Quadrafire 2700i owners

[littlericky]

Hi everyone, this will be my second year burning with this heater and i know there are a few others out there who have this model. I would like to hear what other people who owned this stove thought. Any tips or things you have learned burning with this insert. We have a 1300sq ft ranch house and it does a good job of keeping it nice and warm. The one thing i struggle with is the stove top thermometer, the only place that it will fit is on the corner and it just doesn't seem to take a very accurate reading. I have borrowed a ir gun from time to time and I'm not sure even where to use it to get a good reading. The way i have been running this stove is by my thermostat on my wall and looking at the chimney to see if i'm burning clean or not it seems to be working good like this so far and we always have plenty of heat! But I'm curious what others have to say.

 

[velvetfoot]

As I recall I just started a fire, let it get hot, and then closed down the air to not all the way closed. It's still running at my friend's house.

 

[littlericky]

Thanks Velvetfoot, I like the unit but I'm unable to achieve the burn times i would like to have so i think we will end up putting this in the room downstairs and then the search will be on again for the upstairs I just figured out the air and leaving it up a bit seems to burn the best. I'm new to these epa stoves, they are a lot different then the stoves i grew up with.

 

[velvetfoot]

You're welcome. I would suggest checking out the stove I have now, a Hampton HI300 or its less expensive Regency sister. It has a bigger firebox than the 2700i, but not only that, you can stuff it full of wood because you can put a standard 16" piece of wood from front to back; plus, they don't roll out.

 

[northwinds]

I use this stove only a half dozen times per year or so, as it's to supplement the heat of my main stove located in the lower level. It only gets used
when the tempt falls below zero for extended periods.

I keep the thermometer in the upper left corner. Velvetfoot's procedure works about the best. The thermometer lets me know when it's too cool to start shutting it down or if I've let it get too hot before starting to shut it down, but I don't have any hard and faster numbers for when that happens. I just want to make sure that the secondary burn takes off when shutting it down and that I don't turn the fan on too early.

This is a small stove, so you aren't going to have long burn times. I have achieved an overnight burn if I reload and fill at bedtime with larger oak splits and tend to the stove when I get up, but you aren't going to get heat all night--just enough coals to easily reload.

 

[littlericky]

Thanks guys! I usually have to start a fire everyday or if we are gone for a period of time. Believe it or not i use this little stove most of the time for heat lol, so we have a lot of restarts but it heats my upstairs. Velvetfoot I looked to see what stove you were using and pulled it up this morning It looks like a good heater! it will be a contender when i decide to buy a new one. This whole stove and wood burning is so addictive! My wife just laughs, she thinks I'm nuts! But she loves the heat

 

[velvetfoot]

My wife didn't laugh when I made the announcement that I just bought another insert. It's good you have another place to put it.

I put 5 cords through that stove one winter.

 

[littlericky]

Hi velvet foot i read in another thread from 2007 that you had to replace your firebricks in your 2700i. Mine were bad after the second year of burning all crumbled and stuff was stuck to them on the bottom bricks! When I would go to scrape out the ash the top surface would just chip out just like you had talked about. Here is my question, I ordered a new set from my dealer picked them up and installed them the other day. You mentioned a air hole that you had to drill out, I dont see any bricks that were drilled and since installing these new bricks my stove is not burning like it did before! I have made sure everything is put back together right and I did sweep the chimney while I had everything out. I dont know if there is a hole that needs drilling or what is going on but it seems as if my stove is starving for air. There is no blockage in the chimney and Im using the same wood as i did before the swap of bricks, Im at a loss as to whats going on! The room my stove was in would climb up to around 82 during the second load of wood and if not careful could easily reach 90. After the fire was going for a while the bedrooms would get a temp reading of 69-72. Now It's all I can do to keep my stove room around 80. The bricks i got from the dealer are more solid and heavy compared to the original bricks. They said that quadrature uses this lighter brick to keep shipping cost down. If you have any thoughts please send them my way. One more thing i did try to burn some envy 8 blocks just to see if there was a difference and they are not burning like they did before.

 

[velvetfoot]

I looked at the manual for the current model. It looks like they changed the design. I think the hole in back on mine was startup air controlled by a separate rod in front. I have no idea, thankfully, lol, how the ACC thing works.

The tubes are now of a different design too. I can't help but wonder if the parent company consolidated operation between several groups and hence the design change, but what do I know.

You're positive it's not the wood? You did the brick changeout in the the off-season, right? Although, the enviro bricks would seem to eliminate that.

Is the baffle and blanket in position like the manual says? That can block flow.

Otherwise, I got nothing. My dealer told me the same thing about the bricks and it worked out fine, and they are still in service.

 

[littlericky]

Thanks for responding, I got home from work today and got up on the roof and checked the chimney. Everything looked fine and then I thought of something I wonder if the wood thats drying got mixed in with the dry wood. I was grabbing wet wood that got brought inside last week and once in a while i will get a 6 pack of those envi bricks that just dont burn as well as usual . Plus I had just changed the firebrick a few days ago and thats when this all started. I didn't know what was going on! So I split the wood checked the mc I lit the fire and now my stove room is creeping up to 86 as I type this and now all is right with the world again My wife walked by a few minutes ago and made the comment yes, this is what I'm used to. Thanks for helping me try to solve this mystery. I love this forum and would be lost without this place!
Thanks again.