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Quadrafire 812-0261 Control Box.
This is an update to my posting made on 12-01-2015
The test box has been completed and all of the sketches needed to make a schematic are ready for compilation. It took about 5 minutes to repair my original control box. On one hand, this is great news. On the other, I am disappointed that I did not get to do any in depth troubleshooting. So I'm looking for another non-functioning 812-0261 control box. Please reply if you have one that you are willing to sell or would like me to try repairing.

Originally Posted by Kimmie

We have an older model quadra Fire stove. For two years it has been filling up with pellets til it overflows everyday. We had some one come out last year and do a thorough cleaning and check it out said it was fine but it did not fix the problem. So they sent another person put to basically do the same thing it did not fix the problem. Auger won't shut off and pellets build up in the bowl. This year I called the original person that put the stove in he said it could be the control box just in side the hopper we bought a new one and it did not work so we put the old one back in. It works but the bowl keeps over flowing with pellets. now what? The people here close by can't seem to get off their ass to help us out. Now I hope the company we bought the new part from will take it back for a refund.

You have to set the New control box up for your unit. the new control box should come with a piece of paper that will tell what setting the box should be on for your application/stove model

I have a Quadrafire 1100i pellet stove and the Control Box (812-0261) malfunctioned. Pantrol makes these controllers for Quadrafire. Being an Electronics Technician, I wanted to fix my existing box. Pantrol would not share a schematic for the unit so I had to replace the box. I decided to trace the connections on the control board, make my own schematic (almost done), and build a test box which will simulate the stove so that I can repair the original controller. Are there any other members of HVAC-Talk that have already done this ? It would be helpful to have someone to share notes with. I'm also curious to learn how close the controller for the 1200 series might be to that of the 1100i. I might be in the market to purchase a defective control box if someone has one on hand. It may then be possible to build the test box to accommodate both types of controllers. Pellet stoves, although an ingenious device, are not all that complicated. This is my first posting. When time permits, I hope to read through all the comments and see if I can shed some light on certain problems.

We have an older model quadra Fire stove. For two years it has been filling up with pellets til it overflows everyday. We had some one come out last year and do a thorough cleaning and check it out said it was fine but it did not fix the problem. So they sent another person put to basically do the same thing it did not fix the problem. Auger won't shut off and pellets build up in the bowl. This year I called the original person that put the stove in he said it could be the control box just in side the hopper we bought a new one and it did not work so we put the old one back in. It works but the bowl keeps over flowing with pellets. now what? The people here close by can't seem to get off their ass to help us out. Now I hope the company we bought the new part from will take it back for a refund.

Originally Posted by Crazyflame

On the quadra fire contour pellet stove there is a clear control box. On the box, it looks there is a variable resistor or some sort that can be turned with a flat head screw driver. What does it do? There are no stops and it spins infinitely.

Why are you playing with an electrical component you are not trained or qualified to touch? Please do humanity and stop tinkering. These things are not kids Christmas erector sets. BTW, you may have broken the box and voided the warranty. You should not be drilling any holes in any part of the appliance.

I myself suffer from the crazy flame in the fire pot as well as the rugular uncombusted fuel left over in the fire pot after the shut down cycle completes.

On the quadra fire contour pellet stove there is a clear control box. On the box, it looks there is a variable resistor or some sort that can be turned with a flat head screw driver. What does it do? There are no stops and it spins infinitely.

I have an older Castile insert and did experience the warped floor surface that the fire pot mounts to but you mentioned that you drilled out the opening fire pot door like the Castiles have. My Castile fire pot door does not have any holes drilled into it. Anyone know if this was a mod done on newer stoves...

First thing to check is the red light. If you turn the T-stat up the red light comes on? what happens if you then turn it back off within a few minutes?

