Quadra Fire Mt. Vernon AE Insert Owners

[Gaddy]

Hi- is there anyway to bypass the temp. setting so the insert simply runs at a constant burn? Don't these pellet stoves like to burn all day and not shut down and fire back up during the course of the day. Nevermind the wear and tear of starting up several times a day.

 

[mralias]

They are made to fire up several times a day based on the call for heat in the house. Or you could just turn the thermostat up to the highest setting.

 

[john193]

You could burn on manual; however, the stove will still shutdown when/if it reaches the desired temp. So for example, you could set the stove on manual - medium with a target temp of 80. Likely the stove will never reach 80 (on the colder days) and you will have a constant medium heat output, but, the stove will still shutdown every few hours to perform an auto clean. No way to bypass the auto clean.

 

[Gaddy]

Thx for the replies- very helpful. What I did today was manual set at 78 on low flame and medium/low heat. Over the last 3 hours I'm maintaining about 70 degrees. I prefer this method for most days.

 

[VA Bugler]

I have mine set to manual mode, temp at 78 with heat output settings generally on low to medium depending on outside temps. I don't like the auto mode and agree the stove has a mind of it's own.

 

[Peter Martin]

I've had my Mt. Vernon AE for 3 years now. I love it, but admit to being mystified as to how to optimize the settings. I want to minimize the number of times it goes into autoclean mode every day. I have a Castille in the family room, and that thing burns all day without stopping, only accumulating a small amount of ash in the firepot by the end of the day. Why can't my Mt. Vernon do the same thing? What about the flame height setting. I've been experimenting with that one, but not sure what it does.

 

[stoveguy13]

I want to minimize the number of times it goes into autoclean mode every day

Auto clean is determined by what fuel setting it is on soft wood has the longest time then hard wood then utility i am not sure i have this right but i think softwood is 6hrs
hardwood is 3hrs utility is 1.5 hrs

 

[Peter Martin]

OK, thanks. So, the flame height setting controls how fast the convection fan runs or the feed rate?

One more question: when I first got the stove, it look a long time for the glass to get dirty. Now it gets dirty within the first day after a clean. I've been good about frequently cleaning the stove, including the baffle. Is there anything else I'm missing that I can do to avoid the dirty glass? It's frustrating because I have a Castille in the other room and that runs for a week (on the same pellets) without the glass being dirty at all. I apply the same cleaning regime to both stoves. Any ideas?

 

[john193]

From the horses mouth...

https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads...ble-trouble-shoot-manual.105258/#post-1554362 and download the manual and refer to page 7

here is the A/C cycle when burning on HIGH

Corn - 14 min (max ignitor time) / 2.4 hr (A/C cycle)
Utility pellet - 4 min / 1.2 hr
Softwood - 4 min / 3.2 hr
Sunflower - 4 min / 2.4 hr
Wheat - 10 min / 1.8 hr
Hardwood - 4 min / 2.1 hr

The flame height controls the feed rate. To set it, run the stove on high for about 15 min. The top of the flame should be "licking" the baffle (adjust feed rate up or down until it does). Keep in mind you need to wait about 10-15 min each time you make an adjustment to see the effect. I run mine on +1 (i like fire).

 

[Gaddy]

From the horses mouth...

https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads...ble-trouble-shoot-manual.105258/#post-1554362 and download the manual and refer to page 7

here is the A/C cycle when burning on HIGH

Corn - 14 min (max ignitor time) / 2.4 hr (A/C cycle)
Utility pellet - 4 min / 1.2 hr
Softwood - 4 min / 3.2 hr
Sunflower - 4 min / 2.4 hr
Wheat - 10 min / 1.8 hr
Hardwood - 4 min / 2.1 hr

The flame height controls the feed rate. To set it, run the stove on high for about 15 min. The top of the flame should be "licking" the baffle (adjust feed rate up or down until it does). Keep in mind you need to wait about 10-15 min each time you make an adjustment to see the effect. I run mine on +1 (i like fire).

Ok- what about heat output setting? If I have a high setting for heat output and a low flame how does that work? Thx.

 

[john193]

Yes that will work fine. It is whatever setting that is set based on the procedure as described in the manual.

 

[buyaninsert]

Yes that will work fine. It is whatever setting that is set based on the procedure as described in the manual.

i heard quadra MV makes a lot of howling noises. What is your experience? how quiet is the insert?

 

[Harvey Schneider]

i heard quadra MV makes a lot of howling noises. What is your experience? how quiet is the insert?

Happens once in a while when running at full throttle. Sometimes happens if the ash pan isn't closed securely
It doesn't bother me all that much

 

[Harvey Schneider]

Ok- what about heat output setting? If I have a high setting for heat output and a low flame how does that work? Thx.

I am not absolutely sure, but I think "heat output " applies to manual mode and "flame height " applies to automatic mode. They are both basically feed rate controls.

 

[john193]

i heard quadra MV makes a lot of howling noises. What is your experience? how quiet is the insert?

The Mt Vernon AE is probably one of the quietest stoves out there; however, every once in a while I do get this resonance noise. It is short in duration and does seem to correspond to when the stove is chugging along at a higher rate.

