Cracks in Quad

[RonB]

I have a Quadrafire 5700 Step Top stove that I purchased 3/2007. I cleaned the chimney the other day and also disassembled the stove to vacuum the upper interior. I noticed a vertical crack in each corner of the secondary air supply channel. I took pics and emailed them to the store where it was purchased. The owner then forwarded my email to Quadrafire.

Here are some pictures:



Left corner.




Left corner with wire inserted in crevice into air channel.



Right corner with wire inserted into cavity.

Quadrafire got back to the dealer and said it would be a covered warranty item. They will supply the part under warranty and I have to cover the labor (labor is only covered first 5 years). I do not have any details from the dealer yet how they propose to "patch" (?) this with a part. The channel is completely welded onto the sides and back of the stove.

It would be helpful to know and hear from other forum Quad owners if you have had this particular issue and what is the fix? There does not appear to be any cracks that radiate all the way through the firebox as other older Quads have had (that I can see). My stove has the welded on side/ back shields. I was able to release side shields somewhat to look for cracks on the outside of the stove box.

Thanks!

 

[begreen]

This has been reported before by another 5700 owner. I would pull off the side panels and look at that cracked area from the outside of the stove body too. If the stove body is also cracked it seems they may owe you a new stove.

 

[webby3650]

I'm not sure what parts they could be providing. That appears to be an integral part of the stove. Welding it is the only way to fix it in my opinion.

 

[RonB]

I agree, welding is the sure fix. It would be difficult to weld that far back and up in the corner at the top as it is a deep stove. I will get with the dealer to see if he knows what quadrafire is specifying for the fix. Regardless of what I think of their repair technique, I am on the receiving end as it is under warranty (not the labor). So I presume if their repair is slipshod, it will eventually ruin the stove and then they can replace the whole stove.

I have checked the stove exterior in that area and I do not see any external cracks. Quadrafire definitely said to shut it down and not run it until the stove is repaired. My thought is they don't want to have a hot spot that would create a crack in the stove box.

Appreciate your thoughts, and this forum, so that I am able to document a stove issue and have others be helped as well.

 

[northwinds]

I would also make sure that they are applying the warranty that was in force at the time that you bought the stove. Quad has scaled back its warranty. When my fibreboard baffle cracked, the initial response was that it wasn't covered. When we checked my original lifetime warranty, it was covered.

 

[gholler]

Quad has a repair kit that has stainless covers for the seconary air channels. If they cover the parts you are in good shape. Not that hard to install if you get the right parts.

 

[RonB]

I did check the warranty in the book received with the stove. Labor only the first 5 years. As far as the stainless steel covers--how in the world you going to make them air tight without welding? I saw the older thread about some covers, but the pics of the guys stove had different air channels than mine as the stove was older or different model.

 

[BrotherBart]

Yeah Quad had the manifold cracking problem with inserts. But they were in the center of the manifold. The patch goes over the the manifold and I can't see it working with the cracks in the corners. Somebody gonna be crawling in that firebox with a welder.

I have to go look at the warranty but I have never seen just one year on firebox cracks on any steel stove. What parts are they gonna cover? Two welding rods?

 

[bholler]

yeah we have put in 4 or 5 patch kits and they wont fix that problem.

 

[RonB]

yeah we have put in 4 or 5 patch kits and they wont fix that problem.

I will email the dealer tomorrow as to how I expect him to proceed in getting the repair done. If this patch kit is a failure before we start I would like to give him that info and my feelings about it before I get him to my house and owe him for his travel (3 hrs round trip) with labor for total of $298.00. Bholler are you a quadrafire installer or ? If so I would tell the dealer that another experienced repair person says that this patch will not work on my problem.

 

[JA600L]

I welded all of the cracks even the thin steel sections in my 4300 with a flux core mig welder. I have not had any issues since. I probably made it better than new. The problem is if you do that your warranty is gone. I am not an original owner so no warranty here.

