Quadra-Fire Voyageur Insert - Too much air intake? How to run? UPDATE VIDEO

[Paul L]

Yes Rick that's the way the auto is supposed to work. It's all about the metal box heating up slowly, just like water takes a while to boil even though the flame is high.

 

[begreen]

Can it backpuff with the stove door closed and locked? It wasn't a lot of smoke to set off the smoke detector in the room but it was definitely coming from the burn rate lever. The smoke stopped when I cracked open my house door.

Definitely. What happens is the fire gets temporarily snuffed, but the wood is still smoking and outgassing. Then a flame reappears and ignites this smokey gas which creates a small explosion that drives smoke out of every and any orifice, seam, and crack it can find.

 

[Rick8325]

Here's a video showing the flames rolling over the baffle and ceramic blanket. The already went from white to black from 6 fires. I do not know if the flames should be doing this or if the blanket should be looking black. It seems each fire I get going burns differently. This fire was a hard start but I got it going. I had the door closed and it filled with smoke but had a small flame. Once I opened the stove's door the smoke went up and the fire took off into this:

Please let me know if the flames are supposed to roll up over the baffle like this. I have gotten it to really roll up over it before. I'm wondering if I need an outside air kit.

 

[begreen]

Thanks for the video, I don't see anything earth-shaking there though it's vigorous if the air is all the way closed and the ACC is off. Did you turn the ACC off manually?

 

[Rick8325]

Thanks for the video, I don't see anything earth-shaking there though it's vigorous if the air is all the way closed and the ACC is off. Did you turn the ACC off manually?

The ACC were pushed in then out as the directions say so it was on it's 25 minutes timer. It really seems like there's a lot of air inside the firebox. Do you know what are the benefits of an OAK?

thanks!

 

[Paul L]

Thanks for the video, I don't see anything earth-shaking there though it's vigorous if the air is all the way closed and the ACC is off. Did you turn the ACC off manually?

There is so much confusion over Quadra-Fire's ACC system and the owners manual is of no help whatsoever. On QF stoves, there is a way to reach behind the stove and close the ACC manually. On QF inserts there is no way to do this though searching endlessly through QF's Voyageur/Grand Voyageur documentation this is never directly declared.

Rick, if you are getting more flame than you want, I would suggest not using the ACC at all. Just crack the door until your fire is engaged at the level you want. This takes some getting used to as to WHEN to shut the door. On my Grand Voyageur if I wait until the flames are looking like yours in the video to shut the door, it is too late. Trial and error. Also I don't know how other stoves work, but there is no "off" setting on the main air control ... the lowest setting is "low" and does not restrict the air enough to calm down a roaring fire in my experience.

Another option on reloads is to engage the ACC about 15 minutes before reloading. This will fire up the coals and cut down the time the ACC is engaged on the reload. I've been using my Grand Voyageur for a month and am still learning. Keep workin' it

 

[Rick8325]

Thanks Paul! It definitely looks like there's a ton of air in the firebox at most times. I can never control it with the burn rate lever. I'm learning more each fire. I'm getting probably 3-4 hour burn rates with 3 logs. Heat output has not really been that good but it takes the chill out of the only cold room in my house, the living room. Now my auto fan switch isn't working right. I unscrew it and put the sensor (which looks like a large watch battery) on the front of the glass and it will heat up in 2 seconds but when it's under near the blower it never clicks on and I definitely know it's hot enough. I think it needs to be bent up more so it touches the bottom of the stove better.

