Quadra fire cb 1200 wont turn on

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Brando717

New Member
Jan 4, 2018
18
Pa
This is my fifth year with the stove. Came with the house. Its 11 years old all together my father in law bought it new. Anyway i love it. Never had a problem other than a thermocouple cover about 2 years ago. About 3 weeks ago i got up for work went downstairs noticed it was cold. Checked stove hopper full of pellets red call light on and thermostat was well below where i set it. Ive replaced the thermostat and wire. Ive been checking all the forums on here via google. I actually sign up to hearth.com today because i cant figure it out. Ive check the control box seems ok. Thermocouple looks ok and according to the control box lights its ok. Ive bypassed snapdisc 2 thinking it was that. Its not. The feed is consistent though last night the stove went out the blower turned off and the call light was still on? I hit the reset on snapdisc 3 this morning and it seems to be running ok. But after trying everything i can and still waking up every morning at 3am to a cold house i have my doubts. Any ideas guys?
 
If the call light is on, does hitting reset do anything? Is the exh blower coming on or do you know? If tstat is working (It appears it is, if you find the call light on) my first thought is your control board. If you can take it out and test it at your local dealer, that would figure it out. A new box is about 200 bucks. Good luck..
 
Does it fire up at all? Had the #3 disk popped and needed reseting?
 
If the stove ran, and then hit temp and shut off, and call light is still on, I would be checking the tstat wire connections and new tstat. Otherwise, I would have to agree with stovelark. If you know someone with a stove, you could try your control box in their stove.kap
 
It only happens at night. It runs all day. Although ive noticed the flame fluctuates alot. It gets real big in beginning than runs normal 4 to 6 inches. After an hour it starts to die out and relights a couple times. Then when room reaches temp it shuts off
 
What have you got the feed rod set to in your hopper? Stove on high, med, low? Try a jumper across thermostat connections.
 
Im wondering if its my #3 snapdisc. The feeder started making a weird noise last year. Only happens every once in a while. I watched the feeder yesterday and when it makes the noise i can see the white gears inside spinning but no pellets come out. Thats when i reset the #3 and when the stove turned back on it didnt make that noise the whole cycle. Next cycle the noise came back along with the inconsistent flames in pot. Can my stove run and operate with a bad #3 disc? Maybe thats my problem if it can.
 
The stove cycles as it should when it turns on. The thermostat clicks. The exhaust blower kicks on pellets start dropping into pot. Stove fills with smoke and when the flame lights smoke gets sucked out the exhaust. The flame will run high for a little than it will become normal. When the room reaches temp the thermostat clicks the call light goes off and the stove goes through its normal shut down. I really dont think its the thermostat or the wires only because its telling the stove to kick on or the red call light wouldnt be on? Whatever is telling my stove to shut down early is also messing with my flame in the pot. Thats why im wondering if my stove can still run with a bad #3 disc?
 
Before you had mentioned that it would shut off, and the red call light would stay on. I took that wrong. I am wondering if you are not just getting some misfires for any reason. If stove doesn't get up to temp in a certain amount of time, it will have a misfire, and shut down, and leave call light on as it never got to temp. Are you dumping pot enough times so there isn't a build-up of ash, that won't let a fire start? Have you looked up drop chute with a small mirror and flashlight, to see if there is any bridging going on, to slow down pellet feed? And #3 snap disc shuts down power to whole stove. #2 disc just shuts down power to the auger motor.kap
 
I wondered that myself. So yesterday i wanted until night time to clean the stove. For some reason of the last 3 weeks when i clean it it would run better and not shut off. Its almost like when i mess with the stove at all it would run better. It still went out last night. Its so weird its almost like the stove is kicking off the same time every night. Reason i say that when i get up for work and go downstairs its damn near the same temp every time. This stove is driving me crazy. Anyways the pot was clear. I cleaned it good about 9ish before i went to bed
 
Would my thermocouple shut the stove down before it reaches temp? And would it also explain why the flame in my pot is so sporadic? According to the lights in my control box the thermocouple is fine. It looks ok too. I just got off the phone with my nearest dealer and they are saying its that. Although last week they told me it wasnt.
 
