# Quadrafire castile Pellet feed rate



## quadraman (Jan 21, 2008)

Ok I am a newb so go easy on me.  This is my first season with my pellet stove and I seem to be having problems with my feed rate.   I installed the stove myself and it seemed to be working ok when I ran the fan on medium however now that the winter has givien it;s first punch I cranked her up to high.  In doing that I kept tripping the overheat disc #2.  I looked to the manual and it suggested to adjust the feed rate.  I noticed that the feed rate should leave a 4 inch flame above the fire pot with the fan on High.  My stove seems to be bending the flames up across the heat exchanger when on high.  I have the feed rate adjusted all the way down as far as it will go.  This is stopped the overheating disc from tripping however the flame still seems to be a bit too tall.  does anyone know if there is some adjustment I can make?


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## jtp10181 (Jan 22, 2008)

You could be getting an air leak someplace. Also what are you burning? 100% Pellets?

Have you been following the maintenance procedures in the manual, I think section 9.


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## quadraman (Jan 22, 2008)

jtp thanks for the reply.  I have been keeping up on the maintenance so far.  Don't know how to tell if it's an air leak.  My stove has a gasket around the door expect for across the top that is open to the firebox but I think that is suppose to be that way.  I clean the firepot once a day and a firebox once or twice a week and now every other day.  When I bought the stove the salesman told me that I would only ever have to run the stove on medium.  Guess all salesman are alike.  So far I am not so pleased with this stove.  I am thinking of trading up to a bigger stove possibly a harman this stove just doesn't cut it.  I have a small house that was remodeled and insulated well but the stove just doesn't give the output needed.  Possibly undersized but i am not sure.  Tough to say what stove is good for what house. Again thank you for your reply.


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## MainePellethead (Jan 22, 2008)

quadraman said:
			
		

> jtp thanks for the reply.  I have been keeping up on the maintenance so far.  Don't know how to tell if it's an air leak.  My stove has a gasket around the door expect for across the top that is open to the firebox but I think that is suppose to be that way.  I clean the firepot once a day and a firebox once or twice a week and now every other day.  When I bought the stove the salesman told me that I would only ever have to run the stove on medium.  Guess all salesman are alike.  So far I am not so pleased with this stove.  I am thinking of trading up to a bigger stove possibly a harman this stove just doesn't cut it.  I have a small house that was remodeled and insulated well but the stove just doesn't give the output needed.  Possibly undersized but i am not sure.  Tough to say what stove is good for what house. Again thank you for your reply.



I'm sorry your having probs with the Castille.  I have that stove and its been flawless.  How big is your home?  I run mine on high when we are  up and in the living areas but only when the temp dips to near 0.  Most of the time I run of low and medium....always low at night for bedtime.  I havent had any heat probs with it.  I am probably heating smaller area than you maybe. I have not touched the feed rate at all on mine. Left it at the factory setting for now and it works well for me right now.


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## jtp10181 (Jan 22, 2008)

Are you getting tall sooty flame with black tips? Lots of soot inside the baffle up top or soot coming out of the vent? Or lots of soot on the glass?

Please give some info about your vent run as well.


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## quadraman (Jan 22, 2008)

JTP I don't know how to describe the flames they are tall and sharp but they do extend all the way up the back of the stove and across the heat exchanger when on high they are not and lazy deff not sooty.  The box seems to get moderately dirty and requires cleaning about two to three times a week.  I would say I clean the glass about the same.  It does get dirty but I was told that is the norm.  As for the vent run I have the insert and it's set in my old brick fireplace.  The place where I bought my stove just told me to run an 8 foot section of stainless flex pipe up the chimney and then use fiberglas to close up the whole around the pipe.


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## MainePellethead (Jan 22, 2008)

I have 8' of vertical pipe on the outside of the home after the T.  works well for me.

When i run my Castille on high it doesnt wrap around the exchanger.


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## Czech (Jan 22, 2008)

I've been having the same problem, soot, tall flames. After trouble shooting for leaks and cleaning everything possible, it came down to the pellets. Same manufacturer too! I had a couple bags left over from the first ton I bought last fall, when I burn these it burned fine, same setting, feed, etc. Guess it shows there are lot to lot differences.


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## quadraman (Jan 22, 2008)

Gotz what kind were you burning.  I am burning Barefoot but it has been the only brand so far.  First year with the stove and first year with the pellets.


