Quadra Fire CB 1200 let me tell you where I'm at with this stove and then ask a question

[AllenQFCB1200]

Ok so first my pellet stove experience. In the distant past I had a some kind of a pellet stove very old in the basement at my old house. If was one of the ones that didn't even have auto-ignition. Moving forward I knew someone with a Whitfield pellet stove who was of limited mobility until 2010. So I know about snap disks, what it takes thoroughly clean one ect.

Moving forward. I just had to start life over again last spring just me and my dog and a handful of belongings. This house had a woodstove in it, but it was beyond shot and I managed to find a nice used Quadra-Fire CB 1200 for free. Well I mean nice as in it needs work and I can afford it Lol.

So of course during the summer I took apart what needed to be taken apart to to do a proper deep cleaning and replaced a number of gaskets like the ash tray gasket because it was shot. I had trouble with the snap disk for the convection fan so bought a new one of those and then just about a week ago I had a massive over load of pellets in the pot.

This coincided with me changing brands of pellets so I thought maybe that and I discovered the lower bolt in the feed rate adjustment slider was missing. So this last week I have spent an enormous amount of time trying to dial in the feed rate which is just not happening. Then I observed that it was just being really erratic. Feed a ton of pellets then stop for a bit flame dies down low then feed a bunch more and get a big huge flame. Medium was the worst, low was some what function as was high, but it seemed like low was to low and high was to high. Then I remember that when I picked up the stove they also gave me a "working" spare control board. Opening up the box I found the original 2006 control board. I installed that and now finally the feed rates seem some what human and normalish. The one I removed from the stove was a Home & Hearth brand from 2019. Wondering what you all think of that brand, or for that matter what a good replacement brand is. I have no idea if I'll discover the original control board is just fine or has some other random issue so I may buy another. Open to advise there, do the control boards often last 20 years?

Finally my flame. So I'm probably overthinking it at this point, no I know I'm overthinking it, but I tend to do that and I'm hoping since I have little experiance with this brand of stove maybe ya'll can tell me if this is normal or not. So I did read the manual and I know wait 15 minutes between adjustments and adjust the flame on high to around 4 - 6" I can kind of get that but it's not at all that stable, I probably have a flame that is averaging that length but will get a few inches higher and lower occasionally. Normal you think?
Medium I probably average around a 2" flame and on low it just peaks above the pot occasionally. Normal you think?

I'm about half temped to up load a video of the high setting at least, and maybe low so ya'll can get a visual.

But since I also have an ignitor that has decided to croak I'm going to go replace that now.
So basically looking for input on my flame discriptions, plus the control board, what's a typical life expectancy and a good replacement brand.

Thanks, and I don't plan to just take any info posted and run. Looks like an interesting forum and I'm pretty sure I'll be able to contribute as time goes on.

 

[AllenQFCB1200]

Well might as well give an update. I took some video discovered my video files we too large and then set about taking still pictures, of the flame set on low, medium and high. Then it happened. It started acting like it did when I though it had a control board problem. I just sat and watched as the flame got bigger and bigger and lazier and lazier. Reducing the feed rate by a LOT helped but didn't solve it.

So now I'm thinking that it acting better after swapping control boards was coincident. About the only thing that I'm aware of that could cause this would be a combustion chamber fan that is going out and not running at a uniform speed. No? That would definitely effect burn rate I'd think.

Or an auger motor that is going out and not operating at a steady amount all the time.

Based on what I see I think it's the combustion chamber fan as it seem to me just observing the stove that the pellets are more or less falling at an average rate, and with the flame appearing to get lazy and I "think" I'm really leaning towards combustion chamber fan. But I have also heard the auger motor make some unusual noises. So with the cost of each being a little under $100 each I went ahead and ordered both. I'm going to depend on this stove when it gets real cold out and I don't need to be fighting it then so I feel it's a good investment.

Parts should be here tomorrow I'll let ya'll know how it goes

 

[AllenQFCB1200]

Ok I "think" I got her!
Here's what happened today. The new exhaust fan and the auger motor arrived. I installed both. Of course the gasket for the exhaust fan didn't really want to behave so that took a while to deal with. More over on a 20 year old pellet stove as you'd probably expect the screws that hold the exhaust fan to the housing were pretty well shot from the heat, and I had forgotten to pick up new ones. Luckily for me about 20 minutes of digging through my junk draw and I had 3 Philips head, 2 flat head and one hex, but they were the right size so I just went with it. Got it all bolted in and did a quick test turn on. It became obvious in that moment that the old exhaust fan was the culprit. Just speaking from how much quieter it is and hearing the amount of air being moved.

