Hi all,
Long time follower. First time poster.
We have a Quad Mt. Vernon AE insert purchased in Nov. '08. I thought I would post our experience so far. Last season we burned exactly 4 tons of O'Malley hardwood pellets (happy with them, but don't really have a comparison). The Quad is in a centrally located great room in our 2-story colonial (about 3200 sf). It is an open floor plan. The stove became our primary heat source shortly after installation and actually kept the entire house more comfortable than our oil burner. Since we set the thermostat back at night and during the day, we used both oil and pellets to bring the house up to temperature at night and in the morning. Otherwise, we use only pellets. We used only about 10% of the oil used in previous seasons. After about 2 days of using the stove, we let it go during the night and while gone during the day. No problems at all.
For those with this stove, the stove is now set at manual, med-low, flame height -4. Once it get colder, I will probably move it to med, and then maybe med-high. Have never needed to burn on high to keep the house warm, even during some pretty cold days last winter. We burned for awhile last year on auto, but seemed to use more pellets. Yes, I installed an OAK (home made, not Quad) and it works great.
My routine is pretty simple. During the cold season, we will burn 1.5-2 bags per day. The stove gets vacuumed and the glass cleaned every day (5 minute job). I use a 5 gal shop vac with fine dust bag. Once or twice a week the ash drawer gets emptied. Each weekend, the stove gets a complete cleaning, including the heat exchanger (about 1 hour). Last season, I removed the combustion blower after 2 tons to clean the liner, and did the same at the end of the season. I have seen all the posts about the leaf blower and other cleaning methods. The installer said all they do is tap on the flexible liner above the stove (it actually goes up 25 feet), remove the fan, and vacuum up what fell down. So, that is what I do. I will probably do this a little more often this year.
This is great forum, and made me a much more confident first time pellet burner. I hope this post will help someone else.
Long time follower. First time poster.
We have a Quad Mt. Vernon AE insert purchased in Nov. '08. I thought I would post our experience so far. Last season we burned exactly 4 tons of O'Malley hardwood pellets (happy with them, but don't really have a comparison). The Quad is in a centrally located great room in our 2-story colonial (about 3200 sf). It is an open floor plan. The stove became our primary heat source shortly after installation and actually kept the entire house more comfortable than our oil burner. Since we set the thermostat back at night and during the day, we used both oil and pellets to bring the house up to temperature at night and in the morning. Otherwise, we use only pellets. We used only about 10% of the oil used in previous seasons. After about 2 days of using the stove, we let it go during the night and while gone during the day. No problems at all.
For those with this stove, the stove is now set at manual, med-low, flame height -4. Once it get colder, I will probably move it to med, and then maybe med-high. Have never needed to burn on high to keep the house warm, even during some pretty cold days last winter. We burned for awhile last year on auto, but seemed to use more pellets. Yes, I installed an OAK (home made, not Quad) and it works great.
My routine is pretty simple. During the cold season, we will burn 1.5-2 bags per day. The stove gets vacuumed and the glass cleaned every day (5 minute job). I use a 5 gal shop vac with fine dust bag. Once or twice a week the ash drawer gets emptied. Each weekend, the stove gets a complete cleaning, including the heat exchanger (about 1 hour). Last season, I removed the combustion blower after 2 tons to clean the liner, and did the same at the end of the season. I have seen all the posts about the leaf blower and other cleaning methods. The installer said all they do is tap on the flexible liner above the stove (it actually goes up 25 feet), remove the fan, and vacuum up what fell down. So, that is what I do. I will probably do this a little more often this year.
This is great forum, and made me a much more confident first time pellet burner. I hope this post will help someone else.
