Quadra-Fire Pellet stove problem

[Lemms]

OK, I just installed a Quadra-Fire Mt. Vernon pellet stove a couple of weeks ago. I have it hooked up to a thermostat, and all was working fine. However, there have been numerous where I noticed that it was cooler in the house than what it should be. So, I checked the stove, and the red call light was on. (This indicates that the thermostat is calling for heat.) However, the stove isn't running. So, I push the reset button and then it will start up. Other times, the call light is on and the exhaust fan is running, but it isn't feeding any pellets. I'll push the reset button and it will start feeding. It is starting to happen more often. It kind of suck to wake up in the morning expecting a warm house, only to fin it is actually 10 degrees cooler than what you were expecting... The owner's manual mentioned something about replacing a disc 2. I figured that I would check you guys out before contacting the place where I bought it from... Any ideas?

 

[GVA]

Did you install it? or dealer?
What is the venting config?

 

[begreen]

Lemms, a couple things come to mind. How long are the pellets? They may be bridging and the auger needs another shot at them. Or perhaps the thermocouple probe is not extended enough over the burnpot. In the second case check to see that the probe is fully inserted into it's ceramic jacket too.

 

[BrotherBart]

OK. I have to finally ask. Are pellet stoves as big a pain in the butt as the posts here make them seem?

Good grief. Can't find fuel. Weird noises. Which board and or motor is crapping out. Which pellet is too long? Don't burn and on and on and on.

I know. I am a cord wood freak but come on. They make a heat pump sound like economic and comfort heaven. I am rapidly approaching the age where I am not going to be able to swing a chainsaw, and these things are not looking like the alternative.

Especially at three grand a pop. I can get a heat pump that just sips juice for $7,000. Installed.

 

[begreen]

Well, our stove was remarkably well behaved, but I think I benefited from having a cheap supply of quality pellets throughout our five years of ownership. The Quad is generally a really simple stove and nice low maintenance. Problem is, we don't hear from the satisfied owners. Most folks visit here to solve a problem.

That said, we have a big heat pump out there now and the pellet stove has a new home, so who am I to comment?

 

[GVA]

I have a feeling that the general consensus on pellet stoves has been that you buy them, install them, fill them, and that's it... Not many people seem to realize that you actually have to maintain them. It seems that many of the newer people to buy pellet stoves reacted to higher energy prices and bought a stove but didn't realize that it's not as simple as setting the thermostat and calling the oil co. for a fill up.. Maintainence and experience are the keys to any stove and unfortunatly there isn't much support out there other than this forum.
My name is Geoff and I'm a hearth-aholic...... :lol:
I'm still fairly new here but the same questions keep coming up over and over and over and.......

Lemms is a new owner and his could be a stove problem or an install problem only time will tell.

BB what happened to your flag, it got squished? :bug:

 

[Toolman]

Quoted:

OK. I have to finally ask. Are pellet stoves as big a pain in the butt as the posts here make them seem?

Good grief. Can’t find fuel. Weird noises. Which board and or motor is crapping out. Which pellet is too long? Don’t burn and on and on and on.


I have to tell you, I was wondering the same thing! I know that most satisfied people do not post, but it seems that there are plenty of problems with the Harmons and the Quadrafires.

I purchased my insert online. From what I have seen about dealers locally, I felt that I had a better shot of servicing my stove properl than they do. NO, this is not all dealers, as many that I have seen on this forum seem very good.

I installed my insert, fired it up, and it has been fine. No noises, clogged pellets, or any other issues. It maintains my room and house cozy warm, and runs flawlessly. I installed it myself, to all codes (I researched carefully). I feel safer with this, as I have to live in my house, and many installers don't seem to have a clue, even though they are "professional."

My decision is not correct for everyone, but from what I see, my satsisfaction is higher than many of those on here. I agree that much of the problems do come from those who feel that a Pellet stove requires no maintenence. I do clean and inspect mine on a regular basis, and I think that does the most good.

 

[BrotherBart]

Which one do you have?

 

[begreen]

Also installed my own and felt safer for knowing the stove and taking reponsibility for it. But maintenance was like a once every two week affair, no big deal at all.

A lot of posts are about used stoves. Cookie has got to win the award for persistence.

It does seem like we have a whole lot of new Harman folks having issues compared to last year. Maybe that is just due to increased sales? Or maybe hearth.com is just getting known better as the place to come when you have a problem or question.

 

[BrotherBart]

Also installed my own and felt safer for knowing the stove and taking reponsibility for it. But maintenance was like a once every two week affair, no big deal at all.

A lot of posts are about used stoves. Cookie has got to win the award for persistence.

