Quadra-fire only runs for 10 min

[tacoma245]

Hello there,
I have a quadrafire mont vernon pellet stove that will only run for 10 minutes or so before shutting down. The call light stays on the whole time and the room never reaches the proper temperature. After it does this, I can turn the thermostat down and back up again and the stove will fire up and run for another 10 min. Sounds like maybe a snap disk? How do I go about resloving the issue?

 

[MountainStoveGuy]

is the thermo couple cover complety seated on the thermocouple?
will it light?

 

[tacoma245]

Yes, I even tried replacing it. It fires up fine and seems to run good until it shuts down. I was told it was probably the thermostat but that seems weird because the call light stays on.

 

[MountainStoveGuy]

Yea if the call light is on then it should be calling for heat/
are you getting past the startup phase?
the stove calls for heat
it drops pellets and the ignitor stays on for 1.5 minutes
the pellets light
the thermocouple senses heat and starts the auger back up
the thermocouple senses heat and starts the covection fan up

how far along are you getting in that sequence?

 

[tacoma245]

It shuts down after the convection fan runs for a few minutes. After it shuts down the fan continues to run for another 5 minutes or so.

 

[MountainStoveGuy]

aslo, have you changed fuel types?
what are you burning?
Does the auger stop turning or do the pellets just burn up to fast for the machine to keep up?
Did you make sure that the thermocouple COVER is clean on the inside? ash in there will give it false readings

 

[MountainStoveGuy]

well if the convection fan comes on the the auger is feeding pellets, so the auger snap disk cant be bad.
it sounds like a control board issue to me. Unplug the stove, take out the control board and plug it back in.
have you switched fuels latley?
aslo start the stove in the "quad" position

 

[tacoma245]

I have tried cleaning the thermocouple cover and will check that agian. I have tried 3 or 4 different types of pellets to no avail. The does stop turning before it shuts down as though it is going through a proper shut down.

 

[tacoma245]

the auger does stop turning

 

[MountainStoveGuy]

the fact that the auger comes back on after the start up process kind of rules out the snap disk.
If you have cleanded the cover its clean. is it sticking far enough in the pot?
open your hopper restrictor all the way and turn the stove to quad and see if it shuts down, if it does, its likeley a control board issue if its not a thermocouple issue. Your tubes on your vacume switch are on tight right?

 

[MountainStoveGuy]

since the auger stops turning, one of three things is happening. the stove looses pressure, the thermocouple drops down in temperture, or the control board is not sensing temperture.
if the aguer never comes back on after start up that would point to a snap disk, but since the convection fan comes on it would have to drop more pellets to get the couple hot enough for that to happen.

 

[tacoma245]

The stove ran fine for the first year I had it, but started acting up last year. The thermocouple is sticking over the pot to the specs in the manual. ~2" I will try your reccommendation and check the tubes as well. I didn't know if it was some sort of issue with the exhaust getting too hot?

 

[MountainStoveGuy]

i was assuming that you cleaned the flue. Have you?

 

[tacoma245]

My appologies if I screwed up the terminology. Is the fan that blows the air through the exchanger tubes the convection fan? That is the fan that still runs after it shuts down.

 

[MountainStoveGuy]

and it should, the combustion fan should run too, otherwise your house would fill up with smoke.
If there is a lot of ash in the pipe that will trip the vacume swich too. Make sure your chimney is clean before you go any further. Do you live in altitude? is it vented strait back?

 

[tacoma245]

I replaced all of the piping when I moved upstairs from the basement. It seemed to be clean from what i could see looking into the stove with no piping on it. It did sit in a moist basement for a summer too so I don't know if there is something in particular I should check for rust?

 

[MountainStoveGuy]

nahhhh... this is electrical.
So the stove hasnt worked properly since you have moved it?

 

[tacoma245]

the piping runs out of the stove to a 45 degree and then straight out.

 

[MountainStoveGuy]

im thinking its the control board, what did your dealer say?

 

[tacoma245]

It started doing this just before I moved it upstairs.

 

[tacoma245]

The dealer was the one who said it was probably the thermostat. ??

 

[MountainStoveGuy]

the thermostat simply opens and closes a circuit. Thats simple to trouble shoot. disconnect the wires from the stat and twist them together.

 

[MountainStoveGuy]

please make sure that the control board is properly seated in its wiring harness. They come loose easily.

 

[tacoma245]

Thats what I thought. Especially seeing that the call light stays on.

 

[tacoma245]

I will check that tonight. Thanks for your help.