Quadrafire Castile still acting up?

[unioncreek]

I have a Castile pellet stove that I bought in 2007. It ran great until I accidently pinched the blower motor wires after cleaning the fan. That fried the control board, bought a new one from Pellethead. After replacing the control board every once in a while it would not start up. The call light would come on, but nothing else started. You could hit the reset button or turn the thermostat off and back on and it would start up and run. It might run great for a week then do it again or it might do it once, twice or all day long and you have to start it every time. I've turned the control board to the diagnostic mode and everything checks out. I've replaced the thermostat (both manual and auto one), the thermo couple burned out replaced that, combustion motor was getting week replaced that, changed the vacuum switch. Also changed the connector for the control panel.

When I mean the stove doesn't start I mean the combustion blower, auger or ignitor come on. When it does start it will start in less than two minutes. Only the red call light comes on.

I suspect that the control board is the problem since it didn't start doing it until I replaced it. Looking for recommendations, don't want to change the control board right until fall.

Bob

 

[SidecarFlip]

Think I'd take a close look at the board and make sure all the components are securely soldered to the traces.

 

[unioncreek]

Had not thought of doing that. Anything I should look for?

Bob

 

[SidecarFlip]

Think I'd take a toothpick and see if any components are loose on the board. You shouldn't have any movement if they are soldered correctly to the traces.

 

[Former Farmer]

Have you tried cleaning the slot connector that the control board plugs into? I was having some problems with mine and had to rebend some of them to get better contact. Every once in a while it still acts up and I think I will have to replace the slot connector when I clean the whole unit this summer.

 

[SidecarFlip]

Have you tried cleaning the slot connector that the control board plugs into? I was having some problems with mine and had to rebend some of them to get better contact. Every once in a while it still acts up and I think I will have to replace the slot connector when I clean the whole unit this summer.

Good point. I keep my board connector coating with di-electric grease. The contact pins are a bit flimsy.

 

[unioncreek]

Have you tried cleaning the slot connector that the control board plugs into? I was having some problems with mine and had to rebend some of them to get better contact. Every once in a while it still acts up and I think I will have to replace the slot connector when I clean the whole unit this summer.

I replaced the connector.

 

[unioncreek]

The stove started up right on time this morning, bit it shut down before it got the room up to temperature. Restarted it and it heated until it got to 67. Didn't start back up, so I restarted it. I noticed that the green thermocouple light did not turn green like it should but the stove started ok. Usually the thermocouple light comes on.

Bob

 

[Ssyko]

There’s your problem. It has to go green to feed an extra cycle of pellets to get it to turn red. Once it’s red it shuts off the igniter and goes into “run” mode

 

[unioncreek]

I've seen the green light come on. This morning the green didn't come on but it started and ran good. We were gone all day and I don't think it ran all day temp was 59. Pushed the reset button and it started right up.

Whats the reason the green light is not coming on?

Bob

 

[unioncreek]

I just checked and the red light is on And the stove is running.

 

[unioncreek]

I just shut the stove down and restarted it. The green light came on, red wasn't on, checked the ignitor and it wasn't red. Closed the ash door and the red light came on along with the blower (not combustion blower).

 

[Ssyko]

The sequence is when you push the reset or the tstat calls for heat it goes into startup mode. Pellets feed for a min or 2, igniter gets hot and starts a fire. The thermocouple senses there is a fire and it has reached about 300 and the green light comes on and it then feeds another cycle of pellets which in turn start burning and the fire pot temp rises to about 800 then the light will turn red and the stove goes into run mode, the igniter turns off. Now if you don’t have the stove set to med it may have false star (low just isn’t enough). If the ash has built up in the burn pot or the holes have gotten plugged or partially plugged it will affect the start up.

 

[unioncreek]

I empty the ash pot every day. When it won't start and I push the reset it will start up and run fine, both green and red lights come on. This morning it started and ran but the green/red lights did not come on. I could tell it wasn't going to continue to run. Pushed the reset and pellets dropped, green light came on it's running now. I replaced the thermocouple about a month ago.

 

[unioncreek]

Stove is on the high setting, we don't use the low setting.

 

[SidecarFlip]

Maybe it's time to pull the burn pot and soak it in warm water for 30 minutes or so to loosen the hard carbon in the combustion air holes.

 

[unioncreek]

I clean the holes in the fire pit every time I empty the ash tray.

I've seen where others have said the thermocouple has to be in a specific spot. What is that, I believe when I put the new one in that I pushed it all the way in.

Bob

 

[SidecarFlip]

For all your issues and no viable cure, I believe I'd off it and buy another unit. Sounds to me like a money pit.

 

[Ssyko]

TC should touch the end of the ceramic cover and the cover should be over the pot by at least an inch

Maybe it's time to pull the burn pot and soak it in warm water for 30 minutes or so to loosen the hard carbon in the combustion air holes.

not an easy task with the cast iron1 piece pots

 

[unioncreek]

I'll recheck the position of the thermocouple, did push it all the way in.

I'm going to check the control board tonight and see if all the soldered connections are good.

Bob

 

[sparkeyryan1]

Hello all, Im having sort of the same issue on my ps35. my TC broke so i replaced it at the end of the last season. my tc is 1" over the pot and the ceramic is touching the tip of it. When i turn the stove on via the t-stat the control box call light comes on, the initial start up does its thing, fire starts exhaust comes on, and eventually the convection blower comes on. but at no point in time does the red/green lights com on on the board. im running it on mode 6, and have verified that the the TC is producing power 2.7mVdc at low flame and ive had it all the way up to 32mVdc. i thought it was a control board problem because my 3 speed was stuck on high so i bought the exact replacement through pellet head, but im getting the same out come. ive replaced the tc2 times thinking maybe it was bad but they both measure the exact thing. Anybody got any ideas? my local service tech has no clue whats going on either.

 

[SidecarFlip]

Don't want to bad mouth any vendor but I have read elsewhere some negative stuff about Pellethead in the past. Never dealt with them so I cannot form an opinion one way or another.

 

[sparkeyryan1]

well that may be but, im using their tc (bought 2 this is the second) and their control box. as im sitting here next to the stove. if i pull one of the leads from the tc the auger feeds some in, dont know if its coincidence or not... but a tech told me to jumper out the vac switch and heres my steps that have been taken on the stove

So step by step here's what I got

Jumped out vac switch

Turned on tstat

Reading continuity on vac switch

pellets drop fire starts and goes out

Reset 3 times

fire gets big enough

Convection room blower starts at 110f

107vac on red TV wire? ouch...

10mvdc on tc R/Y

no green light or red light

unplug tc red light comes on then amber light blinks 3 times until stove is completly power cycled.

i can read mVdc all the way back to the control box therminals between pin 1 and pin 3b on the control board....

im confused

 

[Former Farmer]

Try reversing the connection for the TC leads. I think there have been prior threads about polarity for the TC leads.

 

[sparkeyryan1]

HOLY CRAP IT WORKS! POLARITY WAS SWITCHED ON THE THERMALCOUPLE!