Need help deciding on a pellet insert..please!

Deering said:

Eric, do you have a free-standing unit or an insert? I suspect a good deal of the noise comes from the fans themselves. They're not very well shrouded. There's absolutely no question when it's running - wife and I have to talk with elevated voices. Kind of a relief when it shuts down and is silent.

Also, do you typically run yours in manual or automatic mode?

Perhaps there's something wrong with mine?

One other observation - I set it on Manual High today just to see how loud it really is. It's actually somewhat quieter than the mid-level settings. Or at least the noise is a steady 'whoosh' rather than the constant hunting. And the heat output between MH and H is substantial. When it's on L it's very quiet...but obviously not a lot of heat either.

Believe me, I want this thing to work. I spent a lot of money on it, and am a big pellet supporter. I burn cordwood too - Quad Bodega Bay insert. I like cordwood, but waking up to a warm house was the goal.

Click to expand...

Mine is a free stander. I really love it and have sold a few of them. No one has complained about the noise.
Eric

I have been running my stove for the past month, off and on. I cleaned it for the first time the other night. The last time I cleaned it was in the middle of last season. Last season I think I cleaned it twice, yes twice. I do push the ash into the burn pot so it falls into the ash pan then empty the ash pan but that is it. This stove really is awesome. As for being over engineered, yes it is. At this time it does not pay to burn corn or a few other bio-fuels. Is that hurting my current sales, yes it is. I feel the same crunch on selling the Harman PC-45. Maybe times will change.

Eric

Eric & Smoke Show,

You guys each get a GOLDEN PELLET today! And the good engineers at Quadra get my humble apology.

I fully seated the ash pan and the noise flat out disappeared. There's a bit of a catch where the pan goes in, and I thought it was in all the way before. Now there's just some quiet whooshing of the air coming out of the convection ports and a barely noticeable sound from the firepot jets. And guess what - it's cranking out a lot more heat now that the combustion air is all going to the firepot where it was supposed to.

Too bad the dealer's tech didn't clue me in when he came to look at it. Had to rely on you guys.

And a good thing. I was starting to think I had made a serious mistake with this thing. And worse yet, so was my wife. You know what that means.

Thanks guys, I owe you one...

Mine will rumble a lil sometimes even with the pan fully seated, but my ash pan clips have been broke for years.

oldmountvernon said:

hmm if you didnt have your ash pan seated i would think you would of been smelling smoke. the other day my wife was freaking smelling and seeing smoke coming from inside the stove. the ashpan wasnt in properly and when the pot dumped some smoldering was going on in there

Click to expand...

I think we're talking fractions of an inch, not like hanging open an inch.

Deering said:

Eric, do you have a free-standing unit or an insert? I suspect a good deal of the noise comes from the fans themselves. They're not very well shrouded. There's absolutely no question when it's running - wife and I have to talk with elevated voices. Kind of a relief when it shuts down and is silent.

Also, do you typically run yours in manual or automatic mode?

Perhaps there's something wrong with mine?

One other observation - I set it on Manual High today just to see how loud it really is. It's actually somewhat quieter than the mid-level settings. Or at least the noise is a steady 'whoosh' rather than the constant hunting. And the heat output between MH and H is substantial. When it's on L it's very quiet...but obviously not a lot of heat either.

Believe me, I want this thing to work. I spent a lot of money on it, and am a big pellet supporter. I burn cordwood too - Quad Bodega Bay insert. I like cordwood, but waking up to a warm house was the goal.

Click to expand...

Yea, I'm sure there are some resonant frequencies being hit at various air velocities. Maybe, like you say, some radiusing or chamfering of the holes would reduce the noise. Hmmmm. Or make it worse!

Yeah, I was smelling a little something. I'd notice a faint smoky smell in the morning when I woke up after the stove had started. Not heavy smoke smell, and my schnozz isn't so good anymore, so I was wondering if it was the 'new stove' smell the owner's manual warned about. Will see if that goes away as well.

Still have a big grin on my face sitting in front of my warm, QUIET stove!

Any idea what's giving input to the control system? I assume the firepot combustion temp. Is there an O2 sensor in there as well? I'm just wondering what tells it to vary the combustion fan speed pretty much continuously.

Deering said:

I'm just wondering what tells it to vary the combustion fan speed pretty much continuously.

Click to expand...

Mine only changes when it changes heat setting. When my stove idles along on low, which it does 90% of the time, the comb blower speed stays consistant.

At low it's relatively steady, but even then I can hear it constantly varying. Kind of associated with the height of the flame. I'm assuming it's measuring combustion temp, perhaps O2 levels, looking at the L-M-H level the thermostat is calling for, and adjusting auger and fan speeds to suit.

Deering said:

Eric & Smoke Show,

You guys each get a GOLDEN PELLET today! And the good engineers at Quadra get my humble apology.

I fully seated the ash pan and the noise flat out disappeared. There's a bit of a catch where the pan goes in, and I thought it was in all the way before. Now there's just some quiet whooshing of the air coming out of the convection ports and a barely noticeable sound from the firepot jets. And guess what - it's cranking out a lot more heat now that the combustion air is all going to the firepot where it was supposed to.

Too bad the dealer's tech didn't clue me in when he came to look at it. Had to rely on you guys.

And a good thing. I was starting to think I had made a serious mistake with this thing. And worse yet, so was my wife. You know what that means.

Thanks guys, I owe you one...

Click to expand...

Glad we could help. I knew there was something with your unit. Enjoy

Eric

See the heat diagram link below in my sig. I have a Harman Accentra insert heating over 2000 square feet of an non-conventional up/down house easily

Well, the MV's a lot quieter, and putting out more heat, but still a few quibbles:

1. The auger motor gearbox is making noise. Again. I had the first one replaced, but in less than a week the replacement one is acting up. It's a little gear reduction box between the auger motor and the auger. It's making a gear grinding/clicking noise that's easily the loudest noise on the stove now. Quite annoying. Gonna call the dealer tomorrow about it. Any of you have any trouble with these? The little plastic gears look like trouble. Or maybe it's an auger issue? Like a bent auger or something?

2. The auto mode just never gets the temp up to the setpoint. If I have it set at 69, it seems to hold it at 66. Means I have to set it a lot higher than I really want it. Any of you have this issue? It's not an issue of the stove not being able to meet the heat demand - it's hovering around 66 on a ML or M setting. If it bumped the heat output up to MH it could easily meet the demand.