 

[swingle975]

Rick,

i bought a grand voyager 2 months ago and let me tell you i feel your pain about the 'learning curve' with these stoves but im pretty confident ive got a good grasp on this stove now. so with that said here are some hints and advise i can give, 1st i saw that video that you posted and its absolutely fine. 2nd when it comes to temp gauge the best place to put it i found was right above the door at the high point of the arch (you will have to remove the blower direction plate) just place it there that ll be the best place for an accurate reading. 3rd after you get your guage in place, start a fire with acc in and primary all the way up, when your gauge hits 3-350 pull out your acc knob and set your burn rate on your primary air, whats gonna happen is since that acc is on a timer that fire is still gonna rage for that 25 minutes and youll see that on your temp gauge, the temp guage will keep rising after the 25 minutes is up youll see it start to calm down and your secondary burn will be very visible obviously for the longest burn set your primary air in the down position and walk away then just watch the temp gauge to learn your stove and finally your blower wont kick on untill 400 degrees so if your not reaching this temp your not burning hot enough as for the black window this tells me you either have unseasoned wood or wood that is wet and you just arent getting it hot enough

 

[Rick8325]

Rick,

i bought a grand voyager 2 months ago and let me tell you i feel your pain about the 'learning curve' with these stoves but im pretty confident ive got a good grasp on this stove now. so with that said here are some hints and advise i can give, 1st i saw that video that you posted and its absolutely fine. 2nd when it comes to temp gauge the best place to put it i found was right above the door at the high point of the arch (you will have to remove the blower direction plate) just place it there that ll be the best place for an accurate reading. 3rd after you get your guage in place, start a fire with acc in and primary all the way up, when your gauge hits 3-350 pull out your acc knob and set your burn rate on your primary air, whats gonna happen is since that acc is on a timer that fire is still gonna rage for that 25 minutes and youll see that on your temp gauge, the temp guage will keep rising after the 25 minutes is up youll see it start to calm down and your secondary burn will be very visible obviously for the longest burn set your primary air in the down position and walk away then just watch the temp gauge to learn your stove and finally your blower wont kick on untill 400 degrees so if your not reaching this temp your not burning hot enough as for the black window this tells me you either have unseasoned wood or wood that is wet and you just arent getting it hot enough

Thanks for the tips. I can't seem to find a temp gauge that fits anywhere so I ordered an IR laser gun. I guess I could have put the gauge in the middle of the blower slot with it not running of course. The wood is definitely seasoned. The black glass is most likely from the fire not being hot enough. I have my local building inspector coming out today to inspect it (I needed a permit to install in my town) so I stopped burning a few days ago in case he says I shouldn't be burning without inspection first. It's all cleaned up and I'll await to get the IR thermometer and monitor the readings. I would have assumed it was getting hot enough because it was eating up a ton of wood relatively fast leaving very little ash. I'm not sure what you mean by blower direction plate as the air just comes out of a fixed spot. How hot should this firebox get? Thanks!

 

[Big dog]

Hello everyone! I recently installed my Voyageur and it gives some decent heat and looks great however I'm having an issue with the burn rate. It seems to be over-firing, meaning the flames are rolling up over the baffle and wool blanket. I cannot seem to control the burn rate. The burn rate lever doesn't seem to open or close anything and there's no real resistance when moving the lever up or down. It's almost like it's not connected to anything. This may be how it is as I do not know anyone else that has this stove. There's no OAK installed. The plate by the blower fan was removed during installation. I can feel with my hand, a ton of cooler air being sucked into the bottom of the stove by the blower. I'm getting burn rates of 1 hour with an extremely hot fire and big flames. The wood is dry and is hardwood (I also used kiln dried wood for one load). I called Quadra-Fire and the rep said the stove was getting too much air causing the fire to rip at all times. The glass is getting really black. I have used this stove 4 times since I installed it the other day. Today was the first time out of the 4 loads that the insert was blowing smoke in the room with the insert door closed. I guess it's called negative pressure...? I just cracked open my exterior door and it stopped smoking within a second. Does anyone have any pointers or comments, I like the insert and it's throwing good heat but it seems dangerous and is eating wood like crazy.