I have the Santa Fe Insert for 2 months and have had trouble with over firing since day one. The dealer has replaced the control panel and that helped a little but still after the fire is on for a few hours it will over fire and will not stop feeding pellets even after thermostat is turned off, the red light will remain on even after I turn the darn thing off. The only way I can make it stop feeding is to open the top of the pellet bin and leave it open until stove cools down. When stove cools down the red light will finally go out. The dealer has been out twice and is stumped, he called Quadra Fire while at my house and the tech there said they'd never heard of this happening - which I find hard to believe after reading this forum. Does anyone have any idea what the problem is with this darn stove?

I am having the same problem as the above post, not sure how to post a query?

I have a Quadra Mt. Vernon installed in May 2009. The thermostat never worked properly & had to be replaced. Last year after less than 2 years the igniter failed, the installer returned & said that they were having so much problems with pellet stoves they will only install wood stoves now. I bought a replacement igniter because it took 3 weeks to get a replacement. Now less than a year later I have an ash pan full of unburned pellets again! Quadra don't appear to want callers because there is no phone # on the web site. I am very disappointed with Quadra & the dealer in PE Canada.

not sure how to post a question sorry if i high jacked your post.I have a quadra fire cb 1200 the unit runs for about 20 minutes then shuts off recently changed out thermal coupler. what are the possibilties of a defected part. the unit is cleaned out the auger is dropping pallets.the blower comes on when the temp is reached . coupler is touching the ceramic cap. all sugestions welcomed

Actually the holes in the floor are an upgrade that quadra fire does on newer pots. it seems to keep the burn pot cleaner at the bottom and really does little for the lazy flame problems these stoves are plagued with.
Yes, i cleaned my stove and therally clean my stove every day and even do a rattail brush clean once a week on the exhaust chamber. seems to help the jet engine noise but just a little... Unfortunately with the gray box feed rates, I am stuck with what I got, until if ever, I upgrade to the new box or get fed up and send them to the scrap pile. Dont get me wrong i dont hate quadra stoves and i dont have a bad taste in my mouth considering I paid next to nothing and i thought I would sell them. but the word is getting out and you cant sell these older stoves for any decent money around here anyway so I am stuck with them and might as well make them work the best that i can.
These issues should have been a warranty recall from day one, but the guy i got the stoves from, got tired of all the BS and spending money, after he didn't get any warranty from quadra fire and finally gave up and sold me his two stoves for $$$$ loss... he got a different stove and says he loves it, I think he got a whitfield? dont ask what he thinks of quadrafire, it was the only time i ever heard him cus...
I think the early stoves where clearly not ready and little or no r&d was done leaving the owner stuck with a stove with constant problems and issues. after going thru the issues these stoves have, I can understand why quadra fire removed their phone number from the web and owner manuals and refuse to be a honest helpful company... I dont have to tell you, you go thru this every day and probably make a good living being a tech and all. lots of job security in quadrafire stoves unlike the maytag man. perhaps you could share the jumper pinout mystery with us? I am talking about the 5 pin plug on the side of the grey control box. What pins when jumped do what and for what stove and so on?

Originally Posted by hurtback

I have mostly solved my HIGH fire and lazy flame issues!!!

First i put in a replacment "round" fan that has more torque. $25 on ebay! I just got a fan with same specs. the problem was they all have a ccw rotation so i reversed the coil to clockwise rotation.

Second I had to beat the floor of the stove to make the pot fit flush since everyone pulls the lever so hard that it bends the mounting and causes an air leak.

still too much flame so i removed the pot and drilled out the holes the next size over and that cleaned the burnt on rust and hard crud. I also added 6 small holes in the floor of the pot like the castiles stoves have and that has fixed the lazy flame issues 100%!!! it also helped with the build up of klinker in the pot so I dont have to clean it 2 times a day.

I think I could add a few more holes and that would help burn up the ash in the bottom better and it also reduced the whistling noise the stove makes by 2/3rds.

it still makes the vibrating buzzing noise when starting up I will make some changes when I do the fan pull again after the season is over.

Please do NOT do this, this will void and warranty and should you ever have a fire your insurance company could find your burnpot and give you a nice sol sign.

