Hello Guys Mount Vernon newbie

[oldmountvernon]

Hi been reading for months very valuable website thank you for all the info. Its all here just need to weed it out . Anyway i just picked up a used Mt Vernon im guessing about 6 years old or so it is creme in color and in mint condition. Hardly used so im told. picked it up for 1600 included a ton of pellets and a heavy hearth pad, i think it was a good deal ( had to drive 2 1/2 hours though .. )
I fired it up in my garage today just stuck a pipe on it out the garage door. Seems to run fine. I am new to the pellet stove industry so im not sure how hot the heat is suppose to be coming out while blower is on. It seemed that it wasnt very hot just warm blowing air. does the blower cool off the air that much ? When i was running my hand across the front coming out of the exchange tubes the very ends where the air wasnt blowing from was extremely hot so i am guessing thats the deal blower cools off the air a bit.

I'm pretty sure in my reading there is no adjustments on the Mt Vernon other then feed rate ?
I had no issues adjusting that to get the flame height and it all looked good and powerful flame
BTW my home is 2800 sq ft have 6 ton green supreme
I went with hardwood but my neighbor said i was nuts he only uses softwood says way more heat and less ash

I was going to install this tomorrow but find myself second guessing myself if i should just go and buy a new Harman P68

any input would be greatly appreciated

1 more thing i know they have an AE model i guess more efficient ? just wondering how much im losing going with this older model

Anyone else with this model stove say hello love to hear from you

 

[kykel]

I also considered the ae until I called the dealer and was quoted 5,000 for one. wound up with the enviro m55 cast free standing. Take a look and ask around if your thinking about buying new.

Good luck

 

[rona]

The old style Mt Vernan is a lot simpler stove and has a lot less problems.
The AE was bragged as it would make the rest obsolete. I owned one the first year they were out and had nothing but problems. Replaced the board, thermostat, Igniter, baffle board all in the first year. Some of the parts more then once.
I would have liked to got the old style in place of the AE but after hearing the dealer was quitting the brand and no service I sold it on E-Bay just to get rid of it. Evidently they must have gotten all the bugs out as the owner never had a problen in two years except for igniter failure which is normal for a AE.

 

[DexterDay]

I would give the Mt Vernon a shot. Its a big stove that should do well in your home.

How long did you have it running? My Quad blows pretty hot air (using low setting) after it is running for an hour and gets the entire stove up to temp.

Hardwood pellets will be fine. The only advice I we may give yoi. Is before making a large purchase. Try a few bags 1st. That way if your stove does not like them, your not stuck with Tons of pellets that are no good.

Give it some time. Sounds like you have a pretty unit (creme color) and the Mt Vernon is rated at 60,000 BTUs. Its a Bio-Mass burning machine. Do some searches and read up on other peoples mistakes.

If you are looking at another stove (P68) I would install a few feet of vertical in the house and use an adjustable section of pellet vent. That way no matter what the exhaust exit height is, the new stove will work and you will only have one hole in your wall.

Welcome to the Forum.

 

[tractorman100]

I have the Non AE Mt vernon also. Bought it used and have been very happy with the stove. My stove seems to like Statesman brand (Southern states) and AWF pellets. Although it seems that it will burn about ewverything. I have used it with 50/50 corn and pellets with success. Regarding heat output, I assume that the convection blower was running, correct? The blower may need to be cleaned as it will pick up dust bunnies and stuff like that. If you don't have a manual, you should still be able to download one from the Quadrafire website. Sometime my stove may burn for 12-15 minutes before the convection blower starts.
The only thing I have had to replace in 3 years is the combustion fan. Not because of failure but it was getting noisy.
Be sure to take the top panel out and clean the exchanger tubes. The ash will really build up in there.

 

[oldmountvernon]

I have the Non AE Mt vernon also. Bought it used and have been very happy with the stove. My stove seems to like Statesman brand (Southern states) and AWF pellets. Although it seems that it will burn about ewverything. I have used it with 50/50 corn and pellets with success. Regarding heat output, I assume that the convection blower was running, correct? The blower may need to be cleaned as it will pick up dust bunnies and stuff like that. If you don't have a manual, you should still be able to download one from the Quadrafire website. Sometime my stove may burn for 12-15 minutes before the convection blower starts.
The only thing I have had to replace in 3 years is the combustion fan. Not because of failure but it was getting noisy.
Be sure to take the top panel out and clean the exchanger tubes. The ash will really build up in there.

