Exploded E2. Need some advice on replacement.

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Hobokenkitchen

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Jan 24, 2014
96
PA
Long story short Quadrafire flew in their engineer from Washington State to PA to check out the E2 and to oversee the installation of a replacement AE.
The install happened yesterday morning. By this morning it was still only 53 degrees in the room (thermostat is right above the stove). The engineer came back and spent an hour and a half with my husband and put the AE on high. At the end it was 54 degrees.

So we're back to square 1. Engineer agrees is should be much warmer with this stove... but it isn't. : (

The engineer thinks the explosion with the E2 was a 'perfect storm' scenario. The install was fine, but the settings were incorrect. He didn't like the pellet quality, there was a missed clinker close to the igniter and there was a pellet jam in the feed tube due to the incorrect settings.
He said we were cleaning it over and above he necessary amounts, but apparently a clinker got missed in the burn pot and with the other factors caused it to explode.
The installer wasn't familiar enough with the stove to really show us what needed to be done and Quadrafire was unhappy about that and spent hours with the installer here yesterday showing them how to do everything.

So the engineer is recommending that we go back to the E2 and he sticks around to install it and make sure the settings are good and give my husband extensive lessons on how to use it. He said we will not experience the shut down/ blockages issues if the settings are correct.

I don't know what to do. The AE clearly won't work for us as it's just too cold in here.
I want to do the E2 with the engineer here to sort everything out but I'm afraid of it, which he understands.

The other option is wood? I haven't done any research on wood although he said Quadrafire makes wood stoves. Any suggestions on what to do? Should we just go with a wood insert stove instead or give the E2 another chance?

I think we are at Wood Heat's mercy with whether they will 'let' us do a wood stove which is another frustration. All this conversation with Quadrafire and then we have to go and do it all again with Wood Heat to get anything done.

Does anyone have any input?

Thanks! I'm calling him back shortly to let him know our decision. Help?!
 
I agree the o malleys where very long and I brought this to thier attention. Maybe you should contact matt omalley direct and let him know the situation. And get replacement pellets
 
With modern EPA wood stoves if you do not have a good supply of seasoned firewood (cut, split, and stacked for at least a year, and often more, particularly for oak), wood stove burning will prove to be a frustrating experience - and few suppliers have truly seasoned wood to sell.
 
If the E2 heated the place, I can't understand why the AE isn't, unless the auto clean is slowing down the heating of the home too much. I guess I would go back to the E2 myself. kap
 
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The e2 and AE both have the same input BTUs, to say one will heat better than the other puzzles me.

Has your house been 53 degrees since the stove was removed? So your walls, furniture and air are cooold. And radiating cold all around. So the fact that you only got a degree change in 1 hr doesn't sound abnormal. The stove has an input of 52k BTUs, the output is about 78% of that. So the engineer expected that at 40 BTUs you'd be enjoying Florida weather within an hour or so? Today was in the 20's near Quakertown with the Los of 9 this morning.

This sounds like everyone pointing a finger at the other guy. I'm perplexed that the engineer agreed the stove was insufficient???
 
why would a jam and clinker cause and explosion? That doesn't make any sense. The only way you are going to get an explosion, is you had a ton of smoke that then ignited, or a ton of saw dust all dumped at the same time and flash ignited. I don't think they know, but there are only a handful of things that can cause an explosion and their assessment doesn't really make any sense.

Was the air coming out out of the new stove really hot???? I can't see how it wouldn't give off heat, but if your room was cold just like the other posted said it is going to take more then an hour to get up a few degrees.
 
It was in the high 40s in the house while we were away.
It's about 30 out now and it's just hit 62 so it is climbing slowly.

I wish we had more time to work through this stuff. The engineer can stay an extra day, but that's it I think.

He's off looking at other stoves in the area as well so at least he's using his time usefully and not just waiting on us.
 
So the stove wasn't "set-up" right, it was cleaned but something was "missed" and the pellets were "suspect". Nobodies fault, perfect storm yada yada, but clearly not Quad's fault. If you had a cynical point of view, this is pretty much what you could've guessed before anyone even looked at the unit. They are accepting no blame. Maybe that's justified but I understand if your suspicious.

If this unit has a good reputation I think you have to bite the bullet, go with a full replacement and insist that the Quad tech oversee the install and show you (not the dealer) how to clean and operate the unit. Once done I would start searching for a new tech in the area.

With the caveat that we are getting one side of the story, IMO neither Quad nor the dealer is coming out looking too good.
 
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Hobokenkitchen said:
Long story short Quadrafire flew in their engineer from Washington State to PA to check out the E2 and to oversee the installation of a replacement AE.
The install happened yesterday morning. By this morning it was still only 53 degrees in the room (thermostat is right above the stove). The engineer came back and spent an hour and a half with my husband and put the AE on high. At the end it was 54 degrees.

So we're back to square 1. Engineer agrees is should be much warmer with this stove... but it isn't. : (

The engineer thinks the explosion with the E2 was a 'perfect storm' scenario. The install was fine, but the settings were incorrect. He didn't like the pellet quality, there was a missed clinker close to the igniter and there was a pellet jam in the feed tube due to the incorrect settings.
He said we were cleaning it over and above he necessary amounts, but apparently a clinker got missed in the burn pot and with the other factors caused it to explode.
The installer wasn't familiar enough with the stove to really show us what needed to be done and Quadrafire was unhappy about that and spent hours with the installer here yesterday showing them how to do everything.

