New Quad Voyageur Insert

[highlife]

Hello, purchased the Quafrafire Voyageur and have been using it now for a few weeks. This is my first insert, never before used a stove of any kind.

Impressions and questions:

I have a 2200 sq ft colonial and it heats most of it to 62-73 degrees. The upstairs bedrooms (4) are quite comfy at 65 or so, the first floor ranges between 62-73. The cooler room is furthest from the unit and has 3 outside walls and a cold crawl underneath.

Start up: With 3 small splits and a 1/4 piece supercedar, unit heats up quickly with blower coming on in about 15-20 mins. Pretty quick for all cast unit. Highly adjustable fan speed is great and blower not too loud.

Looks: Received lots of comments from friends and family on how great it looks. I have the cast surround and it looks fantastic, all black. Easy to clean too.

Performance: Once started, is easy to keep going. I let the wood burn down to coals with barely a flame showing before adding more wood. Now, here are where the questions begin...

1. With about 4 small to med splits, I can only achieve about 2 hours max of flame. The unit will remain hot afterwards with blower running on auto for about another 4 hours. SO, that to me is a 6 hour burn time, not the stated 10-12. Sure there will be red coals after 10-12 hours, but not hot enough to start fire up again easily. The 2 hours of "Flame time" seems short to me. I let the fire burn with draft on full for about 15 mins to get going nice and hot, then dial all the way down. Beautiful flames follow but the wood burns quick. Its a mix of wood types, but all nice and dry. No real soft stuff like pine, mostly hardwood. So, should I expect longer "Flame" time?

2. Glass is hard to keep clean. The corners especially get dark and even with hot fire and lots of flame, they don't self clean. And, it is hard to remove with basic glass cleaner and paper towel. The film in middle of glass wipes easily. Should my wood or burn technique be in question, or is the par for the course?

3. With full fire going, is it normal to see flames going over top of baffle (in front not behind) and up flue pretty consistently? I cant control this with draft, I think it is by design. My chimney liner is non-insulated 27 ft run.
It is only insulated on top and around the old damper area with non face batting. It seems like fire is burning a little too intense with draft on low, but that could be my in-experience. Unit itself and surrounding trim/walls dont get too hot.

Any comments or thoughts would be appreciated. Definitely enjoying unit and burning replenishable fuel. Looking forward to comparing gas bills from last year.

Happy New Year!
Bill

 

[Hurricane]

It sounds to me like your startup air is staying on. It looks like you have an automatic startup air control mechanism. You need to push it in all the way then out all the way to activate it. If t is not operating correctly that would explain the short burns and possibly the dirty glass. The other air control is the burn rate, what are you running that control on, the 12 hr burn rate they advertise is a jammed firebox running on the lowest setting. You should be able to achieve 6-8 hr burn times with little effort. Work on getting the air settings right and things should improve.

 

[highlife]

Here are a couple of pics of the Voyageur. Note the buildup on the glass. A hot fire with lots of flame only clears the middle of the glass.

 

[highlife]

It sounds to me like your startup air is staying on. It looks like you have an automatic startup air control mechanism. You need to push it in all the way then out all the way to activate it. If t is not operating correctly that would explain the short burns and possibly the dirty glass. The other air control is the burn rate, what are you running that control on, the 12 hr burn rate they advertise is a jammed firebox running on the lowest setting. You should be able to achieve 6-8 hr burn times with little effort. Work on getting the air settings right and things should improve.

I use the auto start up only for the initial lighting of fire. I push it in all the way, and can hear it clicking. I assume after 25 mins or so it shuts off automatically, as I cant hear it clicking any longer. I do not activate it again, even when reloading. When I re-load, I do not load the firebox completely. 1/2 to 3/4 is about all I have done. I could try filling the empty space with small rounds and see how much longer I can get. Seems to me most of the "burn time" is a hot coal bed, not active flames.

 

[Hurricane]

Highlife,

In for the startup air is all the way open. Out is closed.
To bypass the automatic setting you need to pull up on the control then pull out. You do not hear clicking anymore because you are forcing it open. Check page 10 in this manual. http://www.quadrafire.com/~/media/Files/Quadrafire/Installation Manuals/Man_Voyageur_ACC.ashx
That should get you going, you will likely get much more heat with it closed as well.

Ray

 

[highlife]

My understanding of the auto start feature was to push it in, then pull it out. It will open the air all the way, then gradually close it after 25 mins or so. The clicking I hear is the timer going from full open to close. I will try the manual shut off and see if anything changes.

 

[Hurricane]

I think when you push it in you wind the spring, when you pull it out the spring starts unwinding. Let me know if it makes a difference.