Hi tractorman thanks for the reply. That was my plan for today removing the top panel to see how it looked.Probably take the panels off and check blowers for dust too. I was thinking if it is dirty that would effect the heat output. Yes the convection blowers were running but while running my hand across the front where the tubes are the both ends seems like not much blowing power and that heat coming out is really HOT, but the blowing air is like just warm so im assuming it is the blower that cools off the heat while blowing and im guessing its normal ( my first pellet stove so i got a lot to learn ) . But like i said i had it running in the garage no proper venting hooked up just thru a pipe on it so it extended out the door.
The only adjustment on this is the feed rate right ? i see others talking about air adjustments and dampers

do you get parts online? was thinking i should get some parts ignitor snap disc i guess to keep on hand

I may try the corn as i buy a ton a year to feed Deer during the winter.

 

[Bkins]

I does take a while to get HOT air out. It is not turn it on and its hot. It is a big mass to get heated up just like your wood stove was. It is also a much different type heat then a wood stove and before you know it the room(S) will be warm. A lot of us with these stoves have moved the blower snap disc onto the exhaust sheet metal on the right side of the stove to make the stove blower turn on ealier and turn off later to get the most heat out of it.

I completely go along with the cleaning it out part as you need to start knowing if the stove is clean and how its put together for future reference. To me just because a past owner says it wasn't used a lot doesn't mean much. What is a lot? The roof of the firebox comes out as does both sides and the back. Pay attention to the back gasket if you take the rear panel out.

I don't think you will pick up all that much by going to a Harman P-68, I think its rated at 68,000 btu and yours is 60,000 if I remember correctly. Not many run their stoves on full high.

Pellets do make a big difference in these stove so try a few and do try the softwoods

 

[oldmountvernon]

I does take a while to get HOT air out. It is not turn it on and its hot. It is a big mass to get heated up just like your wood stove was. It is also a much different type heat then a wood stove and before you know it the room(S) will be warm. A lot of us with these stoves have moved the blower snap disc onto the exhaust sheet metal on the right side of the stove to make the stove blower turn on ealier and turn off later to get the most heat out of it.

i am very interested in doing that seems like alot of wasted pellets during that time. Is there a thread or a how to posted anywhere?

 

[Bkins]

I'll see if I can find a link. You are not wasting pellets during this time but rather getting a little more heat out of whats been burned. Really has nothing to do with pellets in my opinion.

 

[tractorman100]

Yup, no adjustment except feed rate. When you had it hooked up, did you have the control on 4 (or quad or high, I can't remember). As far as wasted pellets, It really needs to heat up. Especially if it's in a cold garage.


Here is a link to the manual

(broken link removed to http://www.quadrafire.com/~/media/Files/Quadrafire/Installation) Manuals/man_MtVernon.ashx

 

[jtakeman]

Links with spaces and % 20 get broken

Try tinyurl.

 

[Turbo-Quad]

Great stove. I've burned with mine for 4 years with no issues except the exhaust blower gets weak at the end of the burn season. It runs nonstop though all winter though. I bought mine used and PO said it was spotless. Nows a good time to check while you have it in the garage. You can blow everything out with compressed air. Blow the room blower fins off without removing it. There is an inspection cover on the rear side you can open up and look at the exhaust blower to see if it needs removed to clean. If you remove it you will need gaskets to put it back on. You definately want to remove all the covers inside, sides and top, to get the packed ashes out of there. If there is none then the PO did clean it. Mine were packed. The burn pot doesnt really need removed unless you hae an issue with it. All cleaning necessarry for it can be doen from inside the firebox (scrape and clean bores especially small ones at bottom). There is supposed to be a setting on the control box for corn, I believe. I only burned corn a few times so I never looked. IBURNCORN.COM has some info on this stove there and a quad tech helps out there alot. Doesn't make sense burning corn to me since it's almost $8 a bushel. Pellets are much cheaper. Corn will leave a clinker that will be difficult to remove. You can bur 100 % corn but the ignitor wont light it. You have to light on pellets and leave burning on manual when you switch to corn. Overall its a great stove. I'm considering selling mine since I have two other stoves and need to let one go. Why am I going to sell this one? It's the one most likely to be snatched up quickly.

 

[slls]

I does take a while to get HOT air out. It is not turn it on and its hot. It is a big mass to get heated up just like your wood stove was. It is also a much different type heat then a wood stove and before you know it the room(S) will be warm. A lot of us with these stoves have moved the blower snap disc onto the exhaust sheet metal on the right side of the stove to make the stove blower turn on ealier and turn off later to get the most heat out of it.

i am very interested in doing that seems like alot of wasted pellets during that time. Is there a thread or a how to posted anywhere?

A oil or gas unit also needs a warm up, your car is not efficient until it warms up. Don't worry about it, just let her burn.