So the engineer is recommending that we go back to the E2 and he sticks around to install it and make sure the settings are good and give my husband extensive lessons on how to use it. He said we will not experience the shut down/ blockages issues if the settings are correct.

I don't know what to do. The AE clearly won't work for us as it's just too cold in here.
I want to do the E2 with the engineer here to sort everything out but I'm afraid of it, which he understands.

The other option is wood? I haven't done any research on wood although he said Quadrafire makes wood stoves. Any suggestions on what to do? Should we just go with a wood insert stove instead or give the E2 another chance?

I think we are at Wood Heat's mercy with whether they will 'let' us do a wood stove which is another frustration. All this conversation with Quadrafire and then we have to go and do it all again with Wood Heat to get anything done.

Does anyone have any input?

Thanks! I'm calling him back shortly to let him know our decision. Help?!
Click to expand...
I call B.S.!

Junk that thing and get a Harman! They eat any pellet.
 
Throwing this out there...What other stove brands do they sell? Possible to get a full refund and go with a different brand? See my sig you know what I would go with brand wise.
 
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Hobokenkitchen said:
The stove went on around 10am yesterday morning so almost 30 hours ago. It's just got over 60.
Click to expand...

although that may sound slow, it sounds to me like it is making good progress if it started in the 40's. It is heating not only the air, but all the walls (and into the walls), furniture, floors etc. That is why a lot of people, once they reach temp, don't let the stove shut off (just idle it), because it takes a long time to warm stuff back up even 5 degrees, much less 20. If it windy out (as it was here for a couple of days), that will slow things even more than just cold temps.

Somehow a lot of what they said doesn't make sense to me, but I guess that is why I'm not an expert. however, I would say that the stove they have in there now is doing a decent job so if you aren't comfortable going back to another E2, then don't.
 
By the way, if missed clinkers cause explosions, then I'm in big trouble with my St. Croix!
 
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A big factor, based on my limited experience, is the home. How large is the home, the layout, how well insulated, etc?

To give you some perspective, I don't use my stove 24/7. Right now with oil prices low we basically just use the stove when we're laying around the house. The house is at 65 degrees to start with. My house was built in 2007, is 2400 sq ft, is well insulated,has a relatively open floor plan and out classic bay insert is installed in a centrally located fireplace. The living room where the stove is will get from 65 to 75 within 2 hours when the outside temp is in the teens. The upstairs is 66-69 and the rest of the first floor (where the stove is) will be about the same. From than on the stove will click on and off as needed to maintain the temperature. Keep in mind, my house is on the high side of what the classic bay can heat and it does it without a problem as long as the temperature isn't in single digits.

Seems like with such a large stove, unless you're house is absolutely massive, it is taking a while to heat up. Have you tried running the central heat for a day at like 60 to get the house up to a more even temperature than run the stove and see how it does. As people have stated, the stove may be trying to get everything up to temperature (wall, windows, floors, etc) and is just sucking up all the heat.
 
bogieb said:
By the way, if missed clinkers cause explosions, then I'm in big trouble with my St. Croix!
Click to expand...
Same for me with my Harman, missed many over time never a hick up.

On another note I've never heated my house from 40-74 degs where we keep our house on pellets, so I can't comment on the time spend for the AE trying to do that really . I probably would have quickened things up with a boost from the oil burner. Once up to temp see how the stove maintains the heat. Just me. But the OP also said it warmed up to 40 deg outside, so the stove wasn't fighting 0 deg weather either. I do know it takes time though, to even gain a few deg never mind 30 deg.

I'd be wanting a Harman regardless, mostly based on the the idea that the OP just plain doesn't seem to be trusting quad now. For my wife's peace of mind ( if it were my situation) if for no other reason , because lets face it the OP seems uncomfortable with this. . It may not be in the system between Wood Heat and Quad to come to that end but I'd be pushing hard for that to happen. Second method, full refund. Then go find a Harman dealer with a real service tech and installer.
 
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Slow and steady climb is expected. As stated, you have to warm EVERYTHING again. Better to maintain temp than allow it too cool 5 degrees.

Clinker near igniter may be implying delayed ignition of sorts... Like a slow burn that suddenly bursts into flames.

As long as issues are resolved, and heat is available- Engineer signed off on install, get it in writing?
 
It's down to 61 degrees now so now further heat gain these past several hours.

Our house is big and the kitchen area (where the stove is) has double height ceilings.

My husband spoke to the engineer again about an E2 and our concerns about the stove not heating and he suggested keeping the old (exploding) stove and putting a new door on it. Apparently the stove is totally fine if the settings had been right.

I had actually really respected the engineer's opinion until this and now I am just PISSED. So we can't guarantee that another E2 would heat the space efficiently either? Why wouldn't it if the last one did? And he said all our east coast pellets suck and the only good ones are on the west coast (soft wood Lingetics).

I just feel really exhausted by this now and we have to make a decision on what to ask Wood Heat to do. I have no idea at all what their response is even going to be. Ugh.
 
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