I went with a pellet stove because the exhaust system was much cheaper then running stove pipe up two stories on my house (I now know I could of ran a power vent). I also went with one because of the ease of use. Finally I hope to only be living in my current house another 2 years at which time I will invest in another form of heating once I invest in another home ... possibility coal or wood but until then I will enjoy only having to empty the ash tray once a week and the semi dust free bags of pellets.

Hello All,

The main reason I was thinking of adding coal to the unit was to help increase the heat while running the unit on low. Basically I was able to feed coal into the burn pot by hand and it did burn but I did not like the idea of the increased heat in the burn pot. I also did not think it was a good idea to use the auger to feed the coal because I think it would greatly increase the chances of a auger jam in my option.

I spent a lot of time over the past year getting my stove working and replaced almost everything so I did not see it being worth breaking something on the stove while trying to burn coal. I feel it is a better idea to buy a extra ton of pellets. You can also modify the heat output with the feed adjustment and also by adjusting the computer. I started the season with the stove's computer on the standard setting so I could get more heat on the lower setting. Then as it got colder I turned the computers feed rate down to -10% so I could run it on the higher settings to get more air coming out of the unit and limit the number of pellets. Then when it got really cold I returned the computer setting to the factory setting.

I usually have my stove running on 3rd setting during the day and the 2nd setting at night. The stove is heating my entire home ... Right now it is about 30 outside ... it is about 78 in my family room, 70 in the kitchen, and about 60 on the second floor (I like it cold in my bedroom).

My house is about 2000 sf and I am on track to burn about 6 tons of pellets but may need another ton to get through the end of March. That a lot of pellets but it is more than half the cost of heating with oil and it warm in my family room.

Merry Christmas to everyone else as well...Hope everyone's stove is burning hot and that 2012 is filled with happiness and success.

Does anyone have any modifications that would allow you to increase the fan blower fan speed so it can be adjusted without adjusting the feed rate?

Has anyone ever burn coal in pellet stove. I have seen coal pellets being made on youtube but never seen them for sale. I would assume that you could add a cup or two of rice coal to the burn pot to add some BTU's or is there a problem I'm not seeing?

Hey Kap,

I had the heat deflector off and cleaned but it appears that the scrapper is binding on the tubes. I am thinking that one could possibly be bent. The scraper has been jammed since I bought the stove last year and I have come to the conclusion that it will never move more then 4 inches.

Is there a way to adjust the exhaust pressure on the Mt Vernon?? I currently have a really healthy flame and could probably lose some exhaust pressure and keep a good burn.

Also I was wondering if there is any way to free the heat ex-changer cleaning slide. One of them works just fine but the other one only moves about a 1/8th of the way. It appears that the scrapper is binding on the tubes.

Thanks

Hello Everyone,

I have noticed that when my stove is running on the higher settings that I am getting a lot of hot embers coming out of the exhaust. I have the exhaust running straight out of the back of the stove and going outside. The embers are coming from when the stove drops pellets while it is running. I can see the hot embers getting sucked right out of the fire box and then coming out the exhaust.

I took off the dryer vent looking end on the end of my exhaust this weekend and added a "T" fitting with a cap on the bottom and Chinese hat on top thinking the "T" fitting and cap on top would help to stop the embers from coming out.

I would assume that raising the exhaust would help but I don't want to put the exhaust closer to windows in my house. Most of the embers stop glowing before they hit the ground but some don't. I am just starting to get worried about possibility causing a fire outside. Is this normal or should I raise the exhaust more?

Thanks Matt

Hey Mark,

I would say it is definity worth the investment. I grew up in a house with a coal stove and comparing the amount of work to keep a coal stove going vs. a pellet stove can't even compare. I have a older quarda fire probably like yours and I love it. I have replaced a lot of parts but mainly due to my lack of knowledge with the wiring on these systems ..... but on the up side I have a lot of spare parts. This unit also throws some serious heat. I am sure the guys on here can help you get it back up and running.

Hello Everyone,

I have been burning for a few weeks on and off and I have been having a issue when I shut my stove off. The exhaust fan stops running before the ash stops smoking and then the smoke builds up and leaks into my house. Is there anyway to adjust the lenght of time that the exhaust motor runs after shut down.

Also I was wondering if anyone has had a issue with a new exhaust motor making and squeaking noise during start up and then a almost humming noise while it is running. Mine did this for about a week or so and then stopped. I called the dealer that I got the unit from and they said they would not warranty the part since 90 days has passed since I bought it in July (lesson learned on buying parts in the middle of the summer).

Finally does anyone one have a link to the Quadra fire owner manuals site. I can never seem to find it and I am trying to figure out what the feed rates per hour are for the different settings on the stove.

Thanks Matt

Hey Everyone,

I know this question is well outside the focus of this site however just seeing if anyone has experience working with oil burning furnaces. My oil burning furnace has a summer winter hook up for the hot water in my house. We have been losing hot water pressure in my house for the past 6 months and I started checking around to see what the problem is.

On the furnace where the cold water goes into the stove I have plenty of water pressure but where the hot water comes out I have very little pressure. When I open the value I have good pressure for a second and then it drops to almost nothing. I am almost positive that the coil is clogged. I tried flushing the coil with lime away and I did get some build up to come out but now I have even less pressure. Just checking to see if anyone has any suggestions on fixing this problem. If the coil does need to be replaced does anyone think this would be a homeowner fix or am I going to have to hire a HVAC tech.

