Oxygen ideas?

you may need to bring in combustion air to the stove. how tight is the house?

Assuming everything is clean, operating properly and was installed to code, the usual first and prime suspect is wet wood. Is your wood supply dry?

And by dry I mean, was it cut split and stacked in rows with exposure to sun and wind at least 1 year - preferably 2+. Modern EPA stoves need wood that dry to burn well.

Easiest test is to buy a bundle of kiln dried from the grocery store and build a fire with that. If it takes off well your wood is wet.

muthagoose10 said:

Hello all!

So, I've moved into a new house with a quadra-fire wood burning insert. We had our chimney cleaned, then had a new chimney pipe installed.

My problem seems to be a lack of oxygen, as when I get a fire going, it tends to produce a VERY weak flame with the door closed, and often times go out. As soon as I open the door, and leave it open for 10-15 seconds the flame starts to rage again.

I've opened doors, cracked windows, not sure what else I can do, or am I just stuck with a very weak burning fireplace?

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I assume you are opening the air control all the way? Silly question but you never know.

Rickb said:

I assume you are opening the air control all the way? Silly question but you never know.

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+1 ^

With out a moisture meter there is no way to tell if your wood is wet. It isnt wet from being in the rain. Its wet because it never dried out from when it was a tree.


See if anyone you knows has any cut up 2x4's or something like that. If they burn fine then your wood is not dry enough to burn right.

Post a picture of the stove if you can.

muthagoose10 said:

Yes, it has an air control right below the glass door, and a startup air control to the bottom right side of the glass. The air control is fully open.

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Just to make sure, fully open is both levers are pushed in, towards the wall, all the way correct?

Most likely the wood supply is not adequately seasoned. As Jags said, get a moisture meter and test it that way. Wood has to be dried all the way through. Newly cut wood (green) can be over 40% water. It can take 1 -3 years to dry it down to 20% where it needs to be, depending on the species. A little rain is not the issue.

Meanwhile if you can get a bundle of dry firewood from the store, compare that with what you have in the stove and see what the difference is. Or known dry wood like from pallets or lumber scraps.

I'll place my bet on the wood not being seasoned ("dry").

It can take several years depending on the species of wood for it to lose most of the moisture that is in the tree before it's cut. Most places that sell firewood cut the tree down, split the wood and sell it without letting it season first. It's not so much about surface moisture as it is about internal moisture.

Does the wood sizzle when you start the fire?

The lever on the right is the dumper, the lever on the left is the air intake control. Fully open they both have to be pushed in all the way. I may be wrong, difficult to see, but from the picture it looks like the one on the right at least is closed all the way no?

muthagoose10 said:

Oh okay, well, this is the first cord of wood I've ever bought. So I'm very new to this... but, he said it had been seasoned and was dry prior to it coming.

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When we first got our stove I would call places selling "seasoned" wood and ask them how long it was split. Most said it was split earlier that year (which MIGHT work with pine but not hardwood) and one even went so far as to tell me how it was cut into rounds for "over a year" so it was "really" seasoned. It won't really do much seasoning (drying) unless it's cut, split and stacked where air can get at it (the windier the better, and sun helps too).

if i have wet wood i stack a couple days worth close enough to the stove to help dry it out. not to close though. just enough for the wood to feel the heat a little.

muthagoose10 said:

he said it had been seasoned

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Wood suppliers throw the term "seasoned" around, but it doesn't mean anything. The factor is actual moisture content. You need it to be from 20% (ideal) and no more than 25 to work properly in the stove. The only way to know that for sure is with a moisture meter.

If it isn't good enough by itself, you may be able to get through it by supplementing with ultra dry material or with commercial products like biobricks, etc.,

Trying to use wood that is too moist is going to risk serious creosote problems.

My suggestion.. Take it with a grain of salt.

Watch craigslist free section. You will see occasionally someone with actual old split stacked wood on there snap up any you see. You will also see dimensional lumber scraps on there as well as pallets.

Also go pick up some biobricks. Mix and run 1/2 your wet wood, 1/2 biobricks/lumber/scrounged seasoned wood. It still wont be great but it will get you through this winter. Also make sure you check your chimney evey month or so. It will need to be cleaned with that wet of wood.

And by all means spend the 20-30 bucks on a moisture meter. You will use it. I have watched a place buck/split then stack wood into a seasoned stack right in front of my eyes. When I called them out on it they tried to tell me it was standing dead for years. When I stuck my moisture meter into it and it showed 40% they told me I didn't know what I was talking about.

If you will not be spliting your own wood call a lot of places and talk to them. You should be buying wood now for next winter. I would also ask and see if they have any soft maple/ash/fruit. Those all season in 1 year. Wet oak takes forever to season.

Been there, done that. The previous suggestion is a good one-try to find pallets or cut offs (scrap lumber-but NOT pressure treated or painted/stained). If you can afford to, pick up some ecobricks or the like. Check your flue monthly to make sure you're not building up too much creosote. If you are able to, split your splits into smaller ones to help them dry faster.

Our first year was pretty much all unseasoned "seasoned" wood. We mixed in ecobricks and once we were out of "shoulder season" we tried to reload on a goot hot coal bed (about 400-450), where as now we let it burn down more with seasoned wood (that would probably create a near run away situation with dry wood, but having the heat already in the firebox helped "cook" the water out of the unseasoned stuff quicker). Use plenty of kindling for cold restarts, and look into super cedar firestarters.