Quad Sante Fe Auger Jammed

[markplace]

Last year I ran 5 tons of pellets through a brand-new Santa Fe without any trouble.

I tried starting it up this season and keep getting an "auger jammed" error. I had a repair guy (who is not familiar with Quadrafire stoves) come over. He removed the auger and couldn't find any signs of a jam. After we put it back together, we noticed that the auger is turning backwards. He called Quadrafire, and the told him that I likely have a bad optical sensor, which is now on order.

Will the stove run the auger backwards if it detects a jam? Where is the optical sensor located?

Thanks,

Mark

 

[welshcob]

The guys who installed my new Santa Fe this week told me that if a long pellet or something jams the auger it WILL run backwards in an attempt clear the jam and then go forwards again. I don't see anything about that in the documentation or the DVD, but that's what they told me.

 

[stoveguy13]

Santa-fe has no optical sensor only the mt vernon ae has one if it is a mt vernon ae if the optical sensor is bad it wont run if it is a santa fe it is a bad capacitor not a sensor.

 

[markplace]

Thanks. I mis-typed in my first post -- I actually do have a Mt Vernon AE.

Where is the optical sensor located? Is there any way I can attempt to verify the "bad optical sensor" myself?

Thanks again.

 

[stoveguy13]

it is mounted at the top of the auger assy. it cloud give you that error message with a bad switch.

 

[markplace]

Thanks Stoveguy!

 

[bostonbaked]

So it looks as though Quadrafire's (Patented Jam-free Feed System ) is not Jam-Free after all. :-S

 

[markplace]

Service guy just installed a new optical sensor (yes, it took over 1 month), but the auger still runs in reverse and display says "auger jammed". So much for the optical sensor theory.

Unfortunately my original dealer went out of business, but he was pretty much an idiot anyway. The next closest dealer supposedly has "factory trained staff", but the only stove repair guy they have has never seen a Quadrafire before.

When I took delivery of the stove 1 year ago it wouldn't work because of a bad firepot thermocouple. Now the stove is busted again, leaving me with a $4,000 piece of junk. Needless to say I'm not impressed with Quadrafire or their dealer network.

Any more ideas out there?

 

[Xena]

The next closest dealer
supposedly has "factory trained staff", but the only stove repair
guy they have has never seen a Quadrafire before.

If the stove is under warranty I'd let the guy have a look and
try to troubleshoot. What can it hurt at this point?
If he's good and knows his stuff he will
probably be able to figure out the issue. If not, he may be able
to contact the Mfg for support if he hits a brick wall where as
they probably won't talk to you.

 

[stoveguy13]

the motor may be bad or the logic in the board has gone bad i dont know why they would have changed the optical sensor just checks for revolutions of the motor my guess is that it is the board.

 

[markplace]

Last month the service guy (who hasn't worked on a pellet stove in something like 10 years) called Quadrafire - they told him to replace the optical sensor. Now it's one month later, I have a new sensor, and the same problem. Service guy tried calling Quadrafire support, but they weren't open yet. He left and has promised to call them and me...