For the Bixby stove, information on igniters, testing them, and remedies for frequent burnout are avail in the WIKI at forum.iburncorn.com/wiki/index.php/Bixby...ir_Pump_and_Igniters . Igniters aren't specificalized components, so some of this might apply to other brands.

Great link Corny. The pellet grill that had the igniter go bad was so badly designed when the igniter shorted the trace that feed current to the igniter vaporized off the board.The Triac(Solid state switch to turn on the igniter)shorted as well. The part to fix it is a $2 part. Fuses don't react fast enough in some cases to save the Triac. What is needed is fast acting electronics to save the board and the igniter and in the case of the air pump a device that can detect if the air line is plugged. I guess they want to keep the cost of the stove down and let the person pay for replacement parts when they have you hooked.

I've had my Mt.Vernon AE since if first came out in Oct 2006 and have had to put a new ingitor in every year.

It's been about a year may be a little longer since they exchanged my AE, had the igniter burn out this last weekend. the last one I had gave me fits, but the igniter lasted along time on that one, Go figure:woohoo:

I've had maybe 10 igniters burn( lost Count) out since owning my Quadra-Fire AE. But yesterday I was in the room when one went. It actually made a noise and arched to were I heard and saw it. This time it blew the 120v 15amp fuse in the control board. First time for everything I guess. Now I'm trying to locate the fuse so I can it up and running again.

Help! Looks like the igniter in my MT Vernon went out. I installed the stove 3 years ago and it's worked well. I Googled and found this site with some posts stating that replacing the igniter is easy. ...uh, I can't even find it on my stove. I pulled the ashpan and both right and left panels. I see the thermocouple on top of the firepot. Can't really see anything via the drawer for the ashpan. The self-cleaning mechanism is hidden on the roof of the drawer. What am I missing?

if you look on page 25 of your owners manual, it shows a picture of the pot. at the bottom front it shows the housing for the igniter. you have to lay on the floor to actually see it on the stove. there is a wing screw holding it in place. the most important thing is to feel the wires up from the igniter before taking it off to find where they hang in the hanger. this keeps them out of the way of the auto clean. also make sure to see how it goes into the housing. there is a little slit that the screw slides into, and make sure the washers are inside the housing for spacing. it takes a little bit to get the ends of the wires thru the small hole where they come out on the right side of the stove facing it. with the right panel off, you can see where the wires have spade connectors that just pull apart to replace the igniter. if you have any issues, just come on the forum and ask for help. stay in touch. kap

That's a big help. Found it. Thanks! I just couldn't see the igniter in the ashpan drawer. I did have to get flat on the floor and look up into the drawer. It's tucked up right in front of the drawer's lip. And it's got a fine coating of soot so it blends in. I just had the spatial relationship in my mind that the igniter was lower and farther back. The Mount Vernon manual pretty poorly describes the whole igniter assembly. I actually looked at other Quadrafire model manuals to try to get a sense of how things were put together before I posted my question. I probably should have checked the igniter for continuity this morning, but didn't have time. I'm just assuming the igniter is fried since it behaves like many other posts on this board describes. I'll just order a new igniter and replace it when it gets here.

Over all, I'm pleased with the stove. It's run faithfully and with no problems for 3 years as long as I keep it clean. When I installed it, I knew I'd be doing the repairs since I'm in the middle of nowhere. Figured I'd be doing more repairs,

yes, do the continuity test on it. it could be a fuse too. it pays to have a spare igniter around as they always seem to go out at the most inoportune time. that way, you can get back up and running while waiting for another igniter to come in to replace the spare. kap

Yep- no continuity on the igniter. So that does have to be replaced. According to the supplier, the igniter shipped today. With any luck, it'll be here tomorrow and my wife will happily have fire again on Thursday morning.

Thanks again for your help.