJ, fired it up this morning and all seems well. I think I'm actually getting a handle on this stove.lol Seems cleaning and pellets are pretty much everything.

 

[Bioburner]

The lil Santa Fe is good entry level stove. Pretty easy to keep clean and figure out most pellet stove issues.

 

[DrewAtFPS775]

Geezer-
Check your control board and make sure it is set to number 9, that is the 10% increase for the Santa Fe, also should help to clear any issues of the FP temp dropping to the point that the TC loses proof of fire.

 

[rcc]

You may also an excessive amount of fines building up in the auger. That will mean the fire will not be as hot which would (falsely) tell the pellets to stop dropping. Good luck!

 

[tjnamtiw]

Geezer-
Check your control board and make sure it is set to number 9, that is the 10% increase for the Santa Fe, also should help to clear any issues of the FP temp dropping to the point that the TC loses proof of fire.

There is no number 9 on the control box. It only goes to 7. If his stove is working properly and he has the feed gate set properly, there's no need for a 10% boost in feed rate.

 

[tjnamtiw]

You may also an excessive amount of fines building up in the auger. That will mean the fire will not be as hot which would (falsely) tell the pellets to stop dropping. Good luck!

This is a good point if you are dumping pellets directly into the hopper from the bag and not presifting them.

 

[Geezer]

Finally ran my pellets out, and fines were surely a factor. And TJ, I got to actually see the auger and the bottom of the feed adjuster. By pulling that screw out and opening the adjuster more did absolutely nothing. It was already open as far as it needed to be for max pellet feed. More and more it looks like bad pellets. One last question. Assuming I don't sift the pellets is there a way to clean the fines from the auger through the chute inside the firebox?

 

[kappel15]

No. Only way to clean fines out of hopper and auger shaft is to use a vacuum in hopper at end of auger. You can shake the auger a little bit and anything in the shaft will fall down to bottom of auger. To stay ahead of it if you don't clean your pellets, is to let the hopper run empty more often, and clean more. I clean my pellets and corn, and have never had to clean bottom of hopper. kap

 

[DrewAtFPS775]

There is no number 9 on the control box. It only goes to 7. If his stove is working properly and he has the feed gate set properly, there's no need for a 10% boost in feed rate.

Oops, sorry about that

 

[tjnamtiw]

Oops, sorry about that

What stove do you have. It's best to put that kind of info in your 'signature' so everyone knows.

Thinking about it, with the long pellets, he could go to 10% extra feed IF his flame height is too low with the gate all the way open. I never had to, though. That would be setting #7. AND MAKE SURE TO UNPLUG THE STOVE BEFORE CHANGING SETTING!!

 

[rcc]

When I dump the pellets in to the hopper I try to leave the last few pellets (and hopefully a good portion of the fines) in the bag. When using pellets that have an excess amount of fines I let the hopper empty itself and then I use a shop vac to suck out the fines and pellets in the auger. The frequency is based on the amount of fines in the pellets. I also put the stove on high when the pellets get really low in the hopper to (hopefully) move as many fines to the burn pot as possible - I hate to waste the heat! I let everything cool down completely prior to using the shop vac. You can kind of tell when the fines need to be vacuumed out by the behavior of the stove. If it appears to be running as if "under the weather" you can perform this task before it starts shutting down on its own. FYI: the manual indicates the fines in the auger should be addressed every 30 days. (This is my first time uploading a photo so wish me luck!)

 

[tjnamtiw]

You did good!
Putting the stove on HIgh when the hopper is almost empty is a good thing also because on Low, it doesn't generate enough vacuum to keep the vacuum switch pulled in, at least on my stoves. Too much air is sucked in through the auger tube.

I sift my pellets so a 'suck out' at the end of the season is all I need.

 

[SidecarFlip]

I sift my pellets so a 'suck out' at the end of the season is all I need.

Once a knight, always a knight but once a nite (or in this case season) is usually enough......lol

 

[tjnamtiw]

Once a knight, always a knight but once a nite (or in this case season) is usually enough......lol

THOSE DAYS are LONG GONE!