2017 Quadra-Fire Performance Thread

[Wilbursan]

I'm got a 3100 Millennium in a 3100 sq ft house and it'll run you out. But I live in the South so that's not too surprising. I had two splits in it the other day and it kept going to 400 degrees with the living room at 78 degrees (think it was in the 30's outside). The thing likes to run hot, especially with a 25' draft so it's a bit of a chore to run unless it's really cold. Most of the time it's just not worth running it, but I'm always looking for excuses. The first year I was here we had a cold winter so naturally I didn't have any firewood, but the last two years seem to have been above average. I'm crossing my fingers hoping for one more cold snap, but I've already cleaned up the stove becasue I don't think it will happen.

You mentioned scraping the window to clean it. I picked up a tip here that works very well. Wet a paper towel and dip it in the white ash and it will just wipe that crap right off the glass.

 

[tpenny67]

I normally do the ash trick when the glass gets really dirty, but even that didn't work this time. It's been a diminishing problem, so I really think it is paint transfer from the internal parts of the stove to the glass. Now when the stove gets hot, any dark areas on the glass turn to ash

 

[tpenny67]

Don't get too crazy with the stove top temps. A sustained 700F stove top is a rocking stove. I have seen peaks higher than that but I do go into "control mode" to get the stove settled in and stop the rise. Personally, I want to keep a cruising stove south of 750F.

Hi Jags, I thought you'd find my recent experiences interesting. What seems to be happening is that my Quadra wants to run around 700 for a rather wide range of heat outputs. Basically if there's flame under the thermometer, it will read 700 +/-.

When I originally posted that the stove top was 650-700, that was with moderate flames in the firebox, which hit the secondaries and the secondary burn sent flames up under the stovetop. To burn hotter, I started opening the bottom air control to provide some rear air to the base of the fire. This caused very hot flames in the firebox, and a secondary burn that went under the stovetop with the tips of the flames going into the connector pipe. The stove top thermometer shot up to all of about 725. Most of the extra heat was coming out the front glass and the chimney connector.

With that and using the ceiling fan more, I was able to find the extra heat I was hoping for without having to go anywhere near an 800F stove top temperature. This is somewhat unexpected, as my Lopi (also a steel tube stove) seems to love 800 degrees at the peak of a hot burn.