Quadrafire Smoke......

[meg32682]

We bought a pre-used quadrafire 1200 insert and had it installed professionally. It worked fine for a few months, but recently when it starts you can see a bunch of smoke swirling around inside the door. When the fire ignites a loud pop noise is made and smoke comes through the door and into the room. The poping noise is so loud we have been startled by it when standing in another room.

I have tried cleaning out the access latch on the back left side and also replacing the door gasket but it hasn't helped. I do clean the stove 2-3x per week. Any ideas? I was thinking about turning the feed rate down but am not sure if this would help. When the fire starts the flame is pretty tall......goes all the way up to tthe top of the stove and bounces off of the glass too.

I am definately no expert in pellet stoves so any ideas are much appreciated Thank you!

 

[HIGHWIRE]

Seeing some smoke swirling inside is normal. The pellets will smolder a little till they ignite. If you have poor exhaust ventilation it could cause the pellets to smolder longer due to poor air-flow and in turn create more smoke. Then with all the excess smoke, when the pellets do ignite, it causes kind of a "flash" ignition. That is the popping sound you describe. My first thought would be poor exhaust flow. Have you checked the venting beyond the stove?

 

[Snowy Rivers]

Our Quad 1000 will do the same thing.
The issue is more prevalant when the pot has a clinker thats starting to form over the little hole that is right where the igniter is.

The Poooof is just as was described previously.

Does the stove run ok once the fire ignites and things are up and running ???

As mentioned, make sure that the vent pipe is in good order and clean.

Also make sure that the combustion air fan is clean and the fins on the fan are not clogged with dirt.

This Poof thing is not all that uncommon.

What pellets are you burning ??

You may want to try a different brand as some will light easier than others.


Keep us posted

Snowy

 

[DBCOOPER]

Mine will do that if it goes into a start cycle while it is still warm/hot.

 

[meg32682]

I haven't tried running one of those brushes up the vent yet but maybe I will try that later on when the blizzard stops! : ) Also can the combustion air fan be taken out to clean? I used a vacuum around it the other day but am really not pellet stove tech savy. Right now we are using cubex pellets. They are causing a ton of ash for us. I just turned the stove off now and will try to clean out that hole you are talking about near the itniter.......

 

[jtakeman]

Clean the small round holes in the burnpot. Mine would smoke like heck when they get plugged. Use a small screw driver or tube brush. Some had luck with a drill bit just smaller than the holes/

To help the quad burn the Cubex better, Try adjusting the fuel gate in the hopper. Try pushing it down about 1/2 inch lower.

 

[drlong]

clinkers, or could be the smoke pipe in the back can fill up with ash, and may need to be swept. Mine was almost closed before I was told about this. eventually it actually hurt an ignitor sensor, and cost 180 to fix... So from the exhaust motor, follow the pipe back 1 foot, there should be a clean out lid there, where the pipe connects that then goes out the chimney, pop it off clean it out and you should be good.

Later
Dan

 

[HIGHWIRE]

Clean the small round holes in the burnpot. Mine would smoke like heck when they get plugged. Use a small screw driver or tube brush. Some had luck with a drill bit just smaller than the holes/

To help the quad burn the Cubex better, Try adjusting the fuel gate in the hopper. Try pushing it down about 1/2 inch lower.

These holes are unknown to a lot of people I talk to. I clean them EVERY time I clean the firepot, which is every day. The holes in the walls of the pot are roughly 1/4" in diameter. Some can be seen just looking in at the pot. However, there are four smaller holes that can't be seen right at the base of the rounded part of the pot, two on the left of the igniter port and two to the right, and four holes in the angled part of the pot, also near the bottom. It is very important to keep these open. I use an allen wrench that I welded an extension to and with the bend in the wrench I can easily manipulate it and poke the holes clean.

 

[meg32682]

Well today I cleaned the firepot again and looked at the slot at the bottom where the igniter hits the pellets. That didn't have any clinkers so I figured I would attemt to take the baffles off........there was a TON of ash back there! I cleaned that and then read about removing some other pannels that were back there and there was a ton of ash there too! So I vacuumed it all out and so far it is working fine! Hopefully tomorrow will still be the same......... Thanks everyone for the advice!

 

[HIGHWIRE]

Good job! Don't forget to work something in among the heat exchanger tubes while doing your cleaning. A lot of crap will build up there as well and you must slide your choice of tool all around, between and above the tubes. The less build-up there is on the tubes, the more heat gets transfered in to the room.

 

[meg32682]

Well after a day of thinking I figured out what the problem was it started making the bang noise again...........it actually woke me up from my sleep thinking someone was trying to kick in the door lol. Guess I should keep trying some more stuff. I read on another forum to check the combustion air damper lever but it was in response to someone else's question about a smoky start up. If I have a combustion air damper lever anyone know where it is?

I also saw a little dial I guess you could call it located on the side of then control box that is set at the number 1. What is this for and what effect would turning it have on the stove???

Thanks again everyone! Sorry for being pellet stove dumb! : )

 

[DBCOOPER]

Are you controlling it with a thermostat?

