I have a Quadrafire CB 1200 and recently the burn pot will fill up with pellets after about 4 hours of burning. I clean the stove on a regular basis any thoughts on what might be causing this and how to fix it.
Qudrafire Classic Bay 1200 Burn Pot Problems
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tjnamtiw
Minister of Fire
This same exact topic has been posted here a couple of times in the past week or so. Have you tried a 'search'? If you haven't changed pellets or the feed rate, then, if they suddenly aren't burning, it means you aren't getting the same amount of air coming through the burn pot as you were before. We are far enough in the season to suspect that your flue needs cleaning or your combustion fan is getting clogged or build up on it. When you clean the burn pot are you opening up all the SMALL holes as well as the big ones? Is your burn pot dump valve closed all the way? Is it hanging down (look underneath to see this), how tight is your door gasket?
Pyro, Thanks for the suggestions. door tight, flue cleaned out, burn pot holes clean. I'll check the convection fan. Otherwise everything checks out. I have the auger set at lowest feed rate, could it be that the auger is jammed and might not be as reduced as possible? I'm stumped. Might there be a problem with the thermocouple, registering that the flame is cooler than it actually is so therefore it is being feed more pellets?
slls
Minister of Fire
My start up sequence. Combustion fan comes on, pellets drop for 1 minute, little later fire starts, when 200 deg green light on and pellets start dropping.
Fire flares up to slant plates, a while later red light comes on fire established, after 5 minutes the fires goes to medium where I run it.
From then on the fire in the pot is like a tornado of flame, very aggressive. What is yours doing?
Fire flares up to slant plates, a while later red light comes on fire established, after 5 minutes the fires goes to medium where I run it.
From then on the fire in the pot is like a tornado of flame, very aggressive. What is yours doing?
Lineman30
Feeling the Heat
papi said:
Is it filling up with ash or unburnt pellets? Mine has at times filled up with ash and ash cakes onto the sides of the pot.
tjnamtiw
Minister of Fire
papi said:
Negative on the thermocouple. It's not that smart. :lol: It turns the light green at 200 degrees to tell the auger to start its feed timing routine.
The feed gate is the thing that could be jammed so that the rate is not reduced as much as before. It never completely closes the feed slot that covers the auger. I'm not familiar with the 1200, but on my Castile, it IS possible to bend the flimsy adjusting arm if you REALLY lean on it. Also, there's a screw holding the feed gate in position. If it's too tight it could keep you from adjusting it correctly OR if the screw has come out then, perhaps, the feed gate isn't even covering the auger!?! Let your hopper go empty and check that out.
The other guys have some very good questions that need to be answered to help you further. Now you DID get those little holes, right? I have 8 on my pots.
Vinelife
Minister of Fire
Did you take the back baffles off and the top one and shop vac all the ash out. I usually take the shop vac and put it in that hole on the right hand side too and brush down any ash on the fan blades. I will put the shop vac tub inside that hole and then take a damp rag around the opening to create a seal to get a better suction, works good. And then every few weeks and clean out my horizontal out outside the house really good and run the shop vac all the way inside that opening as well. This solved my build up of pellets and air issues. Once we start burning alot of pellets we need to do more frequent deeper cleanings.
papi said:
First of all, the poster tjnamtiw was talking about your combustion blower, not the convection. If the vanes on the comb. blower get caked with ash, it will reduce the air through the stove. And there is a LOT more to cleaning the stove than just the burn pot, and the flue.....heat exchangers and ash traps need to be cleaned too. Your symptoms tend to indicate a "dirty stove".
As for the auger, if it was "jammed", that would mean that it wasn't turning at all, and not feed any pellets.
IMO, both blowers need to be removed from the stove & cleaned, the entire exhaust pipe from stove outlet to cap needs cleaning, along with the interior of the stove as I mentioned. A final leafblower "treatment" after all of those would make sure it's 100% clean.
I have my Combustion Blower out right now. The pic is from a cell phone so you can't see the "build-up" all that great, but its there. I do this at least twice a year. Make sure you have a Gasket 1st. Will not be able to re-use the old one.
I always think its better to be to preventative, than not enough. IMO
I always think its better to be to preventative, than not enough. IMO
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DexterDay said:
Dexter, how many bags burned through the stove since that blower was last cleaned?
imacman said:
A little under 2 ton. The blades are not "caked" that bad. Its the 1/4" of ash that cakes up between the blades and the housing.
Its def not the worst I've seen it. But I picked up the gasket when I went and seen Eric at Kinsman stoves.
My obsession does not allow the stove to get that dirty.
Vinelife
Minister of Fire
I take mine apart everyweek. But I dont remove the blowers manually, I do keep them clean though...
