Quadrafire Santa Fe won't drop pellets. Tried everything I can think of.

  • Active since 1995, Hearth.com is THE place on the internet for free information and advice about wood stoves, pellet stoves and other energy saving equipment.

    We strive to provide opinions, articles, discussions and history related to Hearth Products and in a more general sense, energy issues.

    We promote the EFFICIENT, RESPONSIBLE, CLEAN and SAFE use of all fuels, whether renewable or fossil.
  • Super Cedar firestarters 30% discount Use code Hearth2024 Click here

glassmaterial0

New Member
Feb 25, 2021
1
Washington
My grandma owns a Quadrafire Santa Fe wood pellet that hasn't been working since several years ago so I thought I'd tried to fix it. Main problem is the aug motor won't turn to drop the pellets. When I plug in the power, the blue light comes on for a bit and the red call light turns on. I can feel the igniter turn on and hear a low buzzing noise which I think is the igniter. No fans turn on either.

I've done some googling and tried pretty much everything suggested. I first swapped out snap disc 1 and 3 (didn't know where 2 was at first). Then I swapped out to a new aug motor. Found out where snap disc 2 was and switched that out. I also blew out the small hose going to the vacuum switch and even tried bypassing the vacuum switch itself but still nothing. There's only maybe 2 cups of wood pellets in the feeding tube so don't think it's jammed. Thermostat is up all the way.

Only thing left is to vacuum the pit area and vacuum the exhaust vent in the front but after that I'm completely stuck. Any suggestions would be helpful as I want to finish this since I've already dropped some money into fixing it.
 
Have you pulled the auger? After sitting for a number of years,
the pellets will break down into sawdust & become impacted
in the auger flutes. Vacuum out ALL the pellets & take a look at
the bottom of the auger. You may be able to see the pellet remnants.
 
When you first plug in the stove the combustion motor should start and run for 12min. Like Daksy posted give the whole stove a good thorough cleaning. Quadrafire website has all the manuals, download it and do all the maintenance requirements for daily monthly and yearly. Then try the stove. Let us know how you make out.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Former Farmer
If no fans are turning on, the low buzzing noise might be a frozen up combustion fan. Does the combustion fan spin freely?
 
Sounds like dry motor bearings to me. Time to take it apart and free up the motor bearings and oil them or replace them or replace the entire drive units.