Quadrafire Castile exhaust blower question

[huskersdomn8]

I purchased a used unit from an individual that stated the stove upon purchase had only burned one pallet of pellets the entire time he owned it.
Looking at it in person it did appear to be low time. I bought it and wired up the thermostat and read the manual on how to operate it- seemed pretty straight forward and easy- I turned the thermostat to low and plugged the unit in . I can hear it humming a bit but no exhaust blower operating. I can flip the switch on the back to high and turn the thermostat to high and the red light lights up calling for fuel but nothing happens. Any suggestions? I own a Harman XXV that's been awesome but this is my first Quadrafire. Any help is appreciated !! It's cold out and we need the heat!! Have a Merry Christmas everyone!!

 

[mralias]

I purchased a used unit from an individual that stated the stove upon purchase had only burned one pallet of pellets the entire time he owned it.
Looking at it in person it did appear to be low time. I bought it and wired up the thermostat and read the manual on how to operate it- seemed pretty straight forward and easy- I turned the thermostat to low and plugged the unit in . I can hear it humming a bit but no exhaust blower operating. I can flip the switch on the back to high and turn the thermostat to high and the red light lights up calling for fuel but nothing happens. Any suggestions? I own a Harman XXV that's been awesome but this is my first Quadrafire. Any help is appreciated !! It's cold out and we need the heat!! Have a Merry Christmas everyone!!

1. Make sure the fan is not seized. See if will spin with your hand.
2. Makes sure it is clean which requires pulling the combustion fan and replacing the gasket. Clean the stove from top to bottom.
3. Check the auger to make sure it is not jammed with old pellets, kids toys or something worse.
4. Make sure the thermocouple is pushed all the way into the thermocoupler cover.

The combustion fan is the first thing that should start up when plugged in and the auger should be feeding pellets at that time. It usually takes two to three resets to get the new pellets from the hopper to the fire pot.

Start with that and let us know how you make out.

 

[DMKNLD]

Happy Holidays hd8 and welcome to this forum,

Below is the start-up sequence schematic for Quads that can help with troubleshooting your Castile. This is the schematic for pre-hopper switch models, which is a common break-down issue for newer model Quads that have the hopper switch as a safety. A bad hopper switch, as I understand it, interrupts the sequence at the vacuum circuit (box #4), which then interrupts the feed motor circuit. So you likely have a problem at box #2 of the start-up sequence.

With the red 'call for heat' light on, that should rule out the thermostat being the problem. So mralias is on point with the suggestion that the combustion blower may be seized up with fly ash, or the motor may be toast, or you may have a control box problem. A simple thing to try with the stove UNPLUGGED is to remove and re-seat the control box to make sure the electrical connections between the control box and the junction box are good.

If the combustion blower fan spins freely, and the exhaust exit / plenum is not ash obstructed, you can test to see if the blower motor is fried - assuming you're comfortable with doing some electrical troubleshooting around 110 AC power. Not knowing your electrical knowledge / comfort level, my apologies if you're an electrician ! As a standard disclaimer, the potential to get fibrillated by 110V AC, or potentially fry an expen$ive control box, says electrical troubleshooting may not be for everybody ! So Safety First !

With the stove unplugged, testing the combustion blower involves connecting the blower motor electrical connectors to an external 110V power source. You can make a jumper cord out of a cheap 2 prong / 2 wire extension cord, or an old lamp cord, by cutting off the non-plug end, then splice insulated male spade connectors onto each bare wire. Make sure any exposed bare wire is well wrapped with electrical tape, or better yet is to use heat shrink tubing over the insulated spade connector / wire connection. 110V can easily bite you, hence their common referral as 'suicide cords'. It doesn't matter which + or - spade connector goes to which blower motor wire. You can use this power cord 'jumper' to bench test the auger motor as well as the convection blower motor.

If the combustion blower won't turn on when it's connected to the stove wiring loom, but it will when connected to the power cord jumper, then your blower motor is OK and it is likely your control box, or the wiring harness causing your problem. Start with re-seating the control box, then the stuff mralias suggested, and if still no go try bench testing the exhaust blower, then post back, OK?

Regards, DK

 

[huskersdomn8]

1. Make sure the fan is not seized. See if will spin with your hand.
2. Makes sure it is clean which requires pulling the combustion fan and replacing the gasket. Clean the stove from top to bottom.
3. Check the auger to make sure it is not jammed with old pellets, kids toys or something worse.
4. Make sure the thermocouple is pushed all the way into the thermocoupler cover.

The combustion fan is the first thing that should start up when plugged in and the auger should be feeding pellets at that time. It usually takes two to three resets to get the new pellets from the hopper to the fire pot.

Start with that and let us know how you make out.

1. Make sure the fan is not seized. See if will spin with your hand.
2. Makes sure it is clean which requires pulling the combustion fan and replacing the gasket. Clean the stove from top to bottom.
3. Check the auger to make sure it is not jammed with old pellets, kids toys or something worse.
4. Make sure the thermocouple is pushed all the way into the thermocoupler cover.

The combustion fan is the first thing that should start up when plugged in and the auger should be feeding pellets at that time. It usually takes two to three resets to get the new pellets from the hopper to the fire pot.

Start with that and let us know how you make out.

 

[huskersdomn8]

The exhaust fan turned freely - I messed with the thermocouple and cleaned the small amount of pellets from the hopper- not exactly sure what the issue was ? But I plugged her back in and WAHOOOO We are in business!! Thank You both very much!! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!

 

[DMKNLD]

Glad you're up and running again husker ! I wonder if spinning the exhaust fan freed up the motor bearings, or perhaps your TC has an intermittent connection issue somewhere ?

If you have the free standing Castile model you can access the TC and the combustion blower pretty easily, which is probably worth removing the blower at least at some point to clean it well.

Having inherited my stove with an unknown maintenance history on my 1st generation Castile, I spent most of my first season futzing with multiple issues before it was running right, which this forum was a big help on.

Hopefully your Quad will serve you as well as mine has over the years since then. If your problem returns post back, otherwise stay warm over there in Nebraska. No real 'wintah' *yet* in Maine - it's supposed to be record highs near 60 F here tomorrow !