Quadrafire Castile - pellets stop feeding

[shub]

Hello,

Quadrafire Castile built in 2008

Pellets won't feed without pressing reset button, fire burns out. If I stay with it, pressing reset button, every few minutes - pellets feed, stove gets nice and hot, and convection blower kicks on.

Once I stop, it dies down.

Read other forum posts on this stove, seems like others had success where I haven't , but here's what I have tried:

- I pulled the plate on the back wall, vacuumed exhaust fan
- exercised ash pot door dump lever and verified it was closed
- replaced thermocouple with new one
- cleaned ceramic tube for thermocouple , ensured tip of thermocouple was touching inside of tip of ceramic tube and that it is extended over firepot 1", 1 3/4" - 2", tried different lengths
- verified red call light is illuminated
- blew out vacuum switch hose with air
- jumper bypassed vacuum switch

 

[kappel15]

Is the tcouple an oem part or after market? Some after market are wired backwards. Sounds like only other option might be the control box. You can try unplugging stove, and then pulling control box and reseating it, and plug stove back in. Always be sure to unplug stove before removing or installing a control box or you run the risk of toasting it. And if you know someone with a stove that uses a 3 speed control box, you can try it in their stove to see if it works. kap

 

[shub]

The tcouple is aftermarket. I was going to try reversing the polarity, but I realized the pins were crimped male and female , so it will be a little bit more fiddling to reverse them, but I will try it.

Also , my replacement tcouple had heat shrink tubing at the base where the thermocouple twist emerges from the cable jacket. That promptly melted away. Is that normal? I gently wire brushed the burned rubber residue away, but thought that was a bad design .

I suppose I should do a voltage test on the old vs new tcouples as well. I just heat it up while measuring the leads, does the heat induce a voltage ?

 

[kappel15]

Sounds like an after market part to me, and one that isn't made for this stove. And yes, that is how you test a tcouple. kap

 

[shub]

Reversing the polarity fixed the problem, working great now - thank you for the tip. It is an after market tcouple, but it was half the price if I recall correctly.


I didn't end up testing the voltage because I tried the polarity reversal first, did not find it to be a necessary step.

 

[Gusmom]

I am going to jump onto this thread because I am experiencing similar issues with my pellet stove and thermocouple. l have gone through 3 aftermarket thermocouples since September 2025. Yes, I have learned my lesson to buy OEM and I have one on order. I am praying that it will have the heavier gauge wire like my original one that lasted years. The after market ones are so thin, they won't even support the weight of the protective cover. It has to rest on the edge of the fire pot because the wire will just bend and let the cover fall off. Ridiculous that they can sell products with the part numbers and they last 2 months or less. So, of course, here I am facing the coldest weather my area has seen in 5 years, and the latest thermocouple lasted only 2 days! I am going to try trimming the wires back and twisting them together tightly to see if I can get it to limp through this cold spell until the OEM one is delivered. The AM ones I have gotten have the heat shrink on the twisted wires, like the OP mentioned. It melts with the first fire and I feel like it is causing damage to the thermocouple from the first use. The protective wire wrap on these AM ones also burns off. Oh, and the wires were backwards. I figured that out installing this last one. The original one was a nice heavy gauge wire and the coating was still intact after years of use. I guess my question is, how do we ensure that we really are buying OEM? I don't know if I can trust the Ebay sellers, even though I have bought from legitimate pellet stove dealers. They say these AM ones are the same as the OEM, so I don't know if the OEM ones have declined in quality, or if these sellers are lying to me. I would greatly appreciate referral to a pellet stove parts dealer that is trustworthy. My stove is a Quadrafire 1100i. Thank you, in advance, for any help anyone can provide!

 

[Ssyko]

Thermocouple wires are made with dis similar wires and need the be welded at the tip, just twisting the wires won’t do anything that last more than the first burn if that. Your ceramic cover should be in a holder over the pot not just hanging. I’ve had 2 aftermarket in service for 5 years so far.

 

[Gusmom]

Thermocouple wires are made with dis similar wires and need the be welded at the tip, just twisting the wires won’t do anything that last more than the first burn if that. Your ceramic cover should be in a holder over the pot not just hanging. I’ve had 2 aftermarket in service for 5 years so far.

