Whitfield WP4 Quest

stellep said:

Hi Bob,

My burn pot front is a steel plate that sticks up about 2 in; from the base. Sorta like if your flame guide was vertical. Seems like it should almost have the same function, maybe not as efficient. I'm thinking that the guide might also aim the fire at the door edge of the heat exchanger for more heat. My flame burns straight up or to the rear, ignoring that area. Anyway.

FYI. I've seen the exhaust fan complete with housing on the net.

Thanks for the input.
Rock on.

stellep

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Wish I would have found that blower (and I thought I looked pretty hard).... I actually thought that was a part that nobody carried anymore. Spent about 3 hours making that adapter. used a 5 x 5 plate steel and a piece of 3" exhaust pipe. cut a square hole, welded a couple flanges to mount to the blower and welded the pipe on the opposite side. I will keep that in mind.

Send me a picture of what your burn pot looks like. Isn't it amazing all of the little changes that were made through the years of these stoves. I'm with you though as far as the glass goes. I like to keep it clean to see the flame.

On another note, did you get much snow up there this year ?

Bob

Stovensen said:

Good point there Bob P. You know, the previous owner had run the stove with a totally worn out nylatron bushing, so that the mounting hole in the back plate was made oval by the grinding auger. My auger could very well be working in a too high position, like you suggest.
I could buy a new back plate, but I have some experience in welding ( I have a CO2 welder ), so adding some material to lower the working position of the auger should be possible. These days I have no sawdust issues mainly due to the high quality of the pellets.

Also, the mod you have made to the burn pot by welding the two wedge shaped plates is something I'll try on my burn pot... especially on the lowest settings this will focus the burning action around the center, giving a more constant flame front.

Thanks for sharing the useful tips, Bob P.

Now, let's hope that the OP jpuff soon wil return with some news on his Quest stove, so we hopefully can add another happy Quest owner to the forum

Cheers
Bo

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You could give the auger a shot (maybe in the off season right?) Definitely try the burn pot mod though. couple quick spot welds up top to hold it in place and its enough to make a difference.

To be honest with you, I haven't really got a bad batch of pellets.... mine could do the same thing to the auger if I got a couple bags with a lot of fines. If it ever happens, I will be sure to let you know.

I know regarding puff...... try to help a guy out and all you do is get to meet some cool people that have some same interests....I'll take it.

Bob

Don2222 said:

Hello
One great improvement is installing Selkirk DT, this warms the burn air and adds 10% to the efficiency. By warming and drying the burn air you get a lot less caked ash in the burnpot! It is like a Quest on Steroids! See my pics below.
Also I used 100% fire proof Roxul insulation to boost the efficiency another 5% ! ! !

Also in the last pic, the handy vacuum cleanout makes vent cleaning Easy Peasy! ! !

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Couple of quick questions on the set up you have. I would love to put an OAK on my Quest or my Prodigy however, they are not like my Harman stoves where they have an intake port with a damper that I can isolate the air that is being drawn for combustion ( You have the P61 so you know what I mean) The Whitfields don't have an isolated direct line leading to my combustion chamber to attach an OAK to. The stove is left to draw air from wherever it wishes like through the vents on the bottom and sides and the back. The back plate has a port for an OAK but it doesn't connect from the back plate to the square intake port for combustion air. I gave it a lot of thought as to wether it was worth it to put one on but opted not to for that reason.....What's the price difference in the pipe to upgrade to the DT? Your set up looks cool... Is that a series of reducers on that fresh air kit? I like seeing stuff like that. I am with you on the efficiency gain on the temp of the combustion air and that also goes hand in hand with the temp of the pellets being introduced.

I would consider that for my Harmans. Let me know.

With regard to the thimble that goes through the wall. I see you have insulated the air space in your thimble. I have read some of the conversation regarding insulating the air space around the pipe and whether it should or should not be done. I know the manufacturer does not mention anything about filling the air space with any type of insulation. I think the clearance to combustibles is 1 inch for selkirk and 3 inches for duravent (don't hold me to that) and if I'm off on that number, somebody please correct me. The large discrepancy between 1 and 3 still baffles me but back to my point. Rock wool is non combustible and we use it all the time to fill spaces for fire breaks and such but there is a reason that you should not insulate that space and it has nothing to do with the insulating value of the materials in that space, it has to do with the thermal conductivity of the material itself. Let me try and explain this. I will use three materials for comparison. air, rock wool and copper. air has a thermal conductivity of around .02, rock wool of around .04 (twice that of air) and copper of around 400. Now I'm being extreme here. If you filled the space with copper, the heat would be sure to travel through the copper conductively to the outside of the thimble that is close to your combustibles which is for the most part your wood siding , sheathing, studs if one is touching or close ect. so the temp of your pipe will be transferred through the material. If we use rock wool, the heat will still transfer through the material but at a much slower rate than copper obviously which is reflected in its low thermal conductivity. Now if we use nothing....Air, the heat will be transferred even slower because it has an even lower thermal conductivity. That is the reason the thimbles are made with the clearance in them which is meant for air. I wish there was a big sticker that said "Do not fill this space with anything"

Now do I think you are creating a hazardous situation based on the pictures? I wouldn't take that chance and I'm sure others will chime in on that. I always try to pay attention to the areas that are most important when it comes to safety and I'm always trying to apply some good physics to it as well. The last thing I want to see is someone accidentally burning their house down because there wasn't enough information out there as to why...

Anyhow, I do like the set up and please respond on your thoughts on the outside air kit to the Quest and the Selkirk. I always like hearing other perspectives and thought processes. Helps us grow!!

