Quadrafire Classic Bay 1200 shutdown issues

[mel317]

We purchased a Quadrafire Classic Bay 1200 brand new about 6 months ago. Three days ago, it started giving off a burning smell so I shut it down and did a complete clean. When I restarted it, the exhaust fan would shut off when the convection blower tried to kick on. I cleaned the vacuum hose, checked the fuse and tried again. Both fans worked but only for a few minutes before the exhaust fan shut off again. Went to dealer who checked control box and gave me a new snap disk #3. Replaced that and tried again. This time I get ten minutes before the same thing happens. The stove is so hot when running that I can't touch it. I'm assuming that it is shutting down due to overheating as a safety precaution, but can't figure out what's causing it. It was running like a top up until three days ago. ANY help I could get would be greatly appreciated!

 

[DMKNLD]

Hello mel, and welcome to this forum ! Lots of Quad folks to help you here !

Did you check the 'squirrel cage' impeller fans that blow the room air out via your convection blower for dust bunnies / cat hair / built up dirt / etc? If the convection fan impeller fins are obstructed, they can't move enough air through the heat exchanger tubes, and the stove can quickly overheat, causing the #2 snap disc to trip.

The #3 snap disc, the one on the back of your auger tube, usually has a reset button in the middle of the disc, between the electrical wire connections, that will pop up if the stove is overheating from fire trying to burn back up into the feed system. Do you know if that snap disc was tripped, or did you just replace it with the new one?

 

[kappel15]

With it only 6 months old, I wouldn't even consider messing with it. Call the dealer. That is what he is for. I would make him send a tech out to figure it out.I wouldn't be wasting my time trying to fix it. If you mess with it and do something, he can say warranty is void. From your description, I would say bad wiring harness or bad control box. Don't care what dealer said. But if, the conv fan(one that blows heat into house) isn't coming on, stove will overheat and shut down. And i hope you are unplugging stove when removing or installing control boxes, or you can toast em. Stay in touch. kap

 

[mel317]

Thanks for the welcome! To answer all your questions- Squirrel cages are clean. I went to dealer and he said to just replace snap disk even if it wasn't tripped, just to see if that was "starting to act up" and was the culprit. It wasn't. Convection fan does come on now and it runs great for ten minutes until it gets too hot and shuts down. I completely agree that it's a dealer issue, but as it's a small country place, they only have one tech and he is doing his two weeks for the National Guard. So, I'm trying to figure this out on my own in hopes that we can get it running again earlier than 2-3 weeks. Haven't replaced snap disks #1 or #2. I'm leaning towards a bad control box or wiring issue, as well. Took the box to the dealer and he plugged it into their cb1200 and it worked fine, so he said it wasn't the box. I'm hoping it's not a wiring issue because that may well be out of my wheelhouse. It's frustrating that the stove is only 6 months old and already having problems. We are vigilant about cleaning it and using good pellets. Just can't figure out what happened

 

[kappel15]

You can jump snap disc #1 wires together. That is what runs the conv. fan when it gets hot enough. The wire is hot all the time. Fan should come on right away when you jump wires. Try running stove then and see what happens. Snap disc #2 only shuts off auger if stove gets hot. Check the thermocouple and make sure it is touching the inside end of the ceramic cover. Also check its wire connections. And you are sure entire exhaust path is clear? All the way thru stove and exhaust pipe right out to the cap? What is getting too hot, the convection fan, or the stove? Maybe dealer should give you a new convection fan to try.kap

 

[Don2222]

HHT uses exhaust blowers made in China by Huayi. They are built to the bare minimum specs. 0.5 amps. I use a 1.75 amp GA exhaust blower same as Harman uses in my Quadrafire. It burns like a house on fire!

 

[rparker]

Have you done a full cleaning? Including the right side panel and the panel on the front (under the door). Unplug stove first. When you take off the right side panel, you can look into the ash chamber and see the exhaust fan blades. A lot of ash can collect in this area. Have you switched pellets and I assume you have adjusted the feed as per the instructions. Also check the spade connectors to the snap discs, they tend to loosen up.

 

[Marbleguy]

Have you checked the exhaust. If you open the left hand panel and look toward the back, you can see a trap door at the bottom of the exhaust pipe. When you open this door, you can clean out the dust that my be restricting the air flow to the outside. This happened to me last year. Once I cleaned it out the stove ran fine. The unit that I have has been is service for six winters now and the only problem that I have had is that I had to replace the combustion blower this year. In that time I have pushed over 25 tons of pellets thru it. Good luck