New Quadrafire 7100 Questions

[TheBigSajowski]

We just moved into our new home and I had a Quad 7100 installed. I am attempting to do a break-in fire today, and I have some questions for any other 7100 owners out there.

First, I did read the instructions, but I'm still a little confused. I opened the outside air, and moved the ACC knob all the way to the right...which leads to my first question. There is the ACC override level and then the ACC knob next to it. Should I have the override lever all the way to the right or the left when starting a fire? I currently have it the the right, which allows for the ACC lever to slide further to the right.

My other question is, should I have the doors open, closed, or cracked when getting the fire going? The reason I ask is that I was closing them, and my fire would slowly go out. If i crack them just a bit, it becomes a raging inferno (well as much of a raging inferno that you can have with just a couple logs...). If I open them all the way the fire keeps going but slower than if the doors are cracked. I am wondering if the fireplace has to be good and hot with a nice bed of coals before you can close the doors and know that it won't go out. Or, am I doing something wrong with the ACC and ACC override?

On a side note, it's pretty cold in Ohio today and I haven't had any problems with smoke spillage after heating the flue with a newspaper, and we really haven't smelled any of the manufacturing residue burning off. So we are happy with that so far.

Appreciate all of the help.

Thanks,
Andy

 

[pen]

I can't speak to your first few questions in regards to the outside air, but I can say that if you can't keep the fire burning well with the door closed, I'd be concerned that the fuel isn't seasoned well enough yet.

There will always be a change between having the door cracked versus closing it, as in the air is much more restricted with the door closed, but if things snuff right out, the wood is often the suspect.

How tall is the chimney? What were the temps today? If the chimney is short, or even if the outside temps aren't that cool, then draft can be an issue. Also is the stove installed upstairs in a living room? Or downstairs in a basement?

Good luck

pen

 

[Cynnergy]

I believe quad has videos of how to use the acc on their website - my dad has a quad and I have to say I still haven't figured it out, lol. My dad loves it though. Good luck!

 

[TheBigSajowski]

How tall is the chimney? What were the temps today? If the chimney is short, or even if the outside temps aren't that cool, then draft can be an issue. Also is the stove installed upstairs in a living room? Or downstairs in a basement?

Thanks Pen, appreciate the input. The chimney is probably 25' tall, and I seemed to have good draft, as the smoke was going straight up without much spillage. It was in the low 40's. We have a ranch home with walkout basement, the fireplace is on the main floor living room, and there is basement underneath it.

I haven't had a chance to cut any of my own firewood yet, so I was using some from the local hardware store just to try and break the unit in. I also tried some of my neighbors, which if anything, is over seasoned. Not sure what impact that might have...I'm new to the whole high efficiency fireplace game.

Thanks,
Andy

 

[TheBigSajowski]

I did find another post that has some additional detail on all of the levers. I had to read it about 4 times for it to sink in, but I'll give it a try tonight and see if I have any better luck. Seems like the key might be moving the ACC lever all the way to both sides to engage it. I don't think I was doing that before, so maybe I thought the air supply was open all the way, when in fact it wasn't. I hope that's all it was. Fingers crossed...

 

[begreen]

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[TheBigSajowski]

Yeah, I came across that yesterday. It's doesn't show the override lever though. From what I've found today, I think the override lever needs to go to the right, and then I need to move the ACC lever all the way left, and then back right and finally to the final burn spot...that apparently winds it up. So maybe I hadn't done that the last time I tried, and the damper wasn't actually open all the way. If not that, then maybe it's my wood. I'll keep trying...

 

[begreen]

Yes, it is an oversimplified showing of the operation. Is this the thread you read last night:
https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/quadra-fire-7100-acc-question.117391/

 

[TheBigSajowski]

Yes, it is an oversimplified showing of the operation. Is this the thread you read last night:
https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/quadra-fire-7100-acc-question.117391/

Yep, that's it. Doesn't seen that hard after you read it a few times...haha...hopefully I can keep the fire started this time. I'll update the thread tonight.

Thanks again for all of the help.

 

[Quadra7100]

I'd add that while well seasoned wood is a key to an easy start and a good clean burn, the 7100 really is easiest to get heated up with one of the doors left cracked open. Proper use of the automatic timer as described here will help, but closing the right door securely with the lever and letting the left door rest on top the right will let in more air and get the fire burning hotter quicker. The hotter the fire box gets the more air it will draw when the doors are closed and 10 minutes seems to do the trick for me.