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## quadraman (Jan 23, 2008)

Ok so here's my little experiment that I attempted last night.  I went to HD on my lunch break yesterday and picked up 5 bags of the fireside ultra.  I cleaned and reset my stove back to norm factory feed rate settings and everything is burning nicely no tall uncontrollable flames, and this morning the firepot and box were not too bad pretty clean and not a whole lot of ash.  These seem to burn alot better in my stove than the barefoot pellets. I will say they do not burn as hot as the barefoot but then again they don't trip the overheat disk all the time either.  I noticed that the Barefoot pellets are alot more inconsistent in size some are long and some are short.  The Fireside ultras seem to be a consistent size all medium to small.  Not sure if that has anything to do with it.


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## Czech (Jan 23, 2008)

I'm burning Pennywise by Marth. The difference between last fall pellet is that the ones I bought a few weeks back were very dusty, small, fines, etc. Same product last fall was longer shiny pellets, little or no fines or dust. quad, when you say 'factory settings', what are you referring to? I've got the feed gate all the way down. I bought some Greenway pellets by a plant in TN last night, I'll let you know how those do (just filled the hopper), very clean looking hardwood.


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## MainePellethead (Jan 23, 2008)

GotzTheHotz said:
			
		

> I'm burning Pennywise by Marth. The difference between last fall pellet is that the ones I bought a few weeks back were very dusty, small, fines, etc. Same product last fall was longer shiny pellets, little or no fines or dust. quad, when you say 'factory settings', what are you referring to? I've got the feed gate all the way down. I bought some Greenway pellets by a plant in TN last night, I'll let you know how those do (just filled the hopper), very clean looking hardwood.



The factory setting is pretty much wide open from what I can see.


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## quadraman (Jan 23, 2008)

When I got my stove I used a perm marker to mark where the feed rate rod was located.  I used that as a reference point when adjusting.  When I started with the Fireside Ultra pellets I just set the rod back to that location and started from there.  I didn't have to make any adjustments it seemed to be ok.  I don't know if I would call it the factory settings but it's the same as when I uncrated the stove.


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## Czech (Jan 23, 2008)

I know this may sound the exact opposite, but I wonder if opening the feed rate up helps? I closed my all the way down trouble shooting thinking that it was over feeding the smaller pellets. I know, totally against the way it should function, but I just wonder. Wish I had a magnahelic (sp?)!


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## MainePellethead (Jan 23, 2008)

GotzTheHotz said:
			
		

> I know this may sound the exact opposite, but I wonder if opening the feed rate up helps? I closed my all the way down trouble shooting thinking that it was over feeding the smaller pellets. I know, totally against the way it should function, but I just wonder. Wish I had a magnahelic (sp?)!



I closed mine down about halfway today after installing a wireless remote and  draining the hooper to make sure no major fines are there....will post my result.  The factory setting had it wide open which was fine with me....but I thought I would mark it....then close it a little see the results...


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## jtp10181 (Jan 24, 2008)

AwsumSS said:
			
		

> GotzTheHotz said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...



From factory it should be closed almost all the way. I would start there and adjust it up 1/4" at a time if needed. All the way open is generally way too much fuel. Make sure you are reading the scale correctly in the hopper I have had many customers open it all the way thinking they are closing it. I dunno why + = more fuel and - = less is hard to understand?


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## MainePellethead (Jan 24, 2008)

From factory it should be closed almost all the way. I would start there and adjust it up 1/4" at a time if needed. All the way open is generally way too much fuel. Make sure you are reading the scale correctly in the hopper I have had many customers open it all the way thinking they are closing it. I dunno why + = more fuel and - = less is hard to understand?[/quote]

Hmm....well this was the way it was set up etc on the install.  I just assumed the feed rate was set from the factory because it says in the manual that the feed rate is set from the factory lol. I will adjust s you have said and tery it that way. Its funny.....with it  opened up like it was....the flame ran great etc Flame was at a great color, and was not huge...and wasnt sooting etc and had lots of heat. ....I used 11 bags in 15 days...so now I have it set at halfway closed...and its running great too.....oh.....and the remote thermo is da bomb! Thats running above my expectations. I just wish you could program it.

Hey can you tell me about the thermostat terminals? I noticed when I was attaching the receiver for the  remote thermostat that there was actually "4" connecter screws on the back of the stove......does that mean if I didnt have a remote thermostat that I could actually hook up 2 wired thermostats to create 2 separate zones?  Just curious thats all.

Thanks


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## jtp10181 (Jan 24, 2008)

I have no idea why they used a 4 post terminal block on some of the stoves. The two outer posts are not even hooked up to anything!


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## Czech (Jan 24, 2008)

Just to clairfy, push the rod down equals less fuel equals -. Pull the rod up equals more fuel equals +. Anyone know why the feed rate adjustment seems bias toward the closed end (meaning I can never ever see opening the rate up all the way no matter what the fuel)?


