Quadrafire Mt. Vernon AE Insert
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Everything runs more as it gets to temp quicker then on auto. Auto slows down the closer it gets to set temp. I highly recommend that you read your manual, as there are a lot of bells and whistles on this style stove, that you need to know about.Such as quiet and normal fan speed. High elevation setting. What certain components do, etc. Stay warm. kap
Kap I am now sending an update to you after all our exchanges. First let me say thank you again for all your comments and suggestions. After you and I last communicated and I set my flame height adjustment on -5, everything seemed to be fine. Now it appears I am back to the same trouble.
Stove starts but I don't think it ignites fast enough as in the past. The fire does finally get slowly going but then the system gets to feeding corn into the burn pot such that it does not allow the fire to really build so it kind of smothers what is burning and then forms a large clinker in the very bottom of the pot. If the fire does not get going good enough the stove finally shuts down and the burn pot is full of unburned corn. Is it possible that some of the corn I bought this year is bad? Remember I replaced my ignitor and I also replace the burn pot thermocouple. What should I do now?
Stove starts but I don't think it ignites fast enough as in the past. The fire does finally get slowly going but then the system gets to feeding corn into the burn pot such that it does not allow the fire to really build so it kind of smothers what is burning and then forms a large clinker in the very bottom of the pot. If the fire does not get going good enough the stove finally shuts down and the burn pot is full of unburned corn. Is it possible that some of the corn I bought this year is bad? Remember I replaced my ignitor and I also replace the burn pot thermocouple. What should I do now?
Use a small mirror and a flashlight, and look in the bottom of the pot at the igniter slit. Make sure there is no clinker pc. blocking the slit, preventing a fire from starting soon enough. And are you sure you installed the igniter correctly? And you could have some high moisture corn. If you live near an elevator, you can take some to them and have it tested. Another thing you can do is try a bag of pellets, or some different corn, and see how it works. Just make sure to change fuel setting. Also make sure the firepot thermocouple is touching the inside end of cover. And when you mess with these, you have to be careful how much you bend them as it can crack the wire coating, and cause issues Also, when you got the new igniter, was it a 380 watt one, or the 300 watt? The 300 watt is only for pellets. The 300 watt has black wires. And be sure you are on corn setting. Stay in touch. kap
Good evening Kap,
Update since our last communication. No clinker blocking ignitor slit at bottom of pot. Ignitor is installed correctly as far as I know. Can it be installed wrong? Yes it is the 380 watt ignitor. Thermocouple porcelin cover is pushed all the way on the thermocouple. I am still thinking a few bags of this corn is high in moisture. Never have had this problem in the past and for most of this winter the corn has been just fine. Have alwasy used the same supplier in maryland for my corn. Will try to get the stove burning long enough to burn the hopper out of corn and try a bag of wood pellets. I have taken a photo of what the burn pot and feed shoot looks like when it is blocked. Have you ever seen this before? This is very frustrating to me so I hope I can solve this problem without having to call a service person. Many thanks as always.
Update since our last communication. No clinker blocking ignitor slit at bottom of pot. Ignitor is installed correctly as far as I know. Can it be installed wrong? Yes it is the 380 watt ignitor. Thermocouple porcelin cover is pushed all the way on the thermocouple. I am still thinking a few bags of this corn is high in moisture. Never have had this problem in the past and for most of this winter the corn has been just fine. Have alwasy used the same supplier in maryland for my corn. Will try to get the stove burning long enough to burn the hopper out of corn and try a bag of wood pellets. I have taken a photo of what the burn pot and feed shoot looks like when it is blocked. Have you ever seen this before? This is very frustrating to me so I hope I can solve this problem without having to call a service person. Many thanks as always.
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How do you test the thermocouple? I have a friend who has a device to test it. He does not get home till Saturday though. Is what you see in the photo caused by a bad thermocouple or could it be the corn?
Pull the wire harness off the control board. Put probes in ends. Heat thermocouple. If it produces millivolts, it is good. If it has continuity, it is good. Make sure connector on board is seated properly. And make sure the latch is towards the drop tube tcouple, to be installed correctly. The corn in pot could be caused by either one. And did you verify that you were on corn setting? kap
Kap, the stove is on the corn setting. WHen you say to make sure the latch is towards the drop tube thermocouple, what do you mean? And where is the drop tube thermocouple and what is its function
The firepot thermocouple wire harness, where it plugs into control board. The latch on it should face the wire harness of the drop tube thermocouple. Have you been able to manipulate the feed by raising the hopper lid, to stop feed, so stove will run? kap
Good morning,
O.K., I know the latch on the plug does face the drop tube thermocouple plug so that is installed correctly. Actually the stove ran last night until I went to bed. I have tried what you say about raising the hopper lid to stop the feed but most times when the fire is acting up it has already gone into shutdown mode - that is when I find a large clinker in the bottom of the pot. The clinker is not hard but is a big ball sometimes of burning corn. This is what is leading me to believe some of this corn has a high moisture content. Sometimes it happens and sometimes it does not.
