LOVE my 5100i Quadra Fire

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stick burner

New Member
Jul 6, 2007
59
Carlsbad, New Mexico
dannysbbq
Well, as many of you remember, I had my 5100i installed in July and couldn't wait to fire it up. Even though I've fired it up a few times just to break the chill around here, for it hasn't been that cold, I REALLY got to use it full time over this Thanksgiving holiday. It has been spitting snow here since Thursday morning and still coming down. Expected to keep snowing till tomorrow evening (Sunday). The temperature has been around 27 or so at night with the high no more than about 32-35. That's fairly cold for around these parts. My Quad has more than met my expectations. It has keep the house toasty warm with just a small to medium small fire. Have run the blower on medium to low and sometimes have to cut if off due to the warm temperatures in the house. It seems to carry the heat all over, but I have a great central location for the stove. I'm burning seasoned pecan wood. The main front glass door on the stove has stayed very clean and the side bay windows so so. They (the side bays) haven't smoked up as much as I was afraid they would, since Quad has put an air wash on them, but they don't stay quite as clean as the front one. I'm very pleased with the overall performance of the door air wash system. Hate smokey glass doors that have to be cleaned constantly. This stove is just tops. Can't imagine the amount of heat it would put out in a high fire mode. Also, the draw is fantastic. You get no smoke in the house when opening the door to load more wood. Of course, this is due to a proper installation as we all know. I'm also very pleased with the efficiency. It extracts just about everything you can get out of a stick of wood. Very little chimney smoke and long burns. Well, got to go for now. Thought I'd check in with you guys and let you know how I like this insert. I've been super busy this holiday season smoking turkeys, catering parties, and feeding our loyal in- restaurant folks. Smoked about 150 turkeys for Thanksgiving customers this year and it's just starting. Catch you later.

Stickburner
 
Quad makes good heaters. Of course you aren't going to tease us without pictures? Looking forward to seeing this baby burning! Let us know when you've posted them to the pictures forum.
 
Come on stop teasing us - lets see a picture!!
 
BeGreen said:
Quad makes good heaters. Of course you aren't going to tease us without pictures? Looking forward to seeing this baby burning! Let us know when you've posted them to the pictures forum.
Click to expand...

Be Green,
Can't figure out how to post a pic. Been trying half the night. Got a couple ready to send. I'm tired of being so ignorant with this stuff!!! If you will email me at ([email protected]) and send me your phone number & a good time to call, I will. My business is closed tomorrow (Tuesdays), so I have time for you to try and talk me through this stuff, if that's ok with you.

Stickburner
 
Like da girl told ya in high school. "Hell I did it for ya once coon-ass, I'll do it for ya again. Now pass them ribs over here."
 
BrotherBart said:
Like da girl told ya in high school. "Hell I did it for ya once coon-ass, I'll do it for ya again. Now pass them ribs over here."
Click to expand...

Well,
Dat sound good on me. But this coon-ass done gone and forget yo send at me address. If you can brought dat address over here on me, I'll brought dose pictures over on you. You know, dat new stove, its like one of dose semi- attoromatic shotguns....it just keeps pumpin out da fire. Kinda like dat girl in high school use to did.

Stickburner
 
Here ya go. She's a beautiful beast. Looks like it could heat the neighborhood.
 

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Man alive that is a nice looking insert.
 
I found this thread searching for help on my 5100i. This is now the 4th season I've been trying to get satisfactory heat from mine. I've called the manufacturer with no luck. The pics show where the thermometers are located and what temps they are at. Pretty sad considering it is 38 degrees outside. This room is quite small as you can see. You could just imagine how cold the rooms get on the other end of the house. I use 24-30 month seasoned oak this year and still no luck. I've just come to the conclusion that this model just isn't all that great. It is rated for a 3500 sqft. home and mine is exactly half that. Imagine that. Any suggestions from other 5100i owners? Temps read 550 and 67. After I posted them they look a little difficult to read.
 

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xnetdoodx said:
I found this thread searching for help on my 5100i. This is now the 4th season I've been trying to get satisfactory heat from mine. I've called the manufacturer with no luck. The pics show where the thermometers are located and what temps they are at. Pretty sad considering it is 38 degrees outside. This room is quite small as you can see. You could just imagine how cold the rooms get on the other end of the house. I use 24-30 month seasoned oak this year and still no luck. I've just come to the conclusion that this model just isn't all that great. It is rated for a 3500 sqft. home and mine is exactly half that. Imagine that. Any suggestions from other 5100i owners? Temps read 550 and 67. After I posted them they look a little difficult to read.
Click to expand...

is it an exterior chimney? is the liner insulated? what size pipe? how long is the pipe run?
 
iceman said:
xnetdoodx said:
I found this thread searching for help on my 5100i. This is now the 4th season I've been trying to get satisfactory heat from mine. I've called the manufacturer with no luck. The pics show where the thermometers are located and what temps they are at. Pretty sad considering it is 38 degrees outside. This room is quite small as you can see. You could just imagine how cold the rooms get on the other end of the house. I use 24-30 month seasoned oak this year and still no luck. I've just come to the conclusion that this model just isn't all that great. It is rated for a 3500 sqft. home and mine is exactly half that. Imagine that. Any suggestions from other 5100i owners? Temps read 550 and 67. After I posted them they look a little difficult to read.
Click to expand...

is it an exterior chimney? is the liner insulated? what size pipe? how long is the pipe run?
Click to expand...

