Quadra-Fire Trekker feed issues overnight

[WarrenZ.]

I'll definitely have to look into this. What did you use to connect the wires together? I'll have to double check where that piece is holding my exhaust sensor down.

I used a very small piece of aluminum, placed into the connector on the wires that goes toward the board. I put a small piece of electric tape on the end. You probably could use a small sliver of standard aluminum foil. Be careful not to bend the pins as the connector and pins are quite small.

I read a post on this forum going back 11 years (link provided) where someone with a Mt Vernon was having a similar problem with their hopper door switch shutting down their stove (see comment #6 in particular): Hopper Switch Shutting Down Stove

The exhaust sensor does a lot more than just provide "proof of fire" to the circuit board. It provides periodic information that the board uses to set up how the stove runs. Since I moved the probe further out from the clamp and centered it on the exhaust fan housing I've lowered the "Heat Level" to 3, tuning still at 7, with no feed errors. The stove is capable of getting much hotter now and "Heat Level 5" was too warm! It's nice to know that that extra heat is available if/when it becomes necessary.

From the Trekker manual:

"The exhaust probe is a temperature-sensing device attached to the exhaust blower housing via screw and clamp. It provides sympathetic exhaust temperature feedback to the control board. In turn, the control board uses this information to adjust its heat-output systems for best performance."

 

[Kory]

My Trekker is 2 months old doing the same exact thing, throws feed error 2 times a day.
As of tonight I have taped a small piece of insulation over the ESP probe to prevent the smaller fan blades outside of the exhaust blower from blowing room air onto the sensor. Stoves already running a lot different and better. If this work I’ll ask Quadra-Fire how to make a more permanent fix

 

[SidecarFlip]

I have my own opinion of hopper door safety switches but I'll keep it to myself. Have the same opinion of Cal Rod igniters too.

 

[WarrenZ.]

My Trekker is 2 months old doing the same exact thing, throws feed error 2 times a day.
As of tonight I have taped a small piece of insulation over the ESP probe to prevent the smaller fan blades outside of the exhaust blower from blowing room air onto the sensor. Stoves already running a lot different and better. If this work I’ll ask Quadra-Fire how to make a more permanent fix

I have by and large solved my feed errors. I recently changed pellets and had to lower my tuning number down to stop the feed errors. I’ll try what you’re saying regarding the exhaust temperature sensor if I have problems in the future. This stove seems very sensitive and throws feed errors very easily even though the problem is not directly feed related.

 

[HeyMistah]

Unfortunately there aren't to many pellet dealers where I live. I may have to do a rental truck and buy in CT again. I'll see if putting insulation over my probe helps.

 

[WarrenZ.]

Keep in mind that exhaust sensor is a safety device. It’s acting as the Thermocouple. It’s intent is to shut things down if there is no proof of fire. I would be careful about covering it or causing it to read incorrectly. I guess you could do it for testing purposes but make sure you are home and monitoring it while it’s in that condition. I simply slid exhaust sensor up out from under it’s retaining clip.

I have also found the stove requires tuning adjustments when changing pellets. I had to adjust my tuning from seven when burning Agway hardwood pellets to three when burning O’Malley’s power pellets. If the tuning isn’t set correctly you will get feed errors. Of course your mileage may vary.

 

[Vinelife]

Is this problem common ?? I mean have you guys heard that it is an issue with the Trekker ? I was thinking about pulling the trigger on one of these in near future, but I want to be sure i'm not getting into a chronic issue with it.

 

[WarrenZ.]

I don’t believe it’s common because not many people have weighed in here on the issue. I solved my problem by repositioning the temperature sensing probe on the combustion fan housing. No longer an issue. It’s important to dial the stove in for it to run correctly but that is common with all stoves. I do hope that anyone who is having ghost feed ours checks in here so we can see if it’s a design issue or not.

 

[Ssyko]

Any stove can have issues. First thing people should do is read their manual and learn the stove operations before it’s even fired up the first time. Know your cleaning requirements and search the web(usually end up here) for hidden areas to clean or procedures to aid in the cleaning process. 95% of stove problems is the air flow through the stove and vent pipe. If you decide on a quad you are getting a quality stove. Keep it clean and it will keep you warm for years.

 

[WarrenZ.]