 

[Bkins]

sills,

I wasn't sure who you were talking to. The movement of the snap disc is mostly to get more heat out of the stove after its shut down.

 

[oldmountvernon]

Hey Guys thanks for all the help. I been busy since this morning went out to grab a 45 because i decided to do a corner mount. when i returned my wife had it all vacuumed out and clean to be installed. I sat back a minute and thought .....ok lets do this ! i pulled the convection blower out LOADED with cat hair! took it out to the garage fired up the air compressor and blew the crap out of it. Put that all back together, then thought about the exchange tubes... hmmmm OK let do this ! took out the firebricks ( i think their called ) WOW a huge pile of ash came crashing down from the top plate ! im talking alot after i took all 4 plates out i bet there was about 2 gallon pails of ash ( 2 might be pushing it but there was 1 gallon for sure ) Cleaned all that out then i was looking for the exhaust motor noticed the gasket so i didnt want to disturb it since i want to run this tonight and didnt have a replacement. So on to the install I was putting this off for a while because i feared cutting a hole in my house i called a service guy he wanted 550.00 to install I was like WHAT im not paying you 550 to cut a hole in my house so i got the nerve up and did it! I think i did pretttyyy good too. The stove is running now for about an hour im letting it run on high to see how hot it will get

Note to all newbies I am not mechanically inclined at all and hate directions... i just went at this and so far so good i think i did a damn good jog ( so far ) Lets see if we see any fire engines heading this way :D

 

[DexterDay]

Did you use high temp (500* at least) silicone sealant on the stove adapter?

If you didnt then you would prob have smelled smoke and your post would have been a little different..

Congrats on the install... Remeber, Pics or it never happened.

 

[oldmountvernon]

yes sir, 500 silicone i also read here to apply it on the outside of joints. I would have done the inside without the valuable info here I'll get a pic together

Tractorman thanks for the Owners Manual link

going to try a different pellet tommorow right now using green supreme

the showroom i was at today had a harman P61 running with NEWP i couldnt keep my hand 6 inches from the blown air it was that hot. This stove isnt that hot i can keep my hand right up against the blowing air. so far im not sure if its the pellets or the stove yet

 

[oldmountvernon]

Ok now i got it roasting left it on Quad setting for over an hour and it got pretty hot, but boy did it eat pellets. So i guess thats the trick for the showrooms run them hard to show max output but burn alot of pellets in the process then tell the customer you will burn about a bag a day .. ya right

 

[tractorman100]

I can only remember 1 time I had mine on QUAD. I was trying to burn up some crap pellets. Most of the time, my stove is set on 2. Of course I am more of the "set it and forget it"kinda guy.

 

[Bkins]

This stove set on Quad is going to eat right around (4) bags in 24 hours if you leave it on 24 hours, so yes it can eat up the pellets. A Harman P-68 is the same way on its highest setting.

 

[DexterDay]

Ok now i got it roasting left it on Quad setting for over an hour and it got pretty hot, but boy did it eat pellets. So i guess thats the trick for the showrooms run them hard to show max output but burn alot of pellets in the process then tell the customer you will burn about a bag a day .. ya right

A 60,000 BTU rated stove, burning an average pellet (8,000 BTU's) will have to burn 7.5 lbs an hour. So easy math tells you that 10 hrs is 75 lbs, 12 hrs is 90 lbs, 24 hrs is 180 (4.5 bags) .

So as Bkins stated, this model and a P-68 will really eat the pellets..... If you want it to. Like tractorman said above, if you set it and forget it (on a lower setting) It will take some tinkering.

Lots of members here (no matter the stove) run them on a lower setting, but run them 24/7. I too do this and my unit is rated at 47,000 and I use low for 90% of the Winter (Using an OAK, newer home, added insulation, and sealing windows)

I will burn a Max of 2 bags a day in the winter (3.3 lbs an hr) . Its all in the size of the area you want the stove to heat, where you put the stove (centrally located), how insulated the home, and even if you meet all criteria, you still have to move the warm air (or move cold to warm) into the other parts of the house.

These stoves are awesome and can be your best friend. Or they can a nightmare. I stopped over a Forum members house yesterday to fix there stove. Super nice people, but our dealer had them thinking you just had to fill the hopper. They are now fully informed and have the knowledge of what a "clean stove" is.

Keep them burning clean and you will get many years of enjoyment out of your stove. BTW- The creme color has me dying to see pics,.............

 

[oldmountvernon]

Thanks ya i really like the color i gotta take some pics for you guys its like brand new the previous owners hardly used it. breaking down the 1600 i paid for everything - 200 for 1 ton pellets - 300 hearth pad = 1100 for the stove that makes me smile, and you will too when you see it