The chimney is in the garage. The liner is NOT insulated and the run is approx. 15 ft.
 
Man, You shouldbe able to get more than that out of that big insert! I can heat my living room up warmer that that without engaging the cat on my small stove! Granted, my house is more that half the size of yours, but that room should read warmer that that!
 
Something sounds wrong. Is the air coming out of the stove (from the blower outlet) very hot? What is your normal position for the air control once the fire is going well? Do you know if a block off plate was installed or how the stove vents into the current chimney? If you go into the garage and place your hand against the chimney say at about 4-5 ft, how warm is the chimney after the stove has been running quite a while?
 
BeGreen said:
Something sounds wrong. Is the air coming out of the stove (from the blower outlet) very hot? What is your normal position for the air control once the fire is going well? Do you know if a block off plate was installed or how the stove vents into the current chimney? If you go into the garage and place your hand against the chimney say at about 4-5 ft, how warm is the chimney after the stove has been running quite a while?
Click to expand...

The air coming from the blower outlet is right where you see the 550 temp and yes it is rather toasty. One of the questions I had asked the manufacturer a while back is if they had any larger volume fans and the response was that a large volume isn't what I'm looking for as I only want to keep the heat softly moving. Once the fire is going well, I try to keep the air control closed as much as possible (without restricting flame). As for a block off plate, I'm not quite sure as I don't know what that is. The chimney is rather large and my 6" pipe runs up the middle to a cap up top. The stove runs 24/7 and the chimney in the garage is barely warm to the touch.
 
how high are the ceilings and is the house well insulated
how long do the fans run for ?
how much air do you give?
and the chimney shouldn't be warm with a liner in it and its interior
seems like a lot of heat is going up the chimney even though its barely warm if its brick with a liner i dont see why the brick should even get warm
who put the stove in i think you need a block off plate
and probably just need to tweak how you run the stove
what is the temp in the rest of the house?
 
xnetdoodx said:
I found this thread searching for help on my 5100i. This is now the 4th season I've been trying to get satisfactory heat from mine. I've called the manufacturer with no luck. The pics show where the thermometers are located and what temps they are at. Pretty sad considering it is 38 degrees outside. This room is quite small as you can see. You could just imagine how cold the rooms get on the other end of the house. I use 24-30 month seasoned oak this year and still no luck. I've just come to the conclusion that this model just isn't all that great. It is rated for a 3500 sqft. home and mine is exactly half that. Imagine that. Any suggestions from other 5100i owners? Temps read 550 and 67. After I posted them they look a little difficult to read.
Click to expand...

you have the thermometer next 2 the stove where it could be drawing cold air place it across the room
 
OK, that all sounds pretty good. You would see the block off plate when the stove is pulled out for cleaning. It should be above the stove in the damper area.

I guess we'll need to understand the room and the house then. It seems like you are doing things correctly and the stove is working ok. So that leads one to look next at bad heat losses in the house. How well insulated is the place? How are the windows? single or double pane? Is there an attic vent in the house or an attic stair access?
 
iceman said:
how high are the ceilings and is the house well insulated
how long do the fans run for ?
how much air do you give?
and the chimney shouldn't be warm with a liner in it and its interior
seems like a lot of heat is going up the chimney even though its barely warm if its brick with a liner i dont see why the brick should even get warm
who put the stove in i think you need a block off plate
and probably just need to tweak how you run the stove
what is the temp in the rest of the house?
Click to expand...

1st of all, thank all of you for the quick attention to my problem! I appreciate that.

The fans run 24/7 as does the stove. On the occasional sleep in morning they may shut off briefly. I give only enough air to keep a good flame going and at night cut it back so as to keep it going most of the night. I installed the stove myself. The rest of the house is usually cooler than right next to the stove.

You all now have me wondering what this block off plate may be!!!! I am going to revisit the online manual for the stove and see what i can come up with.

The house is almost 40 yrs. old and the only addtional insulation I have is in the attic. The windows are terrible. I did however seal them one year with the shink plastic but it didn't seem to make much of a difference. Ceilings are just under 8'.

One thing I should note is that the fireplace opening is HUGE. If you look at the pic I posted, you can see the additional plate I had to use to cover the opening. Although this is a very large insert and is rated for 2 times my house size, do you think the majority of the heat is going straight up?

Thanks so much for all the suggestions.
 
Sounds like you don't have a block off plate and all your heat is going up the chimney.
 
The manual only makes a brief mention of a block off plate, as it is only required if you do a stubby liner. because when doing a full liner you should have sealed off the chimney at the top. Adding the extra seal down below can keep more heat in the house instead of heating up the whole chimney.

You do have the baffle board and insulation blanket in there right? I have had people who self install remove that because they thought it was shipping materials.

Also you might not have the temp gauge in a very good location, try putting it on the face just above the door or if it wont fit there stick it right to the door frame. You should actually get hotter temp readings there than by the blowers. Although this is a guess since I don't know exactly where the blowers are on that unit. We only sell 1-2 a year just due to its huge size; almost no one can fit it in their fireplace. Regardless you want the temp gauge on metal that is directly exposed to the firebox.

That thing should be able to heat that room up well above 80 no problems. You are getting extreme heat loss someplace.
 
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