Frustrated- Quad4300 burns too hot

[agz124]

I brought this up a few weeks ago and hoped that the situation would improve as I became a better stove operator...not the case.

I bought the stove used (1998 model). It looks like it is great condition. I have inspected every square inch and there are no cracks. I have replaced the door gasket and checked the ash tray gasket and door. The only way I can keep it under 600 (stove top temp) is to burn one or two logs at a time. If I load it up it will slowly climb to 750-800 and that is with both air controls closed (the factory does not allow it to close all the way to prevent smoldering). My quad dealer said to wait until I had a good bed of ash (it has 2.5 inches of ash) (that makes no sense anyway).

Before installing the stove I installed a 23' six inch flex liner (not insulated). My dealer said that occasionally you can get too good of a draft and then we could install a damper in the stovepipe. I hate to do that but....

I am burning 2 years old oak and walnut, some of the splits are smaller (3x3) but I tried it with some (6x4) oak and still had the same result. Right now I have about 5 logs of oak in there, it was at 600 when I added the last 3 logs and I closed the air all the way. There is still a small amount of flames and a secondary burn. When I open the air it really takes off! (so I know the controls are working. I know if I leave the controls closed for a long enough time the flames will die out but that takes hours. I would think that if it were working right I could shut the air and all flames would die out quickly, no?

thoughts?

 

[agz124]

Maybe I just need a damper...how common is that?

 

[jtp10181]

Is this installed in a masonry fireplace with only the liner? Check any pipe joints you can near the stove for leaks, seal with furnace cement if needed.

You do know the difference between the start-up air and the primary air and how to work them both? Right? It sounds like you do but I have to ask.

 

[Corey]

Five logs of oak + a 23 foot run of pipe and my stove would probably be a molten pool of metal on the floor. It sounds like your draft may be a little strong. You don't say where you are, but if you are at lower elevations, that will make stronger draft, too. It may be time to look into the damper if that is an option.

You can always throw in less wood. I rarely have more than one or two splits on the fire, and that will keep the temp close to 600F with a 13 foot chimney. But when it comes time to stoke the stove for the overnight run, then it is nice to be able to control the full load.

 

[DiscoInferno]

I have a 25' straight-shot chimney at a lowish elevation with minimal exposed connector pipe, and I can have similar issues. Once it's hot enough for secondary burn, a full load is going to burn hot because a lot of air is pulled through the secondary burn tubes. I know it's all coming from there, because the base of the fire is almost black. Now I don't get to 800 unless I am careless (or want to), but there's no coasting at 500 on a full load, either. (With last year's thermometer, anyway. I broke it when it got too hot, demagnetized and fell, and this years reads around 100 degrees cooler. So who knows?) I have nowhere to install a damper, so I just try to shut down the primary air as early as possible without snuffing the fire out completely. Unfortunately I think it means I can't get as long a burn as I could with a damper, but with dual fans I can at least capture a lot of that heat before it hits the chimney. Perhaps if I can figure out where the secondary intake is, and I can reach it, I'll play with partially covering that.

 

[JohnnyBravo]

check out this thread and follow up with part 2a and 2b
https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/5429/

i had the same screw limiting the primary air intake. i ground and drilled it out. im glad i did because i can close mine all the way down now and still get clean burns. he shows how to control the secondary air, someting which may help you. i would rather control the air going in than the exaust going out.