I'm half temped to just abandon the furnance and get a electric water heater but I am open to suggestions.

thanks matt

Hey Everyone,

I got it back up and running .... I went over all of the connections on the unit and I still had the same problem .... auger would turn for a second and stop and the igniter would not get hot. I finally broke down and got a new control box. Hooked it up and still did not work but it was flashing a new code for a issue with the thermocouple. I started checking the thermocouple in the stove to make sure it had contact but nothing. Then while I was crawing around the side of the stove I saw it. One of the wires running into the thermocouple had come disconnected from the butt connector. Hooked it back up, threw the old control unit into the stove and she fired right up .... a bitter sweet victory.

If anyone is thinking of replacing their exhaust motor to cut down on noise it would say don't even think twice. I can't even tell the unit is running now and before it was so loud it was almost impossible to have a conversation in the room while the unit was on.

Hey Jeff,

I had the control box on 2 which is for running more pellets then the standard setting 1. Everything works if I run it through test mode. I have had a lot of the stove apart so I need to double check everything to make sure nothing got disconnected by accident. I will definity keep you in mind for testing out my control box if I still have problems after I work on the beast again. Thanks for the offer too

I had a capacitor laying around so I hooked it up and the same thing. Turn the stove on and it turns for a second and then stops. Then turns again about tens seconds later and stops. I have also noticed that when the unit turns on the igniter starts to heat up right away and then stops. Must be only working for a second or two because you can hold it in your hand .... it starts to feel warm and then it cools down. Could these problems have anything to do with the wires on the exhaust fan. I have a white wire on the left and the blue wire on the right if you are looking at it from the left side of the stove.

Oh well time to relax .... hope everyone is enjoying the 4th of July. God Bless America

Hey Kappel,

Thanks for getting back to me so fast .... I really need to get my stove running because they are calling for it only to get up to 90 today and I am worried I may not be able to sweat enough I tested the auger and I got 2.5 between the red and white and the white and black. When I turn the stove on the auger turns for a few seconds then stops for probably 10 seconds and then turns again for a few seconds and stops.

Also the igniter does not heat up at all during this process.

I hooked the old auger up to the unit and same situation runs stops runs stops then nothing.

Both of the units have capacitors on them.

Fustration level is growing with this stove....I just replaced the blower motor to quiet it down and now something else is not working. I am getting close to having replaced all of the parts on the unit or having them in stock because of I don't know what is wrong and I guess. Oh well thank goodness it is not even close to being cold out.

Hello Everyone and happy 4th of July

I know it is way to hot to be talking about burning pellets but I am having a little issue getting my stove ready for the up coming winter. I just replaced the exhaust motor, the vac. switch and now when I turn the unit on the exhaust motor comes on .... the auger turners for a few seconds and stops .... then a few seconds later it turns again for a second or two and then stops. The igniter is not heating up either. I replaced that too.

I took the control box out and set it to test. On that setting the exhaust motor ran, the auger turned, and the igniter heated up.

I jumped the vac. switch to make sure that was not the issue. I also jumped the snap disc (1 and 2) and the problem continues.

I did get the unit to burn last night by lighting the pellets myself and everything ran except it would not drop pellets even though it was calling for heat.

I just replaced the auger motor in March so I know that is not the issue I also cleaned out the auger area to make sure it was not jammed..

I am starting to think it my be the control box but I am not sure. Everything on the stove worked fine 2 months ago when I used it last and the exhaust motor was just replaced due to the loudness of the old one. Any suggestions?

I have not seen much of a rise in the price of pellets in PA but I think that people are planning for high heating cost this winter and are making plans for it now. My parents just got their oil tank filled at the tune of 980 dollars! They are now ready to buy a pellet stove. I am almost ready to install a hotwater heater so I can totally get rid of the oil burner. For the cost of one tank of oil I could buy and install a new hotwater heater. Doesn't make sense to me.

Anyone know how to make a steam engine that runs on corn to power my car?

Thanks for the heads up Jeff .... I was ready to get a fan from the Jeff guy but I think I will do some more research.

Thanks Binford .... I was just looking at that same listing. I am glad to hear a good review about this guy on ebay. I have gotten all of my parts so far from a stove shop about 45 minutes from my home. They are not close but nice to deal with when you are in a bind but thankfully I got some time to shop around now.

Kap,

Just to make sure I only have two fans on my stove. The exhaust fan which is located on the back left hand side of the unit and it begins to run as soon as the unit turns on and then the conv. fan which blows the hot air out of the unit. I can't see any other fan on the unit but I want to make sure I am not missing anything.

Also I was wondering if you have any suggestions on the most efficient way to run a stove.

I am planning on burning pellets this winter due to the corn pricing being so high.

When I used the stove in March I ran it 24/7. While calculating my pellet usage for the winter I really started to see that if turned the stove off for 3 or 4 hours a night while I am sleeping I would save a lot of pellets. My concern with it shutting down every night is am I going to go through igniters like there is no tomorrow. Also I am worring that the ash build up in the burn pot may prevent the unit from lighting.

Finally I just want to know what the safest way would be. If I shut it off at night I would be using a programable termostat so the relighting and shut down would occur while my family and I sleep. Just want to be safe.

Thanks