Dirty Glass and Quad 1200 Classic Bay

[petey305]

Hi Everyone,

Interesting problem with my Quad Classic Bay 1200. My glass is getting really dirty....I know what is first in mind is to adjust the 'feed rate', but I've done that and it seems to be burning fine (no problem with buildup in the pot or anything, and the flame is nice and active...no 'slow licking tails', I also burn quality Energex Premium Pellets). The only problem I have is the glass. Here's a couple of things that I've noticed:

1) Only the right side gets dirty. The left side isn't 'eat off it clean' but it's nowhere near as bad as the right side. The middle pane starts to get real dirty the closer you get to the right side
2) Fly ash build up beneath the glass. This is normal from what I've seen, but it seems to be way higher on the right side. The pile on the left side when I open the door is maybe 1/8" and the pile on the right can be close to 1/2"+
3) The Door gasket/rope seems to be pretty beat up/dirty/compressed, especially on the right side.

So, above is leading me to believe that the gasket is letting cool air in, which in turn is drafting down the window causing the fly ash to be 'piled' and the window to get dirty (assuming that the air is cooler and causing the soot to build-up. Anyway, that's my current theory.

So, my questions:

1) Is my theory a bad one here?
2) If I do replace this, what do I ask for? Thickness, length etc? I'm sure I could find out if I pulled it out, but I'd like to call and make sure that the stove shop local to me (which doesn't carry Quad) has it before I do anything, since the stove is working...

Any help is much appreciated.

Thanks!

JP

 

[GVA]

Is this new or an older unit?

You may want to try the old dollarbill test first........

Anyway the more glass you have the harder it is to keep clean.
The advance is a bay window also and gets the ash buildup on the left side more than the right and the left pane gets dirtier quicker than the rest.
It's just a case of the airwash not being able to keep up with that amount of glass surface.
Mine is hinged on the left side, is yours hinged on the right side?

 

[petey305]

Thanks GVA.

It's an older unit (6+ years old I would guess). Was here when I bought the place, so I don't know for sure. It's hinged on the left side. I did try the dollar bill test, and it seemed OK, but not great (would be really tight on one side, and not so much on the other). Either way, I decided to pull it off and replace it, it only cost $12.50 to replace (including the gasket cement), so I figured what the heck.

Anyway, after a trip to the store, 1.25 hours scraping the old gasket cement off and re-installing the new gasket/cement...I can say, it didn't do a darn thing. Same amount of ash and buildup on the windows as before after an evening of burning. Oh well...it was worth a shot. The dollar bill test is better now, more consistent across the whole thing.

I guess it's just a case of airwash...at least now I have a nice new door gasket that I don't have to worry about.

JP

 

[MountainStoveGuy]

what speed are you running your stove at?

 

[richg]

I had a quad 1200 and hated it. The glass/soot issue you are having was also present on my quad, indeed, the glass would only stay clear for about 12 hours after cleaning, and then would get progressively dirtier until the fire was barely visible. one of many reasons I dumped it and got a p61a.

 

[petey305]

MountainStoveGuy,

I'm running mine on low mostly (every now and then, I crank it to med or high to get the chill out) but mostly it's on low. I have the flame adjusted on high the way the manual says, which is 4-6" active flames out of the firepot. So on low, the flame barely makes it out of the rim of the fire pot (and looking down into the firepot, the flame is very active)

Richg...sounds like the same problem. This is my first pellet stove, and I have actually been pretty happy with the quad. Heats my condo nicely. Of course, with this kind of cleaning issue, I'm sure once I got something else I wouldn't look back. Sorta why I don't look at other stoves much. Ignorance is bliss...

Thanks!

JP