Installation of Quadrafire SantaFe tomorrow **PICS ADDED**

[gdeangel]

Hello to all - I bought a QuadraFire Santa Fe and it is being professionally installed by the person recommended from the hearth shop that sold me the stove. The installer was out once already to run the exhaust vent pipe and drop off the stove. However, the air intake adapter was on backorder, so he has to come back tomorrow to finish the job. He is using Simpson Duravent "pellet vent pro" pipe.

At my exterior, he put in a wall thimble through the rim joist, but only used the exterior half because the interior there is not finished. Then he put the interior half at the ceiling level above my stove, where I plan to install a flush drywall ceiling. However the collar on the thimble is meant to extend into a 4+ inch wall cavity, but the venting pipe makes has a 90 degree elbow just above ceiling level, so the collar will not clear. I called the hearth store to ask about ordering a ceiling plate and he said that was a bad idea, and to just snip out a section of the thimble collar. I am about to do that myself, and will ask the installer about doing it when he is here, but I wonder if anyone here has thoughts on this? I am almost tempted to insist that he stick around while that piece of drywall goes up, as I think the whole thimble flange should go on the pipe AFTER the drywall, so I don't have to cut a hole that is bigger than the esuction and play carnival game to thread it up eight feet of pipe!

Also, the 25 foot air intake pipe (flex chimney liner also from Simpson Duravent) was left on my floor at the last visit, and in between, during some of the other construction, it was partially crushed. This pipe was not cheap, and at first the hearth guy who is the one ordering all the pipe told me I should have one continuous intake pipe. Now he says he will send out a coupling and the installer can splice together two pieces of flex pipe. Does that sound kosher?

Lastly, I read the checklist of things to go over with the installer. I even got a bag of pellets so I can run it for 20 minutes before he leaves. However, I just want to throw out whether there are any other things to go over with the installer (e.g., with this particular stove) that people here might know of?

Thanks in advance!

 

[hossthehermit]

Not being familiar with that model, I won't go into a lot of detail, lest I be accused of "being grumpy". I'm sure others that know the model will be all over it. However, I would suggest burning it out doors before you hook it up, unless your dealer did a pre-burn, avoid some of the stench from that first one in the house. BUT, that's just MY opinion.

 

[Bigtim774]

Using the two half's of the thimble is a very common practice we do it all the time. The outside air should be an aluminum flex pipe and should not be that expensive. It is no problem splicing those two pieces together it is just designed to bring in fresh air.

 

[jtakeman]

Not being familiar with that model, I won't go into a lot of detail, lest I be accused of "being grumpy". I'm sure others that know the model will be all over it. However, I would suggest burning it out doors before you hook it up, unless your dealer did a pre-burn, avoid some of the stench from that first one in the house. BUT, that's just MY opinion.

Very good advice hoss! Very nicely said too!

I took 3 days for the stink to go away from my install. I will never do that again! Take hossthehermit's advice and have them preburn that stove first.

 

[imacman]

Gdeangel, don't forget to post pics after the install is complete....maybe some burning pics too??? We LOVE stove pics!!

 

[teetah222]

I must have gotten lucky with my install. 2 hours and it stopped smelling. Maybe it had been burned in already.

 

[teetah222]

At my exterior, he put in a wall thimble through the rim joist, but only used the exterior half because the interior there is not finished. Then he put the interior half at the ceiling level above my stove, where I plan to install a flush drywall ceiling. However the collar on the thimble is meant to extend into a 4+ inch wall cavity, but the venting pipe makes has a 90 degree elbow just above ceiling level, so the collar will not clear. I called the hearth store to ask about ordering a ceiling plate and he said that was a bad idea, and to just snip out a section of the thimble collar. I am about to do that myself, and will ask the installer about doing it when he is here, but I wonder if anyone here has thoughts on this? I am almost tempted to insist that he stick around while that piece of drywall goes up, as I think the whole thimble flange should go on the pipe AFTER the drywall, so I don't have to cut a hole that is bigger than the esuction and play carnival game to thread it up eight feet of pipe!

Also, the 25 foot air intake pipe (flex chimney liner also from Simpson Duravent) was left on my floor at the last visit, and in between, during some of the other construction, it was partially crushed. This pipe was not cheap, and at first the hearth guy who is the one ordering all the pipe told me I should have one continuous intake pipe. Now he says he will send out a coupling and the installer can splice together two pieces of flex pipe. Does that sound kosher?

Lastly, I read the checklist of things to go over with the installer. I even got a bag of pellets so I can run it for 20 minutes before he leaves. However, I just want to throw out whether there are any other things to go over with the installer (e.g., with this particular stove) that people here might know of?

Thanks in advance!

So, how'd it go? Did you get the stove in? I just re-read your post and think there is absolutely nothing wrong with splicing the intake hose together. I have a size reducer on my intake hose into the stove because the kit came with a 3 inch pipe and the stove only has a 2 inch opening. Have a hose clamp on the reducer and another on the stove intake. Seems to work just fine.

