My new VC Insert doesn't heat up

[gpcollen1]

Same problem. New Montpelier insert, full chimney liner, blocking plate, dry wood. When I start it, it takes 1-1/2 to 2 hours for the thermoswitch to turn the fan on, and it still kicks off occasionally even with a big fire going.

Had some other problems from new, and dealer was VERY unhelpful - they don't get paid much for service. I finally got them in to fix other issues (like a broken air slider control), and they replaced the thermoswitch. Same result.

I've measured the blower air. It's never much above 140F no matter how hot the fire. House is about 1500 sq.ft., and in stove can only raise the temperature by about 30 degrees. That clearly isn't going to work when it gets well below freezing. 1978 stove I had before could easily turn the house into a sauna in a couple of hours; I replaced it to get an overnight burn and more efficiency.

Dealer and installer no help, factory won't talk to owners. This is my primary heat source, and I'm in a bit of a panic. I'm wondering if it's possible to mis-assemble the stove (say, firebrick in wrong, or a plate out of place) so that heat can't get through to the air ducts? There is clearly something seriously wrong. The only way I get useful heat is with the door open - inefficient and not very safe! And almost no heat with the blower off.

If anyone has an idea, I will be VERY grateful.

Thanks-

Theo

Hey Theo - If you read Lynn's comments above, you will see that most of the issues are operator/operational issues and not the manufacturer - not to discount the fact that you may be getting crappy service.

If you do indeed have a snap disk issue, it is most likely the location [should not be in the path of air flow] and that it is not pressed up against the stove. You should be able to check those out DIY. The long and short is that i think the problem may be is that you are just not burning hot enough.

 

[Theo]

CTwoodburner[/quote]Hey Theo - If you read Lynn's comments above, you will see that most of the issues are operator/operational issues and not the manufacturer - not to discount the fact that you may be getting crappy service.
If you do indeed have a snap disk issue, it is most likely the location [should not be in the path of air flow] and that it is not pressed up against the stove. You should be able to check those out DIY. The long and short is that i think the problem may be is that you are just not burning hot enough.[/quote]

Comments appreciated. I'm pretty experienced with wood heating using fireplace or stove. But new to inserts and would love to learn that I'm just using it wrong. I'm also concerned as unit was clearly damaged or mis-assembled when I got it: air lever jammed (installer broke it off), cog placed wrong on slider. So I thought something else might have slipped loose to create a thermal gap someplace between the fire and the ducts. Anyone know if this is possible?

More info: I burn oak dried under cover 1-2 years and mostly split 2-3" thick, almost full stove width. My usual fire is 3-4" of nice glowing coals, covered with cordwood to fill the box. With the slider closed, the box is still full of flames. Open, it's a turbulent furnace in there. With blower set mid-range, exit air temp peaks around 150F. It drops to perhaps 140 with the slider closed. With a low bed of old coals partly covered with ash, exit air is about 120F. In other words, a huge range of hotbox intensity doesn't change the heat output all that much.

By comparison, I bought a much smaller DutchWest insert at the same time to go into an accessory apartment almost the same size as the main house. This one cranks out so much heat that it pretty much can't be used full-bore. So I'm really wondering what's going on.

Thanks for your ideas-

Theo

 

[Theo]

Another thought - poundage.

I'm burning about 50 pounds of wood a day in the Montpelier. Stove seems tight, chimney block cemented in place. So where's all the heat going?

I'm curious how much wood other folks use. Should I be burning even more? As mentioned above, opening the air gate all the way increases the burn rate a lot, but doesn't raise the blowing air temperature much. So I mostly keep the lever all the way to the right.

Thanks-

Theo

 

[woody22]

we had a service man come on saturday. he walked in looked at the stove and said oh you dont have it running we said we were told not to. He opened the door looked at the gasket and then the control lever back and forth. He said he would have to see it running to see if anything else. so we put it on and he came back on sun/ What i did see him do on saturday was get the handle to go completely down. We always had the handle on a little bit of a slant and that felt as if it was closed. So when i started the fire on sat with a little manuvering i got the handle to go completely straight down. We then did notice a immediate change with the air flow and the speed of the fire. We thought we were cured. When he came back on sunday he said that we had a really hot fire and that we should maybe turn the blower down a bit to get the fire hotter. He said that a slow and steady burn is best. That you do not need to see rouring flames. He said some of his worst customers are those that have had a regular fireplace or a older stove. HE said these units are completely different. So we are going to try some more this week to see if it is us. We did get the room to 70 for the first time. But it is warm out today so we will see in a couple of days. he says he has not heard of alot of problems and looking at our house he said we should be in the 80"s. So we shall see. We also have burned through alot of wood. But i think that was due now to air getting in b/c the door did not have a good seal.. he said we should not be constantly reloading that we should let the wood /coals stay really hot. It does get hot in front of the glass. Let you know in a few days if it gets better.
Who knew a insert could be this hard to operate.

 

[Lynn0101]

I tested the air flow at the base of the stove during my lunch hour (I am one of the lucky folks who lives close to where I work!), anyways, the flame from the little candle went from a normal vertical to a 45 degree angle towards the stove when I placed the candle underneath the front edge. I will try tucking in some of the fire-resistant insulation underneath the stove when I go home this evening. If that doens't help much I guess the next step would be to pull the insert out and re-insulate the base. As a secondary note, the glass on the door is keeping pretty clear!

 

[savageactor7]

Good to hear that things have improved slightly for the both of you...so the tech didn't check the wood out with a meter huh? Too bad in a way cause that's the easiest problem to solve.

 

[gmoney_2010]

So have you guys got your Montpeliers working correctly yet?

