quadra fire 7100 chimney cap plugged

[21acrewoods]

I am burning good dry hardwood and still plugged my cap last week. What is up? I am heating 2400 sq ft of well insulated home. We've had an average winter here in Ohio. I can normally keep the entire house at 72 or higher without taking the air control much higher than its lowest setting. it is a 1.5 story house with about 5' of chimney above the roof line. Keep in mind the quad uses an air cooled chimney pipe, not an insulated pipe. I have been burning wood for about 4 years now and the cap has plugged about half way thru each heating season since i started burning. I used to blame it on not having seasoned wood, but now i'm not sure that's it.
any thoughts??

 

[Jags]

Thoughts:
A cap plugs because of nasty volatiles in the flue discharge, condensing. That being said, we can assume two things. You have nasty volatiles (creosote) and you have a cool cap.

Sorry for stating what may be obvious, I only do it to point to facts.

Creosote - chances are that if you are burning the quad at the lowest air settings, you may not be getting the clean burn that you think you are. What are the typical flue temps? Stove temps?

Cool cap - An air insulated pipe could cause stove pipe temps to not maintain high enough temps. When the cooler than normal exhaust hits the cold cap it glues itself to it. This is purely speculation on my part, that is why the flue temp question above.

Please define your "seasoned wood". When cut/split/stacked and types.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

Is it plugged with ash or creosote?

 

[Defiant]

Keep in mind the quad uses an air cooled chimney pipe, not an insulated pipe.

What brand / size pipe are you using? A photo of your set up might tell us more.

 

[begreen]

From the sounds of things the fireplace is always running on lowest air. If so, could also be that the fireplace is too big for the area being heated. Is the whole house warm or just the area with the fireplace?

 

[HaTaX]

How often are you getting a very hot burn with top temps reaching 600-700F? Having a really hot fire every week or so combined with some creosote remover of some type in the fire (ACS spray or another brands powder based stuff) can really help with creosote build up. If you're only burning with low amounts of air you're not getting as much air flow through the chimney and the smoke has more time to cool and condense creating creosote.

What do you normally see for temps on the stove itself in the beginning - middle of a burn cycle?

 

[corey21]

It sounds like you are not burning hot enough.

 

[21acrewoods]

Thanks for the all the input.
The pipe is Quadra fire's pipe that they make for these high efficiency zc fireplaces.
Yes, it heats an entire 2400 sq ft 1.5 story home with a combo of fiberglass wall insulation(2x6 framing) and cellulose in the ceiling and knee walls upstairs. The open foyer is a sure help for heating those upstairs bedrooms, but the windows are a tad on the drafty side.
I burn a combo of mostly hard wood oak, sugar maple, ash, walnut. When I say seasoned I mean, down for a year, then split and stacked for two more years. partly covered with scrap osb and rubber roofing pcs after stacking.
I think it sounds like I should crank it up and let the fire really burn once a week and it may eliminate my problem. Should I let it roll the heat for say a couple hours? or all evening? do you think it could be green wood?

 

[Coog]

I own the 7100 and have been burning with it for the past week or so. I spent a lot of time researching before I settled on the 7100. We have a well insulated 1,850 square foot home with a full basement and walkout. It was about 5 degrees here last night and I got an 8 hour burn with mostly junk wood. Woke up at 6 am with 69 degrees in the house.

I have not yet had the same issue with the chimney cap but have not been burning with it that long. I really think there is something wrong with the air cooling design at the base of the chimney. I decided to install the insulated pipe for this reason. The insulated pipe did not require the air cooling kit. It would make sense, if you are not burning hot, that the cooling kit would be cooling at the base of the chimney and gumming up at the cap.