I know how thermocouples are made and how they work. It was from a Quadrafire manual where it suggested to retwist the wires together as a temporary fix. Here's a link and it begins on page 7. file:///C:/Users/tammy/OneDrive/Documents/Quadrafire-1100-Insert-Technical%20Manual.pdf I can attest that it does work, but obviously it is not a long term fix. I have been able to continue using my stove for several days while I wait for the new OEM thermocouple to be delivered. What I discovered when this latest one failed after only 2 days was that this newest thermocouple was made of multi-strand wires, and the older thermocouple was made of 2 heavy gauge single strand wires from the welded tip all the way to the control box. When I replace the crappy one that is currently working because I pulled through more of the extra wire, stripped the coating off, and tightly twisted the wires together, I will get comparison pictures and actually count how many tiny strands of wire was used. It became so brittle from the heat, it just crumbled inside the cover and in my fingers. I had to cut off about 3" to get to undamaged wire. For now though, I'm sharing a photo to show you the difference in sizes. The new one is about 1/3 the weight of the old one. The old wire was so heavy, it was difficult to bend without pliers. The new one, I could easily twist with my fingertips. My burn pot is the older ceramic style and it does not have a holder to support the thermocouple in its protective cover. The old thermocouple wire was sturdy enough that it could be bent and stay in place with the cover, just above the rim of the pot. It was not "hanging". This new one was so limp, it would not support the weight of the cover. The cover had to rest on the edge of the fire pot, which is the position that the manual and videos show it should be positioned. I would speculate that the after market thermocouple you have, that has lasted so long, was better made than what is available today. I sincerely suggest that you start the process of finding a back up for when yours does fail. Then you will understand what I am explaining. I have an OEM thermocouple on order with estimated delivery tomorrow. It might get delayed because my area is dealing with a couple inches of ice from the storms over the weekend. I hope I can keep this one working until then. I am just frustrated that there are manufacturers who are making replacement parts that are nothing at all like the originals. What I was asking for is a reliable supplier who will ensure that they are providing the correct parts, not just ones that someone has stuck a label on with the part number but that has no resemblance at all to the original.
Picture #1 represents size differences between old on left and new on right.
Pic #2 shows the twisted end of the older thermocouple. You can see the weight of the wire and how it is twisted several times.
Pic #3 shows the new one after I removed the cover to inspect it since it was not even sensing the initial temp to start feeding pellets. The wires were still attached at the tip, but had untwisted.
Pic #4 later same day the wires burned through and the welded tip separated.
If you look closely at these pics, you can see the difference in the weight and type of wire. Multi-strand is not going to hold up to the high heat as well as the heavier single strand.
I found a 5th pic that shows a side by side comparison of the twisted part of the wire. Look at the difference! How can the top one be sold as the same part as the bottom one?

 

[Ssyko]

I’ve run a cb1200 for 20+ yrs. If it works it only works for a short time, all quads use a bracket mounted under the edge of the burn pot for the ceramic cover, the way it was worded sounded like it was having. if all is true I don’t need all the test equipment I have 😎

 

[Gusmom]

I’ve run a cb1200 for 20+ yrs. If it works it only works for a short time, all quads use a bracket mounted under the edge of the burn pot for the ceramic cover, the way it was worded sounded like it was having. if all is true I don’t need all the test equipment I have 😎

I am sharing screen print from the Quadrafire youtube video that shows the thermocouple cover resting in the notch of the ceramic pot, as well as the instructions for how to do a temporary thermocouple repair from the manual I linked in my previous comment. I know this works because, out of necessity, I have had to do this to get through severe winter weather this weekend. Since the new AM thermocouple, that burned out after 2 days, was made from such flimsy materials, the temporary fix only lasted a couple of days. I had to pull more of the wire through so I could trim off the bad wire and retwist it to get me through a couple more days. It definitely does work as a bandaid until you can get a replacement. My point from the beginning is that the original thermocouple was made much stronger than any I have purchased since. When it failed and my installer replaced it with my first AM one ordered, I felt pretty darn sure that the new one was not going to last very long. I was correct. It lasted 2 months. I reported it to the seller and they sent me an identical one so I installed it and it, too, lasted just 2 months. This time I had a backup ready, but it was also light weight and only lasted 2 days. The problem is only related to poor quality. They have all worked great right up until they time they don't work at all. Do you think I am making this up? I am so frustrated with it because I love my pellet stove! I just hate that I can't seem to find quality parts without having to spend an arm and a leg! I am a widow on limited income. I bought this stove used and had a qualified installer set it up for me. It saves me so much on my heating bills and keeps me strong moving pallets of pellets, and bags, throughout the winter. I just want parts that will last! I hope the OEM thermocouple is a good one. After frustrations with fragile igniters, I finally replaced the original one with this stainless steel igniter and it works great. I couldn't afford to keep paying for igniters that would shatter if you looked at them wrong. This one is tough. I just want to know where I can find quality parts that I can count on! https://a.co/d/0lKJuAn