Quadrafire Castile Efficiency

[ylomnstr]

Hi guys. I recently bought a used quadrafire castile insert from a friend. It's only about 4 years old. While it burns well, it doesn't seem to blow nearly as hot as my St. Croix Hastings which I have upstairs. It's in a small finished basement which is about 400 sq feet, so I would think it should have no issues heating up that space. It burns really well and I wonder if that's the issue. Can it be letting too much air in, which would burn pellets faster and produce less heat? I run it on medium speed and I just feel like it's not producing nearly as much heat as it should. I use the same pellets in my St. Croix and that burns so much hotter. It also seems to chew through pellets very quickly. Just wondering what you guys suggest. I'm tempted to pull it and sell it and buy something else, but I'd like to keep it if I can make it work. Thanks.

 

[DMKNLD]

Hello,

No air flow adjustment on your Quad, just the pellet feed rate you adjust to match the air flow through the fire pot via the feed gate slider in the hopper. It needs to be adjusted on the high setting to give you a flame height that is 4 - 6" above the burn pot, then it is correctly set for the medium and low stove settings also. I am heating about 1600 sq ft with my 1st generation Castile free standing that has 8 heat exchanger tubes instead of the 10 tubes that yours has, so it should easily be heating your 400 sq ft finished basement.

Standard trouble shooting questions - is the stove clean of fly ash from the fire pot holes and the ash traps behind the firebox cast plates, to the combustion blower and the plenum, through to the vent termination? Are the heat exchanger tubes above the heat exchanger baffle scraped clean? Your venting is installed to specs ? What does your flame look like? Make sure your door seal is good with the dollar bill test, that your burn pot clean out plate is fully closing, and that the clean out plate is not hanging down more than a dimes width on the side of the fire pot opposite of the hinge.

Here's an on-line manual for your stove if you don't already have one. (broken link removed to http://hearthnhome.com/downloads/installManuals/7022_122.pdf)

Post back on the above and we can go from there before you bail on your Quad ! Regards, DK

 

[Wooden Head]

Do you have the stove installed with outside air feeding the fire pot?

 

[ylomnstr]

No it's running straight up the fireplace and out the top with the venting pipe. Nothing extra.

 

[ylomnstr]

And yes I'm pretty sure it's totally clean as it was cleaned before I installed it by my friend, and I double checked it all before I put it back. Flame looks good on medium, with just the tips sometimes showing above the firepot. I'll turn it on high tonight and see if I'm getting higher flames. I'm reluctant to increase the pellet feed since it seems like this thing goes through a full bag on medium in well under 24 hours. Just doesn't seem to be as efficient as the 2 other pellet stoves I've used.

 

[kappel15]

That stove will burn 1.4 to 4 lbs an hour, depending on the setting you have it on. And how tight is your home? If your home is very air tight, you may need to install an outside air kit. Is it a finished basement with insulated walls? If it is just block wall, it will take some heat to heat that, and keep it heated. And if you are getting a lot of draft going up a chimney, you may need a damper in the exhaust pipe to keep from loosing heat also. kap

 

[ylomnstr]

No the home isn't very air tight. It's a finished basement, but has only 1" insulation board between the blocks and the drywall.

 

[kappel15]

I am heating my ranch style home (1500 sq. ft. ) with a Santa Fe. Same stove, just a different cover. Running on med.

 

[ylomnstr]

Does adjusting the speed from 1 to 3 actually increase the rate of pellet drops thus using more on the 3 setting? Or is that just for the fan?

 

[kappel15]

All three motors, the exhaust fan, the convection fan, and the auger motor, are run with that switch. Low burns 1.4 lbs per hour, and high burns 4 lbs per hour. This is when it is running and feed rate adjusting rod is set correctly. kap

 

[jzm2cc]

I've owned a Santa Fe before, recalll it being 34K BTU unit verses 40K Hastings so less potential output. Ouput of Quad never seemed all that hot to me either but did burn well. In my experience the St Croix stove is more efficient with regard to output verses pellet consumption. No comparison with output temperature on Hastings, but maybe it's blower has less CFM thus feels hotter, but i doubt it.

 

[kappel15]

Santa Fe is a 30,000 btu unit

 

[DMKNLD]

The OP has a Quad Castile insert, with specs that say "38,700 BTUs — heats 700 to 1,800 square feet, based on climate and home efficiency", and the St Croix Hastings is rated "up to 40,000 BTU and up to 1800 sq ft, with a burn rate of 1.2 - 4.5 lbs / hr". (broken link removed to http://stcroixstoves.com/pdf/St-Croix-Pellet-Brochure.pdf)
http://www.fireside.com/Products/Castile-Pellet-Insert.aspx

So they have essentially comparable heat output, capacity ratings, and pellet burn rate /hr specs.