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## jtp10181 (Jan 24, 2008)

NO clue on that one. When I do service I generally close them down and then open them about a 1/4" and tell people to leave it alone unless the flames are less than 6" out of the pot on the HI setting. Otherwise they open all the way to try and get more heat out of it. Had one customer monkey with it so much the bent the slot open and disengaged it off the wing nut. It was just flopping in there. Yeah... their over heat snap disc was tripping regularly.


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## MainePellethead (Jan 24, 2008)

GotzTheHotz said:
			
		

> Just to clairfy, push the rod down equals less fuel equals -. Pull the rod up equals more fuel equals +. Anyone know why the feed rate adjustment seems bias toward the closed end (meaning I can never ever see opening the rate up all the way no matter what the fuel)?



As for the  rate being opened.....I'm thinking its more for if its open more then less likely you'll have a jam up in the auger...more room for the pellets and fines to clear themselves out in case of to many fines? Not to sure on that.  Or in case you get crappy pellets that dont burn good you can feed more for better BTU?  Note  really to sure on that...

And yes mine is more closed going to the "-" side and more open on the "+" side...


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## MainePellethead (Jan 24, 2008)

jtp10181 said:
			
		

> NO clue on that one. When I do service I generally close them down and then open them about a 1/4" and tell people to leave it alone unless the flames are less than 6" out of the pot on the HI setting. Otherwise they open all the way to try and get more heat out of it. Had one customer monkey with it so much the bent the slot open and disengaged it off the wing nut. It was just flopping in there. Yeah... their over heat snap disc was tripping regularly.



Hmm....thats funny....mine was installed with it wide open...never tripped my snap even once. But....now that I adjusted it....getting same heat using less pellets!


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## Czech (Jan 25, 2008)

OK, so I was experimenting last night. Thinking that the tall flames with the feed rate fully closed may be the result of an air leak or restricted exhaust, I did the following. Fully cleaned the exhaust path, I did get some ash but not too much. Cleaned the firebox and pot, including the pot holes. Fired it up, same thing, let it run for an hour, better but not the usual blow torch. I checked the door gasket with a dollar bill (I'm now a buck shorter), seems tight although mentioned in another thread the last time I replaced the gasket I used 5/8" rope glued to the glass instead of the fashionably spending eom part (my bad?). No change with the ash door open, althogh I've never figured out why to do that unless you're checking the fresh air in or something as the stove is going to draw air from where ever. Then I took a piece of tinfoil, rolled it in a stick like tube and blocked the fresh in inlet. Bingo, blow torch, perfect flame like I remember day one three years ago. Dirty glass in minutes, but great flame. So what now? Start replacing/checking gaskets such as the pot and blower? Replace my miser door gasket with the oem tadpole? Thanks, happy Friday everyone.


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## jtp10181 (Jan 26, 2008)

Have you ever taken the burn pot out? I have been told by Quad that often times once removec you have to replace the gasket on it. Also make sure its down TIGHT.


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## Czech (Jan 26, 2008)

OK, problem solved. Long story! Remember my other thread about replacing the door gasket with regular gasket rope instead of the expensive eom gasket from Quad? Well, first off I replaced it with 5/8" instead of the 3/4" that the oem tadpole is, but I don't think that was too big off a deal because the door seemed to close tight regardless. It still bugged me, so I replaced it again, yes the cheapy 3/4" rope, not the oem tadpole. In doing so, I noticed that the window gasket wasn't the best on the sides, so I patched that up thinking maybe that was the deal. Put it back together, better but not great. I starting thinking about the air wash again, the gap seemed way to big to me, then it dawned on me that the gap would change with the thickness of the glass gasket, thinner gasket, bigger gap. I took the wash baffle off, did a little bend job in a vise to increase the angle so the gap between the glass and the baffle was smaller. All I can say is WOW! It's now like looking at the sun when the stove is running, and the glass has never stayed cleaner this long. Too bad Quad doesn't make the baffle adjustable, although mine now is! Just thought I'd share, note that my stove is out of warranty, I wouldn't modify otherwise.


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## quadraman (Jan 28, 2008)

Gotz...Amazing what a little creativity and ad"vise" (haha) can do.   I finally realized how important it is to clean the stove really really well.  Might be what has been causing some of my issues.  I thought I was cleaning often enough but over the weekend I took the stove appart and did a good cleaning and WOW what a difference.  I have my new stove back plus everything shines nice.  At least for now.  I also have been trying different pellets.  Found a really good pellet called "wood pellet company"  they are out of western PA.  Really nice burning pellets and I don't seem to use as many as I was with the fire side ultra or the barefoot.  Thanks for all the advice everyone.  Certainly nice learning all of this information.


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