Heat & Glow Northstar or Quadrafire 7100?

  • Active since 1995, Hearth.com is THE place on the internet for free information and advice about wood stoves, pellet stoves and other energy saving equipment.

    We strive to provide opinions, articles, discussions and history related to Hearth Products and in a more general sense, energy issues.

    We promote the EFFICIENT, RESPONSIBLE, CLEAN and SAFE use of all fuels, whether renewable or fossil.
Status
Not open for further replies.
Charlene Kravec

Charlene Kravec

Member
Oct 25, 2012
93
Eastern Tennessee
After some frustration dealing with our VC Sequoia and Vermont Castings, we are looking into the Heat & Glo Northstar or Quadrafire 7100 as a replacement. There is about a $300 difference between the two. We have a 2400 sq. ft. ranch style home in East Tennessee. Home has conventional rooms sharing a corridor, with kitchen/dining room/living room (fireplace) on one end and a family room at the opposite end of the hallway. The home was built in 2006 wood frame, vinyl siding. The fireplace is on an outside wall.

Your input would be most appreciated. Many thanks. The two units seem somewhat similar. The Quadrafire would seem to have an edge over the Northstar, but I'm not sure of accuracy.

Thanks again.
 
Looking at your avatar you have the perfect spot for a stove; any reason you are looking at zero clearance fireplaces instead? I doubt the units you mentioned will look as nice from the side as a freestanding stove. A Jotul F55, Hearthstone Mansfield or Manchester, Woodstock Progress Hybrid, Quadrafire Isle Royale, BlazeKing Ashford 30 would all look great in there, IMHO. From the two units you mentioned I would suggest the 7100 just because it has a bigger firebox (3.4 versus 2.7 cu ft). Have you tried the forum search for posts about either?
 
Thanks for your response, Grisu. The avatar is a promotional photo and not our unit which is placed within a raised stone hearth fireplace.

I'm not sure what's behind and on either side of the insert, since it's flush with the stone. We didn't build the home. Our fireplace technician made the suggestion.
 
Charlene Kravec said:
Thanks for your response, Grisu. The avatar is a promotional photo and not our unit which is placed within a raised stone hearth fireplace.
Click to expand...

Now I know why I could not make out the pipe. And I thought my eyes were getting really bad. ;)
I'm not sure what's behind and on either side of the insert, since it's flush with the stone. We didn't build the home. Our fireplace technician made the suggestion.
Click to expand...

Did your technician check the clearance requirements for the Sequoia versus the other units? You don't want to put anything in there that needs more room; it will be a pretty involved job anyway. There are plenty other units/manufacturers on the market: RSF, FireplaceXtraordinaire, Pacific Energy FP30, Superior fireplaces, Napoleon NZ3000, KozyHeat to name just some. Given the amount of time and money involved I suggest you take your time and research the forum and other places for the best unit for your home. The Sequoia has a pretty large firebox with 4.2 cu ft. I would base the firebox size of the next one on how well the Sequoia fulfilled your heating needs.
 
Last edited:
Okay, we, clearly, have more research to do. The VC Sequoia didn't heat the entire house as well as we would have hoped, in spite of the large firebox. It may not have been well chosen by the previous owners. Maybe our floor plan inhibits air flow. We use floor fans and ceiling fans. It came with the house and we did the best we could with it. Question is: in the intervening years from 2005, when the Sequoia was made, has technology and design improved the output and efficiency of fireplace inserts? We do need the insert because our heat pump just doesn't handle winter well. Thanks.
 
The Sequoia is a catalytic fireplace. Assuming your technician got it up and running close to its posted efficiency and you used dry wood you will have a hard time finding a fireplace with a higher heat output. You definitively want something close in size then but I would not expect getting significantly more heat. Fans help in distributing the heat but unless your room with the fireplace was overly hot compared with the rest of the house that was/is not your problem.

Have you thought about a central wood boiler/furnace and keeping the Sequoia for ambiance? I am also surprised that a house built in 2005 cannot be heated with a 4 cu ft stove and that the heatpump is undersized. That should not happen when a proper heating load analysis was done. I would think about having an energy audit done; something seems not right with your home.