Thanks!
-Rick

Hay Ricky.
I have a quad racier wood stove. It came already installed in a house I just bought. It's been working fine till just a few days ago. I loaded it up for a night burn, and it just started over burning. I couldn't control it at all with the controls. What happened was the ash clean out door , under the grate wasn't closing proper. I thought there was something stuck , keeping it open, but now after keeping the stove clean it's still happening. I loaded for an over night and it did it again. This time I needed to prop the door handle up with a piece of wood.
It's out of commission now till it gets fixed.
The magnetic thermometer on the chimney reaches the top of the safe operation temperature. And would keep climbing. Very dangerous.

 

[Rick8325]

Just to update after a few years. The dealer came and replaced the door in 2013. That seemed to be the issue of the out of control fires and not being able to control burns. Now it runs fine and I can control the fire. It definitely took some time to learn how this stove runs and operates. I don't have an outside air kit and have both metal plates are off from the back where the kit would go and the front under the blower motor. Most of the time this stove needs a good 20-30 minutes of the door open to get the fire going to where I'm able to close the door and run it off the lever controls. The stove eats through wood fast but it's not that bad. I bought the stove to heat up the coldest room in my house (living room) and it does that fine and it will heat upstairs and keep both attic and basement furnaces off until the stove dies down. The glass has to be cleaned every day. All-in-all I'd wish I had gotten a pellet stove so I can run it all day when I'm not home but I have been fairly happy with the Voyageur. Nothing beats the look of rolling flames.

 

[prezes13]

You still not burning hot enough. When I got my stove first I had to clean my glass everyday and I couldn't understand how can people not do that everyday. Now after 4 seasons I know. Even if I get it black because of a rolled log I can get it burnt off with a hot fire. Even now I sometimes wonder if I got the full potential of my stove. I take a measurement on the top of my door with ir gun usually I get it up to 420 or so never saw 500 but at 450 470 it thriws tons of hear.

 

[Rick8325]

You still not burning hot enough. When I got my stove first I had to clean my glass everyday and I couldn't understand how can people not do that everyday. Now after 4 seasons I know. Even if I get it black because of a rolled log I can get it burnt off with a hot fire. Even now I sometimes wonder if I got the full potential of my stove. I take a measurement on the top of my door with ir gun usually I get it up to 420 or so never saw 500 but at 450 470 it thriws tons of hear.

I don't know about that....I have one of these flue thermometers on top of the stove where the heat comes out and with the blower off it's always dialed to the burn zone and I don't have it anywhere near the actual flue.

 

[begreen]

Ignore the zone ranges unless using the thermometer on a single-wall stove pipe. Go by the temperature reading.

 

[Rick8325]

I've used infrared thermometers as well in the firebox. The stove gets hot enough.

 

[begreen]

That's not the best way to run the stove. Reading temps with an IR thermometer through the glass is not accurate. I would expect that with the blower off for at least a few minutes the normal peak stovetop temps would be around 600-650F.

 

[Rick8325]

That's not the best way to run the stove. Reading temps with an IR thermometer through the glass is not accurate. I would expect that with the blower off for at least a few minutes the normal peak stovetop temps would be around 600-650F.

Temp is read in the box, not through the glass. Usually at a piece of metal. It easily reads 600 most of the time.

 

[begreen]

Ignore the temp in the box if you have to open up the stove door, letting in cooling air. Normal interior stove temps are over 1000F with a strong fire and good secondary combustion.

 

[prezes13]

Try to take a reading with ir above the door but on the body of stove. If you have a black glass and the wood is proven to be dry you starve your stove for air. Open the air a bit.

 

[fire_me_up]

Hi guys - did you figure out the voyageur grand? I have one myself and I'm on a learning curve still . Had it for ~1 year, done around 30 burns. Getting better I think but I didn't get outside air and sometimes I think that's a problem. Another is that I've noticed when the fan kicks off there's a faint odor of smoke in the room. In the back of my mind I wonder if there could be some smoke leaking out of the unit, or something else? Anyone have thoughts on this?

thanks!

