Advice please, new Quadrafire 4300 burns too hot

[tehans]

I just got this stove and it is sweet, but it burns too hot. On the lowest setting with a full load, the flue temp is 900-1000 degrees measured with a flue thermometer 18" above the stove, I have a 22 foot triple wall 8" indie the house going to 6" black pipe from the ceiling to the stove. How can I make it run lower? Is the air supply control adjustable or must I put a damper in the flue (I prefer not to do this)

 

[Jags]

Is the air supply control adjustable or must I put a damper in the flue (I prefer not to do this)

First - triple wall 8"?? Are you sure this is solid fuel rated pipe (class A)?

Second - make sure that your startup air is completely closed. Yes, the primary air is adjustable and should be tuned way, way down at this point. It is not unusual to need the primary open a small percent, but it should be biased towards the closed position, not open.

 

[tehans]

Yes it is Duravent class A

Startup air is closed.

When I say is the primary air adjustable, what I mean can you adjust it internally to close more when the control is at it's lowest position?. This high temp situation occurs when I have it adjusted all the way down to it's lowest position

 

[Jags]

No - there is no adjustment beyond the primary and startup air. The burn tubes have a specific amount of air engineered into them. It does alter somewhat based off of draft. As you close the primary, more air is drawn into the tubes. It sounds like you may be a candidate for a flue damper (even though you stated you don't really want to).

There are some folks that have found where the air enters the stove and they block a portion. Be aware, that is not recommended by ANY of the MFGs. Just reporting what I have heard.

 

[Huntindog1]

You can start turning the input air down sooner when the stove top gets about 375 deg F , What size wood are you using?
Dont load the wood on a big hot bed of coals. Let the coals burn down and get cooler.

 

[tehans]

OK thanks for the advice. The dealer said put a damper on the flue so that is what I will do. I just like a smooth pipe going out. Those things are ugly but that is what I will do

 

[Jags]

Huntindog does bring some good ideas to the discussion. Fuel load and timing can also make big differences in how the stove reacts.

 

[tehans]

It happens when loading the stove full of wood on a bed of coals before bed. I don't even use the startup air thingy. Have the primary air control on minimum setting. Using normal size splits and small logs (3" dia) mixed hard wood.

 

[Jags]

Sounds like your installer is correct...damper.

 

[JayD]

Keep a nice bed of ash and if you have the ash dump make sure it's closing tight, you have may have a small coal or something keeping it from closing tight. letting air in. Nice stove by the way

 

[begreen]

It happens when loading the stove full of wood on a bed of coals before bed. I don't even use the startup air thingy. Have the primary air control on minimum setting. Using normal size splits and small logs (3" dia) mixed hard wood.

A key damper may help with this tall chimney. In addition, to slow down the fire try using only large and medium splits and burn the coal bed down further before reloading. To hurry it up, open the air and if necessary put a small 2" split on top of it. After the reload, try closing down the air sooner, when the stove top gets to around 400F.

 

[tehans]

After I pack it full, I have primary air on lowest setting never opening it more than lowest setting and have the acc control closed (not using it) so it is burning slow then eventually gets super blazing and the temp probe in the stack gets to 900-1000

 

[Hogwildz]

Try using larger splits of wood.

 

[Sodbuster]

+1 on the larger splits, wood split too small with run away on you.

 

[fitter9]

+2 on the larger splits. its only my second year with my insert. the beginning of my first year most of my splits were around 3" or so. no matter how tight i packed the wood it the stovetop would run between 750 and 800 degrees. i thought it was an overdraft situation for sure because my chimney is over 30 ft high. once i burned most of my smaller splits and got into the larger ones at the bottom of my stacks the stove was much more controllable. i started splitting my wood a lot larger.(5-8 inches roughly)
with the larger splits the stove can cruise at 600 to 700 hundred when i need the heat or i can dial it in to cruise lower. it seems to me that larger splits = more control.

 

[tehans]

Well maybe next year I can have larger splits but I already have 4 + cords for this winter split. They are normal size splits (like 4-5")
I put a damper in last night. Went to Rural King and all they had were 7" dampers which is strange I never even heard of 7", but anyway went to tractor supply and got the 6". Built a small fire and even with the damper all the way choked down it still got blazing (800-900 in the stack).

