Quadrafire 7100 and Overnight Burns

[Charlene Kravec]

We've been loving the new 7100 and it really puts out the heat, however, I'm not sure how to control it for an overnight burn.

The air control knob on the lower right. Should that be opened or closed for an overnight burn? Since it appears to be either on or off (right=on, left=off) I can't shut it down part way. Now the Automatic Combustion Control Handle is moved to somewhere on the left side. I've read anywhere from 1/3 from the left to whatever variable appears to work on your stove. The ACC Override Lever doesn't really play a part in the overnight burn. Is that right? If so, then I presume it would be in its left-most position.

With our stove the lower right air control knob when turned off, doesn't really "kill" or significantly reduce the air coming into the box. We've tried this even with the ACC Control Handle all the way left. Is that correct or does it (the air control knob) have to be "broken in" to get a better seal?

Thanks for your help, as always.

 

[Village Idiot]

The air control knob should be open any time you are burning. When it is open, you are drawing the combustion air from the outside, closed, you get you air from inside the house. There is no way to completely shut off air into the box. I believe that this is by design to allow the stove to maintain EPA certification. (I am guessing, but sounds reasonable to me since one goal is to reduce the opportunity for the fire to smolder.)

As for the ACC, it is used for temporarily allowing extra combustion air in when starting a fire. It winds up like a kitchen timer and as it ticks down, it closes a damper. That being said, I almost never use my ACC. With well seasoned wood, I can have a fire going and well engaged in 10-15 minutes. The ACC when fully wound up take ~45 minutes to fully close. To me that is wasted wood and heat.

I just crack the doors until I am happy with my burn and the secondaries are starting to light off. Then I set my primary air control lever to where ever I want it (typically fully to the left) and come back in 8-10 hours to repeat.

One thing to note, if you will not be burning and it is really cold outside, close the air control knob. Otherwise you will have cold outside air blow in through the outside air vent through the bottom of the stove. I remember reading that the original models of our stoves did not have that air knob. QF originally expected that users would be burning all the time and that cold air infiltration would not be an issue. It was later added to the design and retrofit kits were made available.

All in all, I love my 7100. We have come to an understanding and it performs for me every time. I am going on my third heating season of turning my furnaces off and getting 100% of my heat from the fireplace.

 

[Charlene Kravec]

VI: Thanks for your response. You have confirmed my experience with the ACC. Also, the manual does say to keep the air control knob open which, with one exception when we almost had an accidental overfire, we do. And I do remember reading that on cold days when not in use the knob should be in the closed position.

I still have to "play" with it some more and the wood we are using is about 18%, while not the preferred 10-11%, isn't bad. I'll try your method and move the ACC lever to the left as soon as the secondaries start to light off.

Thus far, we really love the QF. It really heats our home well and we're looking to lots of toasty evenings sitting in front of it.

Thanks again for your response.

 

[bholler]

is about 18%, while not the preferred 10-11%

!8% is good dont know where you got 10 to 11% that is not possible in most areas with air drying and is actually to dry for most stoves

 

[Charlene Kravec]

bholler: I may be mistaken, but I thought I read that somewhere on this forum. At least it's under 20%. At any rate, thanks for your response.

 

[Village Idiot]

CK: speaking of overfire events, I have come close on two occasions. In my experience, closing the outside air control and moving the air control lever to the full left position did not do much to slow things down. The first time was what prompted me to research how the outside air control worked and that when closed it pulled air from the house.

The first time I just closed everything and sweated it out and everything turned out ok. Then I spent a lot of time on this site researching what to do in the future. I learned that all that wicked heat in an overfire was coming from the secondaries. Someone said that to cool things down you had to break the secondaries and opening the door on your stove was the best way.

So, the second time I saw the bowels of hell in my fireplace and some sections of the stove start to glow, I got the fire extinguisher handy, put on a sweatshirt to protect me from the heat blast, and slowly opened the right hand door all the way. Holy mackerel that blast of heat was hot, but sure enough, the secondaries broke and the fireplace started to cool down. Totally counter intuitive but it worked.

 

[Charlene Kravec]

Thanks. Good to know. I appreciate the information.