The Trekker is a Mt Vernon E2 with Bluetooth. It actually is labeled a Trekker and Mt Vernon E2-C on the label on the rear. Mt Vernon is tried and true. I set my heat level to four out of five and adjust the tuning adjustment until I get a bright active flame that ranges from 6 inches to 9 inches above the top of the fire pot. I do not adjust the flame height until after the stove has warmed up which is approximately 10 minutes or so after it ignites. If you evaluate the tuning level right after she ignites you will not get an accurate adjustment. The flame does modulate up and down so you go for the average being between 6 and 9 inches. It may drop slightly below for a few moments or rise above for a few moments as well. The Trekker’s adjustments are extremely simple. Just heat level and tuning value. The CPU takes care of everything else. That is why it is so important that the exhaust temperature probe be positioned correctly. It constantly provides temperature data to the CPU which then adjusts feed and air rates. And of course you have two snap discs a vacuum switch and a hopper switch that need to be in their correct mode for everything to run correctly in addition to the daily weekly monthly and yearly maintenance. The Quadra Fire Trekker is a great stove, but if it’s not happy with something it is designed to shut down until you adjust it. Once dialed in you may still have to adjust it if you change pellet brands or if your favorite manufacture changes the recipe from year to year. Part of the fun for me of owning a stove is to work on dialing it in for best performance.

 

[Rob Mosher]

My trecker is doing the exact same thing, only 6 months old, but dealer is a long way away..... trying to resolve the problem my self... I adjusted the exhaust temp probe.... works a little better, but still getting feed error, but only in the morning it seems to only do it from a cold start up, almost seems like it doesn’t see enough heat in the exhaust?
Any other suggestions? Can anyone send pics of where they put the jumper across the wires for the vacuum switch ?

thank you
Rob

 

[Vinelife]

We shouldn't have to adjust the probe, it should come from factory working fine, this is a problem and quad needs to fix it.

 

[TrekkerBluetooth]

The Trekker is a Mt Vernon E2 with Bluetooth. It actually is labeled a Trekker and Mt Vernon E2-C on the label on the rear. Mt Vernon is tried and true. I set my heat level to four out of five and adjust the tuning adjustment until I get a bright active flame that ranges from 6 inches to 9 inches above the top of the fire pot. I do not adjust the flame height until after the stove has warmed up which is approximately 10 minutes or so after it ignites. If you evaluate the tuning level right after she ignites you will not get an accurate adjustment. The flame does modulate up and down so you go for the average being between 6 and 9 inches. It may drop slightly below for a few moments or rise above for a few moments as well. The Trekker’s adjustments are extremely simple. Just heat level and tuning value. The CPU takes care of everything else. That is why it is so important that the exhaust temperature probe be positioned correctly. It constantly provides temperature data to the CPU which then adjusts feed and air rates. And of course you have two snap discs a vacuum switch and a hopper switch that need to be in their correct mode for everything to run correctly in addition to the daily weekly monthly and yearly maintenance. The Quadra Fire Trekker is a great stove, but if it’s not happy with something it is designed to shut down until you adjust it. Once dialed in you may still have to adjust it if you change pellet brands or if your favorite manufacture changes the recipe from year to year. Part of the fun for me of owning a stove is to work on dialing it in for best performance.

Great info. I have a trekker with Bluetooth. This season it wants to startup and go to heat for 30-40 minutes and then calls for shutdown.
It does 1 purge and seems to be working great until it shuts down.
I started monitoring the exhaust probe temp...it stays between 200 and 260 degrees F.
What is the proof of heat temperature for this thermocouple?
I either have a bad thermocouple or bad board. Why does the stove go into a good heat cycle, purge, and shutdown during the 2nd heat cycle.
Hoping the thermocouple is worn out?
Thanks.

 

[WarrenZ.]

Great info. I have a trekker with Bluetooth. This season it wants to startup and go to heat for 30-40 minutes and then calls for shutdown.
It does 1 purge and seems to be working great until it shuts down.
I started monitoring the exhaust probe temp...it stays between 200 and 260 degrees F.
What is the proof of heat temperature for this thermocouple?
I either have a bad thermocouple or bad board. Why does the stove go into a good heat cycle, purge, and shutdown during the 2nd heat cycle.
Hoping the thermocouple is worn out?
Thanks.

Hi. I believe the probe needs to reach 140 degrees to establish proof of fire.

The stove always purges prior to a shutdown, including when shutting down due to an error. Pellet feed doesn't complete stop during purge, it only slows down. That allows the stove to continue to heat immediately after the purge cycle is complete. It's not that the stove is shutting down due to the purge, the purge occurred because the stove was told to shut down.

The plenum temp on my stove varies from 145 - 155 degs after running for 15 minutes, using an instant-read thermometer. Diagnostics shows an exhaust temp of 225 degs.