Good Luck,
Bob

Bob P. said:

Now if we use nothing....Air, the heat will be transferred even slower because it has an even lower thermal conductivity. That is the reason the thimbles are made with the clearance in them which is meant for air. I wish there was a big sticker that said "Do not fill this space with anything"

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I understand the facts of thermal conductivity here, but air will feed a fire so any holes or leaks in the venting thru the wall will still set the house on fire. Rock Wool will actually stop the spread of fire and keep it contained in the venting. Therefore I feel it is much safer even though the conductivity is a smidgen higher! I would feel alot less safe with air to feed a fire around it! ! !
I know others that are doing it too!
The thermal conductivity of Rock Wool is so low that any heat transfer is negligible

Also the main reason for the rock wool is to Keep the warm air in the room whether the stove is on or off and that will definetly keep the house warmer.

The price of a DT system is approx $600 but I added the plumbers wall plate and reducers for a rigid professional install. The venting comes with a bird screen but in this installation on the north side of the house it got plugged with ash so it had to be removed.

The reason for the 1" air space clearance is due to the fact that the intake for burn air is 2" around the flue exhaust.

The house is much more comfortable and the stove burns much better now and the ash is super light and moisture free! With the vacuum cleanout, the cleaning time saved and the energy saved makes it well worth it! ! !

Don2222 said:

I understand the facts of thermal conductivity here, but air will feed a fire so any holes or leaks in the venting thru the wall will still set the house on fire. Rock Wool will actually stop the spread of fire and keep it contained in the venting. Therefore I feel it is much safer even though the conductivity is a smidgen higher! I would feel alot less safe with air to feed a fire around it! ! !
I know others that are doing it too!
The thermal conductivity of Rock Wool is so low that any heat transfer is negligible

Also the main reason for the rock wool is to Keep the warm air in the room whether the stove is on or off and that will definetly keep the house warmer.

The price of a DT system is approx $600 but I added the plumbers wall plate and reducers for a rigid professional install. The venting comes with a bird screen but in this installation on the north side of the house it got plugged with ash so it had to be removed.

The reason for the 1" air space clearance is due to the fact that the intake for burn air is 2" around the flue exhaust.

The house is much more comfortable and the stove burns much better now and the ash is super light and moisture free! With the vacuum cleanout, the cleaning time saved and the energy saved makes it well worth it! ! !

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I'm with you on all of that. I never know how people interpret things so I just put it out there. I use rock wool around a single wall pipe at about an inch thick when I test burn stoves and to cure the paint if I repaint one. The single wall pipe sits on 1" of rock wool which sits on the bottom of my window sill which is wood. The pipe gets extremely hot (especially with the Harmans on high) but it has never as much as browned the bare wood. So I am a believer of rock wool. I wouldn't advocate it though with a conventional install. (some people may think rock wool is regular insulation however it is far from that...Take a torch to the two and compare.)

Whats your take on what I mentioned about the quest not having a true air intake port that leads exclusively to the combustion chamber and how it works on your set up... Curious.


I was just telling stellep that I will be traveling right below you on 95 on my way to Maine this year. Did some skiing in Stowe and Killington...Last time I was in Stowe, it was -24 degrees F. Never felt that before. Tough to even breathe. I can see how you would use those P61's

Take care,
Bob

Bob P. said:

Wish I would have found that blower (and I thought I looked pretty hard).... I actually thought that was a part that nobody carried anymore. Spent about 3 hours making that adapter. used a 5 x 5 plate steel and a piece of 3" exhaust pipe. cut a square hole, welded a couple flanges to mount to the blower and welded the pipe on the opposite side. I will keep that in mind.

Send me a picture of what your burn pot looks like. Isn't it amazing all of the little changes that were made through the years of these stoves. I'm with you though as far as the glass goes. I like to keep it clean to see the flame.

On another note, did you get much snow up there this year ?

Bob

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Here it be.








Only trace amount of snow here so far. I have not lifted a shovel and only scraped the cars a couple of times in the a.m. Amazing. Hope you are faring as well.

Gotta go. There's some football game I'm supposed to be watching.

stellep

stellep said:

Here it be.


View attachment 151106

View attachment 151110



Only trace amount of snow here so far. I have not lifted a shovel and only scraped the cars a couple of times in the a.m. Amazing. Hope you are faring as well.

Gotta go. There's some football game I'm supposed to be watching.

stellep

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stellep said:

Here it be.


View attachment 151106

View attachment 151110



Only trace amount of snow here so far. I have not lifted a shovel and only scraped the cars a couple of times in the a.m. Amazing. Hope you are faring as well.

Gotta go. There's some football game I'm supposed to be watching.

stellep

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We are about the same ... a couple little storms, some ice but other than that, we are still snow free. I'll take it down here but I'm hoping for some up in Maine. We do a lot of snowmobiling up there and if there is no snow, not many people make the trip.

I see your burn pot config. You can always try something like laying a piece of bar stock across the front and see if your glass stays cleaner longer. Heres a nice trick for cleaning your glass since these always need cleaned. Pick up a small 6 inch or so squeegee and when you clean the glass, just mist it with some windex, make a couple quick passes and your done with no streaks. Give it a shot.

I'm still perplexed at the Seattle win.....Unreal.

Talk to you later,
Bob

Thanks for the info guys. I also have a quest free standing with the oval feed. I have had it for 18 years and currently have it outside beating the crap out of it and me trying to unclog it. They made these stoves just north of me 15 miles so they are popular in western Wa.

Stove is back in the house and running like a champ. Yes Quest are hard to clear a clog but worth it.

BarryDecko said:

Stove is back in the house and running like a champ. Yes Quest are hard to clear a clog but worth it.

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Congrats on the successful cleaning job. Stay warm and safe.