Quadrafire 5700 Air Settings

[charly]

Finally figured out a great way to run my stove. I now shut my primary air all the way off and just run my start up air contol open a hair, maybe an 1/8 inch open. What a difference in my secondary burn now. Tubes are lit right up and the stoves is throwing some major heat and the wood is just sitting there not burning away. Before I ran with the start up contol shut and ran the primary air open a 1/4 to 1/2 inch, but never got good secondary burns, and never the stove top temps I'm getting now. If I didn't see it I wouldn't believe the difference this has made. Stove is sitting at 600 where's before it would run around 450 with just the primary air control open and the start up draft closed. Anyone else run their Quad with these air settings?

 

[begreen]

That's interesting. Where is the start air introduced? In the front or back of the firebox?

 

[charly]

That's interesting. Where is the start air introduced? In the front or back of the firebox?

The amount I'm opening the start up draft, just opens four air holes across the back of the stove. I noticed since I got the stove, burning according to the manual, just using the upper burn rate control and closing the start up air control, I got very little secondary burn. It does say in the manual the sometimes when burning hardwoods the rear air control should be opened. Well using that and shutting the primary all the way down, sometimes a hair open made a world of difference in my secondary burn. The start up mode opens a single small hole in the front of the stove, just below the door lip, plus it opens all four holes in the rear of the stove, at the same time.

 

[jtp10181]

Actually the rear air opens the air in the rear, if you push the lever all the way back it opens the front startup air. The startup air will typically close back down by itself unless yours is getting stuck. So are you opening the startup air or the rear air?

 

[charly]

Actually the rear air opens the air in the rear, if you push the lever all the way back it opens the front startup air. The startup air will typically close back down by itself unless yours is getting stuck. So are you opening the startup air or the rear air?

Just opening the rear air. Closing the front burn rate contol down next to nothing. The rear air is what has made my secondary burn come alive. I never bothered running the rear air , only to burn up some major coals towards the back of the stove. I will say I never have to restart this stove ever, constantly has coals left over. I like that.

 

[rustynut]

x,
Have to give that a try. Interesting info on front / rear air locations.
Hadnt given that any thought. Has this change had any effect on your burn times ?
rn

 

[charly]

x,
Have to give that a try. Interesting info on front / rear air locations.
Hadnt given that any thought. Has this change had any effect on your burn times ?
rn

Rusty, I think my wood lasts a little longer , but definetly puts out more heat . I think my Oak is almost too dry. I can't even get my stove loaded from one side to the other without the first piece I put in starting to take off.. Definetly not green wood. Tests at 15-19%. Just open each draft, 1/8 th inch, once things are going. Post back what you think. I'm still trying to find the sweet spot on this stove.

 

[rustynut]

x,
That stove better be getting hot if it's loaded with dry oak............
We have alot of Ash around here, EAB ash.
Storm came thru couple years back and dropped 2 years worth of heat right in the yard.
Handy but it was a mess. Bit of a mix makes it difficult to gage the increase as easily as
if i were just burning 1 type of wood but i should be able to notice that type of increase.
That secondary display should also be a clue.
Your last post says both controls open 1/8 inch.
Gonna give it a try next load.
I'll let you know how things go
thanks
rn

 

[charly]

x,
That stove better be getting hot if it's loaded with dry oak............
We have alot of Ash around here, EAB ash.
Storm came thru couple years back and dropped 2 years worth of heat right in the yard.
Handy but it was a mess. Bit of a mix makes it difficult to gage the increase as easily as
if i were just burning 1 type of wood but i should be able to notice that type of increase.
That secondary display should also be a clue.
Your last post says both controls open 1/8 inch.
Gonna give it a try next load.
I'll let you know how things go
thanks
rn

OK Rusty, things might be different as we are burning different wood and also your draft may very well be different than mine. My stove pipe goes up three foot plus, into a 90, then into a wall thimble , which goes to an outside 22 foot masonry chimney with a 6 inch insulated liner. So things could be different according to your set up. Just something I noticed fooling with the stove draft.

 

[rustynut]

x,
Was wondering how you were set up? Tried the settings as you suggested but without the same results.
My pipe is 6 ft single wall off the stove & 8 ft class A above that, straight up.
Also set up with OAK. Quite a bit different set up so i'm not suprised that the results are different.
Did get me playing around with the settings though. We'll see if I can't come up with that sweet spot for mine?
thanks for sharing
rn

 

[charly]

x,
Was wondering how you were set up? Tried the settings as you suggested but without the same results.
My pipe is 6 ft single wall off the stove & 8 ft class A above that, straight up.
Also set up with OAK. Quite a bit different set up so i'm not suprised that the results are different.
Did get me playing around with the settings though. We'll see if I can't come up with that sweet spot for mine?
thanks for sharing
rn

Rusty I posted above as far as my set up. Maybe my wood being so dry it worked out for me. Could be too many variables . What air settings to you like to run on your stove. What surface temps do you usually get with what settings?

 

[charly]

Second year burning by Quad 5700. Just happen to check my stove top gauge as I saw it was a little over 700, infrared gun told me different actually about 598. Well that was usually my cut off point when the surface thermometer read 700. Now I ran the stove up to 700 with the infrared gun reading, and what a different animal. I've kind of been shorting myself of the stoves potential heat output. Once up to a true 700, I just shut the main draft near 100% off and get a beautiful hot long fire now, with lots more heat. So now I spent 36 dollars each and bought two nice surface gauges from PTC instruments. I wanted something more accurate. The other one I will use on my Esse cookstove.

 

[charly]

Once your stove is going, does anyone use the lower right draft control along with the top front draft control? If so what settings do you find work well? I usually just leave the lower side control shut and just use the upper front for the secondaries. Am I missing a better burn in any way?

 

[pyronut]

I completely close the bottom right draft control all the way down and the primary down to about 95% closed once the flue temperature reaches over 900 degrees and the stove top temperature is between 650-750 degrees. This provides me an overnight burn of about 10-12 hours on a full firebox of pine. If I use better hardwoods such as pecan and oak, I can easily get a 12-16 hour burn on a full firebox. We have a much milder climate down here in TX, as of late our lows have been between 32-42 degrees, so this also must be taken into account.

 

[charly]

I completely close the bottom right draft control all the way down and the primary down to about 95% closed once the flue temperature reaches over 900 degrees and the stove top temperature is between 650-750 degrees. This provides me an overnight burn of about 10-12 hours on a full firebox of pine. If I use better hardwoods such as pecan and oak, I can easily get a 12-16 hour burn on a full firebox. We have a much milder climate down here in TX, as of late our lows have been between 32-42 degrees, so this also must be taken into account.

Thanks for the info. Friend of mine lives near San Antonio. Builds the Green Eagle powered parachutes. He said it was ungodly hot this year. 42 has got to be a relief! I pretty much run my stove the way you do. I did find the stove seems to burn it's best when above 600.