The guys have really jumped on this one! I guess it's burn season and everyone is out of hibernation. DexterDay and several others, as they said, open the feed all the way and keep the stove on low. What that gets you is max feed, albeit for shorter time each cycle, lower combustion air and lower circulating air. That keeps the noise down but I just went by the book. As suggested already, set your flame height AVERAGE to 4-6" on HIGH and then you can lower the temp setting.
That being said, with you cycling on and off on your circulating fan, you seem to have a feed problem either from extra long pellets, something obstructing the auger or a problem with the auger motor. Quads are notorious for having their feed motors occasionally running backwards, which screws up your feed. Usually this is with older stoves. I don't remember anyone having the problem with a new one; however, the fix is a cheap one. Your dealer should have a 'capacitor jumper' that you can put between the auger motor and the wiring going to it. Simple unplug and insert it.
I had a feed problem with one of mine right out of the box. An aluminum warning plate in the pellet hopper fell off and jambed in the auger at the top of the chute, restricting flow. I also had a couple of plastic 'peanuts' up there as well. An inspection mirror and a flashlight shining up the chute should show if anything is up there besides the auger.
We all cannot stress ENOUGH that the thermocouple MUST contact the end of the ceramic tube. From what I've seen, the actual length into the pot is not all that critical. Just get the contact! In my case, the ceramic covers stick out 1 1/2" from the top inside edge of the pot, FYI.
Oh, I also had a 'Hot Wheel' sitting at the feed plate opening once so ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE!
You should see a red light come on in the control box at 200 degrees. This tells the auger motor to start cycling. At 600, the green light comes on and shuts off the igniter if it hasn't shut off already on its timer. On LOW, sometimes I will see it drop back to just the red light, as there isn't enough heat.
As far as mods go, B-MOD suggested the simple rewire to keep the fan on high all the time. I also posted on that along with a drawing. I also relocated the circulating fan snap disc on my INSERT up to the top corner where I found that the temperature got hotter sooner so that I could extract more heat. That's is several posts as well. Finally, several of us have increased the heat transfer by inserting springs and turbulators inside of the old fashioned smooth tubes for better heat transfer. Again, search for 'turbulator'. I would NOT even think about ANY of these mods until you can get your stove working properly.
Thanks for the input. As noted above, you and B-Mod are the Mod kings of the Castille/Santa Fe stoves. My Quad runs just like it, but the exhaust path is different (my exhaust goes down the channel with the heat exchange tubes, into a chamber below the tubes, where there is a clean-out plate and I can visually see The combustion blower on the other side) and also my burn pot doesn't have the cut out for the ceramic cover (and more BTU's obviously).
The snap disc location was something I read about. It may have been the location on the insert is different than on the freestanding? It may have also been the Classic Bay? I will try and search for it tomorrow.
