Mt Vernon Quadra-fire stove

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imcold

New Member
Dec 30, 2010
2
central PA
Our son is very sick and always cold so we decided it would make him more comfortable if we bought a pellet stove and put it in the family room by his hospital bed. I thought I did my homework, talked to a lot of salesmen and finally settled on the Mt Vernon. The sales pitch was that it would heat up to 3600 square feet. Money is tight so we installed it ourselves.

I am burning 4 bags of pellets a day, the family room that the stove is in is very warm if you are 4 feet from the stove, otherwise the room feels cold. The remainder of the house is about 67 degrees. We are running the stove on 5, with the heat set to 89.

My expectations were that the family room would be about 80 and the rest of the house about 70. Our house is very open, about 3200 square feet so maybe the stove is doing the job it was suppose to do.

We vented straight out the back of the house then put the trap, went up the side of the house placed a turn and then went out passed an overhang ending with a dryer type vent. The vent is facing north, with the open side facing down. Every once in a while the wind makes a loud moaning sound through the pipe.

Any hints on what we can do to give us more heat? Thank you.
 
imcold said:
Our son is very sick and always cold so we decided it would make him more comfortable if we bought a pellet stove and put it in the family room by his hospital bed. I thought I did my homework, talked to a lot of salesmen and finally settled on the Mt Vernon. The sales pitch was that it would heat up to 3600 square feet. Money is tight so we installed it ourselves.

I am burning 4 bags of pellets a day, the family room that the stove is in is very warm if you are 4 feet from the stove, otherwise the room feels cold. The remainder of the house is about 67 degrees. We are running the stove on 5, with the heat set to 89.

My expectations were that the family room would be about 80 and the rest of the house about 70. Our house is very open, about 3200 square feet so maybe the stove is doing the job it was suppose to do.

We vented straight out the back of the house then put the trap, went up the side of the house placed a turn and then went out passed an overhang ending with a dryer type vent. The vent is facing north, with the open side facing down. Every once in a while the wind makes a loud moaning sound through the pipe.

Any hints on what we can do to give us more heat? Thank you.


What does your flame look like? How tall is it? How warm is the heat coming out the from vent and how fast is it blowing out? Burning that many pellets it should be melting the paint off the walls(figure of speech)


BIH
 
Imcold, the salesman that told you it would heat "3200sq.ft" was stretching the truth QUITE A BIT. Pellet stoves are room heaters....they are NOT meant to heat whole houses, although there are a few people on the forum that found ways to do it.

As bigislandhiker says, that stove (if properly set-up and running right), should burn you out of that family room on 4 bags a day!!!!

What are the approx. lengths of the exhaust pipes? Did you install an OAK with the stove? What brand of pellets are you burning?
 
Something is majorly wrong there, tell us what settings you are using as well as what pellets and maybe we can figure it out for ya
 
Set to manual high #5, Elevation to normal, temp differential too 2 degrees, set to hardwood even if you are on softwood, room fan to normal. Alot of people set the room differential too low .5 this only gives the stove time to fire and ramp up then shut down and repeat. Set at 2.0 the stove will have longer to run. that stove is able to burn 7.52 lbs an hour something else might be to move cold air towards the stove the warm air will need to replace it. You could try moving the wall control into the next room. Once the stove heats the house up it should slow down on pellet usage.
 
-What does your flame look like? How tall is it? How warm is the heat coming out the from vent and how fast is it blowing out? Burning that many pellets it should be melting the paint off the walls(figure of speech)


a: The flame is yellow about 6-8" high

-What are the approx. lengths of the exhaust pipes? Did you install an OAK with the stove? What brand of pellets are you burning?

a: The pipe going straight out the back is 18" which is joined by the trap pipe. We then have a pipe going up 4', a turn and another 3'pipe going out that is attached to a vent which points towards the ground. I am not sure what an OAK is. We are burning premium hardwood pellets from Home Depot.


-Something is majorly wrong there, tell us what settings you are using as well as what pellets and maybe we can figure it out for ya

a: These are our setting:

Settings: comfort level 89
Fuel Type: Hardwood Pellets
User Setting:
Temp Units: F
Flame Height Adjust: +5
Temp Differential: 2.0
Temp Cal 69.9
Elevation: Normal
Conv Blower Speed: normal
Properties
WC 49h UFTI 005
SC 76h REV 030
CB 20h TCF -15
CV 20h


-I wonder if the room fan is blowing?

a: We have a ceiling fan that we turned on in another room which we are hoping will bring a little heat in there.


- Set to manual high #5, Elevation to normal, temp differential too 2 degrees, set to hardwood even if you are on softwood, room fan to normal. Alot of people set the room differential too low .5 this only gives the stove time to fire and ramp up then shut down and repeat. Set at 2.0 the stove will have longer to run. that stove is able to burn 7.52 lbs an hour something else might be to move cold air towards the stove the warm air will need to replace it. You could try moving the wall control into the next room. Once the stove heats the house up it should slow down on pellet usage.

a: The wall control is in another room and usually stays at about 69. I think our setting are the same as what you have suggested.

I appreciate all the help you are giving me.
Lisa
 
Sorry, when I said room fan I meant the fan that blows the hot air into the room. On high you should feel it blowing in your face from 10 feet away. Sometimes with new installs this fan is stuck. In addition, the air should be very hot...so hot it's hard to hold your hand in front of it.
 
Mine burns to the top of the emblem when on H. Flame height does not adjust the flame on a manual setting your book doesn't say that. If the room fan didn't work you would have a bad drop TC error. next time it shuts off make sure all the holes in the burn pot are clear and the bottom has good spring tension. if you have a yellow lazy flame with black tips you are not getting enough air. Also try pulling the back baffle and cleaning. How long have you been burning it a few days or a few months
 
I heat my 2400 sq ft colonial with the Mt.Vernon AE on the first floor. The first floor gets to 80 and the second floor gets to 70-71. I use, typically, 1 bag of pellets a day.
 
You say your flame height is set at +5, that is really high, did you adjust this as per the directions inthe manual? Also what brand pellets are you burning?
 
tsmith said:
You say your flame height is set at +5, that is really high, did you adjust this as per the directions inthe manual? Also what brand pellets are you burning?

I assumed they meant H, but you are right +5 would fill my pot to the rim. I wonder what heat output it is set at? 4 bags per day must mh or h.
 
BIGISLANDHIKERS said:
tsmith said:
You say your flame height is set at +5, that is really high, did you adjust this as per the directions inthe manual? Also what brand pellets are you burning?

I assumed they meant H, but you are right +5 would fill my pot to the rim. I wonder what heat output it is set at? 4 bags per day must mh or h.

I have mine set at MH, and still only use a bag a day.
 
I am guessing there is something else going on in this house, causing a heat loss.

How old is the house? How is it constructed? How much insulation in walls and ceilings? How old are the windows?

BTW, OAK is "Outside Air Kit". The stove will pull air from outside for combustion instead of from the room its in.
 
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