QuadraFire CB1200 - Too much air?

[louhazosc]

Hello all,
First off, thank you to everyone that posts on here I have learned a lot in the past 3 weeks from the posts.

My (now) wife purchased a CB1200 around 2016. Ran great.
Last year no servicing was done due to Covid and such. It did not run great last season but we assumed that it was a bad batch of Cubex pellets as the cuts were awful and we thought getting caught up in the Auger.
As it was having issues again this season I decided I would try my first stove servicing.
From your posts I have given this thing a thorough cleaning! I kept trying to solve it and this is what was done to trouble shoot:
1. Replaced thermocoupler and cover as there was a bare spot on it where insulation was stripped. Thermocoupler is good and I get green to red on the control box and 35-40mv with a torch on it.
2. Replaced igniter - there was a small short on it and why not.
3. Replaced the ashpan gasket (there was a tear)
4. Cleaned the chimney thoroughly, the pot, the holes (with a wire brush on a drill), the conv. blower motor fins, trust me...everything. Clean.
5. Vacuum switch is good as are the snap disks
It still would keep shutting down after 11 minutes after hitting "reset" - 11 min being the reset pellet drop time. Sometimes I would get an hour or two.

Finally called a tech in and he was at a loss too. He showed a video of my flames to the manufacturer (HHM? I think) and they said the flames looked great and I'm getting air...maybe too much! They could even tell that this thing is clean. The tech confirmed and told them I cleaned it well.
So last night the tech text me an told me to take the air hose going to the outside off (the one that goes from outside to the base of the stove behind the conv. blower).
It ran all night!
Today I took the air line off from inside and outside and blew and vacuumed it out. No vacuum test but there was nothing blocking (was hoping for a hornet nest even). Even blew into the base of the stove just to get extra dust out.

Put it all back together and same thing. Dead after 30 min or so.
Just took the air hose back off the stove and it's doing fine.

Here's the thing...why now? (or last season). The air line has not so much as even been looked at.
Could I have too much air? I cleaned it too well?! Ha.

Fortunately our house isn't that sealed up (old farm house) so I can run it like this for a bit but certainly that is not to code for the long term.

Any thoughts?

Again, most of this I learned from knowing nothing 3 weeks ago just by being on here everyday and searching. Thank you for that.

 

[kappel15]

Instinct says something is still wrong with the cold air return. kap

 

[louhazosc]

Agree.
Yet it is single digits in Maine and it’s running well! I’ll keep it off for now.
After everything I’ve done it’s all that is left. Just because I didn’t see anything at either end doesn’t mean a kink/block is restricting.
On a warmer day I’ll just replace it and see what I find.

 

[Mt Bob]

The colder the air,the easier to move. You may have to up your feed rate in colder weather. Just a thought.

 

[louhazosc]

And there’s the equilibrium…
I did try that yet the pot was filling too quickly for one and it was still dying out with the OAK in-line.
Under all conditions I could not keep this thing running with the outside air hooked up.
First time we’ve seen this in 6 years.

 

[Mt Bob]

And there’s the equilibrium…
I did try that yet the pot was filling too quickly for one and it was still dying out with the OAK in-line.
Under all conditions I could not keep this thing running with the outside air hooked up.
First time we’ve seen this in 6 years.

Ah,interesting. Will think about it.

 

[louhazosc]

Ah,interesting. Will think about it.

I probably didn’t post this properly but as I mentioned…
This thing is CLEAN. A tech and manufacturer confirmed I hit and scrubbed it all.
Vacuum is good, snap disks good, thermocoupler good, thermocoupler cover new, conv blower is good, control box is good.

I spent 3 hours in the wee hours hitting reset every 11 minutes until I finally gave up. 11 min is the total time for reset cycle dropping pellets.
Tech called (he’s just as confused and hasn’t been charging me a penny. I do all the work. We trouble shoot via text) and said to take the air off.
Stays on and pot fills in about 14 hours or so.

I checked each end of the airline, there is a fine grate outside so no bird nests…vacuumed and blew it. That doesn’t mean 100% it’s good though.

I’m not thrilled about the pot filling in that time but I’ll take it for now.

Gotta be the OAK line. But why after 6 years is the question

 

[louhazosc]

Ah,interesting. Will think about it.

Hello Bob...you can stop thinking on it! In summary...pellets were not burning down in the pot. I also did not know exactly what a "lazy flame" was but now that I have seen the difference, I did in fact have a lazy flame. Very high and what I thought was good air. Still, the stove was dying after about 2 hours and pot filling with pellets. I cleaned: chimney, exhaust pipe, fan blades, horizontal ash trap behind fan, baffles, baffle plates, scrubbed pot and holes with wire bore brushes, new thermocoupler/igniter/and thermocoupler cover. Took OAK off as that seemed to help a bit...
After 3-4 weeks (including a tech coming out and him talking to and showing videos to the manufacturer) someone asked me..."Did you take off the panel behind the ash pan?"
"The what?"
Took that off and it was just as full as when I took the panel off for the horizontal ash trap. A wall of ash.
That was it. Explains the OAK too.
I had no idea nor does any video for maintenance show this for Quadrafire.
This is my first time with a pellet stove so a lot was learned!
Thanks to all again for this forum. Incredibly helpful.

 

[Mt Bob]

Hello Bob...you can stop thinking on it! In summary...pellets were not burning down in the pot. I also did not know exactly what a "lazy flame" was but now that I have seen the difference, I did in fact have a lazy flame. Very high and what I thought was good air. Still, the stove was dying after about 2 hours and pot filling with pellets. I cleaned: chimney, exhaust pipe, fan blades, horizontal ash trap behind fan, baffles, baffle plates, scrubbed pot and holes with wire bore brushes, new thermocoupler/igniter/and thermocoupler cover. Took OAK off as that seemed to help a bit...
After 3-4 weeks (including a tech coming out and him talking to and showing videos to the manufacturer) someone asked me..."Did you take off the panel behind the ash pan?"
"The what?"
Took that off and it was just as full as when I took the panel off for the horizontal ash trap. A wall of ash.
That was it. Explains the OAK too.
I had no idea nor does any video for maintenance show this for Quadrafire.
This is my first time with a pellet stove so a lot was learned!
Thanks to all again for this forum. Incredibly helpful.

Glad you are up and running.