I have a quadrafire 5700 stove. I have very seasoned wood and can achieve 475 to 500 degrees on my stove. However, I find that it hard to maintain this temp unless I am constantly feeding wood into the stove therefore I usually run the stove at approx 350. Is this normal to have to constantly feed the stove in order to hold this high temperature. Is 500 degrees to high of a temp for this stove?
burn temperatures
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No. I have a 5700 and max stovetop temp is 550-625 for a period of time. Are you using well seasoned wood? what type of wood? Are you filling the fire box full or just 3-4 splits at a time. Are you shutting off the startup air too soon? Are you closing down the primary air too soon? what is your chimney height? How long have you been burning wood? As you see, there are a lot of variables and we need more info from you. There is a good section in your stove manual on how to start and run a fire as well. Tell us more and we will try to help.
Thanks for your time and point taken there are many scientific variables, the wood is year old oak which has been kept covered, No I am not filling the firebox all the way initially during start up. I might be shutting off the startup air to soon, chiminey hight is 6' and was installed by a very competent t builder, and I have a very strong draft.
I have the 5100 insert, pretty much same stove. I can maintain 550-600F for a very long time, 5 plus hours on just three big splits or 2 rounds and 1 split. This is a great stove. Put smaller splits in first to heat it up. Both controls open and door slightly open for about 5 minutes. Then keep the main air control open all the way for another 15 minutes, by then you should be getting good temps and the blower will kick on if you have one. This is when I put 2 or 3 big splits in and after the wood is charred set the main air control to about 25 %. Viola, you are done for about 4 to 5 hours 
If you want an overnight burn put 2 huge rounds and one split in and when you wake up you should have enough hot coals to start it up again with smaller splits.
Test your wood, you can cheat a little by using smaller splits if your wood is not seasoned enough.
Has your wood been covered the whole time after it was cut? If so I would say it is not seasoned quite yet. If you just covered it in the fall and it was uncovered the rest of the year with sun and wind access you should be fine.
A moisture meter is a nice cheap gift for yourself, Harbor Freight has a good one for around 30 bucks and a cheaper one for 20. I use this all the time when I grab splits from the garage. Plus listen to your wood, any hissing or smaller bubbles coming out of wood? If so a little wet......
Then again it may be as simple as just getting used to the air controls and finding her sweet spot, it took me a little while too
If you want an overnight burn put 2 huge rounds and one split in and when you wake up you should have enough hot coals to start it up again with smaller splits.
Test your wood, you can cheat a little by using smaller splits if your wood is not seasoned enough.
Has your wood been covered the whole time after it was cut? If so I would say it is not seasoned quite yet. If you just covered it in the fall and it was uncovered the rest of the year with sun and wind access you should be fine.
A moisture meter is a nice cheap gift for yourself, Harbor Freight has a good one for around 30 bucks and a cheaper one for 20. I use this all the time when I grab splits from the garage. Plus listen to your wood, any hissing or smaller bubbles coming out of wood? If so a little wet......
Then again it may be as simple as just getting used to the air controls and finding her sweet spot, it took me a little while too
Vermont Castings Resolute II, circa 1984 or so. 500F is a steady burn, but I can maintain 600-650 with little effort.
Given we're having a fairly benign, i.e. warm winter, I'm not burning much nor do I have a need to run her terribly hot.
It does, however, keep the furnace from kicking on, and that's my goal.
Given we're having a fairly benign, i.e. warm winter, I'm not burning much nor do I have a need to run her terribly hot.
It does, however, keep the furnace from kicking on, and that's my goal.
1 - Where are you measuring stove temperature? I think most people refer to stove temps with the thermometer mounted on the stove top or front of the stove.
2 - Your oak may not be seasoned enough. Oak that I've split a year ago and kept covered in my yard doesn't pass the 20% moisture test. this is not uncommon. Get your hands on a handful of splits that you're positive are seasoned and test it out.
2 - Your oak may not be seasoned enough. Oak that I've split a year ago and kept covered in my yard doesn't pass the 20% moisture test. this is not uncommon. Get your hands on a handful of splits that you're positive are seasoned and test it out.
Thanks for the input, I am going to try to let the start up controls engaged longer and keep the main air control opened longer prior to cutting it back. I do think i need to find the stoves sweet spot.
kellerclan5 said:
It would be difficult to believe that any stove would work well with only a 6' chimney. Most require at least 13'.
Chimney from outside of exterior roof is approx 6 to 7 feet because of the low pitch of my roof. The top of my stack does clear my top roof line. I have an excellent draft that I see when I open the doors to the stove.
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