As Harvey indicated, those experiencing "a lot of noise" are likely experiencing it because of a loose ash pan. Then it sounds like a freight train.

 

[LMPS]

The flame height controls how much fuel the stove is getting. High Flame height=more pellets= more heat. I personally do not worry about the actual flame height if I need more heat I turn up the flame height, if its in single digits I will need to run the stove on +5.

The heat output also controls how much fuel the stove is consuming and how often it will shut down. So a stove set in utlity, with a +5 feed rate, high heat output will shut down to auto clean the most and consume more fuel. In contrast a stove set to softwood, on a -5 flame height, low heat output would run the longest and consume the less fuel.

The problem is finding that balance between desired heat in the house, fuel consumption and run time between auto cleaning. This is a balancing act that drives me nuts. Oh Santa how I wish for Christmas that Quad would give me a way to by-pass the auto clean!!

As far as running on manual or automatic I do both. But if I am running on automatic when its cold out I will set the temperature the stove is calling for higher so the stove stays at a higher heat output longer (basically making the automatic act like its in manual mode). I typically do this if I am not going to be home, overnight or when I do not feel like paying attention. If I run in manual its typically during the day and when its cold out (single digits) as I need the higher heat output for longer and want to control that.

With the howling noise, I have gotten this in the past and always thought that it was caused by the stove getting too much air vs pellets. When it does it try turning up your flame height to get the stove more fuel and see if goes away.

 

[buyaninsert]

Thank you everybody for enlightening me about the howling noise. As for the autoclean cycle, does this make the comparable Harman52i a better option, or are there cons about it that makes it less desirable than the Quad?

 

[VA Bugler]

I think i have identified the key contributor to the howling noise. It tends to rear it's ugly head when the exhaust ports below the heat exchanger begin to fill up with ash. The recommended tool kit that allows you to get in deep and clean works great.

 

[Harvey Schneider]

Thank you everybody for enlightening me about the howling noise. As for the autoclean cycle, does this make the comparable Harman52i a better option, or are there cons about it that makes it less desirable than the Quad?

I have no problem with the autoclean. Every few hours it cleans the fire pot for you. With the stove hot from running, I don't notice the drop in room temperature.
In cold weather I prefer to run it in manual mode at anywhere between +3 and +5 which gets the stove internals good and hot. The room blower continues to deliver warm air to the room through most of the clean cycle.
There is nothing wrong with the idea of an autoclean, the people here just like to tinker and play with controls and the MVAE is as automatic as a pellet stove has gotten.

 

[sante fe]

Thank you everybody for enlightening me about the howling noise. As for the autoclean cycle, does this make the comparable Harman52i a better option, or are there cons about it that makes it less desirable than the Quad?

I bought the 52i in sept going from a quad to a Harman. The 52i has been a great stove, Im very happy with it. When I was looking for a new insert(Harman,MV, M55) I went and watch them run looked at the build quality and ease of cleaning and did a lot of research. They are all good stoves but I'm glad I went Harman

 

[buyaninsert]

I bought the 52i in sept going from a quad to a Harman. The 52i has been a great stove, Im very happy with it. When I was looking for a new insert(Harman,MV, M55) I went and watch them run looked at the build quality and ease of cleaning and did a lot of research. They are all good stoves but I'm glad I went Harman[/quote
What about the noise factor? Aren't the Harman blowers loud while the Quad quiet?

 

[buyaninsert]

What about the noise factor? Aren't the Harman blowers loud while the Quad are quiet?

 

[LMPS]

I have no problem with the autoclean. Every few hours it cleans the fire pot for you. With the stove hot from running, I don't notice the drop in room temperature.
In cold weather I prefer to run it in manual mode at anywhere between +3 and +5 which gets the stove internals good and hot. The room blower continues to deliver warm air to the room through most of the clean cycle.
There is nothing wrong with the idea of an autoclean, the people here just like to tinker and play with controls and the MVAE is as automatic as a pellet stove has gotten.

This may be the case you in your house. In mine I lose about 2 degrees every time it auto cleans. More when its cold. Then the stove fights to get back up to temp. So in real cold I end up having to turn the flame height up to +5 which of course means more fuel consumption.

 

[Harvey Schneider]

This may be the case you in your house. In mine I lose about 2 degrees every time it auto cleans. More when its cold. Then the stove fights to get back up to temp. So in real cold I end up having to turn the flame height up to +5 which of course means more fuel consumption.

But it comes out the same amount of pellets burned. You are replenishing lost energy from the house. Your stove needs to burn enough pellets to generate that amount of energy. The stove's efficiency doesn't vary that much so upping the burn rate to allow fast recovery doesn't change the cost of running the stove.

 

[Harvey Schneider]

2 degrees every time it auto cleans

Many stove owners are running their thermostats with bigger dead-bands than that. What differential are you running on your thermostat?
I run mine with a tight dead-band of 1 degree. The down side of that is that the number of start cycles increases as differential is made smaller. My igniter is now about two years old so I am comfortable with that trade-off.
Running in manual mode should reduce the number of cycles because of the tendency to overshoot the set-point. That overshoot also helps with the drop at auto-clean because more heat has been stored in the stove's body. I use that mode only in the coldest weather (like now) because I believe auto mode to be a little more efficient
As you say, everybody's situation is different