I am brand new to pellet stoves. I read as much as I could on pellet stoves (alot of the input from this forum) and narrowed my choice between the harman accentra insert and the Quadra-fire 1200i. The issue that made me go with the quadra-fire was the price. The local Hardware store that carries the Quadra-fire put it on sale for 35% off. So last Saturday I placed the order and I am having it installed by the dealer. Installed price is about $3100. I have a masonary chimney about 22 feet brick fireplace with a 2000 foot split level house. I am reading the owners manual and the service manual so I can learn as much as possible when the dealer installs the 1200i. I was wondering a few things. One does anyone have any advise on key points I should fully understand from the service man when he installs the stove. I can read alot but that is far short of actual experience in dealing with a pellet stove. Secondly I have been trying to get a handle on whether I should buy a ash vacuum. I get the feeling that some people do not believe it is necessary. Some friends of mind not in the business think there will not be that much ash generated to warrant buying a special vacuum. I would appreciate some opinions. Lastly and I guess this is a little out there since the stove has not been installed yet, I was thinking about using a 900 watt computer type UPS as a temporary battery backup. This would stop the stove from turning off if the lights blink like they normally do and at the same time give me time to get my manual hookup generator running when necessary. I bring this up in that I was looking to use the pellet stove as a backup to my main heating system which is a force warm air heat pump with electric aux. This was part of the justification with my wife to buy the stove. The generator is only 5500 watts and can not drive the main heating system. I know not completely logical. By the way this has been a very informative helpful forum. Sorry for the long post I will keep it short from now on.
Just ordered Quadra-fire 1200i
- Thread starter Roland
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Welcome Roland. Good choice, this is the stove we had too. It's a great stove. Good price too.
Question 1: You'll want a full flex pipe to the top of the chimney to the stove. Be sure the installer uses high-temp RTV silicone where the pipe joins to the stove's flue collar. Have the installer adjust the door tension for you. And have pellets on hand so that you can have a demonstration run and get the feed rate set correctly.
Question 2: I never had an ash vacuum, always just used a cheap base 6 gal. model Shop-Vac brand unit. I think it was under $40. The trick is to buy the Shop-Vac brand bags (usually used for sheet rock, etc.) and put them in the vac. Don't depend on the stock foam filter. This setup works great and is inexpensive. Expect to clean the stove once every week or two, depending on how fussy you are.
Question 3: A backup UPS is a good idea. It will protect your control box by conditioning the power line and will give you a chance to shift systems. I'd go for a 1500w supply, the price difference is not that great.
Tip: While the stove is new and before the pellet hopper is all dusty, take some 000 steel wool and polish the interior. Then take a good, simple carnuba paste wax and wax the interior. This will help the pellets slide much easier. Otherwise you'll be giving them a push towards the bottom chute once or twice a day.
Question 1: You'll want a full flex pipe to the top of the chimney to the stove. Be sure the installer uses high-temp RTV silicone where the pipe joins to the stove's flue collar. Have the installer adjust the door tension for you. And have pellets on hand so that you can have a demonstration run and get the feed rate set correctly.
Question 2: I never had an ash vacuum, always just used a cheap base 6 gal. model Shop-Vac brand unit. I think it was under $40. The trick is to buy the Shop-Vac brand bags (usually used for sheet rock, etc.) and put them in the vac. Don't depend on the stock foam filter. This setup works great and is inexpensive. Expect to clean the stove once every week or two, depending on how fussy you are.
Question 3: A backup UPS is a good idea. It will protect your control box by conditioning the power line and will give you a chance to shift systems. I'd go for a 1500w supply, the price difference is not that great.
Tip: While the stove is new and before the pellet hopper is all dusty, take some 000 steel wool and polish the interior. Then take a good, simple carnuba paste wax and wax the interior. This will help the pellets slide much easier. Otherwise you'll be giving them a push towards the bottom chute once or twice a day.
Thanks for the information. I agree about going to the bigger UPS. I have a 900 watt UPS on my computer now. I got it at a hamfeast/computer show last year. There is a guy there that sells used UPS. He tests them and you pay like $30 plus the price of new batteries. The information about the vacuum is a good one. That will save me $150. BeGreen you said "Have the installer adjust the door tension for you." Are you talking about the door with the ceramic glass? (I ask that because I was at one store and the top cover would fall if you did not support it while open on one display unit.) I saw a post about placing a dollar bill under the gasket , closing the door and then pulling it out under tension for proper adjustment. If so I will make sure I ask him to do it. thanks I will get the wax.
Yes, the front door with the glass has two adjustable toggle latches on it. Under certain conditions, our stove whistled a little at first when burning due to a little air getting by the door. I had to futz with them a bit until it was just right. No big deal and easy for the user to adjust too. Once set, I didn't have to touch it again.
I just purchased a Quadra-fire castille stove and it's being installed this saturday. Should I also polish and wax the interior? I guess you mean the loading box. Thanks for the tip Be Green. Anything else ? Also, I do have a question. I'm using this stove to heat a camp, what's your advice on how to shut it down when I leave?
Congrats and welcome raku. Yes, that was for the pellet hopper. Inserts have an extra shallow hopper so that they can get capacity yet still fit in the fireplace opening. They benefit the best from this treatment, but it wouldn't hurt to do this on the Castille as well. As to putting up the stove when you leave, I would think protecting it against rust and varmits would be the main concern. Seems like cleaning it well, maybe spray silicone on the exposed metal parts. And do whatever necessary to keep mice/rats out of the stove. And be sure to unplug it if you don't turn off the power to the whole cabin.
To actually shut the unit down, turn the thermostat to off and wait for the exhaust fan to stop before unplugging it. If you just yank the plug out a bunch of smoke will back up out of the unit when the exhaust fan turns off.
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