 

[gdeangel]

[quote author="Haubera" date="1258939064
So, how'd it go? Did you get the stove in? I just re-read your post and think there is absolutely nothing wrong with splicing the intake hose together. I have a size reducer on my intake hose into the stove because the kit came with a 3 inch pipe and the stove only has a 2 inch opening. Have a hose clamp on the reducer and another on the stove intake. Seems to work just fine.[/quote]

Well, everything is in, so I guess it went well. The installer pitched a mild fit after I asked him to square up the escuction on the ceiling "thimble' to the walls in the corner and suggested that he put some caulk around the intake hose at the end of the wall where the connector he came out with wouldn't fit inside the pipe (he got it to fit by using his hand grinder on the ABS plastic to reduce the OD... didn't seem to "robust" to me, but anyway, he basically told me to piss off.) There is nothing like doing stuff yourself, but then again my homeowners insurance would not cover any issues with the stove if it was installed by me. In the end, it's probably fine - its just the fresh air intake thank goodness.

I've still got to get some pics. We burned it a little yesterday to test and there was no outgas, so I think they burned it off at the supplier's. I'm still waiting for the $100+ programable thermastat I ordered from Quadrafire - LOL - I was just at HD to price compare and couldn't help laughing at getting ripped off so badly! Life's too short to worry about that though - as long as my ceiling doesn't catch fire I don't care. (Oh, the other thing that got him upset was that I asked him to wrap the elbow in the ceiling with high-temp insulation b.c. I wasn't sure if it was going to make minimum clearances on the thimble flange after he notched it, and even though it's non-combustible, I'm guessing in the case of a chimney fire, that metal thimble could conduct a fair amount of heat. Probably an overabundance of caution, but it took him all of 30 seconds to do!)

 

[teetah222]

Too bad your insurance was so picky. I'm sure you could have done as good or better at the whole thing. Sounds like your professional wasn't very professional.

 

[gdeangel]

Finally - I've got picks from the install to share. For some reason the site wouldn't let me embed a pic of the bigger layout, but if you click on the first pic, you'll actually get a link that shows how the stove is situated relative to the exterior wall. 3 inch flex air intake runs between the studs in the back of the closet, to a reducer to the 2 inch flex visible at the bottom of the stove. Vent is 4-inch simpson pellet vent pro, with an initial 6 foot vertical run then a 12 foot horizontal run.

Second pic shows the vent pipe going over the steel beam and the air intake snaking out the top of the closet behind the stove. Third pick shows the 10 foot run between the ceiling joists to the exterior wall. The green 2x3's visible on either side are notched to allow for several pieces of radiator grate to be inserted in order to hide the pipe run, but also allow air flow and early detection of any problems. Last pic is the outside cap. The gravel wall-well is probably not going to do much but collect leaves (which obviously we'll have to stay on top of), but it was necessary to get the 18 inch clearance the reseller said that the pipe requires.

When I burned it the other day there was no issue with the updraft... I even killed the power mid-burn to see what the smoke backup would be like, and in fact there was zero backup. However I'm going to be sure to have that long horizontal run cleaned regularly!

 

[djarseneault]

looks neat and professional. You may want to extend the pipe a little more on the outside. It may smoke stain the siding. At the very least, keep an eye on it.

 

[CanadaClinker]

Finally - I've got picks from the install to share. For some reason the site wouldn't let me embed a pic of the bigger layout, but if you click on the first pic, you'll actually get a link that shows how the stove is situated relative to the exterior wall. 3 inch flex air intake runs between the studs in the back of the closet, to a reducer to the 2 inch flex visible at the bottom of the stove. Vent is 4-inch simpson pellet vent pro, with an initial 6 foot vertical run then a 12 foot horizontal run.

Second pic shows the vent pipe going over the steel beam and the air intake snaking out the top of the closet behind the stove. Third pick shows the 10 foot run between the ceiling joists to the exterior wall. The green 2x3's visible on either side are notched to allow for several pieces of radiator grate to be inserted in order to hide the pipe run, but also allow air flow and early detection of any problems. Last pic is the outside cap. The gravel wall-well is probably not going to do much but collect leaves (which obviously we'll have to stay on top of), but it was necessary to get the 18 inch clearance the reseller said that the pipe requires.

When I burned it the other day there was no issue with the updraft... I even killed the power mid-burn to see what the smoke backup would be like, and in fact there was zero backup. However I'm going to be sure to have that long horizontal run cleaned regularly!

.......nice install.....looks like you put a lot of attention to detail.......protecting the wires etc... good job...... cc

 

[krooser]

That short horizontal vent will stay pretty clean from my experience. Mine gets pretty clean everytime I use my leafblower to clean the stove... I barely get any black soot... not enough to cause any concern. The quality of your pellets and how much you burn on low makes a difference.