Castle feeding w/o vacuum

This AM stove ran out of pellets. Filled hopper and turned thermost up. Realized a few min later the stove is still feeding pellets w no fire. Opened up door - still feeding. So I shut it down, clean it (and took out all un burnt pellets), start it up - goes threw normal startup sequence which is good. however the stove willstill continue to feed if I open the door. New switch? still doesent explain the continuous feeding on startup prior.

 

So it keeps feeding ,but there is no Fire??

Maybe the ignitor is dead ?

 

Initially it did that - but continually fed beyond the normal (load- fire up - start feeding after it gets to temp). Now fired up fine but will keep feeding if I open the door and break the vacum

 

Sounds like the vac switch could be stuck closed delivering power with or with out vacuum.

 

can it be unstuck? or order new one?

 

I'd just get a new one. It probably has a bunch of sawdust in it if it's a Castile. I've seen it happen a number of times.

 

Un-plug unit, take a small mallet or end of screwdriver handle and give the switch a few raps. If unit feeds correctly after that, & stops when door is open, problem solved. If not, un-plug one lead on vac switch & try again.....if no pellets feed, the switch is probably bad.

 

I could see that fixing it depending on what the problem is. Look at it this way, at least it WILL feed and not the other way around haha

 

How long did you leave the door open as it continued to feed? I believe some stoves have a delay before the auger stops feeding.

 

That's true, my Vistaflame will continue to feed for about 5 seconds or so. I never actually tested this on a Quad as every vac switch problem I encountered was one that cut off the feed, not the other way around.

 

nah It always stopped feeding as soon as the door was open.

Still odd how it was noticed that the stove continually fed when I switched on the thermostat. would have just overflowed the pot. then with a little cleaning - just went away .....\

 

Usually a constant feed issue on a Quad is a control box unless it stopped. The control box definitely wont fix itself. Maybe it just needed your tender touch

Maybe you had a big clinker in there and it did fire up for long enough to convince the thermocouple there was a fire so it kept feeding for a while? These things can be hard to figure out over the internet sometimes though....

 

I'd prefer that it not fail closed, but that is just me.

 

If you are at home and it's cold, I'd disagree. Of course you could always jump it but FIXING it is the best bet. Always bustin my balls Smokey lol. Quads aren't very prone to hopper fires, in fact I've never seen it happen in over a decade of working on them.

 

I don't care, a failed closed vacuum switch is no longer a safety. If you need to bypass one to check out things fine.

There should be a backup heating system to take the load if needed.

Search outside your experience sphere.

 

Can't we all just get along?

 

Grumpy old bear, some people don't like running electric baseboard and paying 500 a month to heat a house that can be heated with 100 bucks worth of pellets. I didn't say it SHOULDN'T be fixed, in fact I suggested a new vac switch....

 

On this no way Jose.

 

That is correct I'm a grumpy old bear who has seen a lot of fuel through heating systems. NG, Propane, Oil, K1, coal, and wood with steam, forced and gravity hot air, and forced hot water. Sometimes using two or more at a time.

 

Glad that the experts joined in now I can sit back and