 

[2fireplacesinSC]

Hi guys - did you figure out the voyageur grand? I have one myself and I'm on a learning curve still . Had it for ~1 year, done around 30 burns. Getting better I think but I didn't get outside air and sometimes I think that's a problem. Another is that I've noticed when the fan kicks off there's a faint odor of smoke in the room. In the back of my mind I wonder if there could be some smoke leaking out of the unit, or something else? Anyone have thoughts on this?

thanks!

Just went through this most of this whole post and then realized it was 2016 stuff.

You might want to start a new thread with this question. Seems more likely to get the answer you want more quickly.

Wish you well in learning the burn on the stove.

 

[BB37]

I just had the voyageur installed a few days ago. I can't seem to get living room temperature above 73. The manual is confusing to me. I use the acc to start the fire. I open the burn rate lever all the way open, but the room temp never gets above 73.

How do I get a hot and efficient burn? Also, what is the acc secondary operation. If I read the manual correctly, if I push thr acc all the way back, it will put more oxygen in the firebox causing a higher burn. I tried this with no change in room temp and it burns my wood way too fast. The acc also moves up and down when pulled out. What is the purpose of this function?

 

[begreen]

I just had the voyageur installed a few days ago. I can't seem to get living room temperature above 73. The manual is confusing to me. I use the acc to start the fire. I open the burn rate lever all the way open, but the room temp never gets above 73.

How do I get a hot and efficient burn? Also, what is the acc secondary operation. If I read the manual correctly, if I push thr acc all the way back, it will put more oxygen in the firebox causing a higher burn. I tried this with no change in room temp and it burns my wood way too fast. The acc also moves up and down when pulled out. What is the purpose of this function?

The ACC air control is for start-up air only. Use the burn rate control after the fire has started. Although it will seem at first counterintuitive, once the fire is burning well, less air will make more heat. This is because less primary air causes the vacuum of draft to pull more air from the secondary tubes. This reburn the wood gases more thoroughly and produces a lot more heat. Too much air just sends the heat and unburnt wood gases up the chimney as smoke. Next fire, start with the burn control open and use the ACC to start and let it return to closed normally (it has a timer). Then after say 20-30 minutes or so from starting, start to turn the air (burn control) down 50% or as far as you can without putting out the flame. A slow lazy flame is ok. Let the fire regain strength and then close down the air again to maybe 25% or until the fire once again starts to get lazy. At this point you may start seeing what looks like fountains of fire coming in front of the secondary tubes. That is the secondary burn process.

 

[BB37]

The ACC air control is for start-up air only. Use the burn rate control after the fire has started. Although it will seem at first counterintuitive, once the fire is burning well, less air will make more heat. This is because less primary air causes the vacuum of draft to pull more air from the secondary tubes. This reburn the wood gases more thoroughly and produces a lot more heat. Too much air just sends the heat and unburnt wood gases up the chimney as smoke. Next fire, start with the burn control open and use the ACC to start and let it return to closed normally (it has a timer). Then after say 20-30 minutes or so from starting, start to turn the air (burn control) down 50% or as far as you can without putting out the flame. A slow lazy flame is ok. Let the fire regain strength and then close down the air again to maybe 25% or until the fire once again starts to get lazy. At this point you may start seeing what looks like fountains of fire coming in front of the secondary tubes. That is the secondary burn process.

Thank you for your reply. I will try this. The dealer told me to leave burn control on high and that pushing acc control all the way in would cause it to burn hotter and produce more heat out of the blower.

Do you know the purpose for raising the acc up?

 

[begreen]

Sounds like you had a salesperson that doesn't understand basic EPA stove combustion. Unfortunately neither did the person writing the manual which the storeperson is parroting. The ACC gets pushed in once to start the burn. That's it.

Do you know the purpose for raising the acc up?

I'm not following this question. The burn rate control (which is just an air control) goes up and down, the ACC pushes in to set the timer.