Quadra-Fire 5700 Step Top opinions

[Nik79]

Now that I’ve decided my 550 Rockland isn’t going to be cost effective to install. I’m looking at Wood Burners. My wife stopped by the local store and came home with a Quadra fire brochure. We love the Jotul, but I am open to other brands. House is 1800 sq feet Granite fieldstone with a 600 sq ft addition that opens up about 12- 15
Ft to open concept family room kitchen. Wood stove will be on a wall blowing outwards and should dissipate warm air into house fairly well. I hope to heat a lot of the house. I will have one or two large returns and use the variable speed fan on my furnace to circulate warm air. Ideas or suggestions on stoves would be great.

 

[EmberEnergy]

I'm curious why the Rockland (insert right?) wouldn't be cost effective compared to getting a free-standing stove installed. I'm in the process of installing an insert and have not installed a free standing, but from what I've gathered it seems like a freestanding would also be equally or more costly (or labor) if you have to make proper provisions to put on a wall. Where will the stove pipe be located?

Edit: I see your for-sale post and that your new place doesn't have a masonry fireplace. It is now very clear to me why a freestanding stove is the less costly option

I've dreamed of a Blaze King Princess 32, or really any blaze king for that matter with their rheostat controlled air damper. Super long and low burn times possible allowing you to really dial in your heat flow.

I'm also interested in hearing how your returns work out. That's also been an optimization goal of mine down the road.

 

[begreen]

The 5700 would work and put out a lot more heat than the C550. There are several other options if you are going this route. Did you look at the Jotul F55 or PE Alderlea T6? Look at 3 cu ft stoves from Regency, Pacific Energy, Osburn, Drolet in addition to the Quad.

 

[Nik79]

Actually after writing this, my wife told me she was looking at the discovery series 3. She likes the wood holder underneath. Quadrafire seems like a legit stove from the little bit of research I’ve done.

 

[Nik79]

I'm curious why the Rockland (insert right?) wouldn't be cost effective compared to getting a free-standing stove installed. I'm in the process of installing an insert and have not installed a free standing, but from what I've gathered it seems like a freestanding would also be equally or more costly (or labor) if you have to make proper provisions to put on a wall. Where will the stove pipe be located?

Edit: I see your for-sale post and that your new place doesn't have a masonry fireplace. It is now very clear to me why a freestanding stove is the less costly option

I've dreamed of a Blaze King Princess 32, or really any blaze king for that matter with their rheostat controlled air damper. Super long and low burn times possible allowing you to really dial in your heat flow.

I'm also interested in hearing how your returns work out. That's also been an optimization goal of mine down the road.

Since I’m installing the whole unit and piping myself the cost isn’t an issue. I’m not sure about returns, I plan on having two 8x24’s on the opposite wall high to pull the warm air into the main duct return trunk. I’ll keep you updated.

 

[ohlongarm]

Now that I’ve decided my 550 Rockland isn’t going to be cost effective to install. I’m looking at Wood Burners. My wife stopped by the local store and came home with a Quadra fire brochure. We love the Jotul, but I am open to other brands. House is 1800 sq feet Granite fieldstone with a 600 sq ft addition that opens up about 12- 15
Ft to open concept family room kitchen. Wood stove will be on a wall blowing outwards and should dissipate warm air into house fairly well. I hope to heat a lot of the house. I will have one or two large returns and use the variable speed fan on my furnace to circulate warm air. Ideas or suggestions on stoves would be great.

I had two 5700's both of the fireboxes cracked within a season of 24/7 burning, both stoves were replaced 100% by Quadrafire , I became gunshy afterwards and moved on.

 

[Nik79]

Really,
Did they say what caused it? Aren’t these steel units? Did the welds crack? What did you go to ? Thanks for the info.

 

[ohlongarm]

Really,
Did they say what caused it? Aren’t these steel units? Did the welds crack? What did you go to ? Thanks for the info.

The sides , left side on both units completely cracked to where you could see the inside of the stove.
Once again they replaced the first stove, and the second stove was given credit for, and moved on to a BK , King pedestal unit , ran it it was great sold it and replaced it with the Parlor never looked back. Quadrafire did me right , but never could definitively tell be what happened. The 5700 was a beast , but the BK does it all for my application. I only replaced the King with the Parlor because the parlor fit in our house theme better. The guy that bought it burns 24/7 softwoods only in Montana and loves it.

 

[bholler]

I had two 5700's both of the fireboxes cracked within a season of 24/7 burning, both stoves were replaced 100% by Quadrafire , I became gunshy afterwards and moved on.

My aunt and father both heated with 5700s for over 20 years.

 

[bholler]

Really,
Did they say what caused it? Aren’t these steel units? Did the welds crack? What did you go to ? Thanks for the info.

That is not at all typical of them. Earlier quads including the 5700 had issues with air manifolds cracking but that has been addressed

 

[Nik79]

Ok thanks for all the info. We went to the Jotul and Osburn dealer. We like the f45 and 55. The osburn 3000 as well. Decisions?? I had a Jotul previous, so I am partial to that brand. The osburn is a nice stove too.

 

[molly1414]

We had a 5700 that was Jacketed .. Not sure if they are still jacketed but we were not happy with the heat output. We got rid of it for a Jotul Oslo and have been very happy with that stove heating 2300sf