This is our third season with the Trekker and it's been running perfectly without any errors since October. Realigning the probe on the exhaust plenum and cleaning inside the plenum last season seemed to clear it up. I also cleaned the probe with a very slightly abrasive ScotchGard pad to buff it up a bit. Quad also says to ensure the wire from the probe to the board is not against any hot surfaces as it makes its journey from probe to board.

My settings are Heat Level: 4, Tuning: 6. This provides for a very nice, medium height active flame that isn't "blow-torchy". I vent with a short run straight "out the back".

Remember, Flame Too High means not enough air, and Flame Too Low means too much air!

I set the thermostat for a -2 "float" as this seems to achieve my set temp and maintain it longer without the stove shutting down and starting up frequently.

The probe is part SRV7000-669. About $25 if you decide to replace it with OEM part.

Feed errors could also be due to the vacuum switch (door open, bad gasket, clogged feed tube, ash tray door open,) or hopper door switch (left open too long). I keep my hopper fairly full because it needs quite a few pellets in the hopper to "seal off" the drop tube to prevent errors associated with the vacuum switch.

Keep us posted!

 

[BradJ]

I have a Trekker as well. Three times now the stove has gone out while filling up the hopper. I would like to bypass the lid sensor as you did. Could you give more detailed instructions on how you did this? Pictures of the connectors would be great as well.

I just want to bypass the lid sensor only - not the other safety features on the same circuit.

Thanks!

 

[BradJ]

I have a Trekker as well. Three times now the stove has gone out while filling up the hopper. I would like to bypass the lid sensor as you did. Could you give more detailed instructions on how you did this? Pictures of the connectors would be great as well.

I just want to bypass the lid sensor only - not the other safety features on the same circuit.

Thanks!

Replying to my own post to say I found the connector and used a computer motherboard jumper to bypass the magnetic lid sensor.

Thanks for your description in the previous post!

 

[WarrenZ.]

Replying to my own post to say I found the connector and used a computer motherboard jumper to bypass the magnetic lid sensor.

Thanks for your description in the previous post!

Sorry not getting back to you Brad. I thought if you reread the thread you would figure it out. Just make sure you don’t have small children or develop any problems defeating that switch.
Feed errors are a catchall. Stove is working wonderfully this year. Maybe it needs a few tons of pellets under his belt. Either way I couldn’t be happier.
In my situation turning the heat level down to four seemed to make for a better choreography between the amount of pellets and the frequency they are delivered to maintain the fire at the proper temperature.

 

[WarrenZ.]

Running Green Supreme pellets this year from Home Depot and they have been great! I think Lignetics really did a good job with this label. Lots of heat, clean glass, no clinkers and no errors.

 

[TrogdorTehBurninator]

I have a Quadra Fire Trekker also...2nd season of use and this issue just started for me....time of day is totally random...but always the same thing: On start when thermostat calls for heat it'll run for 10-15 minutes normally as expected and then go thru the shutdown cycle and throw the empty hopper error code. Hopper is not empty, I even removed the auger and stuck a shop vac hose into the tube and cleaned out every single pellet and refilled it. How do I fix this?

 

[TrogdorTehBurninator]

I have a Quadra Fire Trekker also...2nd season of use and this issue just started for me....time of day is totally random...but always the same thing: On start when thermostat calls for heat it'll run for 10-15 minutes normally as expected and then go thru the shutdown cycle and throw the empty hopper error code. Hopper is not empty, I even removed the auger and stuck a shop vac hose into the tube and cleaned out every single pellet and refilled it. How do I fix this?

My dealer told me to try adjusting the trim to +2 ...which I guess means dumping more pellets. I'll give that a try and see what happens.

 

[TrogdorTehBurninator]

After adjusting the trim +2, I did not receive any empty hopper issues over the past 16 hours. Hopefully no more surprises since we are going to have a very cold weekend.

 

[steevo]

i have the trekker as well, I converted mine to the newer thermostat and controller ( ditched the bluetooth) i actually thought the bluetooth was the issue with the stove randomly stopping and feed errors ect......

I figured out it was the hopper lid switch ( the white porcelin or whatever coating it is seems to stop the top from sitting 100 percent perfect of bumped) .

I duct taped a small metal washer to the hopper switch to see if it was the problem, and boom... stove has been perfect since. eventually i will bypass the switch when I take stove fully apart ( have no kids, and wife knows not to stick hand in hopper) but for now, if anyone has this issue, a small flat metal washer duct taped to switch works perfect.