Questions on New Pellet Stove

[joescho]

Hello Everyone:
Its been a bit since I've posted, as I finally purchased a pellet insert to supplement my electric heat and my Joutl C550 Rockland Insert. The Joutl is in the basement and I purchased a Quad Mt. Vernon insert for the upstairs fireplace. I have a few questions that hopefully some of you Mt. Vernon insert owners can answer. As far as the installation, I'm either going to have my current chimney guy who I trust 100% do it, or have the dealer do it. Not totally sure yet. Anyway, It looks like the insert will be needing a pipe to suck in air as well as a pipe for exhaust. Is this correct? I see me running two pipes up the chimney if this is so. Are they both 3 inch or is one 3 inch and the other 4 inch?

I was talking about maintenance with the dealer, and I have more questions about that too. When you remove the (I believe its the convection fan??) for cleaning, is there some sort of gasket that you need to replace? If so , is this a yearly replacement of this gasket, or is it sooner? How often do you find that you need to clean the blower per tonnage of pellets?

Is there any other gotchas out there that you can think of with either installing the unit or cleaning it? If so, please feel free to chime in as the install should be taking place within the next 3 weeks, and I better get my butt in gear getting pellets stocked up in my basement( as well as my 3 cord of wood for the basement insert!!)

I will start this year with 2 tons of either Barefoot or Allegheny pellets (one ton free from the dealer) , and I will try to get 10 bags of pellets (whatever they have) from Lowes and 10 from Home Depot just to try them so I'm looking at about 2.5 ton to burn this year, and will go from there.

Any comments/suggestions welcome as this will be my first experience buying and burning pellets in a stove that seems to be a whole lot smarter than I am!!

Thanks,
Joe

 

[DexterDay]

Hello Everyone:
Its been a bit since I've posted, as I finally purchased a pellet insert to supplement my electric heat and my Joutl C550 Rockland Insert. The Joutl is in the basement and I purchased a Quad Mt. Vernon insert for the upstairs fireplace. I have a few questions that hopefully some of you Mt. Vernon insert owners can answer. As far as the installation, I'm either going to have my current chimney guy who I trust 100% do it, or have the dealer do it. Not totally sure yet. Anyway, It looks like the insert will be needing a pipe to suck in air as well as a pipe for exhaust. Is this correct? I see me running two pipes up the chimney if this is so. Are they both 3 inch or is one 3 inch and the other 4 inch?

I was talking about maintenance with the dealer, and I have more questions about that too. When you remove the (I believe its the convection fan??) for cleaning, is there some sort of gasket that you need to replace? If so , is this a yearly replacement of this gasket, or is it sooner? How often do you find that you need to clean the blower per tonnage of pellets?

Is there any other gotchas out there that you can think of with either installing the unit or cleaning it? If so, please feel free to chime in as the install should be taking place within the next 3 weeks, and I better get my butt in gear getting pellets stocked up in my basement( as well as my 3 cord of wood for the basement insert!!)

I will start this year with 2 tons of either Barefoot or Allegheny pellets (one ton free from the dealer) , and I will try to get 10 bags of pellets (whatever they have) from Lowes and 10 from Home Depot just to try them so I'm looking at about 2.5 ton to burn this year, and will go from there.

Any comments/suggestions welcome as this will be my first experience buying and burning pellets in a stove that seems to be a whole lot smarter than I am!!

Thanks,
Joe

Yes, there is a OAK (Outside Air Kit) on the Mt. Vernon. The exhaust can be 3" or 4". Depends on what your EVL is? Or your total length of flue, with all connections. The Oak for most Quads is a kit. Going up an existing Flue, you will have to add length to the OAK kit from Quad. Is it a Masonry Fireplace?

The "Combustion" blower does have a gasket that should be replaced Every time you take it off to clean the stove. (I do this twice a year, 1st time for Spring cleaning/End of year cleaning, and the 2nd time is Mid-Season). The Gaskets can be had for about $15 give or take.

Try a few bags to see what your stove likes. Before you ever make a large purchase. The couple ton you are getting, should not be bad. A ton of bad fuel will not really hurt (as long as its not WET). You can always use it for the shoulder seasons.

I have a couple different ways to measure heat output on my Quad. A Remote Cooking thermometer (Very accurate/Favorite), 2 Magnetic Stove thermometers (General idea/Works but not very accurate), and a IR gun (All over the place with readings/ Don't like to use, inaccurate). These give me an idea on what the stove temp (magnetic) is and the Air temp is (Remote Electric cooking thermo). There can be as much as a 20-30 degree temp difference on the same heat setting, but with different (Crappy) pellets.

The Mt. Vernon AE is a very advanced stove. The way it auto dumps is handy, unless a clinker large enough is built up, and cannot "Drop Out". Have heard of a few Mis-Fires from some people on this Forum and the iburncorn Forum. Every stove has its problems. Im not saying its a bad unit at all. Its the top of the line Quad. You bought a good unit and should get many years of enjoyment out of it.

I have done a search on this Forum on all my stoves and found all the past problems that people have had. Its a simple task and you learn a few things along the way. Good Luck and dont forget the Pics.... Remember. Pics or it never happened. LOL

 

[smwilliamson]

Hello Everyone:
Its been a bit since I've posted, as I finally purchased a pellet insert to supplement my electric heat and my Joutl C550 Rockland Insert. The Joutl is in the basement and I purchased a Quad Mt. Vernon insert for the upstairs fireplace. I have a few questions that hopefully some of you Mt. Vernon insert owners can answer. As far as the installation, I'm either going to have my current chimney guy who I trust 100% do it, or have the dealer do it. Not totally sure yet. Anyway, It looks like the insert will be needing a pipe to suck in air as well as a pipe for exhaust. Is this correct? I see me running two pipes up the chimney if this is so. Are they both 3 inch or is one 3 inch and the other 4 inch?

I was talking about maintenance with the dealer, and I have more questions about that too. When you remove the (I believe its the convection fan??) for cleaning, is there some sort of gasket that you need to replace? If so , is this a yearly replacement of this gasket, or is it sooner? How often do you find that you need to clean the blower per tonnage of pellets?

Is there any other gotchas out there that you can think of with either installing the unit or cleaning it? If so, please feel free to chime in as the install should be taking place within the next 3 weeks, and I better get my butt in gear getting pellets stocked up in my basement( as well as my 3 cord of wood for the basement insert!!)

I will start this year with 2 tons of either Barefoot or Allegheny pellets (one ton free from the dealer) , and I will try to get 10 bags of pellets (whatever they have) from Lowes and 10 from Home Depot just to try them so I'm looking at about 2.5 ton to burn this year, and will go from there.

Any comments/suggestions welcome as this will be my first experience buying and burning pellets in a stove that seems to be a whole lot smarter than I am!!

Thanks,
Joe

trust me, you are smarter than than the stove. You'll figure that out on your own. for the gotcha....If you have kids, do yourself a favor and install the thermostat control panel out of your kids reach. That blue screen attracts children in droves!

 

[joescho]

Yes the fireplace is a masonary fireplace. My experiences so far have only been with wood burning stoves and inserts, so I'm not used to having a special pipe to bring air in.

Thanks for all yor help!!

Joe