It does seem like we have a whole lot of new Harman folks having issues compared to last year. Maybe that is just due to increased sales? Or maybe hearth.com is just getting known better as the place to come when you have a problem or question.

Or their pellet stoves are crap.

<ducking>

Shoot low Harryback. I'm riding a Shetland Pony.

It can't be that a huge percentage of cord wood burners come here thrilled pootless with their wood stoves and only the disgruntled come to talk about their pellet stoves.

Or maybe it can. Like Craig said last year, cord wood burners are a cult. I admit it. I am a wood burning cult guy.

 

[GVA]

Also installed my own and felt safer for knowing the stove and taking reponsibility for it. But maintenance was like a once every two week affair, no big deal at all.

A lot of posts are about used stoves. Cookie has got to win the award for persistence.

It does seem like we have a whole lot of new Harman folks having issues compared to last year. Maybe that is just due to increased sales? Or maybe hearth.com is just getting known better as the place to come when you have a problem or question.

Or their pellet stoves are crap.

<ducking>

Shoot low Harryback. I'm riding a Shetland Pony.

It can't be that a huge percentage of cord wood burners come here thrilled pootless with their wood stoves and only the disgruntled come to talk about their pellet stoves.

Or maybe it can. Like Craig said last year, cord wood burners are a cult. I admit it. I am a wood burning cult guy.

Your in denial BB.... It's not a cult your a hearth-aholic just like the rest of us ;-)

as far as the Harman line 95% of the posts here have been about the XXV maybe they should have stuck with the other 24 years of stoves and skipped this model.
<ducking also>

 

[begreen]

BAM. Good point Bart. There are some POS out there as well, in both realms of pellet and wood.

 

[BrotherBart]

BAM. Good point Bart. There are some POS out there as well, in both realms of pellet and wood.

And I am hoping to hell that one of the wood burning ones isn't sitting on the dock waiting for me to pick it up in the morning. Think about it. I bought a stove that not one person on the entire Internet has ever said one word about, good or bad.

Bought it on faith in the company and a big ass firebox. With the old hoss I was not in the habit of getting up in the middle of the night to feed the stove. Like with this enemic F3. Burns great for three hours. I am kinda in the habit of sleeping for six.

 

[begreen]

Well, you probably wouldn't try to go cross country on a Vespa either .

3CB was never meant for overnight fires. With practice I could get 4 hrs. between fills. Most folks have posted here as getting 3-4. I once actually did get hot coals in the morning burning a madrona burl. And only once.

Best of luck with the new stove. I'm hoping it's going to turn out a real winner.

 

[wahsega]

Leem I have one and it was a pain to begin with. Check the computer to be sure it is set on 1 or 2 not 3-7. We had a problem of weird fluctuations and the repair guy got ahold of Quadrafire and found out the setting can only be 1or 2. The others are for future stoves not yet developed. So the stove does weird things. Hopefully that is the problem. Ive never had pellets jam. The auger is made to deal with the odd size problem So unless your throwing in cord wood it should have no problem with size.

 

[mgambuzza]

I had the same problem with my Quad Castile. After installing this stove (direct vent) I also woke up to a freezing cold house. Initially I thought the same thing - that there must be a sensor that is not functioning properly. I was burning Energex pellets - they ranged from 1/2 in to 1 1/2 in in length, and I was thinking the same thing - that they may be jamming, or another problem - that they may be causing a "log jam" before they get to the auger. I increased the feed rate by 1/4in (move the slider in the upward direction 1/4 in) to increase the opening so in theory the longer pellets couldn't cause a jam before the auger - so far it worked. After that adjustment my Quadrafire had not gone out since. Hope this helps....

 

[Xena]

Quoted:

OK. I have to finally ask. Are pellet stoves as big a pain in the butt as the posts here make them seem?

I don't know, my brother and I installed our
St Croix Prescott last Fall and it's been running
perfect ever since. Since last Fall, we have
burned LG, Bio Plus, Dry Creek, and Stove Chow
brand pellets, in addition to running a 50-50 corn
mix with all of those brands. Not a single problem.
Stove has been outstanding. The only thing I can say is,
it has been challenging finding pellets at a price
that beats our oil guy so far this season, but not impossible.

 

[begreen]

Thanks mgam. That was my thought. Our pellets never had that degree of length variation. But I am hearing folks back east with pellets 1.5" long. Our longest was about 3/4", 1" tops. If this was happening to me that would be what I would adjust after asserting that the thermocouple was properly placed. Whasega has a Mt. Vernon specific setting that's worth checking too.