Look about the same?? Mine might have a little more on it. Are you burning on on lower, or Medium setting? I know Englander's have 5-6 settings? (I think). I burn on the Low setting 90% of the time. Only go to medium when it gets around 0 outside.imacman said:
Without truely taking the blower out, you can't get behind the fins and the get it really clean.. Prob easier to Ding the fins up without having it in front of you. I clean mine thru the clean-out plate on the opposite side every week also. But it still gets 1/4" build-up behind the fins after only 2 ton. Something that needs to be done, at LEAST once a year. IMHOHank Hill said:
Thanks for the advice. holes cleaned, I'll check and clean the combustion fan and the auger. Ballasts is another option. I did have the stove cleaned about a month ago after 2 tons.
DexterDay said:
Englander stoves have 1-9 settings on both the heat & blower buttons. I usually burn on heat setting 4 or 5, unless it gets really cold, then higher. The highest I've had the stove was heat setting 7 when we had negative temps here a few nights.
Ballasts ?????papi said:
As for the cleaning you mentioned, did you do it, or did you have it done by someone else? And waiting to clean it until after 2 tons is stretching it too far, IMO. I do a complete teardown & cleaning after 1 - 1 1/2 tons.....pipe, stove, blowers, auger, ash traps....everything.
Oops. Sorry imacman. I knew thew had A LOT.
Getting back to the OP...Trusting another person to do as good a job as you would? Some techs are great and love there job, been doing this there whole life. Others.. Not so much. I am mechanically inclinded so it does not bother me to do it.
Did you see them take the blowers off? If they did not take them off, then you are losing out on Combustion air, For Sure. Mine is back in now and have a better flame with more "Blue" at the bottom of the pot.
Need to do a "thorough" cleaning.. IMHO
Getting back to the OP...Trusting another person to do as good a job as you would? Some techs are great and love there job, been doing this there whole life. Others.. Not so much. I am mechanically inclinded so it does not bother me to do it.
Did you see them take the blowers off? If they did not take them off, then you are losing out on Combustion air, For Sure. Mine is back in now and have a better flame with more "Blue" at the bottom of the pot.
Need to do a "thorough" cleaning.. IMHO
tjnamtiw
Minister of Fire
papi said:
You say you 'had it cleaned'???? You didn't do it? If you hired a chimney sweep to clean it, you are at his mercy as far as him knowing what to clean and where. Could be a problem there!
I see the 'guys' beat me to it. Just reenforcement then.
arnash
New Member
When I got my first look at my combustion blower fins through the damper whole I saw the same kind of ash build-up so I scrapped it off, but thinking about just now, I ask myself "just how much could that amount of ash actually weigh"? "And could that microscopic weight of ash really have any impact on the power of the motor, especially after it is running at full-speed?" Man, it sure seems like the answer is likely to be "no". So I'd wager that the most common limiting factor in performance is restricted air flow due to ash build-up in the holes of the burn pot. Ash anywhere else is far less likely, but when the pot is clean then somewhere else in the system has to be a problem. And ash does accumulate just about everywhere but if it doesn't restrict air flow, then it won't impact performance. Example; when I cleaned-out the full ash traps behind the "firebrick" it made no difference in performance, which means the ash wasn't impeding air flow to the burn pot and out the vent pipe.
It's also likely that, considering the power of the blower, lack of tight seals wouldn't cause enough loss of adequate air flow to the burn pot . After all, the blower is powerful enough to provide more air than is used in average operation. (but if you have freezing weather for an extended period and have to burn at maximum, then leaking seals could make a difference.)
It's also likely that, considering the power of the blower, lack of tight seals wouldn't cause enough loss of adequate air flow to the burn pot . After all, the blower is powerful enough to provide more air than is used in average operation. (but if you have freezing weather for an extended period and have to burn at maximum, then leaking seals could make a difference.)
nikeseer
Member
Did you ever figure out what was causing the cake/crust of ash in the burn pot? My father is getting that no matter what fan setting or feed setting or pellet... Trying to troubleshoot for him.
I have always had to knock down the ash on my Classic Bay 1200 in the back of the pot once a day as well as open the trap. I probably could continue to let it burn but it starts to look ugly to my eye.
If ash is building up daily? Then I sense an air leak. Either the bottom trap door is not sealing right, the ash pan gasket isn't sealing, or the door gasket isn't sealing properly. Check all gaskets using the dollar bill test and remove the little plate below the ash lip and look into that area, to see if the bottom trap door is eating correctly when closed? This door has been known to leave a little gap when shut.
I also sealed the area where the thermocouple wire comes in behind the pot. That is a burn pot bypass. Air comes through that hole, instead of through the pot. Every little bit helps. With good pellets, I can go upwards of 2 weeks without touching the clean out rod. Might have a little spec here or there, but the next shutdown and start up sequence takes care of it
I also sealed the area where the thermocouple wire comes in behind the pot. That is a burn pot bypass. Air comes through that hole, instead of through the pot. Every little bit helps. With good pellets, I can go upwards of 2 weeks without touching the clean out rod. Might have a little spec here or there, but the next shutdown and start up sequence takes care of it
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