 

[Jags]

Built a small fire and even with the damper all the way choked down it still got blazing (800-900 in the stack).

Is your thermo above or below the damper? If below, that is not surprising.

 

[tehans]

Below. Instruction for the thermometer say to put it 18" above the stove. The secondaries were full burning which is cool to watch, just thought I would have more control to run it lower but this kind of stove is new to me, maybe it is normal

 

[Jags]

Above that damper I am sure it was much cooler.

ETA: Until you get familiar with that damper keep an eye on your stack. You don't want to "over use" the damper and cool your stack too much.

 

[Hogwildz]

Seems a bit high for the damper.
The thermo should be above.
Maybe set the damper just above the outlet of the stove.

 

[tehans]

OK I see what you mean but my point is even with the damper in the flue closed the stove burns too hot in my option, but maybe I am just not used to this type of stove. I am just surprised I can't turn it down further. in the lowest possible fresh air supply setting the secondaries are burning like a gas grill on high. I guess there is no way to shut it off if needed. My old stove you close the air supply and it goes out

 

[matt1@]

It might help to put only a few short but thick pieces sideways (e-w) in the front of the stove by the door and none in the back, then run your primary air open more. On my stove when the wood gets going well, I close the air down slowly and temps start to rise to 600-650 on the stove thermometer. Less wood with air open more is how I keep the temps down when it's not really cold outside. I know it seems like less air would mean less heat but many times on my quad it's actually the opposite. Hope this helps in some way. Just one more thing, I've been running my stove for years, last year was the first year with a thermometer on the top and I was surprised at the temps I was getting too, but figured all these years I had no idea other than how things were looking in the glass and what I end up with for hot coals in the morning. I inspect the stove well in the beginning of the season and replace any worn out items like the gaskets and things and have seen no damage, so I'd have to say don't be too concerned about damaging anything with your temps, I would just try smaller loads first and then when it's cold as heck outside, let that baby rip!

 

[Thislilfishy]

For what it's worth I am having the same issue with my Napoleon 1400, I have relatively small, extremely dry splits to use. I am also looking at adding a damper. However, I happened to have a small flat magnet, and applied it to cover an addition 3/8" of the secondary intake. I'm finding the stove seems to be running a bit hotter (actually boiling the water instead of just making it hot) and the flue temp peaked at 650-675 instead if the typical 850 I am used to seeing. It's also very windy out there today, however it's also warmer then it has been in a while. This is my first burn this way, so I will keep it this way for a bit as I am still getting a full fire box of flame at the peak flue temp. I need to get a stove thermometer to see if the stove is truly getting hotter or even less peaks this way. Typically the higher the wind the more draw I have and most times I have to close my draft control once I get a small flame going, as the draft is so high it will blow out the fire before it fully catches and spreads.

Edit: should be noted I am a newbie as well so take what I do with a grain of salt.

Ian

 

[BrotherBart]

What huntingdog said.

Don't get hung up on seeing a bunch of "secondaries" before starting to turn it down.

 

[matt1@]

Oh I forgot to mention this, on my step top I noticed a few years ago the ash door was not closing all the way apparently right from the factory. If you have one, wait until your fire is going, then manually hold up on the lever that operates the ash door. If it makes a difference, that would explain why your fires are too hot. I had to drill mine out and then tap it with threads and put a bolt in it. Then I drilled a bigger hole just a very tiny bit but not all the way through the metal behind the lever so I had a place that would hold the bolt up. To empty the ashes I simply pull the lever away from the stove to get the bolt out of the hole then let it down to dump the ashes. It's sad that this is the way this stove is but mine was a blast furnace until I pulled up on the side lever and noticed the fire die way down so this solution helped me but my stove has no warranty any more and the dealer would have probably had some screw-brained solution anyway. Or none at all. Here's a picture to show what fixed my ash door problem. Not saying this is your problem but might be worth checking. In the picture, the lever hangs down to where the factory catch needs to be released which let's unwanted air in. I do wonder if someone broke this when it was delivered to me years ago.