quadra-fire 3100 millennium wood stove problem

[biscuits]

Quadra-fire 31000 LE millennium wood stove
Hi, We have been fighting with this thing for over 2yrs. It will not hold a fire all night and seems to be full open even with the controls turned to the lowest settings. Too hot in the house. A couple of years ago, read on a forum about solutions to this problem but I must have deleted the book mark for it. I'm hoping Hearth.com is where I read about this, but I can't find any info bout it here so far. Can someone help me or direct me to info about this? Thanks in advance.

 

[Sodbuster]

Please don't take this the wrong way, because it's been about 20 years since I've had a Quad, which I loved. Are they still set up with the two air control rod system, where you push the Primary in the shut it down and pull the secondary to close it down? I know that stove had a learning curve for me. Are you sure you're not running with the secondaries wide open, both pushed in?

 

[Wilbursan]

How many feet of draft do you have? I have the same stove and they are designed to use 15'. I have about 25' in my house and I had to make some modifications to mine to slow it down.

 

[biscuits]

Thank You for the replies Sodbuster and Willbursan

I will attempt to describe the system. By the way, it was prof. installed by the outfit we bought it from and yes , we have talked to them about this and they are no help.. Has 14 ft of draft.

To my mind, this stovehas two air controls.
This stove has Automatic Combustion Control (ACC). The Start-up air control is on the right side panel lower front and has 2 primary functions: 1 activates the ACC system. Allows air to enter the front of of the stove for about 25 min. during which time it gradually shuts down until it is completely closed. Then the fire is controlled by the burn rate air control. 2 , operation of rear air system. There is a manual timer over-ride at the bottom back side panel.
We've used wood stoves for over 45 yrs.
Thanks again

 

[Wilbursan]

I've had mine three years so we seem to have identical models. I have the manual in front of me and the minimum draft is 14 feet so that shouldn't be a problem. If the burn rate air control and rear control are closed and you've checked that the start-up manual override is all the way forward that's about all you can do on that front. Have you tried the dollar bill test? (Try putting a dollar bill in different sections of the door, close it and pull it out. It should take the same firm pressure all the way around.) I guess you should also look for torn gasket or trash in the gasket, assuming you haven't already.

This is what the burn rate air control looks like. The top screw serves as a stop for the control so as you can see it doesn't cover the whole hole. Removing it doesn't help, the hole is larger than the cover and it will just open up on the right-hand side. I put aluminum foil there and held it in place with the screw to slow the air down on mine. That helped a lot. But I have at least 10 more feet of draft than you - with only 14 feet of draft I'm not sure why you would need that. I suspect a leak somewhere.

Are you using an outside air kit?

 

[biscuits]

Thank You for reply. Our stove is 31000 LE. Is that the same as 3100?
Outside air kit.....I think so . We are in a 2000 manufactured home. Stove was installed to code. The inner workings of our burn rate lever are not visible on our stove. Will try the dollar bill .

 

[biscuits]

Thank you for your reply. I have just edited my original post to: 31000 millennium LE (Quadra Fire) stove. Our burn rate lever inside workings are not visible on our stove. Will have to check that out. Will try the dollar test. Outdoor air kit.....I think so. Our home is a 2000 manufactured home, stove was installed to code by the place we bought it from.