Quadra Fire Castile Heat output ?

[Burd]

Hello everyone and Merrry Christmas to you all.
I have a couple of questions on the heat out put.
Would changing out the combustion fan gasket our the burnpot gasket change the temperture?
When I first started with this stove the cast iron top and sides would radiate out a lot of heat and lately its just warm to the touch. I've cleaned the stove thoroughly last week and noticed that the burnpot is loose. When I did the rebuild of the stove I installed a homemade gasket to help save on money during the rebuild and now when I pull the clean out handle I noticed it moving around. I just order new gasket and was woundering if this would change the heat out put.

 

[kappel15]

Depends on if air is blowing past the gasket. Less air going thru pot, will reduce efficiency. Easy enough to tell if ash is blowing away from around pot. Also if flame height is not where it is suppose to be will reduce heat also. Dirty heat exchanger tubes, dirty stove, etc. When you replace that pot gasket, make sure to put some high temp anti-seize grease on bolts to help in future removal. kap

 

[Burd]

Depends on if air is blowing past the gasket. Less air going thru pot, will reduce efficiency. Easy enough to tell if ash is blowing away from around pot. Also if flame height is not where it is suppose to be will reduce heat also. Dirty heat exchanger tubes, dirty stove, etc. When you replace that pot gasket, make sure to put some high temp anti-seize grease on bolts to help in future removal. kap

Kap Thanks for your replie. I have ne problems with the ash. the ash it self has been mainly in the corners of the box. As fo rthe burnpot bolts I replaced them with stainless steel and a wng nut.
I cleaned the stove last week. Heat exchangers fan and venting.
My mian ? How warm does your cast Iron get on your stove. when I first installed the stove the cast iron was hot to the touch but not hot enough to burn you. lately its warm to the touch

 

[tjnamtiw]

If your burnpot is loose, as Kap said, you'll be bypassing air that SHOULD be going THROUGH the pot. That reduces your heat output.
You list a Napoleon insert in your signature. When did you install the Castile? Have you cleaned the flue and made sure ash hasn't fallen into the output side of the combustion fan?
I run my Castile with the decorative door open. It doesn't look at good but it doesn't interfere with the airflow out of the tubes. When they designed the door, they made it look pretty but it doesn't mate up to the output tubes. Poor design.

ALSO: Make sure that your back two cast plates are in position properly. It's very easy to not hook them up properly. Put the tabs into the side closest to the pellet chute first, then lift and drop the outer ones into position. Sometimes it can be a struggle to get them into place. If you don't, you will bypass your heat exchanger.

 

[kappel15]

What I mean is if the ash is blowing away from around the pot, then air is escaping from under pot,and not going thru it. What do you mean my mian? I have the Sante Fe so no cast iron. My avatar is of my AE. kap

 

[Burd]

If your burnpot is loose, as Kap said, you'll be bypassing air that SHOULD be going THROUGH the pot. That reduces your heat output.
You list a Napoleon insert in your signature. When did you install the Castile? Have you cleaned the flue and made sure ash hasn't fallen into the output side of the combustion fan?
I run my Castile with the decorative door open. It doesn't look at good but it doesn't interfere with the airflow out of the tubes. When they designed the door, they made it look pretty but it doesn't mate up to the output tubes. Poor design.

I installed the castile back in September. You Stated about cleaning combustion fan. I did take off the back panels and cleaned the fan it self But i didn't remove the fan. Should this be done?
I've cleaned the heat exchangers and venting. I would hat to break the seal of the exchaust pipe on the back of the stove.
If I remove the fan when the gaskets come in can I reach the exchaust port that way ?
Castile is on my signature

 

[kappel15]

Your cleaning is fine. One question is did you put the heat deflector back in the right place? kap

 

[tjnamtiw]

Sorry, I missed the red letters for Castile.
So this is your first year of burning the Castile. Is the flue new with the stove? If it is, you shouldn't need to worry about disconnecting it or cleaning it yet. Is this a free standing or insert? I wouldn't worry about removing the combustion fan until the end of the season if the flue is new. I work a small diameter tube attached to a reducer on my ash vac back into the fan area about once a month to suck ash out of there.

 

[Burd]

What I mean is if the ash is blowing away from around the pot, then air is escaping from under pot,and not going thru it. What do you mean my mian? I have the Sante Fe so no cast iron. My avatar is of my AE. kap

 

[Burd]

This is my first year with the free standing stove and I vacum it out every Saturday . Everything is newly installed.
The stove it self is the best and I have no problems with it. I'm just trying to get the best heat output out of it.
Kap
Sorry Main question. On the free standing castile does the cast Iron get hot to the touch. Lately it just been warm.

 

[kappel15]

My cast top and metal sides get fairly warm to the touch, but not hot that you have to take your hand away right away. That is why they can be installed so close to combustables. kap

 

[Burd]

My cast top and metal sides get fairly warm to the touch, but not hot that you have to take your hand away right away. That is why they can be installed so close to combustables. kap

This is exactly what I'm trying to say. Lately I can keep my hand on it all day long. I can't figure out why. I know that the pellets that I'm burning arn't the best but even on the high setting i'm not acheiving this.

 

[Stevekng]

Hello everyone and Merrry Christmas to you all.
I have a couple of questions on the heat out put.
Would changing out the combustion fan gasket our the burnpot gasket change the temperture?
When I first started with this stove the cast iron top and sides would radiate out a lot of heat and lately its just warm to the touch. I've cleaned the stove thoroughly last week and noticed that the burnpot is loose. When I did the rebuild of the stove I installed a homemade gasket to help save on money during the rebuild and now when I pull the clean out handle I noticed it moving around. I just order new gasket and was woundering if this would change the heat out put.

The burn pot should never be loose. Put an oem gasket in. Make sure you retighten the screws after the stove heats up and then shuts off because of expansion and contraction after heating up and cooling off. This is the same idea as what mechanics do when changing a head gasket

 

[DMKNLD]

Like kap and others noted, my cast top plate typically gets warm, but not hot to the touch.

But cooler cast top radiant heat output doesn't always mean less stove efficiency / heat output, as I recently found after I cleaned my 'squirrel cage' convection blower fans of their combo of dust bunny and cat hair 'hairballs', courtesy of our 3 long haired felines that love to hang out near the stove. The airflow increase out of the exchanger tubes was markedly noticeable.

By increasing the airflow through the heat exchanger tubes, it improved the convective heat exchange, and resulted in less radiant heat to the cast top plate, but improved room heat. So atypically warm cast top plate temps could be caused by convection blower impeller fan obstructions that are reducing the exchanger air flow output.

That said, my cast top plate temps also seem to drop anytime I let fly ash build-up anywhere, whether it be in the fire box, heat exchanger area, ash traps, or the venting, especially as I get to my 1 ton deep cleaning, which is what I've burned so far year to date.

By fly ash build-up inhibiting both air flow efficiency through the stove as well as reduced heat exchange, it's no surprise that the 3 most common problems with pellet stove burn efficiency are a dirty stove, a dirty stove, and a dirty stove !

My 1 ton deep cleaning and 'LBT' is my project for tomorrow, while we have record heat in New England, and the old Quad gets a break before winter returns again for the first of the New Year !

 

[Burd]

I have five bags left before I get through one ton, When I got home today I tightened up the bolts on the burn pot all most 3/4of a turn on both sides, Im hoping that the gaskets get here in a couple of days,
I also toke off the tee to clean the port, seem to be back to normal.
All is good

 

[kappel15]

Glad you are back to normal. Stay warm. kap