Quadrafire MT. Vernon Thermostat flipping out

[wberryment]

Hi all,
I have a Mt. Vernon which I had deliverd and installed in Oct. 2008. It has been running pretty goood but in the last two weeks the Thermostat has been doing some weird things.
It flashes on and off and goes into a screen that says Wake Up Screen, which isn't even referenced in the owners manual. I don't know what this screen is and it doesn't stay around long to read much off of it. The thermostat eventually goes blank where you can't even see anything. It simply blanks out and the stove keeps running. Wiring is tight and installed in the right terminals at the thermostat and the stove. The stove can run fine for days upon end with the menus acessible and the display reading the normal stuff (i.e. set temp. current temp, current stove settings i.e Auto-Low).

I have to physically unplug the stove and wait a few seconds and plug it back in when the Thermostat blanks out. This resets everything ( when I say resets I mean it comes back on and I can read the thermostat again it doesn't wipe out my programming) and I'm off and running again.

Has anyone seen this or have any ideas as to what is going on. I've cleaned the stove numerous times and it burns just fine when running.
I've talked to the dealer but they haven't been much help.

Thanks,
wayne

 

[eric_s]

I've seen the same wake-up screeen when it initially receives power, but like you mention it is very quick. I have not experienced your issue though.
Are you using the thermostat wire than came with the stove? Might want to try another wire to see if that resolves the issue. Can probably use a short piece of ethernet/phone wire if you do not have other thermostat wire.
In the end, this should be a warranty issue, especially if your dealer installed the stove.

 

[JoeS]

I have had this same problem multiple times. I am getting ready to try my third wall control unit but I am starting to think the problem is somewhere else. You don't need to power down your stove however to reset the wall control, all you need to do is pop the faceplate of the wall control off and re-attach it. This will reset the wall control without having to power down. Make sure you get your dealer involved and that they contact Quad. If enough people complain maybe we will get to the bottom of this.

 

[coryrhonda]

this is a very comon problem and it is one of two things, static or loose wire, particularly behind the stove. The newest stat has a wake up feature the first time you push a button to snap it out of this. I you have warrenty yet get with your dealer for the latest stat

 

[kevin fleury]

Hi all, I am new to the board but I am an EXPERIENCED Quadrafire Mt. Vernon owner LOL! We have had our for 2 winters now and if it was not for the fact we do love the stove when it works, we would have thrown the damn thing through Quadra fire headquarters window!
We have had the following replaced since purchasing in winter 2006;
x5 igniters
x4 thermostats
x1 hopper (cracked)
x1 computer control board
x1 blower

Anyways.....needless to say we are not overly impressed at times, but I do know that when this stove does work it is incredible, quiet, efficient, and beautiful.

Yes, the thermostats go crazy from time to time and the reason is due to STATIC ELECTRICITY. You may notice yours goes on the blink after you have vaccumed, swept near the stove, or loaded a fresh bag of pellets (dust from sawdust will also cause the static). This simple fix is to unplug it for 5 min and plug it back in.

My question is does anyone else notice then when their power goes out the thermostat reverts back to a -3 temp reading? Of our 4 thermostat replacements, they all revert back to -3 in the event of a power flicker in the house....this is pointless since the stove will not reignite itself again until it reaches -3 or you do it via the thermostat.

Does anyone have a contact directly at quadra fire....we have been using Ed Ricklick up unitl last month....he went to austrilia, now we are using a Jeff Cox ...anyone have another name they would recomend?

 

[wberryment]

Thank you Kevin for your thoughts on this issue. It sounds like you do have alot of experience with this stove. Your comments on STATIC ELECTRICITY makes the most since to me at this point. It hasn't happened in over two to three weeks now so I don't know if I'm out of the woods yet or not.

Thanks again for your reply.
wayne

 

[JoeS]

Wayne, I had previously posted that I too was having difficulty with the wall control going blank. After my dealer had some discussions with Quadrafire they determined that it could be a faulty power supply. I had the power supply changed out about two weeks ago and have not had another problem. You should mention this to your dealer.

 

[coryrhonda]

my stat gos to last settings. have mine on the third winter now. looks like you have had the common stuff replaced. did you have the software for the less igniter on time during startup and the igniter housing drilled to make the igniters last longer? helps on most

 

[kevin fleury]

I believe so....I had the boys fly up from Chicago to ontario canada where I reside....they basically rebuilt the thing...and they did hook up a laptop to it so I am thinking they did.........................but it turns out that the igniters are flawed...their original supplier had been stamping their name into the rods which caused premature failure....have since had two new prototypes sent to me for testing and all good so far and no stamping into the metal rods.......as for the thermostat I just got off the phone the other day with Jeff Cox and they are aparently sending me out a new unit which is suppose to fix the issues of the flickering as well as the reset to -3 crap.....my fingers are crossed.

 

[Jim & Mary Beth]

I have had this same problem multiple times. I am getting ready to try my third wall control unit but I am starting to think the problem is somewhere else. You don't need to power down your stove however to reset the wall control, all you need to do is pop the faceplate of the wall control off and re-attach it. This will reset the wall control without having to power down. Make sure you get your dealer involved and that they contact Quad. If enough people complain maybe we will get to the bottom of this.

Yesterday when it happened the stove had shut down because the fire pot bottom had jammed (again) when sliding shut. I wiggled it and closed up and it reset itself. All this has been reported, very low level of support with this outfit.

 

[LMPS]

I also get the wake up screen when I have static electricity. First year this has happened though, I went up to the thermostat touched it and got a shock. The next thing I see is this Wake up screen, then it goes blank and then back to the normal screen. Stove keeps running. This is the original thermostat. Also had quick ( minutes) power outage the other day and the settings did not change came back just as I had them set.

 

[Jim & Mary Beth]

Yesterday when it happened the stove had shut down because the fire pot bottom had jammed (again) when sliding shut. I wiggled it and closed up and it reset itself. All this has been reported, very low level of support with this outfit.

Found the source of the loud noise during autoclean cycle. Near the end of the opening cycle, the firepot bottom goes past the firepot and rises up so when it comes back it catches on the firepot and hangs up. Any suggestions?

 

[hooter04]

I have had thermostat blankout when I touched it a few times(staticelectricity).What I do is take cover off of thermostat,and blow on the board inside,and put it back together,and it comes right back.

 

[Jim & Mary Beth]

I have had thermostat blankout when I touched it a few times(staticelectricity).What I do is take cover off of thermostat,and blow on the board inside,and put it back together,and it comes right back.

I took my cover off also and cleaned the contacts with a spray contact cleaner so far no problems.