Stove Pics

[Nate Finch]

As I said in my other post, this is the stove that came with my new house. Back of it says it's a 1994 Quadra Fire 4300.
The first picture is taken with a crazy wide angle lens, so that I can actually get the stove pipe in the picture (it goes up to the top of the cathedral ceiling, a full two stories high. Because of the lens, it makes the stove look pretty small, it looks a lot bigger in the room in real life. Second picture (with the awful flash) shows the inside with the cracked brick. Final is just a close up shot.

 

[bobforsaken]

I have just been playing with a 93 Quadrafire 3100 for the past few months. The stove burned great. You don't really even have to crack to door to get the fire going and the secondary burn was very easy.

if your stove is similar, it should serve you well.

 

[begreen]

It's not a big deal to replace the brick. It probably cracked when someone got a little to rambunctious slamming in some wood. The stove should perform well, though I have to ask, is it connected with singlewall pipe? Hard to tell from the picture, but that's a long run. Be sure the pipe is cleaned before starting the season and burn only dry wood.

 

[fossil]

Put a new firebrick split in...cut it with a masonry blade if necessary. What is that beige-looking transition thing between the top of the stovepipe and the ceiling support box? Rick

 

[Nate Finch]

Is it connected with singlewall pipe? That's a long run. Be sure the pipe is cleaned before starting the season and burn only dry wood.

I'm not sure. How can I tell if it's single walled or (double walled?)? The prior owners were incredibly helpful with everything, and said they had the chimney cleaned last year and didn't use the stove at all last winter (specifically to help the house sell... they thought the smell of the stove would be a turn off... I know, weird, right?)

Put a new firebrick split in...cut it with a masonry blade if necessary. What is that beige-looking transition thing between the top of the stovepipe and the ceiling support box? Rick

I don't know, you tell me (please ignore the dust ):

 

[tradergordo]

Its a normal transition from interior (single or double wall) black pipe to the exterior Class A pipe.
You should get a whole lot of heat from this setup (love long interior pipe runs). The only thing that concerns me is the previous owner's concern about smoking up the house, that should not happen. One mistake the original installer made was putting the 45 degree bend at the bottom, it belongs at the top. You could fix that yourself or have someone else to it, you would not need to buy any parts, just re-arrange the parts you have already. But I think your existing setup should draft fine either way.

 

[Wood Heat Stoves]

its either double wall, or it's in upside down

 

[Wood Heat Stoves]

4.5 inch x 9 inch x 1.25 inch
stb hardware store firebrick size

 

[Nate Finch]

Its a normal transition from interior (single or double wall) black pipe to the exterior Class A pipe.
You should get a whole lot of heat from this setup (love long interior pipe runs). The only thing that concerns me is the previous owner's concern about smoking up the house, that should not happen. One mistake the original installer made was putting the 45 degree bend at the bottom, it belongs at the top. You could fix that yourself or have someone else to it, you would not need to buy any parts, just re-arrange the parts you have already. But I think your existing setup should draft fine either way.

I'm not sure that they were worried it would drastically smoke up the house, just a general slightly smokey smell. They were pretty desperate to sell, so probably didn't want to take any chances.

Thanks for the tip about the 45º bend.... if I can find someone with a ladder long enough, I'm sure I can rearrange some pipes. What's the drawback to having it at the bottom rather than the top?


Dave - thanks for the info on the brick. I'll definitely get that replaced before I fire it up.

 

[tradergordo]

Thanks for the tip about the 45º bend.... if I can find someone with a ladder long enough, I'm sure I can rearrange some pipes. What's the drawback to having it at the bottom rather than the top?

With the bend at the bottom there is slightly higher chance of smoke entering the room when starting a fire. With the bend at the top, smoke is drawn away from the stove faster because it doesn't hit any resistance in the pipe until it gets to the bend. But I would try it out first, if there is no problem, you know the saying (if it aint broke don't fix it).

 

[Nate Finch]

Ahh, cool, thanks. Figured it was something like that.