Btw. You are not searching for a fireplace insert which is going into a masonry fireplace but an EPA-approved, highly efficient zero clearance fireplace. Make sure you don't look at the wrong unit.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Don Spring
The Sequoia is a fairly respected stove - and a large one at that. I am not sure that you will gain much by replacing it with a smaller unit. Even the Quad you mentioned is smaller. Newer stoves (than 2005) don't really have any magic technology to pump more heat into the room. There have been a few steps towards efficiency, but that big ol Sequoia should make just as much heat if not more.

Are you sure that the current stove is operating properly? Are you running it at proper operational temps? The difference between plus or minus a couple hundred degrees on the stove body is HUGE when comparing output BTU's (its not a linear increase).
 
The reason we are hoping to replace this unit is that 1) we have always had issues closing the flue/bypass. When fully opened it doesn't want to close. I mean it is a BEAR to close. Can't get access to the mechanism to assess the reason because it would require the top plate be removed. 2)Two of the bolts holding the cat frame in place were broken at the head and attempts at removing the item caused the other two to shear off inspite of having soaked the bolts with Kroil to grease the threads. This is what started the whole thing.
 
Understood.
Just asking the question...would it be advantageous to pull the unit and have somebody fix it for a couple hundred bean pods...or are you done with it?
 
Jags, thanks for your response. We bought the house in 2012 with the Sequoia in place. Upon our technician evaluating the unit, it was clear that it had not been installed properly. For example, the unit was supposed to rest on a metal plate which was not there. It was resting on, get ready for it, wood crosspieces! So he had an appropriate "liner" made and installed it. Then he looked at the chimney pipe which was underrated for the unit. It was single wall, as opposed to triple wall that VC recommended. Another fire hazard avoided when that was corrected. Then the problem with the bypass not wanting to close. Oh, and BTW it took VC weeks (no exaggeration) to answer our tech's questions regarding this. BTW his company used to carry Vermont Castings but long story short, dropped them because of support and representation problems. We really don't want to have something break internally and not be able to get parts or support, if needed.
 
We are going to be "pulling the trigger" on the Quadrafire 7100. The footprint of the unit is a little smaller than what we have. We will have to use a mason to rework the stone work so it fits with the new unit.
Once the unit is removed and disassembled, my husband is going to drill out and retap the errant bolts, fix the sticky bypass mechanism and put it up for sale on Craig's List. It will be a great unit for someone. We bought extra original ceramic handles for it and a Condor digital cat. thermometer to replace the broken original.
 
Don, our 7100 in being installed even as I write this. Therefore, I can't answer your question just quite yet. Am anxious to try it out.
 
Don, breaking in the 7100 has been easy. A very quick, easy starter. Don't need to keep doors cracked. Tomorrow evening we should be able to fill it. When the job is complete, I will post photos.
 
Here are the pictures of the installation. My new avatar is the completed installation. I hope I upload them properly.
Thus far, the unit doesn't require as much wood as the old VC Sequoia Zero Clearance. Even without the blower it puts out quite a bit of heat.
We have wired the blower switches into the switch plate today. Since the masonry needs 24 hours to set, we won't be able to fire it up *and* use the blower until tomorrow evening.
The somewhat open chase has kept the house pretty cold, even with the heat pump in operation. We've had evening temps in the teens, 20's and 30's since the installation began, so it's nice having a warm house again and draft-free. Thus far, we are happy with the unit.
I would be interested in learning how other 7100 owners achieve long over-night burns, what stacking techniques used and so forth.
 

Attachments

  • QF 7100 first fire.gif
    QF 7100 first fire.gif
    519.6 KB · Views: 463
  • Quadrafire 7100.gif
    Quadrafire 7100.gif
    550 KB · Views: 911
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

P
Install and Review of Warm Majic II / Northstar ZC Fireplace
Replies
8
Views
3K
Heatilator
shanhouse
S
A
Help selecting wood stove
Replies
16
Views
3K
The Hearth Room - Wood Stoves and Fireplaces
EatenByLimestone
EatenByLimestone
G
Wood insert advice
Replies
15
Views
3K
The Hearth Room - Wood Stoves and Fireplaces
jojobaby
J
T
Newbie: choosing a stove model for fireplace install in GA -- considering Jotul F3CB
Replies
15
Views
2K
Jotul
burro child
B
K
Zero Clearance Fireplace Recommendation for New Construction
Replies
9
Views
6K
The Hearth Room - Wood Stoves and Fireplaces
LJVP
L
Top Bottom
Back