I am a certified quad tech, and if the stove is not running right there is something wrong that needs to be fixed, that doesn't involve altering the stove. i would say roughly i can fix 60% of customers problems by cleaning the stove thoroughly. on castiles you have to remove the combustion fan to do the yearly maintenance properly. trace exactly where the exhaust goes and thoroughly clean it.

exhaust blower motor I got was a u21b, 1 amp, 120volt, 300 rpm, ball bearing motor.
the drill bit size i used was the same as the smaller holes that are drilled all around at the base of the floor clean out plate and I just put them in the center of the plate that goes back and forth. it was close to a 1/4" bit if I recall.
Another mod I made was to supply 120 volts to the exchanger blower fan at all times to help push the air out the heat exchanger better since the control box has a 3 speed setting and on low it gets like 80 volts to slow down the air flow but with the high feed rate of the gray control box limiting the air flow the stove gets overly hot, burns rich, and ends up blowing too much heat out the exhaust pipe.
running the fan on high seemed like the best solution since limiting the feed slot only plugs the hopper up so if it must move the pellets to prevent plugs then we should get the most heat out of stove as possable. it uses 2-1/2 bags in 24 hours on low but now puts out more heat. it is heating my 5000sf house to 74 running non stop when it is below 32 outside.

Sante Fe High Flames + Improved efficiency

Thanks for the tips about the drilling , did You drill the floor of the pot , the part that goes back and forth with the clean rod and what size drill bit.
I do take the top off and clean once a week.
But because it burns so high , I now just started putting a fan in front of the heat exchange tubes and now gives out much more heat
But I burned one small cheap fan out , need to keep it a foot away from stove;
The motor you bought is it the feeder motor or the blower motor???

One more issue with these stoves is that the heat exchanger rod scrapper thingie does not exstend all the way to the outer edges of the tubes SO... the thing will clog up on the sides and will restrict air flow causing black lazy flames amd the roaring jet engine like sound.
You will need a putty knife and every day when i clean stove I stick the puddy knife up on the left side of the heat exchanger between the tube and side wall and make sure that it is clean and not blocked. You cannot clean the right side untill you remove the stainless top plate. this side dosent restrict flow so it isnt as important.
most people have no clue and have never cleaned this area. since quadrafire gives little or none cleaning instructions in the manual.

I have mostly solved my HIGH fire and lazy flame issues!!!

First i put in a replacment "round" fan that has more torque. $25 on ebay! I just got a fan with same specs. the problem was they all have a ccw rotation so i reversed the coil to clockwise rotation.

Second I had to beat the floor of the stove to make the pot fit flush since everyone pulls the lever so hard that it bends the mounting and causes an air leak.

still too much flame so i removed the pot and drilled out the holes the next size over and that cleaned the burnt on rust and hard crud. I also added 6 small holes in the floor of the pot like the castiles stoves have and that has fixed the lazy flame issues 100%!!! it also helped with the build up of klinker in the pot so I dont have to clean it 2 times a day.

I think I could add a few more holes and that would help burn up the ash in the bottom better and it also reduced the whistling noise the stove makes by 2/3rds.

it still makes the vibrating buzzing noise when starting up I will make some changes when I do the fan pull again after the season is over.

SantaFe High Flames and Jamming

I do notice less jamming with shorter softer pellets
But these flames often hit the top of the stainless plate , which I do not like and this is also more when I use certain pellets. I think I may grind the chute adjustment like one person did to keep it from hitting the top.
My son has the larger Quadrafire and never a problem.
Sorry I did not buy that one

The high/low flames is somewhat normal, this is cause by variances in the amount of pellets in the particular section of auger that is at the top of the chute.

The stove does have over temp snap disks that will trip in the event that the stove "runs away" gets too hot.

high flames can be a sign that your stove is dirty, I'm not saying yours is just putting that out there, if you have any questions on cleaning this stove just ask.

if the pellets are consistently longer that 1.25-1.5 inches this can and will cause constant auger jams, try switching to a different brand of pellets if this is the case