2017 Quadra-Fire Performance Thread

[tpenny67]

Why let the Blaze King owners have all the fun? There appear to be several of us with new Quadra-Fire stoves here on hearth.com, so let's start our own brand-specific thread.

Had my second burn in my new 4300 this past weekend, and so far I'm impressed. The paint is still curing, but it's now reached the point where it puts out more heat than smelly fumes.

I've not let it go full hot yet. The manual describes a high burn as both air controls fully open. So far I've only had the top air control full open when the fire is at its peak, with the ACC control fully closed. That resulted in a top temperature in the neighborhood of 650-700 degrees. The top temperature will go up and down in response to air control adjustments, which is something I've not actually seen a stove do before. With other stoves (including the old 118 in the same chimney) turning down the air merely stopped the rise in temperature unless you snuffed the fire out completely.

Most impressively, I got an overnight burn without really trying. I put four pieces of hardwood in at about 7pm on Saturday night and let it burn with the top air control open (as above) for at least an hour. Then we decided to go to bed early so I turned the air way down but not quite to minimum at about 9pm. At 10:30 there were still flames in the firebox. At 12:30 it was a very bright glow from a full load of coals. At 6:30am on Sunday I was able to spread out what was left of the coals, throw on some wood (not kindling), and it was burning again within 5 minutes.

Very happy with the stove so far. Once the paint stops smelling, I'll begin to test out the high end of the burn rate.

 

[Jags]

Don't get too crazy with the stove top temps. A sustained 700F stove top is a rocking stove. I have seen peaks higher than that but I do go into "control mode" to get the stove settled in and stop the rise. Personally, I want to keep a cruising stove south of 750F.

 

[tpenny67]

Based on very limited experience, 700 degrees is more than enough to maintain the temperature of the house, but not really enough to get it up to temperature quickly in the first place. So I'm thinking maybe up to 800 to get a lot of heat quickly, then back off for cruising.

Longer term, we have got to get some insulation in there!

 

[Woody Stover]

Based on very limited experience, 700 degrees is more than enough to maintain the temperature of the house, but not really enough to get it up to temperature quickly in the first place. So I'm thinking maybe up to 800 to get a lot of heat quickly, then back off for cruising. Longer term, we have got to get some insulation in there!

Like Jags says, don't push it. It's gonna take some time to get the stove and house back up to temp, regardless, so experiment with your stove and make sure you know how to keep in under control, rather than trying to push the limits, and possibly ending up trying to slow the stove down. Sounds like you have good control so far, just cutting the air...that's good. Working on your insulation and sealing air leaks is huge; Then the house will hold temp longer and you're not playing catch-up. You can stretch out the burns and save wood.

 

[tpenny67]

Perhaps I should have clarified: This stove is in my weekend getaway. Regardless of insulation levels, I'll be starting each weekend with a cold stove in a 50 degree house. Why would I not want to run the stove for maximum heat (short of over-firing, of course) until the house is reasonably warm?

 

[webby3650]

Since I have a Blaze King am I allowed to be part of the Quad gang too?

 

[Babaganoosh]

Woodstock IS owner here checking in...

Just curious what you guys got going on. My friends parents have an older EPA Quadra fire stove. I really liked that stove. They just sold their house!

 

[webby3650]

I am selling my house to here real soon. I'll most likely be leaving the quad behind.

 

[Jags]

Nothing wrong with running a stove like it was meant to be. You start exceeding that and you will start hurting things. Its kinda like a car...you can cruise all day long at 85 mph, but you start running 125 and things change (depending on the car of course). I would just hate to see the next thread you open to start with "why did my burn tubes warp/". Yes - it can and does happen.

 

[JA600L]

4300act owner here. 800 is ok if you bring it down soon after. When I got mine used the top center was bowed down and it had cracks in the back of the inside. A bottle jack and a little welding brought it back to normal. Cold cabins are no fun. That is one thing that I really appreciate about the Quad. It makes heat really fast from a cold start.

 

[tpenny67]

Nothing wrong with running a stove like it was meant to be. You start exceeding that and you will start hurting things. Its kinda like a car...you can cruise all day long at 85 mph, but you start running 125 and things change (depending on the car of course). I would just hate to see the next thread you open to start with "why did my burn tubes warp/". Yes - it can and does happen.

Believe me, I don't want to start that thread either At least on my car, I have a factory supplied tachometer with a well defined redline and the computer will shut off fuel before any sudden damage happens. On the Quadra I have this:



That's analogous to my car owner's manual saying "if the pistons hit the valves and the connecting rods snap, you are over revving the engine".

I've been doing a lot of reading on the web and here on hearth.com, and 900+ degrees (when the stove begins to glow) is universally considered a bad thing. Below that temperature, opinions are mixed.

Here's a post stating that Quadra tech support says 700 is about the maximum:
https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/quadra-fire-5700-stove-temp.59070/#post-737009

Here's another post that claims a Quadra engineer said "you can't do to that stove what we do here in the factory to cause them to fail" https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/max-operating-temp-for-quadrafire-4300.26041/#post-349439

Let me repeat that I really don't want to damage this stove, but on the other hand it seems silly to turn on the propane furnace if I could just run the stove a little hotter instead. Heat output goes up dramatically with small increases in temperature, so a 750 degree stove puts out a lot more heat than a 700 degree stove.

I think we're in complete agreement that uncontrolled burns are a bad thing. We do seem to disagree by 50-100 degrees about what stove top temperature we're comfortable with.

 

[David.Ervin]

I've got a Quad 4300 millennium flat top in my basement, and it gets hot enough to make the whole space pleasantly warm in very short order on not very much wood. If I fill the thing up, it'll crank out heat all night and have plenty of coals left in the morning for a quick restart. Given that its in an uninsulated basement (yeah, I know) and it'll happily keep the house warm, I'd be very surprised if its not enough to keep a cabin toasty.

