Quadrafire MT Vernon Pellet Stove AE Blower Issue

[RLegassey]

Hello I just pick up a Quadrafire Mt Vernon AE Pellet stove very cheap looks great they just wanted to get rid of it basically. The blower skips and goes up and down in speed and sometimes stops and it came without a thermostat. Just asking is it a blower issue or a board issue. And checking that stove will not run without the OEM thermostat.]

Thanks Ryan

 

[kappel15]

Stove will not run without wall control to match. Without that, no telling what is up with blower. And I am guessing you are talking about the exhaust blower. I would check and see what year stove was made, what control board it has,(these will help diagnose the stove), and if it has an upgraded firepot. Things that could add to the price of the stove. kap

 

[RLegassey]

Stove will not run without wall control to match. Without that, no telling what is up with blower. And I am guessing you are talking about the exhaust blower. I would check and see what year stove was made, what control board it has,(these will help diagnose the stove), and if it has an upgraded firepot. Things that could add to the price of the stove. kap

Thanks for the reply it is the combustion blower it I took the back off of the stove and took the blower out but kept it connected it stutters like it looses power I'll have to check the year of the stove

 

[kappel15]

Some of the earlier stoves had issues with the wiring of the blower too tight, which caused blower failure or erratic running. How are you getting the blower to run at all without wall control? kap

 

[RLegassey]

Some of the earlier stoves had issues with the wiring of the blower too tight, which caused blower failure or erratic running. How are you getting the blower to run at all without wall control? kap

I looped a wire and connected the 2 connectors where the thermostat connects to the back of the stove

 

[kappel15]

With no wall control, and no communication, I hope it didn't hurt the control board.

 

[Wilbur Feral]

Advise doing nothing more until you get wall control. That's much of the unit's brains. Personally, I think it's a major design flaw of the MVAE (and I own one), but that's the way it is. Other than dependence on that flaky wall control, it's a great stove.

 

[john193]

The MVAE has a "split brain" with portions of it contained within the board and the rest on the wall control. They are about $250 though. I wouldn't connect any wires together and undo what you have done so far. Without the wall control it isn't possible to diagnose your stove.


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[Harvey Schneider]

Other than dependence on that flaky wall control, it's a great stove.

I found that the wall control stopped being flaky when I replaced the three conductor wire that connects it to the stove. I used four conductor, outdoor, telephone wire and just disregarded the fourth conductor. My stat has been glitch free for over a year now. Before, it would need unplugging to clear it about once a week, especially in the winter when the air is very dry in my house. I suspected that the problem was static electricity.
There is a phenomenon called triboelectric effect that, results from movement of the wire against it's insulation. Basically it causes static electricity to interfere with the signals. I believe that is what is responsible for the problem. It should be better if the wire is held tight to a surface so that it can't move, but change to a better quality wire is better. I chose outdoor wire because it's heavy exterior insulation minimizes movement of the cable.

 

[kappel15]

The wire fittings on end that screws to stove are bad/weak also. Cut them off and it eliminates issues also. Also the wires on opposite side of those wires have a zip tie on em that is too tight. Clip that off eliminates issues also. kap

 

[Wilbur Feral]

I think I'll expand my earlier statement re: the stat... I'm not having issues related to it periodically acting up, although I appreciate the tips. My issue is that Quad acted like idiots in ever putting half the unit's brains in that stat. It means that you can't use any other thermostat with the stove, and I am on my third stat in four seasons. The first was replaced under warranty by the dealer, and then I had to buy the second, at their ridiculous price. I don't know if others have the problem, but mine will simply not allow me to increase the temp until the next program change by just pressing the arrow buttons and then "done", because it will just revert back to the setting of the cycle after a few minutes (pressing "hold" does work, but then you need to undo that or the stove will stay on the hold temp indefinitely). I have had it's firmware updated, and that created a host of other issues that were even worse, so I'm stuck with that peculiarity as the lesser of evils. It's a piece of junk thermostat, and unless I'm mistaken Quad is the only manufacturer stupid enough to have ever done this hideous design for stove control. So while I do like the stove and find it quiet and otherwise reliable, the stat issue has soured me on Quad overall. And to think that they STILL sell them that way... Well, that just tells me that somebody thinks the profit from their replacement stats is worth the loss of customer loyalty.

Yeah, I really, really hate that stat...

 

[kappel15]

Sorry you are having such issues. I have never had that happen with mine or any customers stove. My beef is the igniters life span that is too short due to them not programming the igniter to be on less when burning corn. 26 minutes is way too much, and was known from the start, and not remedied. As far as the tstat, they must figure having it like it is, allows them to have a" captive audience" when it comes to buying tstats. kap

 

[Harvey Schneider]

Sorry you are having such issues. I have never had that happen with mine or any customers stove. My beef is the igniters life span that is too short due to them not programming the igniter to be on less when burning corn. 26 minutes is way too much, and was known from the start, and not remedied. As far as the tstat, they must figure having it like it is, allows them to have a" captive audience" when it comes to buying tstats. kap

While I agree that there are blatant mistakes in the design of the tstat, I also see that it provides access to all of the control features of the stove at one convenient point. It probably would have been wiser to provide a separate remote control panel and tstat, but it's easier to have 20/20 hindsight than foresight. Clever ideas don't always turn out to be as clever as one would hope.