Quadrafire Santa Fe Control Board Acting Up.

[aaronlecain]

Two days ago I had to reset a snap disk and restart the stove. The stove fired up like it should until I placed my hand on the top and the control board had a seizure. It rapidly clicked like someone was hitting the reset button (relay switch) repeatedly about twice a second it also had a hot electronics smell. I unplugged it and checked everything (snap disks, connections, vacuum switch), cleaned everything, took the control box out and put it back in and restarted it. It then worked fine for the next day.

My wife then informs me that when she walked by the stove tonight that it had another seizure of rapid clicks. I then take the control box off as I know the stove is in working order. I take the board out of its clear plastic housing and proceed to check each part for an open circuit that I can. The Triad transformer is the only part that looks like it got hot with the label pealing a bit and the lacquer browning a little. The multimeter is saying that nothing is shorted out with it. As I sit here with my stove running like it should, and I am smelling hot electronics. I am waiting on an electrical failure to happen so I can verify and replace the part.

I am perfectly capable of replacing a part on the board but with no schematic it makes troubleshooting difficult. I do not want to replace the entire board for $250-$300 when I can just get a $10 transformer or Triac.... I just need it to fail so I know what to replace. All of my connections are tight so I am pretty sure it is not a short and I am thinking that it was just a coincidence as neither me putting my hand on the top or my wife walking by made much of a impact. I walked by multiple times today and placed my hand on top with no repeatable results.

Does anyone have any experience with a transformer going bad on their control board? Is this common or am I looking in the wrong direction?

 

[Mt Bob]

Transformers are very reliable.If you understand basic electronics go to badcaps.net.Read up on why /how ,and gives troubleshooting info.

 

[aaronlecain]

They are very reliable but they do some times go bad. Heat is a concern. Is the transformer in line with a relay? If the transformer got hot and were to repeatedly short would that cause a pulsing to a relay? The only reason I suspect the transformer is the fact that the casing has browned, the label has curled like it was melted, and the lacquer around the coils is brown. I have tested it and there are no breaks in the coils when cool on the table but heat changes things.

 

[B-Mod]

The triacs like to go bad on those. I had two of the older boxes and both of them failed from bad triacs. They are very cheap to replace. Not saying your could be different, just stating what I have found in the past.

 

[aaronlecain]

They all look fine and everything is running like it should right now. This seems to be an oddity to my situation. If it continues I may replace my reset switch if the board still acts like it should. It is a rapid clicking that has happened twice this week. It ran fine for the last 14 hours or so. I am not sure. The only visual cues I saw was the transformer but it seems to be working for now.

 

[B-Mod]

Visibly my triacs looked good. The problem with my stove was the convection fan would slow down, and I had installed a new motor just prior to this.

 

[Mt Bob]

I'm with b-mod.I only know basic electronics,but if it was mine I would replace all the triacs and all the electrolytic capacitors.When caps are going bad they can stink really bad.Keep running with bad parts and you will need a transformer as it is likely being overloaded.

 

[tjnamtiw]

The Quads are also notorious for developing bad connections where the control board plugs into the terminal box. If you haven't, I would suggest cleaning the contacts. ALWAYS, as in ALWAYS, kill the power before removing or replacing the control box.

I think it was B-Mod who listed all the parts. Right?

 

[aaronlecain]

Like I said. Everything seems to be working just fine. All the parts are operating as they should so that leads me to believe it is a connection issue. I have cleaned out the bus and reconnected the control box with a little more tightness on the metal housings and retaining plate to keep things in contact. Maybe that will fix it. I just was not sure if a "Failing" Transformer would rapidly interrupt the power to the board making it think it was resetting....

 

[B-Mod]

I think I did re-post them up? But another member found them first, the parts place was digi key, in like Thief Rivers MN. Quads sometimes do have loose control boards so you could have fixed it for free, lol. Keep us posted if it acts up, and keep warm...

 

[aaronlecain]

Last night the rapid clicking returned. It overfed the bowl and burning pellets were up to the shoot. I unplugged it and waited for it to cool down enough so I was sure the hopper would not catch fire. This morning I plugged it back in and after its initial run I could smell hot electronics so I removed the control box, took the housing apart and the transformer was too hot to touch. I ordered a new transformer and the pellet stove is going to sit until it comes in.

 

[tjnamtiw]

If the transformer was too hot to touch, it means something else was drawing excessive current so be researching prices for a new control box while you are waiting.

Sometimes the contacts between the box and its receptacle get corroded and people have found by just removing and replacing the box a few times that things go back to normal. The fact that yours worked for a while could be pointing to a poor connection at that point or a failing component in the box after it heats up. Who knows? It sounds like $$$$ either way. Sorry.

Ooops, I see B-Mod beat me to the control box routine Should read ALL the posts...... from a month ago.....