 

[BrotherBart]

Does anybody know when Quad started using the pumice firebricks in the stoves? It looks like somebody just modified regular bricks instead of paying the high price for the pre-drilled back bricks for that stove. I would be concerned about the weight of a brick sitting directly on top of those two air inlet tubes back there. Normally when people have replaced the pumice bricks with regular 1/2 brick splits they have drilled out holes to clear those tubes like the factory bricks.

PS: Maybe Bobforsaken can tell us what bricks are in the 1993 Quad he has.

 

[soupy1957]

To my eye (and of course it's just "me"), this stove looks a tad undersize for the size of the room and then you have the rest of the house to consider. In addition, I'd be tempted to correct the piping altogether, and get as much "straight" pipe going up as I could, removing the angles altogether. If that meant moving the stove location, I would do that.

Alos, .........that hearth seems a tad small as well. I'd personally like a bigger base under my stove. Not so much having to do with weight-bearing, as much as the look and greater coverage for errant sparks.

Since you don't know if you have Fire-Retardant Dry Wall behind the stove (I'm guessing "not") I'd consider a brick wall buffer, or some sort of decorative additional protection behind it. If there are kids in your life, you might want to consider a kid fence around the stove as well.

Get a wood ring for at LEAST a day's worth of wood, and a bucket for kindling!! (Oh, and don't forget to put an ABC Fire Extinguisher nearby, and install smoke and CM Detectors around the house).

-Soupy1957

 

[Nate Finch]

Thanks for the advice, soupy. The stove is bigger than it looks in the room, I just had to use a super wide angle lens to get it all in the photos, which makes it look a lot smaller than it is. The quadra fire 4300 is rated for up to about 2400 square feet, so it should be just about right. I figure we'll give it a shot this winter and if I have to buy a bigger stove for next year, so be it.

Moving the stove is not really feasible, it would mean having to redo the entire carpet, plus it is centered in the house right now, and moving it to the right would put it too close to the livingroom nook on the right there, and probably make that space way too hot.

A bigger pad is certainly possible, I should measure the clearance on this one. I think you're likely right about the drywall not bein fire rated, but there is like 18" of clearance behind the stove. The problem with installing protection behind it is that there is baseboard heat behind there, so I can't really do a full wall without removing a section of that. One of the detriments of buying a place with the stove already there, I guess . I'll definitely keep an eye on the wall behind and the carpet in front and make sure they're not getting too warm. I could always strip out a panel of drywall and put up a section of fire retardant stuff.

We do have a kid fence the previous owners left us, so that's good. A wood ring is definitely on the list of things to buy, though.

 

[70marlin]

Very nice Application! With that sweet light colored carpet I'd do a slate or some kind of stone floor for the entire end of the room. My light colored carpet has taken a beating over the last five years.

 

[soupy1957]

One option for the wall behind the stove (will add character, besides being a good heat shield) is half brick (bricks that are full size in length and height, but cut to about .250 thick. they can be mortared up on the wall, and are a fraction of the cost, and weight. Create some sort of background to your liking.

-Soupy1957

 

[GunSeth]

Great looking stove you got. It's going to keep that living space nice and toasty.

 

[Redburn]

I would also buy a stove top thermometer if u don't have one to run the stove at a safe operating tempurture I have 2 one on the stove the other on the pipe. Burn on Nate the fall count down is here.....

 

[Nate Finch]

Thanks guys! There's a fireplace & stove store not too far from me, in the next couple weeks I'll go for a trip there and pick up a bunch of the accessories I'm missing - tools, thermometer, etc. Luckily, my wife is almost as interested in the stove as I am.

 

[firefighterjake]

Thanks guys! There's a fireplace & stove store not too far from me, in the next couple weeks I'll go for a trip there and pick up a bunch of the accessories I'm missing - tools, thermometer, etc. Luckily, my wife is almost as interested in the stove as I am.

+1 to the stove pipe thermometer and stove thermometer.

As for your wife . . . right now she is only "almost as interested" . . . just wait until the dead of winter when the heat is cranking . . . then she should be very interested in the stove as you are right now.

 

[Nate Finch]

Yeah, I think she's going to love it in the winter. She's always cold, and with no oil bill to worry about, we can keep it cranked all the time.