 

[Lynn0101]

I have gotten into a fairly good routine with my Montpelier fireplace insert. The thermometer that I have placed at the top center portion of the door, just above the glass, never reads higher than 300 degrees and I will admit that there is never a time that the room is warm enough for wearing a short sleeved shirt... but, I love the stove! It keeps the downstairs of my house at approx. 64 degrees and the upstairs at 61, so I have been able to keep my oil furnace from turning on for days at a time, which was my primary goal. I did purchase another cord of wood so that I could test if my first batch was the culprit in the lower heat but there isn't any difference in the amount of heat that the stove gives off (my 2nd cord is Ash)... I am very new with all of this and admit that there is a certain 'art' to the creating/maintaining of a fire in a wood stove. I have now figured out how to keep the heat/fire going throughout the day and when I am away for 6 hours or so and have only a small bed of coals in the stove, am able to get a good fire going and the automatic thermostat turning on the fan in about 20 to 25 minutes. The "exercise" element of keeping a nice pile of dry/room tempurature wood ready is a great side benefit! I also purchased two bags of kindling at a local Aubuchon Hardware store and that has helped me greatly! Then a fellow who is a cabinet maker over-heard me talking about my difficulties starting a fire and dropped off 2 big boxes of his wood cast-offs for kindling so I am all set now! I just use a few pieces to get the fire going in the morning. I did learn that the advice of the others in this forum concerning the size of the splits is of critical importance! I had the 2nd cord cut "smaller".. I think they call it a 6 cut instead of 4??? I don't remember, but I do know that I need to use the smaller splits for the first hour of getting the fire going before I can use the thicker splits. I am very, very appriciative for everyone's advice here!

 

[allhandsworking]

Lynn Im pretty sure most people here would agree that purchased cord wood is rarely truely seasoned! Purchase your wood stack it in a sunny spot and season it for at least one year. I have the same insert and it makes a great difference! some on this site season for more than a year but I have limited space for that! September is here and my would stacks are begging to be BURNED!

 

[YZF1R]

Same insert here and mine seems to do just fine also.

Steve

 

[allhandsworking]

I have gotten into a fairly good routine with my Montpelier fireplace insert. The thermometer that I have placed at the top center portion of the door, just above the glass, never reads higher than 300 degrees and I will admit that there is never a time that the room is warm enough for wearing a short sleeved shirt... but, I love the stove! It keeps the downstairs of my house at approx. 64 degrees and the upstairs at 61, so I have been able to keep my oil furnace from turning on for days at a time, which was my primary goal. I did purchase another cord of wood so that I could test if my first batch was the culprit in the lower heat but there isn't any difference in the amount of heat that the stove gives off (my 2nd cord is Ash)... I am very new with all of this and admit that there is a certain 'art' to the creating/maintaining of a fire in a wood stove. I have now figured out how to keep the heat/fire going throughout the day and when I am away for 6 hours or so and have only a small bed of coals in the stove, am able to get a good fire going and the automatic thermostat turning on the fan in about 20 to 25 minutes. The "exercise" element of keeping a nice pile of dry/room tempurature wood ready is a great side benefit! I also purchased two bags of kindling at a local Aubuchon Hardware store and that has helped me greatly! Then a fellow who is a cabinet maker over-heard me talking about my difficulties starting a fire and dropped off 2 big boxes of his wood cast-offs for kindling so I am all set now! I just use a few pieces to get the fire going in the morning. I did learn that the advice of the others in this forum concerning the size of the splits is of critical importance! I had the 2nd cord cut "smaller".. I think they call it a 6 cut instead of 4??? I don't remember, but I do know that I need to use the smaller splits for the first hour of getting the fire going before I can use the thicker splits. I am very, very appriciative for everyone's advice here!

Lynn If you are getting 300 from the top center of the door your actual temp is more like 500 550 I know this becoase I took a temp reading from the bass of the collar the goes into the liner!

 

[allhandsworking]

I have gotten into a fairly good routine with my Montpelier fireplace insert. The thermometer that I have placed at the top center portion of the door, just above the glass, never reads higher than 300 degrees and I will admit that there is never a time that the room is warm enough for wearing a short sleeved shirt... but, I love the stove! It keeps the downstairs of my house at approx. 64 degrees and the upstairs at 61, so I have been able to keep my oil furnace from turning on for days at a time, which was my primary goal. I did purchase another cord of wood so that I could test if my first batch was the culprit in the lower heat but there isn't any difference in the amount of heat that the stove gives off (my 2nd cord is Ash)... I am very new with all of this and admit that there is a certain 'art' to the creating/maintaining of a fire in a wood stove. I have now figured out how to keep the heat/fire going throughout the day and when I am away for 6 hours or so and have only a small bed of coals in the stove, am able to get a good fire going and the automatic thermostat turning on the fan in about 20 to 25 minutes. The "exercise" element of keeping a nice pile of dry/room tempurature wood ready is a great side benefit! I also purchased two bags of kindling at a local Aubuchon Hardware store and that has helped me greatly! Then a fellow who is a cabinet maker over-heard me talking about my difficulties starting a fire and dropped off 2 big boxes of his wood cast-offs for kindling so I am all set now! I just use a few pieces to get the fire going in the morning. I did learn that the advice of the others in this forum concerning the size of the splits is of critical importance! I had the 2nd cord cut "smaller".. I think they call it a 6 cut instead of 4??? I don't remember, but I do know that I need to use the smaller splits for the first hour of getting the fire going before I can use the thicker splits. I am very, very appriciative for everyone's advice here!

Lynn If you are getting 300 from the top center of the door your actual temp is more like 500 550 I know this because I took a temp reading from the bass of the collar the goes into the liner!

Also many stoves inserts that use blower 450 550 temp is normal Run without blower temp will go to 600 700 but your not circulating the heat as much. Get unit up to temp before you turn the fan on.