Quadra-Fire 800 -ceramic firepot replacement

[DaDuck]

My original ceramic firepot is has a small crack and I am about ready to order a Replacement Firepot 812-3281 (cast) since the ceramic firepots were known to fail. The 800 is used to heat my finished basement and I have been very happy with the performance and reliability of this unit since 1996. Has anyone had any experience with installing/operating the cast (EZ clean) firepot on a Quadra-Fire stove?

Thanks,
Dave

 

[DMKNLD]

Merry X-mas Dave, and welcome to this forum,

My 1st generation Castile had the original ceramic fire pot that developed a crack in it as well. It's a testament to the early Quads that yours has served you well for as long as it has. The new cast replacements are pricey, but certainly worth it, IMO. It looks like you will also need the replacement linkage kit part #812-3120 and the loop igniter part #812-3811. Here's the Amazon site selling all three parts as an upgrade package for the same price or less than others were charging for just the fire pot. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00NOAHHIQ/?tag=trendjogja02-20

Quad reconfigured the air hole design and igniter placement to improve the forced draft through the fire pot and the igniter slit, which both reduces nuisance shut-downs and improves the burn efficiency, and is a lot easier to keep clean. I periodically spritz my cast fire pot with non-stick cooking spray and rarely have to scrape it, though burning good quality 100% softwood pellets helps with that too. I also try to pull the fire pot clean out rod after shut down while it is still hot, (I wait until the convection blower stops), before any fly ash carbon impurities can 'cold weld' in the bottom of the fire pot.

When you install your new burn pot make sure you get a new burn pot gasket if the fire pot doesn't come with one, and put some high temp 'anti-seize' on the bolts / nuts that secure the fire pot in, so you can get the pot out if necessary down the road. I had to use a dremel cutter disc to get my old ceramic fire pot out, as the heat had 'welded' the bolts on to the studs. But other than that the new pot install was easy.

Also check the amount of clean out 'trap door' play you have in your new fire pot before you install it. Mine was good out of the box, but have heard they can sometimes be either too tight or too loose at the hinge assembly, which can either make the clean out plate too hard to open over time, or it lets too much air in if there is too much of a gap. There should be no more than a dimes width - ideally just slightly less - at the side opposite of the hinge, which you can adjust via the nut / bolt / hinge assembly. Another new forum member who recently posted here had a 1/4" gap on the fire pot in his less-than-a -year-old Castile, among other problems. They don't make 'em like your retired 800 or my Castile models I guess !

Good luck, and post back how the new fire pot works in your vintage Quad. Cheers, DK

 

[DaDuck]

Merry X-mas Dave, and welcome to this forum,

My 1st generation Castile had the original ceramic fire pot that developed a crack in it as well. It's a testament to the early Quads that yours has served you well for as long as it has. The new cast replacements are pricey, but certainly worth it, IMO. It looks like you will also need the replacement linkage kit part #812-3120 and the loop igniter part #812-3811. Here's the Amazon site selling all three parts as an upgrade package for the same price or less than others were charging for just the fire pot. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00NOAHHIQ/?tag=trendjogja02-20

Quad reconfigured the air hole design and igniter placement to improve the forced draft through the fire pot and the igniter slit, which both reduces nuisance shut-downs and improves the burn efficiency, and is a lot easier to keep clean. I periodically spritz my cast fire pot with non-stick cooking spray and rarely have to scrape it, though burning good quality 100% softwood pellets helps with that too. I also try to pull the fire pot clean out rod after shut down while it is still hot, (I wait until the convection blower stops), before any fly ash carbon impurities can 'cold weld' in the bottom of the fire pot.

When you install your new burn pot make sure you get a new burn pot gasket if the fire pot doesn't come with one, and put some high temp 'anti-seize' on the bolts / nuts that secure the fire pot in, so you can get the pot out if necessary down the road. I had to use a dremel cutter disc to get my old ceramic fire pot out, as the heat had 'welded' the bolts on to the studs. But other than that the new pot install was easy.

Check the amount of clean out 'trap door' play you have in your new fire pot before you install it. Mine was good out of the box, but have heard they can sometimes be either too tight or too loose at the hinge assembly, which can either make the clean out plate too hard to open over time, or it lets too much air in if it's too loose. There should be no more than a dimes width - ideally just slightly less - at the side opposite of the hinge, which you can adjust via the nut / bolt / hinge assembly. Another new forum member who recently posted here had a 1/4" gap on the fire pot in his less than a year old Castile, among other problems. They don't make 'em like your retired 800 or my Castile models I guess !

Good luck, and post back how the new fire pot works in your vintage Quad. Cheers, DK

DK,
Thanks for all the useful info!

I will report back on the new firepot once installed.

Dave

 

[3650]

I've often wondered if the pot out of the ECO CAB 50 would work in a Quad. Looks like the same thing to me. Might be cheaper.

 

[DMKNLD]

I've often wondered if the pot out of the ECO CAB 50 would work in a Quad. Looks like the same thing to me. Might be cheaper.

It looks like the fire pot part #'s cross-over for the ECO CAB stoves and the Quad Mt Vernon AE, but since it has an upper and lower fire pot assembly to adapt to the auto-clean feature of the AE, it looks like it wouldn't work on the other Quad models that require manual clean out. The AE model is a unique entity all around for the Quad line with its DC battery back-up option and the Advanced Energy Technology systems.

 

[DaDuck]

I need to thank DMKNLD for the link to the kit on Amazon. I ordered the kit and when it arrived absolutely everything I needed was in the kit. It took about an hour to thoroughly clean the QUAD and then review the instructions. About another hour to install the new cast Firepot, Ignition element, and manual cleanout lever. The kit even included the drill bits needed to mount the Firepot and the lever. The new Firepot burns cleaner because there are combustion air holes in the bottom of the cast Firepot. Noticed much less ash after burning a 40 pound bag. The new igniter lights off very early in the heat cycle and the stove is coming up to temp faster than it did when it was new (1996). There is new life in my classic Quadra-Fire 800. Looking forward to another 20 years of heating the basement with pellets!!

 

[DMKNLD]

Back at 'ya on the shout-out Dave, and thanks for your follow-up post. Happy to hear that the install and burn pot 'tune up' worked out well for you.

The updated burn pot design made a huge difference in my 1st generation Castile too, in improving the air flow through the pot, and thus the burn efficiency. Besides adding the 4 bottom smaller air holes and modifying the igniter slit, they also changed the larger air hole pattern, which seems to better direct the pellet flame towards the thermo-couple, which is likely why your stove gets up to temp quicker, as you noted.

I updated my OEM grey colored control box to the clear box at the same time I replaced my cracked ceramic pot, so it's hard to definitively know which part eliminated my nuisance shut downs and start-up failure issues I was having prior. But I haven't had a single problem with either of those issues since.

The new burn pot is much easier to keep clean. I spritz some non-stick cooking spray into the pot after cleaning out the air holes with an allen wrench, and that seems to help keep the carbon and pellet impurities from 'welding' onto the clean-out plate. I'm going to try the powdered graphite that Bioburner recommended in recent posts, which will no doubt last longer than the non-stick spray while helping keep the hinge mechanism lubricated.

Your 800 is a museum piece. And a testament to Quad quality, when things were made to a higher standard of workmanship and quality. It's good that Quad still supports the common parts replacements for it even though it is a long-ago retired model. It will no doubt give you years more of reliable service. Best of luck in that, and enjoy the warmth it gives you and yours ! Regards, DK