Quadrafire Secondary Air Manifold Crack

[TMonter]

I was cleaning out the stove today and found this crack. It's not in a critical spot, but I was just wondering what people thought I should do. I Was just thinking of waiting till this spring and cleaning the stove out and having the crack welded up. It looks like a fatigue crack from thermal cycling, possibly caused by an uneven weld on the secondary air manifold.

I figured I'd direct this question at MSG and some of the other quad people here.

 

[jtp10181]

Contact your nearest QUAD dealer. Quadrafire will replace this unit at no charge if there is no evidence of the unit being over-fired. I have done two replacements from similar cracks through the dealer I work at.

The first one I encountered I asked quadrafire what to do, if I should have it welded or what. They said, replace it.

 

[begreen]

Agreed. I'd say warranty issue.

 

[Roospike]

Contact your dealer or Quadrafire about the issue.

If this was something I made.... I would want to know about it. Just hope Quadrafire feels the same way. Give them a call .

 

[TMonter]

After looking at the pictures and pulling out my materials manual, it's definitely a fatigue crack. It seems to have started at a high stress concentration point on the manifold. It doesn't even go all the way through the manifold, the crack itself is only about 1-1/2 to 2 inches long.

I'll talk to the dealerthat sold me my stove next week as I'm out of town all this week on business. Hopefully they don't want to swap the whole stove out, as hooking this stove up is a PITA.

 

[Corie]

Yes, it is definitely a fatigue crack, as you said. Are you an ME TMonter? You speak my language! haha


That sharp corner, combined with the weld is definitely a stress concentration area. It also appears that the crack is propagating towards that hole in the manifold which is another stress concentration area, albeit smaller than the sharp cornered weld area.

 

[TMonter]

Yes, it is definitely a fatigue crack, as you said. Are you an ME TMonter? You speak my language! haha

Yes I am.

My bachelors is in general mechanical engineering, but I've branched out into combustion engineering since I work for an alternative fuels company. I usually end up doing a little bit of everything however. I love the company because we never seem to do the same thing twice.

 

[Corie]

Sweet


Nice to know there's another one of us on board!

 

[jtp10181]

I'll talk to the dealerthat sold me my stove next week as I'm out of town all this week on business. Hopefully they don't want to swap the whole stove out, as hooking this stove up is a PITA.

That part is welded to the rest of the firebox, it cannot be replaced. The only option is to replace the entire stove. If the crack does not go all the way yet they might want to wait until it does before replacing it, not sure. I ran into one where I noticed a very small crack like that but it was just starting. I told the guy to watch it and if it went all the way through I would replace the stove for him.

 

[velvetfoot]

Is this an older Quad design? The two Quads that I've had used tubes for secondary air.

 

[Corie]

This is the feed tube at the back of the stove that run up the rear of the firebox.


The manifold which holds the tubes in square as shown.

 

[MountainStoveGuy]

wow, that sucks to see that. Call your dealer ASAP. JP you have seen this before? Is this recent? I have NOT seen this before.. but my quad steel sales this year was weak at best.

 

[jtp10181]

wow, that sucks to see that. Call your dealer ASAP. JP you have seen this before? Is this recent? I have NOT seen this before.. but my quad steel sales this year was weak at best.

I have replaced at least two Quad units this year, possibly a third, can't remember. The two I remember for sure had cracks in the square manifold area. One was nearly in the exact same place, the other was along one of the sides. This was my first full "burn season" as the Field Ops Supervisor so I cannot account for other years.

 

[MountainStoveGuy]

is it in a serial number range? Im still working off last years stock.

 

[jtp10181]

One was an insert, one was.... hmm.. something else. A stove I guess. I didn't pay attention to the serial numbers, just faxed them in. I think the insert was installed in 2004. I wouldn't worry about it much. If you are on last years stock still I think we sell quite a few more, thus have a higher chance for having one fail. Only having two replaced this last season is quite good considering how many of the units are in our area. We have 3 crews working every day installing fireplaces. Usually at least one retail job a day. We go through quite a few stoves. Not all their installs are wood products though, probably about 85% gas these days.

You should get rid of that old stuff. They have ACC millennium strove now, that Automatic Combustion Control, like the 7100 and Northstar. We just went and messed with one of those today, the made the start-up air come in the front now, was confusing the customer. Had to the the side panel off and show him how the contraption worked.

 

[MountainStoveGuy]

we only sell 70 or so quads a year, mabey 20 of the plate steel stoves. I try to stay a year behind new technology in any form or fashion, be it pellet or wood stoves. We have had hell with the 7100 ACC. Im a believer of KISS.

 

[jtp10181]

Yeah the new quad stuff definitely was not built with KISS in mind. I can't believe you sell that many and still have old stock! Must be a huge warehouse you have. We have a really competitive market up here so if we don't have the new stuff... some other dealer will have another brands new stuff. Gotta push the new stuff to stay on top of the game. Anyway... now that we hijacked this thread....

 

[jtp10181]

Back on track...

TMonter, post here if you have any trouble with the process. I can hook you up with the right people @ quad to get it taken care of.

 

[precaud]

I don't know if Quad's other recent models are similar, but one difference between my 2100M and your Quad is that the secondary air channel now runs up the outside of the stove, eliminating the right angle weld inside the firebox.

 

[jtp10181]

precaud, if you have a "ACC" quad stove, they changed the design quit a bit on those. The startup air actually comes in the front and the rear is the combustion air.

 

[precaud]

jtp, I don't see any mention of "ACC" anywhere on the back label. The air setup on this one is the opposite of what you said.

 

[jtp10181]

Oh wait... you probably have the 2100-ACT (or some even other version), with the single hole in the back. Yeah that model is the baby stove and doesn't have the manifolid going up the middle like some of the larger ones. The new ACC stoves I think they eliminated that all together.... this could be a reason for that.

 

[TMonter]

Talked to the stove shop today finally. I described the problem to them and they thought it sounded like a warranty issue. They are going to contact Quadrafire about a warranty replacement of the stove. I'm considering asking if they replace the stove about going to a Bodega Bay as hooking up the damn pipe is far easier. I despise the pipe hookup on the 3100.

 

[MountainStoveGuy]

Precaud, you have a ACT.

 

[MountainStoveGuy]

we only sell 70 or so quads a year, mabey 20 of the plate steel stoves. I try to stay a year behind new technology in any form or fashion, be it pellet or wood stoves. We have had hell with the 7100 ACC. Im a believer of KISS.

did the early buy today, we sold 157 quads this year , 46 of them were ACT's and this problem is new to me. I will keep my eyes pealed and be fast to respond if it comes up. JTP, is quad taking care of these problems? I have half a mind to call my rep.