Should I buy Quad Mt. Vernon AE 2006??

[johnsoba]

Help! It's a lot of money. The dealer seems good, the warantee, seems good. But is it trouble prone? Have there been advances since 2006 in this model--or another traditional looking (non-pedestal) stove?

THANK YOU!
jnn

 

[MountainStoveGuy]

The early ones had plenty of issues. Mostly control board/control pad interface issues. Most have been fixed or upgraded by now. Why is your dealer sitting on a three year old stove? Is it used?

 

[rona]

There were several updates done to make the AE work like it is supposed to. The wall control and the mother board should be updated if they haven't done so. Usually you can tell if it offers a Normal or a Quiet fan selection. There is a certain number on the wall control and on the mother board that would signify if you have the right ones or not. The vacuum safety switch should be checked and make sure it works, The removable cast iron baffle plate probably has to be replaced because the old ones would crack. The igniter mounts should have been drilled out to allow more air circulation around the igniter. The owner should be given a new style gasket for the exhaust fan and he should also be given a spare igniter as they very seldom last more then two seasons.
If you get one you should also get the optional 12 volt power cord that allows you to hook a 12 volt battery up to the stove so it will automatically switch to 12 volt if the power goes out.

 

[jtp10181]

All the old product should have been sent back to Quad for upgrading. Why does the dealer still have this old one? Unless that was right after the last "quality hold".

Anyway... as long as all the upgrades have been done it would be fine, if not they might as well do them before selling it, unless they want to do it in some upset customers house instead. I think rona named off all the upgrades. Some of them are somewhat optional like the rear baffle, the baffle does not crack on all stoves it seems (just most of them). Quad seems to be replacing any old style ones that are broken under warranty no questions so far for me.

Also the warranty is useless if the dealer doesn't know how to fix it. Do they have a competent repair person for the AE unit. They need to understand electrical circuits and how to fully use a multimeter. Needs very good troubleshooting and diagnostic skills. Not just your normal fireplace technician.

 

[rona]

The dealer simply swaps boards and wall controls for the new ones. The physical stove doesn't have to be sent back. There isn't much checking to be done. If the board and wall control are not updated or replaced odds are good it will give problems at some point. There is small dealers out there who ordered some AEs and didn't have a clue how to fix them if they acted up. Quadra Fire originally sent the dealers programs they could use to update the stoves by the use of a laptop but that idea didn't work.
So they were left with replacing the board and wall control together and hopefully it worked. I think it was April or May of 2008 when they got the right combination. After that the stoves worked pretty good.
To their credit Quadra Fire has fixed the problems and made a pretty good stove. It was just released prematurely and the customers did the testing instead of the factory.

 

[johnsoba]

Holy cow! Thanks! I'll put these questions to the dealer tomorrow, BUT I may have a problem that precludes a stove that doesn't vent out the top: my brick built-up pad, where the Hearthstone woodstove we're getting rid of (cat problems) sits, is only 36" from the chimney it vents into. My read of the specs says I havce to build the pad further out into the room, which I don't like, or give up on this stove.

Beginner question: do any traditional style pellet stoves vent out the top, work in my 36" space?

Thanks again!!
jnn

 

[MountainStoveGuy]

there is a top vent kit avaliable for the ae, and also the harman XXV. It would hook right up into your existing pipe. pellet stoves only have a 6"clearance in front and on the sides.

 

[johnsoba]

ah! the dealer said no top vent kit is available, maybe because it's a 2006 model? or maybe they're meaning no kit but a top vent adapter is available but won't work because they told me it would take 33" deep to use my chimney.

But I looked at the owner's manual on the Quad website and I guess I'm confused. I don't see anywhere a depth meaurement for the stove the top vent adapter and the 3 or 6" offset adapter (which is what?)

THANKS!
jnn

 

[MountainStoveGuy]

i dont have the measurement, but i remember the top vent adapter making the stove no deeper then the overall depth including the flue collar. I will look into it today if someone does not correct me first.

 

[smoke show]

I put a top vent kit on mine and it brought the stove closer to the wall by a couple inches(vertical vent)

 

[jtp10181]

With the top vent kit the back of the stove has to be 8" from a combustible wall. Need to know more about your setup to know if it would work. If you have a flat drywall wall with a 36" pad from that wall it would not fit. And TBO I dont see how any wood stove would have been legal on there either.

Look on pages 7 & 8: (broken link removed to http://quadrafire.com/downloads/installManuals/man_mtvernonAE.pdf)

 

[johnsoba]

My pad is 36" from the front to a brick and mortar lined chimney which stands about 2 1/2' away from wood panelled wall.

Now I'm looking at the Quad Castile, which accroding to the owner's manual (p. 7, fig. 7.4), is 30 5/16" total with the top converter. Any problem there?

This is quite a bit less BTU's than the Mt Vernon, but our house is only about 2,000 sq. ft. Problem?

Do pellet stoves like to run a lot and run hot, or do they like to take breaks and run slowly?

THANKS!!
jnn

 

[johnsoba]

Thanks, all!

I bought an old Quad non-AE Castile (2003) and will install after the floors are finished. I apprecaite all the help I get at this site and will probably have more questions once it's time to fire it up.

Thanks,
jnn

 

[MountainStoveGuy]

The castile is a great unit. I think it will do its part in zone heating the 2000 square foot area. If you can, try to run the stove on the lowest setting possible to reduce cycling, and to keep noise down. It does not hurt to run them hard, just run them in the zone that keeps them running as much as possible.