I've just found it takes longer to get the fire going and the unit up to operating temperature without the additional draft/air flow. I've also found that moving the air control lever can be difficult as the unit gets up to operating temperature and prefer to leave the lever at a preset that is general optimal for burn during normal use. Once the unit is at operating temperature I find that sliding the air control lever closer than 1/3 from the left most setting will provide a longer burn time vs the 2/3 toward the right which will keep the glass clear and the burning at good efficiency (with that great secondary burn). Once the unit gets very hot and is overloaded, however, it seems to pull in as much air as it needs and the air control lever won't make much difference until the wood supply is exhausted. Getting through the night with a longer slow burn seems to work well when you load the unit up starting with a large bed of hot coals.

 

[steelstring]

I have had similar experience as Quadra 7100 with mine. I have more trouble keeping the burn slow than in starting. Sometimes I think that thing would burn water itself! Mine doesn't appear to be too sensitive to how seasoned the wood is. I think its getting a hang of the air settings that will help. It took me several burns to get the hang of it. My startup routine is to push the over-ride lever and the air control all the way to the right to activate the timer and, as Quadra7100 suggests, set the air control to my desired long term burn setting (I generally run at 1/3 from the left as well). Start the fire with some good, dry kindling and close the door up tight. Sometimes I've had the firebox fill with smoke before the flue warms enough to draw, but I've never had any trouble getting the fire going even with wood of questionable dryness.

I think its the air. Figure out your routine and you will find it to be almost failsafe. You will have time to get a little practice during this cold snap!

 

[transmogrifire]

My father has a 7100, after 2 years of frustration he modded the stove so the air intake is just a manual control. It is very happy now. easy to control. He has a cabinet shop so lots of small dry hardwood scraps. He is considering a further mod to damper down a little more, it has a 2 story chimney so draft is not an issue.

 

[TheBigSajowski]

Thanks all for the comments. I did figure out what I was doing wrong, and it was a rookie mistake. I was trying to use these starter sticks to get the logs going, obviously leaving out the critical kindling stage. Once I started using kindling, I've had raging infernos ever since. Also, after eventually determining that the "ACC Override" lever is really just a timer that opens up additional air and gradually closes it down, that helped get the controls all straight in my head as well.

Running the fireplace at maybe half capacity, if that, and the fan on a low speed (so I can hear the tv), I am able to get the main living areas in my 2400sqft ranch home (open floor plan) up to 75 degrees, when its about 20 outside. As soon as I develop enough intestinal fortitude to load the unit up even more, I can probably the burn down quite a bit and keep the house in the mid 70s almost overnight. I still get nervous when I see the flames curling around that top plate and back towards the flue though. However, I am getting braver, so one of these days...

Thanks again,
Andy

 

[Charlene Kravec]

I am having trouble getting the slow burn. Even with the outside air knob turned off and the "ACC" and "ACC Override" moved left (off) the unit doesn't calm down to the lazy secondaries our other stove used to show. It's getting a lot of air from somewhere. Could the mechanism(s) need more break-in time?
Thanks.

 

[Woodbutcher54]

Hi- I just joined the group to try and help you out! This is my third winter with my 7100. First, your outside air will not do much for burn rate. Second, check your door gaskets.
As far as the controls...If I slide the two air control levers all the way to the left, my fire just smolders and soots up the glass. (Yours should do same) BUT when I first got the stove, and was trying to figure it all out, once I got the hang of it, the stove worked like it was supposed to......then all of a sudden it seemed like it had a mind of its own.
What happened is this, there is a pin attached to the air gate/slide that broke off! So the slide just laid in one position, while the ACC lever still worked, but the two had no way of "communicating". To make a long story short, I figured there had to be something broken in the mechanism, and tore it apart. I finally called the dealer and He got me a new ACC mechanism sent out. Only thing, this was not the problem! The ACC worked fine, it was the air gate pin that was broke off, which I found after I got further into the stove. I am very mechanical, so it was easy for me, but I would only recommend a trained service guy check out your stove. I also believe QuadraFire had a recall/update kit on the ACC mechanisms for earlier stoves. Not sure what the problem was.

 

[Charlene Kravec]

Thanks, Wood for sharing your experience. We had a conversation with our technician about this (no long burn times) and he said to first check the gaskets, which we have since then. I think we have some leakage. He asked us to burn it for a month and to call him after that with our findings. That's what we are doing.

The ACC override seems to bind up and stop because it's rubbing against the face of the unit. I think I can get it to work by just "winding it up" and let it run when there's no fire in the box on warm days. It's difficult to hear its "tick-tock" when the TV is on.

We love the unit thus far and I have every confidence that we will find the answer to our questions.