 

[Lemms]

Okay, I installed the stove myself with the help of my brother who works in heating & cooling. It is direct vented; pretty simple setup. I am burning a mix of pellets and corn. So, I don't think that a "jam up" is the problem... If anything, with the corn, the mix seems to feed quit easily. However, I ran into the problem when I was just feeding pellets alone as well.
It happened again last night. I woke up at 2:00 this morning, thought that it felt a bit cool, and checked the stove. Sure enough...The call light is on, and that is it; no exhaust fan or fuel... So, I hit the reset button once, and the exhaust fan started up and pellets started to fall... I have not taken any covers off yet to check the circuit board for any settings. I can try that tonight... What panel do I need to take off to get to the circuit board (otherwoise I can check my manual)?

As for problems with Pellet stoves....I hope that I don't scare anyone away from them. We are glad that we got ours... We have our season's supply of pellets and corn, and really enjoy the stove. I knew, before I bought it, that there would be adjustments to be made before everything would be running smoothly. So, I am in that phase right now.

 

[Dave_1]

OK. I have to finally ask. Are pellet stoves as big a pain in the butt as the posts here make them seem?

Si, bro bart!

Good grief.

An oxymoron, senor.

Can't find fuel.

Use the boards off the condemned house down the street. ;-)

Weird noises.

Great at Halloween. It terrifies the mrs.

Which board and or motor is crapping out.

Its usually a toss up.

Don't burn ...

Especially when the power is out.

I am a cord wood freak, come on.

Right, bro! So am I, & there are a lot of us out here.

They make a heat pump sound like economic and comfort heaven.

Yep, cause you don't have to get up at half past tree.

I am rapidly approaching the age where I am not going to be able to swing a chainsaw

Errr, bro, I think I see your problem. Try swinging the axe for the saw will last longer don't you know. ;-)

 

[MountainStoveGuy]

Okay, I installed the stove myself with the help of my brother who works in heating & cooling. It is direct vented; pretty simple setup. I am burning a mix of pellets and corn. So, I don't think that a "jam up" is the problem... If anything, with the corn, the mix seems to feed quit easily. However, I ran into the problem when I was just feeding pellets alone as well.
It happened again last night. I woke up at 2:00 this morning, thought that it felt a bit cool, and checked the stove. Sure enough...The call light is on, and that is it; no exhaust fan or fuel... So, I hit the reset button once, and the exhaust fan started up and pellets started to fall... I have not taken any covers off yet to check the circuit board for any settings. I can try that tonight... What panel do I need to take off to get to the circuit board (otherwoise I can check my manual)?

As for problems with Pellet stoves....I hope that I don't scare anyone away from them. We are glad that we got ours... We have our season's supply of pellets and corn, and really enjoy the stove. I knew, before I bought it, that there would be adjustments to be made before everything would be running smoothly. So, I am in that phase right now.

You shure there isnt a clinker blocking the ingitor port in the burn pot? Sounds like something is preventing the stove from relighting durning a ignition cycle. Sometimes the slot is full of hard clinker material. You have to get in there with a angle scraper to get it clear. Joys of corn burning.

 

[Lemms]

Yeah, I am sure that there aren't any clinkers. When I found it not running this morning (2:00 AM), it was cool enough for me to actually feel inside the burn pot with my hand.
Plus, if it were clinkers, why would it start after pressing the reset button? Would you have the same problem.
I also had this problem when running straight premium wood pellets.

 

[MountainStoveGuy]

Sometimes its only partially blocked, and the ignitor will work intermediatly. Also check the thermocouple, make shure the ceramic cover is over the burn pot far enough, and the couple itself is all the way in the cover. It could be a faulty #2 snap, or it could be a faulty control board. Its under warrenty, its hard to diagnose with out the proper equipment. My bet would be the snap or the thermocouple.

 

[mlm519]

We have a dealer-installed Mt. Vernon, had a similar problem -- stove would call for heat, would start up, feed some pellets, then stop feeding and fire would go out. Problem turned out to a bad auger motor. The dealer replaced the motor and it works great now.
On another subject, has anyone tried the 50/50 pellet/corn mixture in the Mt. Vernon? This is not the new AE model--it is the previous one, new in July 2006.

 

[dbchris]

Hi Lemms, I had the exact same problem with my Quad Castile instert. My problem was the thermocouple was not sticking far enough into the burn pot. The stove came from the factory with the thermo thingy sticking into the burn pot about an inch. I called service with the red call light on but no feed issue, and the service man came to my home and adjusted the thermo thingy to stick about 2 inches into the burn pot. I have not had an issue since this adjustment. You have a different model quad than I do, so I'm not sure this will be true for your stove. It looked like an easy adjustment for you to try. Of course, let the experts guide you. The thread I had here asking the same question is here:

https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/3733/

Hope you find a fix!
Beth