Then I went about changing the auger motor. Of course I had to give my index finger a nice cut on the sheet metal. That's ok that's what these kind of things are about Lol. Got the auger motor all put together and fired off the stove....

Well other than having a flame I felt was to large everything seemed great about 20 minutes went by and I was just about to start adjusting the feed rate when the stove apparently shut down...

The call light was still on so I assumed I hit the high limit. I thought to myself dumb, I should have reduced the feed rate sooner....
But 10 - 15 -20 minutes later the stove still would not feed pellets and relight. Finally I thought well I'm running the 2006 control box maybe I should swap them... No that did nothing. Looked under the covers for anything I might have missed. High limit switch is good and power is passing through it. Finally I wonder if I got bum auger motor and tear that apart. No not a bum auger motor a bum installer, I guess I didn't get the flat spot on the shaft and the set screw fully aligned and after 20 minutes of running it just started slipping on the shaft. So aligning the flat spot with the set screw and tightening it properly was the solution.

I've managed to run it, and work on dialing in the flame for about an hour or so now. I think I've got it pretty close. This new auger motor makes a kind of annoying sound every so often so we'll see if it breaks in if it doesn't I might have to see if I can get another one but it is working.

I've got around a 4-6 inch or so flame with it running on high, it still runs mostly blow to just at the top of the flame pot on low. I'm not really sure if that is normal and it would be great if someone else with a quadra-fire could chime in on what their normal low flame looks like. But I feel at least decent about where it is at currently. Tomorrow will be the real test. Previously how the stove behaved from day to day could change and it would be likely not to give me a consistent flame pattern from one day to the next so we will see.

I will report back tomorrow or later on maybe with how the flame behaves moving forward, but I'll tell you one thing I sure am glad to be working out these kinks in my new to me used stove while it's 40f at night and not in the teens or lower!

 

[Burnin Since 1989]

Of course I had to give my index finger a nice cut on the sheet metal

I bleed, burn or bruise on nearly every project I work on. It goes with the territory, I guess.

Good to hear you are making progress. These sort of issues can be a royal PITA to get sorted out. And please keep us posted.

 

[Whitenuckler]

Ok I "think" I got her!
Here's what happened today. The new exhaust fan and the auger motor arrived. I installed both. Of course the gasket for the exhaust fan didn't really want to behave so that took a while to deal with. More over on a 20 year old pellet stove as you'd probably expect the screws that hold the exhaust fan to the housing were pretty well shot from the heat, and I had forgotten to pick up new ones. Luckily for me about 20 minutes of digging through my junk draw and I had 3 Philips head, 2 flat head and one hex, but they were the right size so I just went with it. Got it all bolted in and did a quick test turn on. It became obvious in that moment that the old exhaust fan was the culprit. Just speaking from how much quieter it is and hearing the amount of air being moved.

Then I went about changing the auger motor. Of course I had to give my index finger a nice cut on the sheet metal. That's ok that's what these kind of things are about Lol. Got the auger motor all put together and fired off the stove....

Well other than having a flame I felt was to large everything seemed great about 20 minutes went by and I was just about to start adjusting the feed rate when the stove apparently shut down...

The call light was still on so I assumed I hit the high limit. I thought to myself dumb, I should have reduced the feed rate sooner....
But 10 - 15 -20 minutes later the stove still would not feed pellets and relight. Finally I thought well I'm running the 2006 control box maybe I should swap them... No that did nothing. Looked under the covers for anything I might have missed. High limit switch is good and power is passing through it. Finally I wonder if I got bum auger motor and tear that apart. No not a bum auger motor a bum installer, I guess I didn't get the flat spot on the shaft and the set screw fully aligned and after 20 minutes of running it just started slipping on the shaft. So aligning the flat spot with the set screw and tightening it properly was the solution.

I've managed to run it, and work on dialing in the flame for about an hour or so now. I think I've got it pretty close. This new auger motor makes a kind of annoying sound every so often so we'll see if it breaks in if it doesn't I might have to see if I can get another one but it is working.

