Quadra Fire Isle Royal or Cumberland Gap

[shilohfarmboy]

I was considering purchasing a Quadra Fire Stove. Does anyone have any experience with a Isle Royal or Cumberland Gap? What do you like - dislike? What kind of burn times can you get?

Thanks!

 

[Jags]

There are several IR users on this board (including me) and I know of a couple that have the CG. I am a little biased towards the IR, but I believe the CG to be a quality heater as well. I have been running mine for 7 seasons now. Never had an issue yet. I have heard that some people have had issues with the firebrick, but that is considered a consumable in my book.

If you run the stove hard and heavy, you can expect 4-6 hour burn times with a stove top temp well above 500F. If you are on a medium/medium-high burn, an honest 8 can be achieved. Shoulder season burning (spring/fall) north of 10 hours is not uncommon using hardwoods.

It won't be long before others speak up. Being the off season, the response time might be a little longer, but they will come.

Welcome to the site.

 

[karri0n]

First off, welcome to hearth.com!

I own an Isle Royale, and I love it. I agree with Jags on the performance, but as far as I know, the Isle Royale has been discontinued and you might pay a bit more for it. I wouldnt hesitate to recommend ANY quadra-fire stove. If your choice is down to thow two models, I think the deciding factor would likely be the size of the house you are heating. If it's a smaller or very well insulated house, you may find the Isle Royale can really push you out of the room with the heat it throws. That being said, if it's a large house or marginally insulated, the Isle Royale would definitely be the way to go. It's easier to heat less with an oversized stove than it is to heat more with an undersized stove.

It may very well come down to style too. I love the looks of the IR, but the double handles on the cumberland gap sorta irk me.


We can probably give you better recommendations if you let us know the size of the house you're heating. I do see that you're in WV, so your winters won't be the same as what someone like me in CT would see, or some of the other people here from Minnesota, Maine, or Canada.

 

[jtp10181]

karri0n, its not discontinued. All the Quad cast iron wood unit were on HOLD because they switched the lines over to produce pellet stoves due to the super high demand in the fall. The lines are back up and running for the cast wood products again so they should all be available as normal. The most recent discontinued Quad cast wood unit was the Cape Cod which was an isle royal without the top load feature.

 

[karri0n]

Thanks JTP, good to know.

 

[Poult]

I'm just winding up my first year with the Isle Royale, and it's been a great stove. Most nights I'd stoke it at 9:30 and by 7AM there would be coals enough to get it going again. If I hopped right to it at 5:30 AM you could just restoke it again and keep right on going, there would be a lot of coals, but I normally like to take some ash out each morning so would let it burn most of the coals out. Yes, it has an ash pan but I never use it, just quicker for me to grab the shovel and take out a couple of scoops.

I don't know anything about the CG, but would guess that which one you want is going to be guided solely by the size of your house. If your house is very small, you probably wouldn't want the IR, but my house runs 2000 sq' and I'm happy with the IR.

 

[john317]

A Good friend has a CG and LOVES IT!! he REALLY likes the side door loading. let me rephrase that... he REALLY REALLY LIKES the SIDE DOOR loading. lol. He has no complaints and heats his 2200 Sq Ft ranchstyle house from the basement(finnished). He had it rolling at this years Christmas party and it was very warm all over the house. And that stove is dead sexy if I do say so myself. The only time the furnace kicked on was when it was -30F overnight for a little while this January(north Maine).

 

[shilohfarmboy]

Thank you all for your comments! THIS SITE IS GREAT! I've been telling all of my woodburning buddies about it too.

I am currently heating with a VC Dutchwest 2641 catalyst stove that came with the house. We've been here for 3 winters now and I just don't like this stove. It backpuffs almost every day during the last half of the burn cycle. I only get 4-5 hours burn time tops. It uses alot of wood, this winter I burned about 7 cords.(or is this normal?) It starts easy but once you get it hot and close the bypass it seems to just kill the fire unless the air is wide open. It heats the house fine and I love the side load door. I just want a good clean-burning stove that has a longer burn time and does not backpuff. I have a totally outside masonry chimney with a big 9x12 clay liner. I have learned from this site that this is probably a large part of the problem. But... Quadrafire is having a good sale going on now I am tempted to get a stove that I know has longer burn time. Does firebox size have anything to do with burn time? I like the Cumberland Gap because of the side load door but I'd give that up and get the Isle Royal if it will burn longer.

Our house is a 2200 Sq. Ft. rancher built in 1995 and is well insulated, with good windows.

 

[fossil]

Of course firebox size relates to burn time. Larger box = more fuel can be loaded = longer burn (if properly managed). I'd highly recommend an insulated liner in that chimney, all the way to the top, sized appropriately for the flue collar on the stove you select. What sort of maintenance have you done on the DW? Ever pull and clean or replace the catalyst? How old is the stove? Do you have the owner's manual for it? How is it connected to the chimney? Chimney kept clean? Rick

OBTW: Welcome to the forums!

 

[northwinds]

Is your wood ready for next year? Isle Royale, Cumberland Gap, or any epa stove is going to perform better with
longer burns if your wood is dry and well-seasoned.

 

[shilohfarmboy]

Northwinds - Yup, I only burn wood that was cut, split, and stacked the previous winter, it gets to season all spring-summer-fall. I burn mostly Red Oak.

