Quadrafire 7100 Heat Zone Question

[steelstring]

I'm a long time lurker here. Great forum.

I am nearly finished with my install of my Quadrafire 7100 in my basement remodel project. I did my first burn last night. Great unit that puts out a TON of heat. However, the remote heat zone blows only moderately warm air out of the vent. The pipe rune from the basement to the first floor is right at 10 feet. The heat zone kit has a pipe that extends 16 inches down into the unit so that it is drawing air from farther down in the back of the unit. For longer runs, greater than 10 feet, the manual suggests trimming the length of the pipe to draw in the air from higher in the unit.

Here is the question, finally. Why wouldn't you want to draw the air off the top of the unit? For my run of 10 feet, should I trim the pipe?

I need to make a decision on this before I seal the unit up behind rock wall. Anyone with 7100 experience have any thoughts?

Great forum. Thanks in advance for the advice!

 

[steelstring]

Anyone? Bueller?

 

[jatoxico]

Gonna give you a bump. No knowledge of how to install your unit. If you did draw off the top maybe it takes too much heat and the primary will be too cool or you could lose secondary burn in that location. Any pictures?

 

[Blue2ndaries]

Hi SteelString, Welcome to the Forum and great choice of stove/ZC fp I really cannot comment on the heat zones as I did not utilize that feature and did not run ducting to other areas of my house. However there is another forum member currently doing an install and doing exactly as you are w/the heat zones. Check out Ymurf and his threads on his install.

https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/hooking-up-the-quadrafire-7100-and-heat-zone-kit.102832/

Please post pics when the install is complete. Good luck!

 

[ymurf]

I just installed mine this evening. I bought my fireplace used and came with the heat zone kit but I didnt get all the parts.I didnt get the adapter that mounts to the top of the fireplace to hook a B-vent pipe to. Plus no one around here carry's B-Vent so I went to lowes and bought a box of 6" insulated duct and bought a standard 6" starter and hooked the insulated flex duct to that. My fireplace is on mail floor and ran the heat zone straight down to basement. Doesnt move an extreme amount of air but not to bad.I left the 16" long pipe full length like the manual says and am getting pretty hot air out of it. Going to run it all day tomorrow and see how warm the basement gets. I made a thread about mine cause I am not positive the 6" insulated flex pipe is safe.hope some one will chime in on mine.lets see a pic of your set up.

 

[steelstring]

Thanks for the replies! I am burning it now without the fascia installed yet. Looking at the airflow around the firebox, I bet that's why I'm getting cool air. I think the heatzone kit is drawing air right from the room through the gap closest to the heatzone pipe. I have attached a few pix. The pipe on the left hand side of the photo is the heat zone B-vent pipe. It attaches to a collar and a 16 inch pipe that penetrates the back left corner of the unit into the space between the firebox and the insulation. You can see the gap between the exterior insulation and the firebox along the left side of the doors. I think that is where the air is being drawn in without enough time around the firebox to get heated. I wasn't planning on installing the fascia until after I finished the wall, but I think a test run is in order. I'm still curious as to why the trimming of the pipe for different run lengths. It must have something to do with the airflow around the firebox.

Thanks for the info on your experience ymurf! I'm glad to hear that your heatzone is blowing hot air. I will let the unit cool today, install the fascia, and report back as to whether that solves the issue. Also, If you note the b-vent installation pic, I used a short piece of the 6-inch aluminum flex pipe to make a turn for me between the b-vent sections. I couldn't get any combination of pipe fittings to make the turn, even with extendable sections. This piece of aluminum vent is out in the open and far from any combustables, so I'm quite comfortable that it wont be an issue. However, all piping in the wall and floor going from the basement where the unit is installed up to the first floor is B-vent with 1 inch clearance to combustables as specified. I have spoken with two different installers who feel that this is fine, as I had similar concerns as yours. You will notice I used the metal flex pipe for the combustion air intake and chimney cooling air as well.

I'll let everyone know if the fascia solved the problem, but I bet that's the issue. Thanks for the replies!




Is there a way to rotate the pictures once you upload them??

 

[iron]

steelstring: did you ever figure out the issue? are you now getting good zone heat into your basement? i'm very curious about this as that's my goal as well and it seems it's hit or miss with a lot of units.