Quadra baffle question

[pyroclayman]

Can someone that knows the Quadra line of wood burners (this is an older 4300 specificaly) please help me out?

I just replaced an old battle ship anchor, uh, I mean REALLY old steel stove with a rather old (late 90's I think, Quadra fire 4300.

I had to re-brick it, and had to make a minor adjustment on the main air control stop, but that is niether here nor there. It's up and running pretty good. May have to do some work to or replace the secondary tube system, not sure yet. They seem to be working partially.

But my question is about the ceramic baffle system. Both the hard-board and the fibre blancket are present and in fair condition, though the probably should be replaced. And I happen to be a potter and kiln builder, so I have a roll of fiber blanket on hand, and I know where to source the ceramic fiber board cheaper than if purchased as Quadrafire replacement parts.

The problem is, I'm not sure that the baffle setup that came with the stove is in OEM configuration. I've been the Quadrafire website and downloaded everything I can find that might be pertanant. The owners manual is clear that the baffle MUST be placed all the way to the rear of stove and making contact with the back wall. But I can find no specification regarding width. In the case of whats already in the stove, the baffle system is NOT wide enough to make contact with the side walls, and in fact leave an approx. 1 1/4" gap on each side. It does come forward to the front of the front secondary burn tube as it should. I just don't know if it's supposed to span clear across from side to side or not. I realize this gap on the sides may be by design, but I need to find out for sure!

Thanks so much for any help with getting this stove set up properly!!

Leland from La Pine

 

[DAKSY]

I'm thinkin you have the wrong baffles in there, ones from a smaller firebox.
They hafta reach the sides & still have an overlap in the middle.
When pushed all the way to the rear, they should still cover the front tube.
If they're too small too much direct heat will hit the top of the stove &
potentially damage that area...

 

[stoveguy13]

it shouldnt have a ceramic baffle at all at that age it should have had a steel baffle and it should bassically cover the tubes fully.

 

[humpin iron]

Steel baffle was replaced with ceramic board. The baffle should cover all tubes, touch the back and almost touch both sides. The blanket should be even in the front and a little larger in back and at the sides. If you can outsource it and it's the same or equal material you should be OK.
I am a Quad dealer and do field R/D for the tech department, 20+ yrs.

 

[pyroclayman]

Steel baffle was replaced with ceramic board. The baffle should cover all tubes, touch the back and almost touch both sides. The blanket should be even in the front and a little larger in back and at the sides. If you can outsource it and it's the same or equal material you should be OK.
I am a Quad dealer and do field R/D for the tech department, 20+ yrs.

Thanks all and all!

Ok, some different opininoins are coming in. The baffles DO reach all the way to the rear, and cover the front tube!! They do! That part is just like in the PDF file owners manual.

They do not quite reach the sides. HumpinIron, you say "Almost reach the sides", well I guess that's what they do, they "Almost reach the sides". I looked in there again this morning, and the clearance on the sides is 5/8" inch. (apologize for faulty estimation previous) it is 5/8 or 1/2", take you pic.

Is that "Almost"?

 

[pyroclayman]

it shouldnt have a ceramic baffle at all at that age it should have had a steel baffle and it should bassically cover the tubes fully.

The stove I just took out was like that. That top baffle was warped and cracked. It's a ship anchor! (I'll leave in my truck untill I make a run up to the scrap iron yard. Oughtta get a couple bucks, sure is heavy!

Maybe the one I installed isn't so old. It has the secondary burn tubes. The old one's steel baffle is built/welded right into the stove. No secondary burn tubes.

Thanks for replying!

 

[stoveguy13]

no it was a removable steel plate that is still avaiable my point for telling you that is my guess is they put the wrong replacement baffle in the stove the stove because there is no way there should be any gap on either side of the baffle that would allow smoke to go by it on the sides

 

[pyroclayman]

no it was a removable steel plate that is still avaiable my point for telling you that is my guess is they put the wrong replacement baffle in the stove the stove because there is no way there should be any gap on either side of the baffle that would allow smoke to go by it on the sides

Ok, thanks for sharing your info. So I got one nice fellow saying baffle must go all the way across side to side, and a Quadra dealer nice fellow saying "almost".

What this means of course is that I'm not where I need to be yet as far "knowing" what belongs in this stove, and how it needs to be configured.

The stove may not be so old as have had the "removable steel plate", but rather have come with the ceramic fibire baffle, is this correct?

Maybe this will help: I climbed in behind the stove with a good light, and found the that the big metalized sticker has punch outs that mark the date of manufacure.

Dec. 2003


So there we go!! Sorry I had not found that previously. My bad.

Steel or ceramic fiber?

Clear across or "almost"? clear across?

Thanks a million guys!!

 

[stoveguy13]

the baffle could have been ceramic at that point not 100% sure when the change took place but that sounds about right for it to be ceramic just so you know i worked for quad and run one of there largest retail locations in the north east so i am not guessing at this when i say all the way and there should be no gap on the side to let the smoke pass by the baffle sits on top of the tube and should cover them fully if it does not it is the wrong baffle or it is broken and needs to be replaced.

 

[pyroclayman]

Thank you Stoveguy13.

I shall try it that way indeed. Clear across. As said, it's already correct front to back, but when replaceing, I shall make up new to go clear across also. Thanks for the knowledge.

 

[ddown]

Ihad an intermediate quad 4300 with firebrick on top of the tubes

 

[pyroclayman]

Ihad an intermediate quad 4300 with firebrick on top of the tubes

Well that's interesting. Do you know if it came from the factory that way or did someone do a haywire "adapt and overcome" fix-it" job?

Any way, one thing that proves, along with knowledge of the sometimes steel, sometimes ceramic baffle, is that there's more than one way to skin a cat! (as long it's safe and it works, it's ok with me!)

Thanks for the reply!

What I have decided to do, since it will take at least a week to get the ceramic fiber board shipped in, is to make a properly sized piece of kaowool fiber blanket (I have a roll in the studio) and replace the old "too small" piece, making sure the new one spans clear across, from side to side. I'm having to burn small fires every nite here in La Pine, and I don't want to risk damageing the top of the stove while waiting for new fiber board.

 

[ddown]

it came from the factory Pre ACC Pre ACT firebrick top baffle on rails with kaowool blanket on top 4300 steptop

 

[pyroclayman]

I thought maybe I should report back, even if only for the "posteritys" sake of the the thread.

The new ceramic board hasn't come in yet, but as I said I would, I went ahead and cut the new blanket to correct dimensions to span all the way crossways, and front to back, and just laid it on top of the old too small fiber board that came with the stove.

Then, the weather warmed up.

Fired last night though, and wow, what a difference. The old beast is performing as it should I think. Before, with that small gap on each side, the two most fron secondary burn tubes would never quite take off and act right. We could see the rear two doing there thing though. Also, it was just running a little too hot. Not much, enought that it concerned us, which is got me asking questions in the first place.

Now when we turn down the primary air control, she is burning smoke as she should.

ON a side note, as I mentioned in a previous thread I changed the set screw stop that was tack welded into the primary air controll to allow for less air. The set screw now goes in from the front, so the stop for the slider is adjustable. I wouldn't be suprised if, now that the baffle is doing it's thing properly, we wind up with the air control right back at the factory setting. Oh well, live and learn!

I just can't thank ya'll enough for being here. What a great resource!