 

[bholler]

I am not a quad installer we have installed 6 or 7 quads and work on many more. We sell regency products. Looking at it those cracks will need welded. I haven't seen them fail there before that is not the normal problem area.

 

[GeHmTS]

I'm not sure what parts they could be providing. That appears to be an integral part of the stove. Welding it is the only way to fix it in my opinion.

it kinda looks like it was welded already. I would think they would cast the part rather than weld them together.

 

[bholler]

No quads are plate steel stoves the only cast part is the door. I an not sure what there issue at this time was but they had issues with internal cracking. This is a new location for it for me but they had some issues at the time this stove was made.

 

[Highbeam]

Jbweld? Those cracks are just screaming for a bead of new weld from a wirefeed welder. They wont cut out and replace the manifold and it is bighly unlikely that they will add any plate.

Warranty repairs suck. You really get to see what your manufacturer and dealer are made of.

 

[GeHmTS]

Be aware, one of the first signs they'll look for is evidence of over firing the stove. If they suspect that, then you're on the hook for the total cost. Hopefully, you don't have any warpage that will cause suspicion.

 

[Kool_hand_Looke]

I know a bit about welding. I'm a AWS PQR certified structural welder with AWS 40 hour PDH, for the Certified Welding Inspector program through AWS.

That's a crappy weld. Hands down. You have theoretical and actual weld throats, which is inside the heat affected zone. If it were an overfire issue I could see that causing the weld to break. But...there would have had to have been some form of defect in the weld for heat to affect the ductility of the weld. IE: porosity, hydrogen embrittlement, pin hole in the weld crater, etc. That's not the case here

The weld is broke clean off the base metal in the fit up joint. That's lack of penetration. If it were a good weld...that actual amd theoretical throat in the HAZ would factor on and your weld would be cracked right down the middle.

Don't let Quad, or the dealer, pull the wool on you.

 

[Kool_hand_Looke]

My point is...that's a crappy weld on their end. Copy what I've stated and do a little research prior to any inspection for overfire.

 

[Kool_hand_Looke]

Man. I keep looking at that. Lol. That's terrible. I'd be on their @$$3$. I might even go as far as to get it mag particle test if I were you to prove my point.

 

[JA600L]

I agree. Those welds never penetrated the steel properly.

 

[hamsey]

+1 On lack of penetration. I am a AWS certified weld inspector. First thing I thought about when I saw the photos.

 

[begreen]

Maybe see if Quad will just pay for a welder to reweld that corner? I'm guessing it would be about the same cost.

 

[Kool_hand_Looke]

Maybe see if Quad will just pay for a welder to reweld that corner? I'm guessing it would be about the same cost.

They'd need to get material/parts list and see what grade of steel the parts are and match the filler metal according to the grade of steel to make it RIGHT. Also, depending on the content of the grade, there may be a preheat and post heat requirement, if it's some form of high carbon some weird mild steel.

Also, aside from disassembly, that old weld needs to be removed and ground down.

I'd be wanting a new stove. If those are broke, what else is going to?

Good luck finding a welder that'd take the job that's not an alcoholic or crackhead. In not being rude saying that...just being honest.

 

[Kool_hand_Looke]

The more I think about that...there's really no way an overfire would do that. You have no axial or static load. So what made that weld pop, was the cooling down of your stove. Again, don't let them push it around that it was overfired so it broke. It's a crappy weld that broke in the cooling process when casting heat off.

 

[RonB]

I agree that it has not been over-fired because I run the stove with two temp gauges for a good reading on what is going on. One on stove top and the other on the flue. Stove top maximum temp is usually 600-650 on start up. It then holds 600 degrees for a good while and gradually coasts down over the hours.

Just emailed the distributor who is acting as the go between with Quadrafire. Essentially told him it was the welds that failed on the secondary air supply channel and not the channel. I requested to communicate with Quadrafire directly.

I suggested that the issue could be fixed by:
a). re-welding (difficult to do I am sure, given the location within the stove).
b). replace the stove.