 

[meg32682]

Yes I do have it hooked up to a thermostat. I don't think it can run without one.

 

[meg32682]

Ok so I just tried using a drill bit to clean the holes in the firepot and that worked well. I also bought a brush for the pipe that goes up the chimney only it wouldn't fit, so instead I banged on the pipe with a screwdriver and a bunch of ash came down. Well when I tried to get the pipe up I unfastened the clamps to the pipe but was afraid I wouldn't be able to get it back on so tried going through the horizontal trap door instead (with no luck). I watched the pipe when I started the fire back up after banging the soot out and there was a bit of smoke coming out where it latches in. Think I should tape that with the metal tape stuff to seal it?

 

[DBCOOPER]

Yes I do have it hooked up to a thermostat. I don't think it can run without one.

Is it the one that came from Quadra-Fire? Mine would do the same thing on start up if it was a short time since it shut down. I think something in the control circuits senses that it has already lit and adds more pellets then needed at that point in the start cycle. Notice even if the switch is set to low you get a high fire initally on start up and then it goes to the low fire rate. I think that the thermocouple stays warm enough to cause this but I'm not really sure. Solved it by increasing the swing on a LUX tx500e thermostat to 2 degrees. Haven't had the issue since. If you have the factory stat try increasing the anticipator to 1.2

 

[jtakeman]

Yes I do have it hooked up to a thermostat. I don't think it can run without one.

Is it the one that came from Quadra-Fire?

I see where DBCooper is heading! Good catch DB!

The original stat didn't have a swing adjustment. So the stove can cycle too quickly. As in not being fully out and start dumping pellets on the almost out fire. This will cause a smoke issue as the pellets begin to smolder before the igniter comes on.

The only quad that is set in stone to use the original stat is the Mt Vernon AE. The other quads can use a standard millivolt stat. If this is the case you need to look into getting a stat with swing to allow the stove to fully cool down before it starts its next cycle!

 

[meg32682]

Hmm I will have to look into a new thermostat. I bought a digital programmable one at lowe's but it doesn't have any swing variance to it. Maybe when I get home from work I'll start looking online and see what I can find! Thanks for the advice!

 

[slls]

Yes I do have it hooked up to a thermostat. I don't think it can run without one.

Is it the one that came from Quadra-Fire?

I see where DBCooper is heading! Good catch DB!

The original stat didn't have a swing adjustment. So the stove can cycle too quickly. As in not being fully out and start dumping pellets on the almost out fire. This will cause a smoke issue as the pellets begin to smolder before the igniter comes on.

The only quad that is set in stone to use the original stat is the Mt Vernon AE. The other quads can use a standard millivolt stat. If this is the case you need to look into getting a stat with swing to allow the stove to fully cool down before it starts its next cycle!

You must be talking about older stats, my 2008 came with a swing, Quad $10 Lux lol.

 

[jtakeman]

Yes I do have it hooked up to a thermostat. I don't think it can run without one.

Is it the one that came from Quadra-Fire?

I see where DBCooper is heading! Good catch DB!

The original stat didn't have a swing adjustment. So the stove can cycle too quickly. As in not being fully out and start dumping pellets on the almost out fire. This will cause a smoke issue as the pellets begin to smolder before the igniter comes on.

The only quad that is set in stone to use the original stat is the Mt Vernon AE. The other quads can use a standard millivolt stat. If this is the case you need to look into getting a stat with swing to allow the stove to fully cool down before it starts its next cycle!

You must be talking about older stats, my 2008 came with a swing, Quad $10 Lux lol.

We bought a pre-used quadrafire 1200 insert

OP said pre owned(pre used). So I assumed older unit!

 

[chris288]

Don't know much about quadrafires, BUT i'd be cautious of any stove no matter make or model building up pressure and " POPPING " no pressure should be built whatsoever on any stove. If there is excessive pellets in the pot smoldering there could be a slight " WOOSH " as they finally ignite.

 

[krooser]

Don't know much about quadrafires, BUT i'd be cautious of any stove no matter make or model building up pressure and " POPPING " no pressure should be built whatsoever on any stove. If there is excessive pellets in the pot smoldering there could be a slight " iWOOSH " as they finally ignite.

I think there are still cleaning issues here....when the fire finally gets air it ignites with gusto...we have seen others here with the same problem only to find a complete cleaning fixes things...

 

[jtakeman]

Don't know much about quadrafires, BUT i'd be cautious of any stove no matter make or model building up pressure and " POPPING " no pressure should be built whatsoever on any stove. If there is excessive pellets in the pot smoldering there could be a slight " iWOOSH " as they finally ignite.

I think there are still cleaning issues here....when the fire finally gets air it ignites with gusto...we have seen others here with the same problem only to find a complete cleaning fixes things...

krooser, You mean like this one?

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[cncpro]

Bah ! Perfectly normal for a Quad. Love the video though...

I got one for you with the same song. Sorry for the hijack !

Let the bodies hit the.........
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FLOOOOOOOOOOOOOR

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[jtakeman]

Cool parrot!

 

[clunk]

DB Cooper is correct. Do what he says and you will solve your problem.