O.K., I know the latch on the plug does face the drop tube thermocouple plug so that is installed correctly. Actually the stove ran last night until I went to bed. I have tried what you say about raising the hopper lid to stop the feed but most times when the fire is acting up it has already gone into shutdown mode - that is when I find a large clinker in the bottom of the pot. The clinker is not hard but is a big ball sometimes of burning corn. This is what is leading me to believe some of this corn has a high moisture content. Sometimes it happens and sometimes it does not.
Ya. Would still take some to a coop and have it tested for moisture. Be nice to try some corn you know is right moisture content. I have burned 17% in mine. It didn't like it, but it didn't act up either. You didn't get any error codes? Running and not running could still be something up with thermocouple too possibly. Won't rule it out yet at this point. Like I posted before, you have to be careful how much you bend the wires. They can be cracked and still not pop an error code up. kap
When cleaning your burn pot, if stove has been off for some time, do you find the residue kind of gooey that you scrape off?
Lap update Saturday morning. Stove ran all day yesterday with no issues. Got up this morning to find the stove trying to start. Found a very HARD clinker at the very bottom of the pot stopping it from igniting. Removed clinker, presently on start up.
Will send another update this evening.
Will send another update this evening.
Hi Kap,
It has been very cold here this weekend and the stove has run quite a bit. Pretty much on its own except when I have found a hard clinker in the pot blocking ignition. Now from this morning on the stove has attempted to start and has failed. Looks like the fire begins as normal but the corn is not burning completely enough by the time it starts putting more in the pot - which then forms a very large ball of hot burning corn that stays in a ball form and causes the stove to shut down and go into auto clean mode or sometimes the fire gets hot enough that the ball of corn breaks down and then the stove burns normally until the next time it goes into auto clean mode. I have no place to have my corn tested near here but I really suspect this is a corn issue. I am attempting to empty my hooper of corn and get some hardwood pellets. My suspicion is that the pellets will give me no problem but I will surely get back to you with the results. Thanks again for all your feedback an suggestions!
It has been very cold here this weekend and the stove has run quite a bit. Pretty much on its own except when I have found a hard clinker in the pot blocking ignition. Now from this morning on the stove has attempted to start and has failed. Looks like the fire begins as normal but the corn is not burning completely enough by the time it starts putting more in the pot - which then forms a very large ball of hot burning corn that stays in a ball form and causes the stove to shut down and go into auto clean mode or sometimes the fire gets hot enough that the ball of corn breaks down and then the stove burns normally until the next time it goes into auto clean mode. I have no place to have my corn tested near here but I really suspect this is a corn issue. I am attempting to empty my hooper of corn and get some hardwood pellets. My suspicion is that the pellets will give me no problem but I will surely get back to you with the results. Thanks again for all your feedback an suggestions!
Good morning Kap,
Since we last wrote I have had off and on issues of the same nature. I have been trying to use up my corn before picking up hardwood pellets.
I have thoroughly cleaned the stove including the exhaust fan. Additionally I have taken the flue coupling off and vacuumed out the bottom of the flu to make sure there was no blockage there.
Still have same issue. Stove starts, fire lights in SSLOW, when it shifts to SSMED it continues to add corn and it seems the corn does not burn fully or fast enough causing the pot to overfill and create those big black balls of corn. Heat output is still on negative 5. What do you recommend I do now
Since we last wrote I have had off and on issues of the same nature. I have been trying to use up my corn before picking up hardwood pellets.
I have thoroughly cleaned the stove including the exhaust fan. Additionally I have taken the flue coupling off and vacuumed out the bottom of the flu to make sure there was no blockage there.
Still have same issue. Stove starts, fire lights in SSLOW, when it shifts to SSMED it continues to add corn and it seems the corn does not burn fully or fast enough causing the pot to overfill and create those big black balls of corn. Heat output is still on negative 5. What do you recommend I do now
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