Quadrafire Castile Pellet stove Nightmare

[RedwoodGirl]

I Just bought this house and started to need heat.
Back In April it had smokey startups. Smokey restarts. Not too bad but could see smoke waft out a bit from behind the cast panel/trim set. I Knew it needed to be cleaned and put it on the summer chore list. All in all it worked fine.
Heres the cleaning process I did. I cleaned the stove top to bottom and ran a brush down the flex pipe that extends out the top of our old fireplace. Has a nice fitting custom galvanized Chimney cover. I pulled the stove out of the fireplace disconnected the vent pipe and everything. I blew out the fan cages with compressed air and all the hard to vacuum areas. I took apart the firebox tiles and cleaned all up in there too! I thought I did a great job. I also replaced the door gasket.
After I put it all back together, I still had the same problem. smokey startups and now a new problem! Fan noise. The exhaust/ combustion fan was having a lot noises. I ran the stove a few days and the noises stopped. Then one day I start it up and the fan wont start. I still had the trim off so i gave the little flywheel a bump and bingo it goes.
Well after the last shut down The stove wont start at all. The fan starts the green light is on and the red light just flashes. I dont have a blue light. Just a red call light and a green and red led light on the brain module with the computer socket type connection on the bottom.
Ive unplugged it. Hit the reset button with therm on hight and the fan speed on high. Nada. No glowing of the igniter or running of the auger. Just all I get is call light solid red and green light ontop solit green and a flashing red light under the green light. None of the snap disks are tripped. What could it be??? Help Its my only source of heat in my house!

 

[stovelark]

A couple of things, sounds like the combustion blower needs replacing and possibly the control board. The green and red lights are for sensing 200 and 600 degrees by the thermocouple in the burnpot. The flashing blue light on startup tells you what position the control board is in (what software the board is using, its different for other stoves, which this board is used in ie the santa fe and cb1200 stoves.) Smoky startup you will have to track down, most obvious spot is the connection to the stove exhaust outlet or liner needs silicone somewhere. Make sure the thermocouple cover is pushed back on the thermocouple and that the thermocouple reaches out about one inch into the burnpot..... good luck.

 

[Jonkman]

Is this an insert or a free standing stove? If it's freestanding it wouldn't be hard to work on if you need to get at parts to replace etc, but if you are looking at multiple parts replacement I might have a dealer stop out and check it since you just bought the house and this is new to you.

And the dealer (hopefully) will troubleshoot it quickly and find it's just one part instead of 3 and you will be on your way. They can also check out the piping too, and they probably have parts on hand if they are a quadra-fire dealer. Since it's getting cold it might be worth the $$ to get a piece of mind that it's 100% ready to go for winter and you didn't miss anything. Just my opinion, might be work the money

Looks like there are only two stove places in your town and neither are Quad dealers...obviously I don't know anything about any of these since I am from Michigan... I would call all there and see what they say.

http://shafersstoveshop.com/ (707) 442-5734

Eureka Stove & Fireside Shop 701-444-2363

The nearest quad dealer is in Oregon

Brookings Hearth & Home
624 RailRoad Street
Brookings, OR 97415
541-412-1723

 

[RedwoodGirl]

Is this an insert or a free standing stove? If it's freestanding it wouldn't be hard to work on if you need to get at parts to replace etc, but if you are looking at multiple parts replacement I might have a dealer stop out and check it since you just bought the house and this is new to you.

And the dealer (hopefully) will troubleshoot it quickly and find it's just one part instead of 3 and you will be on your way. They can also check out the piping too, and they probably have parts on hand if they are a quadra-fire dealer. Since it's getting cold it might be worth the $$ to get a piece of mind that it's 100% ready to go for winter and you didn't miss anything. Just my opinion, might be work the money

Looks like there are only two stove places in your town and neither are Quad dealers...obviously I don't know anything about any of these since I am from Michigan... I would call all there and see what they say.

http://shafersstoveshop.com/ (707) 442-5734

Eureka Stove & Fireside Shop 701-444-2363

The nearest quad dealer is in Oregon

Brookings Hearth & Home
624 RailRoad Street
Brookings, OR 97415
541-412-1723

INSERT!
Eureka Fireside had parts on hand. Got me a new Ignigter and a Thermocouple. Both were wrong part even when I brought the parts list to them personally. Picture 1. and 2.

Both these cost me $186 bucks! I think I'm going to return all the parts and buy online this seems like price gouging.

The guy at eureka fireside told me to use red rtv cement for the leaky gaskets emmiting smoke and to spray the motor around the berring with "break free" some lube. ???

I dont know if I trust them so much.

 

[RedwoodGirl]

Also you can see my thermocouple was broken or very old! so i need a new one asap. I might just orderonline now eventhou I had to call fireside today and ask them to order part after they gave me wrong part yesterday.

 

[RedwoodGirl]

Has anyone seen a control box like this? No blue light! and solid white.

 

[RedwoodGirl]

picture of my blower exaust fan

 

[kappel15]

That is the original control box that stove came out with. Newer ones are clear. I am assuming that your igniter is the one with bare ends, and you had ceramic twists to connect? The thermocouple is probably most of your problem with nothing coming on. And motors that are old and set for a while will get stuck. That is why when you spun it, it started. I have had to do that with a few motors. And always make sure you unplug stove before working on it. And always unplug stove when installing or removing the control box, or you run the risk of shorting it out. Exactly where is smoke coming from? kap

 

[kappel15]

It wouldn't hurt to get a gasket for the exhaust fan, so you can remove it and clean in there, if you didn't get to it from inside firebox. kap

 

[Lake Girl]

Red, kappel15 ... Quad service tech for many years.

 

[kappel15]

I would do a continuity test on the igniter, to see if it is good or not. With the bad thermocouple, nothing will run. No sense buying an igniter if you don't need one. And the one in the pic with the black wires, is the 300 watt igniter. The original 380 watt has the covering like yours. Just noticed that. And you can get igniters on line for about 26.00. kap

 

[Jonkman]

Any update on this RedwoodGirl? Just curious if you have been able to make progress as winter is approaching. I know it would cost $$ but it might be worth having Brookings Hearth & Home drive out, I would just call them and explain the situation so maybe they can bring a control box, thermocouple, or whatever they may need with them. It looks like they are a two hour drive from you. Maybe they would wave the distance fee (if there is one) if you purchase the needed part(s). Most places will travel an hour or so for no extra charge, but it depends on the company of course. Don't know until you ask....