When it's cruising along on a medium to full load of wood, I've seen the burn tubes glow, but never anything glowing on the outside of the stove. In fact, I've had a pot of water on it occasionally to add moisture to the air, and it doesn't boil. Maybe I can run it harder than I think I can . The worst runaway I've had got the black stove pipe hot enough to turn the paint white right at the flue collar, but the stove never blinked, and everything came right back to normal when we shut the air down.

 

[tpenny67]

"Cabin" is a bit of a stretch. It is a 900 sq ft A-frame with about a 20' high peak. The furnace has been guzzling about 5 gallons of propane a day to maintain 50 degrees. At 91,000 BTU/Gallon that's 455,000 BTU/day, or almost 19,000 BTU/hour. Some of that is lost to the basement, so let's say I need 15,000 BTU/hour just to maintain 50 degrees.

According to the online manual, the way I was operating the stove is considered a medium-high burn and produces 15,000-30,000 BTU/hour:



So it looks like I should have plenty of heat to maintain temperature, but not a lot of extra to raise the temperature. The high burn rate is thus very enticing, but the warning is a bit scary. The note recommending 15 minutes a day on high is the cherry on top. I basically read it as "please live dangerously 15 minutes a day for your safety".

 

[David.Ervin]

Burning hot like that will clean some creosote out of the stove pipe, but it's no substitute for an annual sweep.

Looks like the thing you have working against you the most is the really high ceiling. Any chance you can get a fan up there, preferably on a down-rod to stir the air around?

 

[tpenny67]

We do have a ceiling fan, and it seems to make a difference on the room thermometer though it also causes some wind chill. Not sure if has a switch to reverse direction or not, need a taller ladder to reach it.

 

[baseroom]

I am selling my house to here real soon. I'll most likely be leaving the quad behind.

Oh how I would love to buy those drying racks on that Quad!

 

[webby3650]

Oh how I would love to buy those drying racks on that Quad!

Really?

 

[baseroom]

Really?

Absolutely! Quad wants a fortune for them. My wife would love them.

 

[robhd41]

So I'm in the market for a new Quad 5700 just would like to hear from owners who have it. Like and dislikes

 

[Tyson]

We have a 3100, which is new to us but proving to be a very pleasant burner. The heat is very comfortable and the stove seems to be able to maintain heat in our living space well beyond the 8 - 10hr burn time. In our poorly insulated old house that cools off fast, this is most welcome.

I'm mostly looking for low and long burns vs fast and hot and seem to have the air buttoned right down once the STT (measured midway b/w front edge and top mounted pipe - the hottest area I find) reaches up to 600F. The stove top temp moves quick once it gets beyond 350F and the load catches. Once there, I can head out the door for the day and have some confidence that the house will be comfy when I return and that no one (such as my wife) has had to do anything to maintain the fire.

 

[rustynut]

robhd41,... like mine. big firebox gets pretty good long burns with plenty of coals for restarts. Set it up with OAK and never get any smoke inside. Min reqd chimney (14) with straight run allows easy cleaning. Pedestal base as last stove had queen ann legs and was always dirty underneath. Mine is just prior to the automatic air deal so no info on that. Full time burning w/mostly ash. Using about 5 cord / year. Keeps us warm in the drafty shack. Prolly about 1200 sf. Last stove was cat and a bit to finiky for me... Book says 2" clearance with the built in shields but I wasn't comfortable with that and was able to set up to about 8 which feels ok with the wall temp. That's about it.... good luck with the new addition. rn

 

[JA600L]

robhd41,... like mine. big firebox gets pretty good long burns with plenty of coals for restarts. Set it up with OAK and never get any smoke inside. Min reqd chimney (14) with straight run allows easy cleaning. Pedestal base as last stove had queen ann legs and was always dirty underneath. Mine is just prior to the automatic air deal so no info on that. Full time burning w/mostly ash. Using about 5 cord / year. Keeps us warm in the drafty shack. Prolly about 1200 sf. Last stove was cat and a bit to finiky for me... Book says 2" clearance with the built in shields but I wasn't comfortable with that and was able to set up to about 8 which feels ok with the wall temp. That's about it.... good luck with the new addition. rn

What kind of burn times are you getting?

 

[rustynut]

ja, well you know how it goes......burns hot for a while and slows down.....6-8 overnite with plenty of coals to restart in the morning. If you are day time and feel it cooling off you throw some more in. 5-6 on full load I guess. Full up and burning low you well have plenty of coals to restart after 12+ hrs if you're gone...... I do have a 4300 flat top on stand by going in a garage or barn..... how do you do with yours ? rn

 

[JA600L]

The 4300 burns overnight. That's about it. It leaves enough coals for a reload though after 8-10 hours.

 

[tpenny67]

Burning hot like that will clean some creosote out of the stove pipe, but it's no substitute for an annual sweep.

Looks like the thing you have working against you the most is the really high ceiling. Any chance you can get a fan up there, preferably on a down-rod to stir the air around?

I've been running the ceiling fan more often this weekend and it makes a big difference. When I turned it off last night, my wife and I instantly noticed that it didn't feel as warm. Also, it being 30 degrees warmer outside really helps the stove heat up the place

One odd thing I noticed is that there's less smoke coming out the chimney now than when the stove was brand new. I'm thinking it may have been burning the paint and other stuff off the inside of the stove, because the window also got really black and I had to scrape it with a razor blade. After three weekends of burning, the paint is just now starting to come off the secondary tubes. For a while I was starting to think they were powder coated or something.

How are everybody else's Quads burning?