Hello-
I have a Quad Castile that is about 20 years old and generally works well. We use it as our primary heat in the mountains of Colorado to minimize our propane usage. I have 2 situations that occur occasionally and could use some thoughts:
1. The stove tries a startup, usually in the morning and fails to get going. Pellets are in the firepot and some ignition has occurred. Reset fixes the issue and normal operation resumes.
2. The startup sequence gets interrupted in the evening, followed by a strong smoke smell in the house. This occurs sometimes when my programmable thermostat goes to the cooler setting (from 69 to 66) at bedtime and I believe shuts off the stove during a startup sequence. The pellets smolder and for some reason don't exhaust properly (exhaust fan off?). The CO detector doesn't show anything, but it is annoying.
I'm attaching diagrams, but my question is what happens during the startup sequence if the thermostat stops the call for heat (step 6 in the diagram)?
I keep it very clean, pull the trap door whenever I can and after 20 years I have to believe the venting is good (we have lived here 3 years). Last spring, we thoroughly brushed out the vent pipe. I have replaced the auger motor, vacuum switch and thermocouple.
Like I said, about 95% of the time the stove runs fine, but thoughts are appreciated.
![[Hearth.com] Quadrafire Castile Sequence Interrupt](https://www.hearth.com/talk/data/attachments/319/319352-f29e7cc0edddc48d8ceed82fcc4381f0.jpg?hash=hDYLqw7Fcm "[Hearth.com] Quadrafire Castile Sequence Interrupt")
![[Hearth.com] Quadrafire Castile Sequence Interrupt](https://www.hearth.com/talk/data/attachments/319/319353-007175e49afaaea0ade1637e3cef6dc5.jpg?hash=bDY2dOZuxF "[Hearth.com] Quadrafire Castile Sequence Interrupt")
I have a Quad Castile that is about 20 years old and generally works well. We use it as our primary heat in the mountains of Colorado to minimize our propane usage. I have 2 situations that occur occasionally and could use some thoughts:
1. The stove tries a startup, usually in the morning and fails to get going. Pellets are in the firepot and some ignition has occurred. Reset fixes the issue and normal operation resumes.
2. The startup sequence gets interrupted in the evening, followed by a strong smoke smell in the house. This occurs sometimes when my programmable thermostat goes to the cooler setting (from 69 to 66) at bedtime and I believe shuts off the stove during a startup sequence. The pellets smolder and for some reason don't exhaust properly (exhaust fan off?). The CO detector doesn't show anything, but it is annoying.
I'm attaching diagrams, but my question is what happens during the startup sequence if the thermostat stops the call for heat (step 6 in the diagram)?
I keep it very clean, pull the trap door whenever I can and after 20 years I have to believe the venting is good (we have lived here 3 years). Last spring, we thoroughly brushed out the vent pipe. I have replaced the auger motor, vacuum switch and thermocouple.
Like I said, about 95% of the time the stove runs fine, but thoughts are appreciated.
