Quadrafire Fire Backdraft Problems

[crosley]

I just recently purchased a used QuadraFire 2100 stove and installed it in my new house. The stove came with all of the interior and exterior pipe, which I installed. The first two weeks everything went absolutely fine, fires burned great chimney drafted good. In the last two days I have had some serious problems with drafting, which is also the first time this year that the temps have dropped.
I have had problems with drafting when lighting, had to open house window. Last night I filled the box before going to bed and woke up in the middle of the night to smoke alarms, as the stove decided to stop drafting. I opened the window again again and it started drafting again.

Setup.
I have roughly 4 vertical feet of single wall with two 45's glint to a wall thimble and then 18' of double wall outside extending through the roof. I also have a cold air intake installed through the wall.

Does anyone have any suggestions.

Cheers

 

[Montgomery Burns]

Last week I installed a similar arrangement with a Quadrafire Isle Royale and have experienced no problems. If you have to open your windows it seems to suggest your air intake is clogged. Can mice or debris get in your air inlet?

 

[begreen]

Check the chimney cap screen for plugging.

 

[DougA]

I woke up to the smoke alarm at 2:00 am. The old VC was backpuffing - again. Temps at 590, so all I could do was open the windows, open the air adjustment a bit and wait it out - with alarms screaming.
In your case, I would check the air intake and if clear, it was probably caused by outside weather.

 

[mfetcho]

Plugged cap is a likely culprit. Was it windy last night?

 

[crosley]

I checked the intake and it has a screen over it so it should be clear. I have not checked the cap yet but will in the morning.
Update. I tried to light a fire tonight and it was not even possible, even with the window open.

I will update in the morning.

 

[Grisu]

Check also the baffle board over your burn tubes and the blanket on top of it whether they are pushed all the way to the back of the stove. The open window will only help when the door of the stove was still open. Otherwise, the stove will draw air from the OAK. It does not sound like the OAK is your problem but to make sure you can just unhook it and see if that helps.

 

[Jags]

Has the weather been noticeably different during the backdrafts. Is it possible that you have trees, buildings, etc. that cause a positive pressure on your stack when wind is from a specific direction? I did in the very beginning. Even following (and exceeding) the requirements for stack install, the two story section of my house created a positive pressure on rare occasion. I fixed it by adding two feet to the stack. Problem solved.