Fossil- Can I install my own insulated liner? Where can they be pruchased? Are they stainless steel or something else? The DW is 11 years old. It is connected to the chimney with a 6" SW pipe and 1 elbow, about a 3' vertical and a 3' horizontal run. I've cleaned the catalyst once in the last 3 year, but I did not seem to make any difference. I haven't done any other maintenance on the DW in the last 3 years other than cleaning, door seals all look good. The chimney is kept fairly clean but not perfect. I have the owner's manual it it claims a max burn time of 9 hours. Will installing a insulated chimney liner transform my DW into a "new" stove? Am I just wasting my time and money if I purchase a new Quad? (I plan on installing a liner with the Quad)

 

[fossil]

...Fossil- Can I install my own insulated liner? Where can they be pruchased? Are they stainless steel or something else? The DW is 11 years old. It is connected to the chimney with a 6" SW pipe and 1 elbow, about a 3' vertical and a 3' horizontal run. I've cleaned the catalyst once in the last 3 year, but I did not seem to make any difference. I haven't done any other maintenance on the DW in the last 3 years other than cleaning, door seals all look good. The chimney is kept fairly clean but not perfect. I have the owner's manual it it claims a max burn time of 9 hours. Will installing a insulated chimney liner transform my DW into a "new" stove? Am I just wasting my time and money if I purchase a new Quad? (I plan on installing a liner with the Quad)

Many people install their own liners, many have it done professionally. Depends on a lot of factors. Liner kits can be purchased online from a number of e-tailers, or locally if you have a dealer. Sounds like a 3' vertical run out of the top of the stove to a 90° elbow, then a 3' horizontal run to a thimble and then it just dumps into the masonry chimney with a 9" x 12" clay tile lined flue to daylight. Not optimum for woodstove performance. What's the total chimney height from stove to daylight? Is this stove sitting in front of what was an open masonry fireplace? Any chance you could shoot us a pic or two of the current setup? In any case, lining the flue would seem to me to be the first priority. You just might find, then, that the good ol' DW performs a whole lot better and you can take your time deciding about replacing it. If I'm mis-picturing the current setup, please correct me. Anything else connected to this same chimney structure? As I mentioned, pics would really help a lot if you're able to provide them. Rick

 

[shilohfarmboy]

...Fossil- Can I install my own insulated liner? Where can they be pruchased? Are they stainless steel or something else? The DW is 11 years old. It is connected to the chimney with a 6" SW pipe and 1 elbow, about a 3' vertical and a 3' horizontal run. I've cleaned the catalyst once in the last 3 year, but I did not seem to make any difference. I haven't done any other maintenance on the DW in the last 3 years other than cleaning, door seals all look good. The chimney is kept fairly clean but not perfect. I have the owner's manual it it claims a max burn time of 9 hours. Will installing a insulated chimney liner transform my DW into a "new" stove? Am I just wasting my time and money if I purchase a new Quad? (I plan on installing a liner with the Quad)

Many people install their own liners, many have it done professionally. Depends on a lot of factors. Liner kits can be purchased online from a number of e-tailers, or locally if you have a dealer. Sounds like a 3' vertical run out of the top of the stove to a 90° elbow, then a 3' horizontal run to a thimble and then it just dumps into the masonry chimney with a 9" x 12" clay tile lined flue to daylight. Not optimum for woodstove performance. What's the total chimney height from stove to daylight? Is this stove sitting in front of what was an open masonry fireplace? Any chance you could shoot us a pic or two of the current setup? In any case, lining the flue would seem to me to be the first priority. You just might find, then, that the good ol' DW performs a whole lot better and you can take your time deciding about replacing it. If I'm mis-picturing the current setup, please correct me. Anything else connected to this same chimney structure? As I mentioned, pics would really help a lot if you're able to provide them. Rick

You have the idea of my setup right on. I don't have any pics right now... I'll try to get some. My chimney is just a straight brick chimney on the outside of the house, no fireplace or any other appliances. It has a cleanout door near the ground. It is about 15' from the top of the stove to the top of the chimney. It has a 8" thimble thru the wall where my 6" SW pipe connects with a 6 - 8" reducer.

 

[wendell]

It sounds like you are mostly dealing with a chimney problem but you are also not letting your oak season long enough. The general consensus here is oak needs 2 years to be fully ready to burn.

 

[fossil]

OK, so it's an exterior masonry chimney structure with a clean-out door at the bottom outside, an 8" thimble installed through the interior wall...and that's it? No fireplace, no other appliance connected/vented through it? Interesting. You're dumping your 6" collar stove into a flue that's much too large for it. The 15' height isn't helping you out with that arrangement. Not to worry about the height if you get the flue cross-sectional area sized correctly. I'd say an insulated liner from the top down to a Tee, then out to connect to the stove. 6" all the way from stove to daylight. Sweeping/cleaning will be interesting but not impossible. A properly sized flue from stove to daylight, coupled with nicely seasoned wood just might bring that old DW back into her prime. Rick

 

[wendell]

Rick, if he extends the bottom of the T down to the clean out, he should be able to easily clean out the creososte after cleaning. At least I hope so. That's how mine is set up.

 

[fossil]

Yeah, man...that might work like a charm. Rick

 

[shilohfarmboy]

Thanks fossil & wendell. I'll give that a try. Can I just use single wall vent pipe to line the chimney? I have a bunch of good used pipe laying around. I was thinking of sticking the pipe down the chimney and then filling the space between the pipe and the flue liner with perlite for insulation.

 

[fossil]

...Can I just use single wall vent pipe to line the chimney?...

Not if you care about doing it correctly and safely. It needs to be purpose-built chimney certified for woodstove application. Rick

 

[shilohfarmboy]

Thanks fossil, I kinda figured that .... I'll get the proper one for sure. Don't want any more problems.