Quadrafire maintenance question

[man-machine]

I have a really good friend who has done a ton of favors for me and he has had a Quadrafire pellet stove in his house as his primary heat for the last 5 winters. He said he has burnt 10 tons over the five years, 2 tons per season. What I'm offering him is a chance for me to do a complete removal, teardown, and cleaning on his stove as a return favor.

It's hard to get specific details about how his stove is working but he said it's getting more finicky about burning right. He said every year he's had to spend more time fine tuning the draft and maybe a couple of other things too. So my question is this: Am I on target for wanting to do this job for him? Is 10 tons a lot? Overdue for a good cleaning?

I don't want to waste his time and mine promising big performance gains if there isn't going to be any. I'm looking at the whole 9 yards of cleaning the entire thing. That's why I want to remove it from his house so I can go gangbusters on it in my driveway with compressed air, shopvac, disassembly, hand washing individual pieces and so on.

If you followed my topic a while back about my Winston pellet stove fiasco / debacle you'll know I'm quite well versed on pellet stove work. Thanks everyone. m-m

 

[imacman]

M-M, I do remember your ordeal with the Winston, and you seem perfectly qualified to tackle this project for your friend.

No, 2 tons a season is not a lot for a pellet stove....I'd say it's just about average, or even slightly below average. Most people seem to burn around 3 tons a winter.

My question is, has your friend done thorough cleanings of the stove after each ton, and also a BIG cleaning at the end of the burning season? Or is he a "I'll empty the ash pan, and vacuum out the firebox and that's good enough" kind of pellet burner? If you know the answer to that question, I'm sure you'll have your answer.

Good luck....if you decide to go ahead w/ it, maybe post some pics like you did last winter.

 

[smwilliamson]

Quads are quite easy to clean, problem being, they tent to work very well up until they decide to stop working altogether. If tweaking is what you seek, perhaps look in to the venting system too as part of the job. Find out what he's burning. There are some adjustments you can make in the control box for hotter and cooler burnings etc...perhaps another member can post the control box info for settings 1-7 or 1-4 depending upon the year.

 

[man-machine]

Yeah hey thanks a bunch guys. He's burning both hard and soft, I know a least a few tons were Rockies, other decent brands aswell. And yes, he is a hand wiskbroom kind of cleaning guy "it's supposed to work good no matter what" kinda thing. I don't know the paticular model bought new 5 years ago, I'd assume it's just the regular contemporary styled one, not the flexfuel or anything.

Is this a puffer, the kind that stokes the combustion area with positive pressure instead of pulling the dirty stuff through the combustion fan like mine does? I'd take it those kind don't get nearly as much caked up crud on the fan impeller besides just the usual room dirt but I'd look for problems in the usual places like draft control and heat exchanger box, effective door seal and that sort of thing. The venting could be another source of trouble also, just "any, and, all" need to be checked. Maybe I could just give it a good scoping out in his house to hopefully see the potentrial problems. He's in a duststorm-prone area outside of town.

 

[smwilliamson]

Yeah hey thanks a bunch guys. He's burning both hard and soft, I know a least a few tons were Rockies, other decent brands aswell. And yes, he is a hand wiskbroom kind of cleaning guy "it's supposed to work good no matter what" kinda thing. I don't know the paticular model bought new 5 years ago, I'd assume it's just the regular contemporary styled one, not the flexfuel or anything.

Is this a puffer, the kind that stokes the combustion area with positive pressure instead of pulling the dirty stuff through the combustion fan like mine does? I'd take it those kind don't get nearly as much caked up crud on the fan impeller besides just the usual room dirt but I'd look for problems in the usual places like draft control and heat exchanger box, effective door seal and that sort of thing. The venting could be another source of trouble also, just "any, and, all" need to be checked. Maybe I could just give it a good scoping out in his house to hopefully see the potentrial problems. He's in a duststorm-prone area outside of town.

It's a sucker.

 

[tjnamtiw]

he says he's playing with the draft............... These have no draft adjustments other than a clean or dirty vent pipe. It would certainly be time to pull the exhaust blower while you're at it. It's long over due. Yes, door gasket replacement is also long over due. Check the clearance of the bottom dump door. The side opposite the pivot should not be greater than the thickness of a dime. Make sure ALL the holes in the burn post are clear. There are some small ones right at the bottom of the sloped bottom as well as some small ones around the circumference that get overlooked. I don't see any reason to go through the hassle of taking it out unless you are going to give it a good air blast. If you do, disconnect the vacuum switch hose so you don't screw it up.

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

Sounds like it needs a good cleaning from the air intake out through the outside venting.

Just be careful as I believe there is a bit of cast and ceramics in that unit that will not respond well to thumping etc ....

Good to see you back on here man-machine.

 

[tjnamtiw]

Sounds like it needs a good cleaning from the air intake out through the outside venting.

Just be careful as I believe there is a bit of cast and ceramics in that unit that will not respond well to thumping etc ....

Good to see you back on here man-machine.

the burn pot is cast, not ceramic. Only the thermocouple cover is ceramic and IS VERY fragile. Good point!

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

Sounds like it needs a good cleaning from the air intake out through the outside venting.

Just be careful as I believe there is a bit of cast and ceramics in that unit that will not respond well to thumping etc ....

Good to see you back on here man-machine.

the burn pot is cast, not ceramic. Only the thermocouple cover is ceramic and IS VERY fragile. Good point!

ISTR the back of the firebox is cast and at least one years manufacture had issues with rust and cracking, but I could be wrong.

 

[smwilliamson]

I just re-read the winston thread. Terrific read. M-M, if you can do that, working on this quad will be a walk in the park.

Be cautious, quads have a lot of cast parts that do not like removal etc, after many years of use. Though I doubt you'll need to get into it that hard.

 

[man-machine]

Thanks for the compliment on the Winston topic. It was quite the played-out ordeal but worthwhile for the information gathered and put forth, I learned a lot and now that the supply of Winston programmable combustion controllers to the best of my knowledge is completely gone there are other options to keep that stove going. Namely to change the timed 1:1 chaindrive auger to a 1:3 continuous variable drive using the oem gearmotor, easily done.

Enough of that. I'm leary of going into the Quad and causing damage but also know firsthand how even 1/16" of buildup of crud on the combustion fan impeller destroys the airflow performance by a huge factor. Still not sure if I should go into this project or just throw across a $100 gift card for Texas Roadhouse or Safeway.