Quadrafire Classicbay not starting

[jjk454ss]

This has happened twice now, but other than that it's running great. But I've had 2 times, just now and maybe 5 days ago the red "call" light was on but it wasn't running. I hit the reset and immediately it starts feeding pellets and fires right up like nothing's wrong.

What could be causing this, I'm not sure what's going on?

 

[Jaymaine34]

Is the hopper full ? What are you burning for pellets ? Once in awhile this will happen with mine when I'm burning a pellet that's a little on the long side ( makes a bridge over the auger ) and not enough pellets are fed .
Where there pellets in the pot ? If so where they chared ?

 

[jjk454ss]

The hopper is very full, and if I remember right it was very full last time. Possibly to full that it was not letting pellets into the auger somehow?

I didn't think to check the burnpot until it was too late, both times this has happened overnight and I woke up to the cold and just pressed the reset. I did think afterwards that I should have checked. What I did motive was some pretty big flames at first, made me think there may have been extra pellets in the burnpot.

I'm burning Greenways, they do t seem like they are large, but that doesn't jean it didn't get a large on in there. But it did immediately start dropping pellets after pushing the reset button.

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

Clean out your hopper and use a vacuum to get any fines that may be in your feed system. Some feed systems can't tolerate fines they just let the feed path fill with them and that reduces the amount of pellets that can get carried up and dropped down the chute into the fire pot.

Also there are some controllers out there that have difficulty starting a fire reliably on other than high it is an air flow issue past the igniter.

If your t/c end isn't against the ceramic cover and the whole assembly isn't properly situated over the fire pot it won't reliably signal hey we have a fire so start the normal pellet feed and enter run mode.

Oh and one more, make certain your stove is clean and the burn pot holes are clear and the bottom doesn't have a gap of more than 1 dime's thickness in the trap door. Oops I guess that's three more. I never said I could count .

 

[Jaymaine34]

All good points Smokey ! Keep it clean ! How old is the stove ? Does it have the magnetic lid ?

 

[jjk454ss]

I'll check these things out, thanks again. The stove is new this year, it does have the magnetic switch on the lid. I do t think it's the TC, I had that problem before. I do have it on medium, so that could be it. Or the fines in the auger. I just thought its strange that as soon as I press reset once it instantly starts running great again.

 

[moey]

Your pellet feed rate could be to low that is the only time I have had my classic bay go out.

 

[jjk454ss]

Your pellet feed rate could be to low that is the only time I have had my classic bay go out.

Thanks, maybe I'll open it up a little bit to see if that helps

 

[Jaymaine34]

Being on med should not be your problem stove always starts on high at start up . The fines are most likely the cause .
Always adjust the flame on high Waite 15 mins ect ( all in the owners manual ) good luck doesn't sond like anything major is wrong .

 

[jjk454ss]

Being on med should not be your problem stove always starts on high at start up . The fines are most likely the cause .
Always adjust the flame on high Waite 15 mins ect ( all in the owners manual ) good luck doesn't sond like anything major is wrong .

Yeah, it didn't seem like the fan was an issue. I already adjusted the flame like the manual suggested. I did empty the hopper and vacuumed everything out real good, had lots of dust. I'm looking at the different sifting/vacuuming ideas to get the real small fines and the dust out.

Thanks again.

 

[moey]

I used to think fines caused problems and would clean out the hopper once per season but I think pellets creating a bridge were more of a problem then fines. Fines seem to just push there way out.

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

I used to think fines caused problems and would clean out the hopper once per season but I think pellets creating a bridge were more of a problem then fines. Fines seem to just push there way out.

It depends upon the auger system, a number of them can transport enough of the fines up and dump them down the chute along with enough pellets to keep the fire going, some end up just tunneling in the fines and not getting enough pellets through.

 

[moey]

It depends upon the auger system, a number of them can transport enough of the fines up and dump them down the chute along with enough pellets to keep the fire going, some end up just tunneling in the fines and not getting enough pellets through.

Im only familiar with the classic bay which is what the OP has.

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

Im only familiar with the classic bay which is what the OP has.

Yes, and even within the same model there can be differences in how a particular stove handles any fine load. Mine usually does fine with fines up to a certain point and then it will go out because not enough fuel reaches the burn pot.

There are many ways for fuel to not make it. In a lot of stoves a poor gasket will foul up the firebox air pressure and cause the vacuum switch to starve the stove for fuel. This has even been known to interfere with start up, depends upon the what is in that specific controller for software as to the actual check sequence and timing etc...

