Quadrafire running hot

[Wilbursan]

Last year I had trouble with my stove trying to run away from me. I have to watch it really close and shut the air down or else it will just keep getting hotter. I'm pretty sure my problem is draft. The manual on my stove says 15' of draft, but I've got closer to 25'. There's nothing I can do about that as I have 9' ceilings and a very steep roof (it's 19 or 20 feet before it even hits the roof). So I popped off the side cover to get access to the vent holes and this is what I see:



The vent is not closed all the way to the stop screw but when it is there is still a significant gap on the left, much too big in my opinion. It doesn't do any good to remove the top screw since the lever hits the side panel at the same spot, plus the cover is not big enough to cover the whole hole and starts opening up on the right side as soon as you move past that point. I've posted the lower vents below. They close up pretty tight, except for that one little hole just to the left of the front air vent. I could plug that with some aluminium foil and see how that helps but it's so small I'm not sure it will. Is there a good way to cover up some of this larger vent hole? I don't want to completely cover it, maybe half of it. I don't think tinfoil will stay in place and I suspect a magnet would lose it's magnetism in the heat and fall off. But maybe not? Any suggestions? Maybe I could fold up a small piece of aluminium foil just at the top and run that screw through it?

 

[jatoxico]

If you can confirm you are over-drafting you could install a key damper. Easier and no hacking.

 

[Sconnie Burner]

I'm currently running a quad 3100 at my buddies house where I'm renting so installing a damper is a no go, he used wetter wood than I'm using so never had a stove that got too Hot causing the over draft. He doesn't belive it needs one nor should a stove like this need one according to the installer. I found a thick rectangular magnet (found at the local farm store, used for cows stomachs to keep metals from passing past the stomach) and put over the left side of the hole next to the screw. Not ideal but it keeps me from damaging or melting the stove down! I just keep in mind that I can't close all the way to the stop. But can close a little further than factory settings if needed.

If you still have the sticker with 5 blocks by the primary air lever, the center of the second square from the botton becomes the new "full closed" setting with the magnet in place. (I measured the gap with the lever closed as far as the screw allowed and then set it to that the with the magnet in place. Intalled the side shield and made a mental note of where it lined up.) When I set the stove for a final setting for an all night burn I usually end up at the bottom of that block or a tad below.

 

[Sconnie Burner]

I also added one over the hole in the box that leads to the secondary tubes. I covered about a 3rd of that hole. It prevents them from turning into blow torches! They have a nice slow rolling dance to them now. With these 2 simple mods I can repeat a 600 stt and 350 surface flue temp burn over and over. It took me some playing for a couple weeks to come up with this combo.

Its 2.5" long by 5/8" wide and fits perfect. I would snap you a photo but the stove is a little hot right now.

They also have helped me shut down a couple runaways and bring them back to normal.

 

[Wilbursan]

Where is the air hole for the secondaries at?

 

[Sconnie Burner]

Where is the air hole for the secondaries at?

Heres a pic of the primary:

Heres where the secondary inlet box is:

If you look at the bottom of that box you will see the hole about the size of a 50 cent piece.
I think this will be a little more predictable than trying to tune in a damper with no real relivance for a repeatable adjustment as to how far closed.

 

[Wilbursan]

Update for those interested. I covered the primary with some aluminium foil held in place with the set screw so that when the primary is completely closed there is no opening. Also I stuffed a bit of aluminium foil in the tiny hole at the front vent. So now I can completely close down the primary, front vent and rear vent. I did not modify the secondary vent on the theory that I want as much combustion up there as possible. Everything works much better now. I can let the fire get rolling pretty good now and close the vents and within a minute or two the fire has died way down. It's very predictable now and I've been able to experiment on how to get the fire to burn the way I want instead of only worrying about keeping it from burning out of control. When I get a little more comfortable with this I will likely unblock that small hold and replace the aluminium foil with some sheet metal for a more permanent solution.