I've got around a 4-6 inch or so flame with it running on high, it still runs mostly blow to just at the top of the flame pot on low. I'm not really sure if that is normal and it would be great if someone else with a quadra-fire could chime in on what their normal low flame looks like. But I feel at least decent about where it is at currently. Tomorrow will be the real test. Previously how the stove behaved from day to day could change and it would be likely not to give me a consistent flame pattern from one day to the next so we will see.

I will report back tomorrow or later on maybe with how the flame behaves moving forward, but I'll tell you one thing I sure am glad to be working out these kinks in my new to me used stove while it's 40f at night and not in the teens or lower!

Sounds like you are making some progress. My only suggestions at this point would be to install OAK kit, and do the leak blower trick to possibly clear out some hidden air passages. If you can measure the vacuum that will help you troubleshoot as well.

 

[AllenQFCB1200]

I bleed, burn or bruise on nearly every project I work on. It goes with the territory, I guess.

Good to hear you are making progress. These sort of issues can be a royal PITA to get sorted out. And please keep us posted.

Yes, but as I keep telling myself at least it's not 20f outside and getting this worked out now is for the better. But I do agree that these sort of issues can be a royal PITA!

Sounds like you are making some progress. My only suggestions at this point would be to install OAK kit, and do the leak blower trick to possibly clear out some hidden air passages. If you can measure the vacuum that will help you troubleshoot as well.

What's an OAK kit. I have not done the leaf blower trick but I did use my air compressor and a nozzle at one point to blow things out. I did that because I already own an air compressor and a nozzle but I do not own a leaf blower. I do have a vacuum gauge. Any idea what I should see for a reading?

Thanks guys for the support. We'll see what happens tonight when I fire it up after work.

 

[Whitenuckler]

Yes, but as I keep telling myself at least it's not 20f outside and getting this worked out now is for the better. But I do agree that these sort of issues can be a royal PITA!

What's an OAK kit. I have not done the leaf blower trick but I did use my air compressor and a nozzle at one point to blow things out. I did that because I already own an air compressor and a nozzle but I do not own a leaf blower. I do have a vacuum gauge. Any idea what I should see for a reading?

Thanks guys for the support. We'll see what happens tonight when I fire it up after work.

Outside Air Kit. The leaf Blower will suck the system. Could use a shop vac. Check your manual for a pressure port and see if they talk about it. You are talking 0.3" water for example. Check out my harman P43 op manual or install manual.

 

[AllenQFCB1200]

Outside Air Kit.

Oh I should have known that sorry.

The leaf Blower will suck the system. Could use a shop vac. Check your manual for a pressure port and see if they talk about it. You are talking 0.3" water for example. Check out my harman P43 op manual or install manual.

Ok cool thanks.
I'm going to see how it operates tonight. Honestly I think having a combustion chamber fan that blows at a consistent rate is going to make a big difference but thank you again for the info and if it is still giving me trouble I'll get out my vacuum gauge.

 

[AllenQFCB1200]

Well we are about 45 minutes into run time tonight. So far so good. It's only been on high because the house was fairly cool when we got home tonight. I'm about to hit 66f and when we hit that I'm going to switch it to low and see how she runs on low. But so far so good. I might complain that there is a little more variation in flame height than I'd ideally like, but on the flip side of that, could just be the pellets. But my average, and most common flame height is within that 4- 6" they ask for in the manual. I'll up date with how it does on low here in a bit.

 

[AllenQFCB1200]

Ok it's going to be sleepy time here soon, so I'll give another update.
I think we are good. The stove had no trouble starting I think it ran three cycles during the evening so to recap from getting home tonight, it started up on high and I let it run most of that round on high to get the temp up in the house and the last bit on low I think it ran for about 45 minutes before the thermostat shutter down. Subsequently it ran two more times, both those times were on low and it lit and functioned no problem from lit off to shut down, and once past the initial warm up period the flame looked real good. So I'm very happy and I'm sure I'll get lots of trouble free use.

And before someone says 3 cycles in 4 hours is to often, well unless I open a window I'm stuck with that until cooler weather comes around.

It's possible if I'd of just started it on low and left it there that the first cycle would have been longer and there might have only been one relit, and frankly I was working it more like that before these troubles came up but I wanted to be able to see how the flame was on high tonight.

That's what I got. I'll be home a lot this weekend and the weather forecast isn't for super cold but it suppose to be damp and rainy so I'll be in the house a lot and well we'll see how the stove does over the weekend and probably report near the end of the weekend how things continue on.

Thanks for the encouragement guys.