 

[jjk454ss]

Make that 3 times. This time I checked and one or two pellets were in the burn pot. I hit reset and pellets start feeding and it fires up. I am on my third bag of different pellets, these are a little bigger, cleaner, less fines. I didn't adjust the feed rate because the flame still was good. This is kind of frustrating, I hate thinking it could just stop working anytime like this.

 

[jjk454ss]

So it did it again today. The hopper was low so I took the opportunity to vacuum out any dust inside the hopper and the auger. I then left for work, and when I hog home it appears that it never fired up all day. Red light was calling for heat, and about 5 pellets were in the burnpot not charred or anything.

 

[Jaymaine34]

If it was me . I'd open the feed gate all the way and run stove on low ( will not over fire the stove ) I run mine like this 90% of the time . This we rule out any auger issues ( if it stays running ) this is simply a process of elimination .

 

[Jaymaine34]

Also have you cleaned out the Vac hose ? With all of those fines it would be a good idea !

 

[jjk454ss]

I have cleaned the vac hose, but maybe it's getting plugged that quickly, not sure. I'll try to open up the feed rate and run on low and see how that does. Thanks

 

[Lake Girl]

The hopper is very full, and if I remember right it was very full last time. Possibly to full that it was not letting pellets into the auger somehow?

Not sure if this helps but I've had a couple of problems when I used a different brand of pellets. We normally use Heartlands (softwood) but threw in a couple bags of Trebio. Stove shut down twice due to no pellets in the pot. I noticed that a partial void was developing - pellets "bridging" higher up in the hopper - so would occasionally "probe" pellets with a piece of dowelling and noticed pellets would settle farther down in the hopper. Heartlands appear to have higher density per pellet (volume of bag smaller but weight is 40#) and appear to gravity feed better within the hopper.

 

[jjk454ss]

Not sure if this helps but I've had a couple of problems when I used a different brand of pellets. We normally use Heartlands (softwood) but threw in a couple bags of Trebio. Stove shut down twice due to no pellets in the pot. I noticed that a partial void was developing - pellets "bridging" higher up in the hopper - so would occasionally "probe" pellets with a piece of dowelling and noticed pellets would settle farther down in the hopper. Heartlands appear to have higher density per pellet (volume of bag smaller but weight is 40#) and appear to gravity feed better within the hopper.

Thanks, good thing to consider. I have a few brands of pellets still to test out, I will keep this in mind and compare the bags/pellets to see if that makes a difference. The problem is when it maybe once in every 5 or 10 bags, maybe less, it's hard to tell if a different brand makes a difference.

 

[St_Earl]

Yeah, it didn't seem like the fan was an issue. I already adjusted the flame like the manual suggested. I did empty the hopper and vacuumed everything out real good, had lots of dust. I'm looking at the different sifting/vacuuming ideas to get the real small fines and the dust out.

Thanks again.

since i had a problem with my PS50 with the upper part of the auger channel being constricted with fines, i have started using a section of washing machine water supply hose to blow the dust out of the upper auger channel where it meets the drop chute.

vacuuming from the bottom didn't get this area.
i was having an issue with misfires. and when i opened the feed gate up, it didn't make hardly any difference.
that's when i started thinking the upper opening may have been constricted/diminished.

it had been two full seasons and a part of this season and i got a lot of dust.
and it fixed the issue straight away.
now i just use the hose every time i cold clean.
i cut the fitting off one end of the hose and i just feed it in from the opening/pellet drop right above the burn pot.

not sure how long you've had your stove, but this might be worth a try regardless.
good luck : )

 

[jjk454ss]

since i had a problem with my PS50 with the upper part of the auger channel being constricted with fines, i have started using a section of washing machine water supply hose to blow the dust out of the upper auger channel where it meets the drop chute.

vacuuming from the bottom didn't get this area.
i was having an issue with misfires. and when i opened the feed gate up, it didn't make hardly any difference.
that's when i started thinking the upper opening may have been constricted/diminished.

it had been two full seasons and a part of this season and i got a lot of dust.
and it fixed the issue straight away.
now i just use the hose every time i cold clean.
i cut the fitting off one end of the hose and i just feed it in from the opening/pellet drop right above the burn pot.

not sure how long you've had your stove, but this might be worth a try regardless.
good luck : )

Thanks for the tip, I was thinking of using a compressor to blow air through the auger to clean it out. However if I use the shop vac at the top, it will actually suck ash/dust/even pellets from the burn pot up and through the auger into the hopper. I figured this was getting the dust out good enough. My stove is new this year, so buildup should be minimal, although these Greenway pellets are terribly dusty.

 

[St_Earl]

^my shop vac is pouting and sulking after reading this.

yes, my shop vac can read.

* i think the dust can get compacted though. that's probably why my vacuuming didn't get it.