Quadrafire Mount Vernon AE combustion motor clicking

[rocketheater1]

Hey folks, I thought I would put this out there to see if anyone has a clue on what is going on with the combustion motor. First off I bought this stove off Facebook from some people who totally neglected it. I didn't bother to fire it, and opted to tear it all the way down right away. Creosote everywhere! Clogged vent pipes, combustion housing, stove, baffle, pellet shoot, all the way to the auger, and just all of it. When I first fired it, I could tell the motor was multi speed as it was ramping up and down. I kept getting low fire temp, so I just put a new thermocouple in it and haven't fired it again. Prior to this, the stove ran very quiet, then every so often the motor itself starts clicking. I still have the covers off of it while testing in my shop, so I feel safe saying it is coming from the actual motor and not within the now clean housing. I started to wonder if maybe its trying to change into a particular speed and then clicks. I be will paying closer attention to the speed changes when I fire it. Seems to me, this could also be why I am getting the low temp and shutdown, if the fan won't ramp up.

I bought this particular stove in the event of a prolonged power outage (DC workings), so I can run it off the battery to get by. Started to regret it immediately. I have been building a gravity pellet heater with no mechanical / electrical parts. Just hoping to get the Quad running correctly, so I can at least decide if it is worth paint, keep, sell or whatever.

Any input is much appreciated!

And for God sakes people, Clean out your stoves and venting regularly. Those people were very fortunate they still were alive and had a house.

 

[kappel15]

Lord, this could be a number of things. Do you have an owners manual for it ? If not, i would download one. Is the fuel table setting set for what you are burning? Is exhaust fan set for normal, or high altitude setting? Should be on normal. And there is a gray dial on the control board. It should be set to 0. Flame height adjustment is your feed rate. Is it set correctly so you are getting enough fuel ? Min. firepot temp is usually due to improper fuel settings. And i agree, some people shouldn't own a pellet stove. kap

 

[rocketheater1]

Thank you Kap! First off, I now have to admit I was wrong about the clicking coming from the motor. I ran it out in the shop for several hours and sure enough, it started doing it again, randomly. I got it to quite by putting pressure on the motor to housing supports. Its the fan occasionally bumping within the enclosure and most likely it is out of whack from having to operate in a pool of black tar and crust. I do have an owners manual and appreciate the insight you offered up! I did run through the settings when I first fired it, making sure altitude and fuel type were set properly. I will be checking the board for the dial next time out and the exhaust fan settings. The people that owned this tried anything they could to keep it burning without cleaning it. Here is some pics of the poor thing after taking it apart, and the vent pipes were at least 3/4 closed off. The first is the fingers on the cast iron mass, after removing a little of it. Then the combustion fan and pellet shoot. Boggling isn't it? How many years of neglect does it takes to get your stove to look like this Kap?

 

[kappel15]

All i can say is WOW. You probably did, but make sure to clean at bottom on each side of chute. There is a path all the way thru, that needs to be clean for exhaust flow. And there is a quiet and normal conv. fan speed too. Should be on normal for higher output.kap

 

[rocketheater1]

Well, It was running splendidly, so I welded her broken leg, painted her all up, put the back covers on (you know that little voice in the back of your head, that says these covers aren't gonna be on for long) and the little click I left for later, caused the motor to come to a screeching halt, while in full hot burn mode. Literally! Haha. I tried unplugging and replugging, once I straitened out the propeller. The motor would spin after or while still in autoclean, then go immediately into comb jam. The motor will hand spin freely now, but wondering if there is a way to test it by putting voltage to it directly or a schematic somewhere that would allow me to test what is going on.

 

[kappel15]

Time to check all wires and connector pins. Everything on this stove is 12v, except the igniter. kap

 

[rocketheater1]

Gonna head out shortly. Never thought to see if the snap disc got tripped, so that first. Is there any wiring codes for this? Motor has a lot of wires.

 

[kappel15]

Whole stove would be dead if disc was tripped. And wiring is above my pay grade. kap

 

[rocketheater1]

A bit late here on the follow up, but thanks Kap for all your help! Ended up replacing the Combustion motor and that did the trick. This has to be common knowledge on here when it comes to buying a new motor, but one thing they failed to mention was, you may have to do some modification to make it work with your existing mounting. Ended up having to use my old plates and do some grinding and drilling on mine to mate it up. Had I pulled the motor when I first heard the intermittent clicking, I would have noticed the fan blades being out of whack and straightened it up, before it did itself in completely. Amazing this thing worked all given the build up of creosote there anyway. Stove is now installed in the house we are very happy with it.

 

[kappel15]

Ya, nice of Quad to tell everyone they changed suppliers that don't know how to line things up. I wound up taking my new motor apart and spinning motor, so when back together, the wires were on top like they are suppose to be. Stay warm. kap