Quad owners, start up air

[Dustin]

I asked this question a year or do ago, and am curious if there have been any new things learned.

The stove, 4100i insert

My startup air is very, loose. I can move it back and forth with ease. When it's opened, or closed I see no change in fire behavior. If its stuck
Closed, I'll live with it. If its stuck open I'll be worried.

My question to you quad guys, do you notice a massive change when opening and closing your start up air? Is there some magic trick to see if it's actually working?

It's a content worry of mine, about the stove running away. There has been times with the primary shut all the way down that it will take off running, but most times it doesn't.

Thoughts?

 

[Dustin]

Sorry for the typos... Posting with the iPhone

 

[Prof]

I see a dramatic difference with the start up air open. My Cumberland Gap will definitely run away (particularly the stack temp) if the start up air is open for more than 15 minutes. Once the fire is established (i.e., start up air closed), I find the stove to be very controllable. I can keep the stack temp around 300F while the stove cruises at 400-500F. I haven't had any serious problems with the stove temps taking off. With that said, when there has been strong wind outside, I have had to shut the primary air down completely and I still had a blazing fire. Under normal conditions I haven't had a reason to be concerned.

 

[Dustin]

Thanks for the reply!

Well, it seems that the start up air is stuck closed. I did some research and apparently you can see the flaps in the shotgun tubes open and close when moving the handle. I don't see that, they're just closed. But, the handle still moves back and forth like it's supposed to.

I bought this stove used a couple years ago. I'm thinking it got stuck shut on the previous owner and they just worked it until it came loose, which cause the system inside to break.

I'm not really in to pulling the insert out and apart to investigate this. I have been starting fires in this thing for three years without the start up air working like it should. I'm thinking of plugging the start up tubes with furnace cement. My fear is, what if they decide to open one day in the middle of the night, and they can't be closed because the rod is not connected...

 

[Prof]

My start up lever would stick fairly bad for the first couple months, but since my stove is free standing, I was able to pull the back off and use graphite to lube things up a bit. I can see how tinkering with an insert might be more trouble than it is worth, especially since you can get a fire going without it. Stuck shut is definitely better than stuck open! My gut is telling me that if the lever is not connected, the start up air is not going to open up, but I wouldn't bet your house on my gut, so throwing some furnace cement in there isn't going to hurt anything. I wouldn't shove too much in there though, in case you ever do decide to fix the lever, but a small glob should be more than enough.

 

[Dustin]

My start up lever would stick fairly bad for the first couple months, but since my stove is free standing, I was able to pull the back off and use graphite to lube things up a bit. I can see how tinkering with an insert might be more trouble than it is worth, especially since you can get a fire going without it. Stuck shut is definitely better than stuck open! My gut is telling me that if the lever is not connected, the start up air is not going to open up, but I wouldn't bet your house on my gut, so throwing some furnace cement in there isn't going to hurt anything. I wouldn't shove too much in there though, in case you ever do decide to fix the lever, but a small glob should be more than enough.

Well, I got wild hair and pulled the insert, and pulled it's metal casing hoping I would be able to see the problem. Well, as I was fearing the start up air valve is housed in steal, welded to the fire box....Nice design quad! Apparently they never planned on their stuff needing repair.

So, I put it all back together and put some furnace cement in the start up air tubes. Just for piece of mind.

If I was planning on staying in this house any longer then two more years, I would get rid of this thing and buy a BK, but, I think i'll just ride it out...

 

[Prof]

To be honest, I'm not thrilled with the design of my stove either. The start up air system is not well thought out, particularly the lever and the bricks with the holes in them--very fragile. Also, it's easy to smack the baffle if you are not careful loading. I think they could have done better too.