Try unplugging the stove and pull your control box out and put back in it might have a bad connection. Yes the thermocouple will shut the stove down if it doesn’t see fire in 15 min
 
Ok i will try that tonight. When i first checked the control box it was pulled up slightly on the one side. I just pushed it down. I never actually pull it off and put it back on. Thanks.
 
When you start it back up the thermocouple will detect temps and create a small amount of voltage so watch your lights. green will be first @ around 200deg. Then the red when it hits 600. It should then turn on the auger for run mode.
 
Yea i do know about the lights and temps. I also seen something about a yellow light meaning a faulty thermocouple. I haven't seen that light thats why i figure the thermocouple is good. We'll see what happens tonight
 
Be nice if you could see it happen. The more details, the better to try and help you. Have you looked up the drop chute yet ? Have you looked at igniter slit to see if it is partially blocked? Make sure the thermocouple is touching the inside end of the cover, and is sticking into pot 3/4 to 1" ?
 
It only happens in the early morning before i get out of bed. I originally thought it wasnt turning on but im now convinced its turning off prematurely and thats why the call light is staying on. I put a hanger up the shoot yesterday seemed fine. This did start happening around the same time i got new fuel but i adjusted the feed and like i said the stove runs. The flame in the pot is high in the beginning of the cycle. Runs normal for about an hour and then it starts going out like its shutting down. The embers start blowing everywhere and then it relights. Im thinking thats what it is doing in the morning but its not relighting
 
I do have the thermocouple touching the tip of the cover and its in about an inch over the pot. The ignitor seems to be ok. I really running out of ideas.
 
Sounds more like a feed issue then anything else. Esp. since you say it started around the same time you got new fuel. The auger could be reversing, which means the capacitor is out or going out on the auger motor. Stove is old, so is an option. Cheapest thing to try is to get a capacitor jumper. Should be able to pick one up on line for around 12.00. IF you can't find one, I can send you one. But first I would empty the hopper and then pull the auger to make sure there is nothing in auger tube, or there are no pellets that made it clear to the top and partially jamming the auger. We still can't rule out a bad thermocouple. And maybe you need to adjust feed rate more, have you checked the exhaust path which includes stove and pipe.? And last, but not least, you can try jumping the vac switch, making sure not to ground it out on the stove, to see if there is an issue with it. And is the lower plate closed? kap
 
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you can check the thermocouple with a multimeter as it fires up that will tell you if it is truly good. Set to millivolt dc, Geen light will come on around 2.5mV +|- .5mV. Red light comes on around 12.1mV +|- .5 mV
 
What do you mean by lower plate? I did fully clean exhaust 2 days ago. Blew the down pipe out that connects stove to chimney and vac the inside of motor out. I just have this feeling its something small. It runs through the cycles from the moment i hit the reset button until the following morning when i find it out again. Its so weird
 
Hap is refering to the down tube ( tube pellets fall from auger to burn pot). Lower plate is below the burn pot and opens to allow ash into ash pan. ( there is 2) burn pot floor plate and another below that is connected to the clean out rod
 
O ok. Like i said i did shove a hanger up there 2 days ago. A couple pellets came out. And i did check the compartment under the burn pot and i vacuumed all the ash out. Wasnt much. I clean the heating tubes behind the plates, the burn pot and the glass on the door daily. I check under the burn pot the ash pan and the trap door to the exhaust weekly. To my understanding i keep this stove clean. But i will check both of them tonight when i get home from work
 
Ok. Kap youre right about the auger. When it makes that noise and the fire in the pot dies out it is the auger going in reverse. My wife said she has not had to reset it since this morning when i did it. But even WITH this the stove is not going out.