I put in a Quadra Fire Voyager Grand wood insert a few months ago. Ever since then I've had trouble with it building up soot and not burning well on the handle side. It passes the dollar bill test, and I've tried loading the wood evenly and it's not any better. The wood is dry enough because it always burns hot on the hinge side. Does anyone have any suggestions?
Wood Insert Burns Unevenly
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MagdalenaP
Burning Hunk
Most stoves burn unevenly. Depends where the primary comes in. My princess used to burn in a horseshoe pattern. Is one side just not burning or burns last?
It burns, just not as hot so because of that my hinge side glass is always clear and I always see flame on that side and the closer to the handle side you get the less flame and less heat you get so I always have soot build up on half my glass.
How long has your firewood been cut, split, & stacked? ( after this, it's shortened to CSS 
)
Welcome to the forums !
)Welcome to the forums !
Thanks! What I've been burning this week has been split and stacked for about 3 years. I wouldn't think that would matter anyway though since one side is always clear and only the handle side accumulates soot and doesn't burn as hot. Just after I clean it I can always see flame on the hinge side but a lot of times just coals and no flame on the handle side.
jatoxico
Minister of Fire
Well I'm gonna go ahead and say I'm not cutting the air too soon since I run it wide open a lot of the time and I leave the door open for a very long time while starting it .I still have to get a thermometer for my stove top though. Brick is pretty much brand new and current wood is 3 year seasoned hardwood. Plus, I don't think I'm expecting a lot. The one side is completely clear except edges and the other side turns dark enough that you can't see whether it's even burning a lot if the time. And this soot accumulates to this extent in just a day or two. If I happen to get a less seasoned piece the whole glass soots up then when I burn a hot fire the hinge side will clear but the handle side never does.
jatoxico
Minister of Fire
That does sound bad enough. Some people expect crystal clear at all times.
You shouldn't need to do that. Leaving the door open on a cold start for a few minutes is one thing but if I leave my door open for more that just a few minutes its a raging inferno shooting flame up the flue., not ideal. With the air cut back you should see good secondary burn and feel more heat.
With good wood and the air cut back appropriately the stove will get hot and run clean. If you can't cut air without snuffing the fire then we're back to the wood or...
What's your chimney setup? Length, liner etc.
I'll admit that chimney set up isn't ideal. The inside wasn't done smoothly enough or wide enough to run a liner all the way up so I have a liner about 9 feet up a 20 foot chimney. The rest is narrow enough that I couldn't fit a 6 inch liner the rest of the way. I probably should mention that it's a double chimney and the side that doesn't get as hot is the same side that the other flue runs up.
jatoxico
Minister of Fire
So you have 9' of liner pushed up into the chimney and then what, it just stops? Draft is critical to stove operation and this doesn't even sound like it meets minimum requirements. From what you say so far it may not even be legal.
How does the installer expect you to clean this setup? Half of what you sweep from the top is going to land on the stove top or accumulate at the connection with no way to remove.
Yes. From what I've checked it's legal in the US but not in Canada. And yes cleaning is a challenge. It requires that the entire insert be pulled with each cleaning. Without major chimney work I wouldn't have a liner at all. The worst part is the home is a fairly nice 10 year old log home which I bought it a little over a year ago and didn't discover this problem until I put the insert in. The previous owners were idiots. I'm thinking that in the spring I may have to have soneoso fix it and put a full 20ft liner in.
jatoxico
Minister of Fire
Tell you what, I'm not the code police but there's good reason to be very careful with this setup, at least until you establish exactly how it's been done. Legal or not I'm gonna say at this point that most likely the issues you're having (sooty glass, difficulty establishing fire etc) are draft related.
Most stoves are designed to have a minimum 15' or so 6" liner. A 6" liner has an area around 30 sq". A 6x8" clay liner (for ex.) is closer to 50". The stove as set up will draft weakly and the gases will expand once they hit the larger and probably much cooler area of the existing chimney. The result is poor performance and excessive creosote formation.
You may want to start a new thread fully describing the current install (with pics even better) while asking for recommendations for fixing this, there are some very helpful pros here. And I would say get a CO detector in the room. If this installer made a positive permanent connection of the liner to the existing flue it may be legal and safe(ish). If not its a real problem.
Most stoves are designed to have a minimum 15' or so 6" liner. A 6" liner has an area around 30 sq". A 6x8" clay liner (for ex.) is closer to 50". The stove as set up will draft weakly and the gases will expand once they hit the larger and probably much cooler area of the existing chimney. The result is poor performance and excessive creosote formation.
You may want to start a new thread fully describing the current install (with pics even better) while asking for recommendations for fixing this, there are some very helpful pros here. And I would say get a CO detector in the room. If this installer made a positive permanent connection of the liner to the existing flue it may be legal and safe(ish). If not its a real problem.
Ok, I appreciate the help. I think that the best thing that I can do to alleviate the problem is to have a certified chimney sweep come take a look, pull the insert, clean it out and ream the chimney to properly fit a liner that goes the full length of the flue which is what I wanted to start with.
jatoxico
Minister of Fire
If you haven't had it swept and inspected then that would be money well spent.
Got any pics of the log cabin? We have one in our neighborhood, interior is really nice.
A full liner is definitely what should be installed. That will be safer, better performing and should have been done from the start. Does the current installation have a block off plate in the damper area?
Yes, the current installation was put in with a block off plate. I probably should have had a certified chimney sweep inspect it prior to having the installation done but it never crossed my mind that a relatively newly professionally built log home would have any chimney problems, especially given it's size and little use over the years. It had only functioned as a cabin for two couples from the city like 6 months out of the year. At the time of installation I was left with either doing it this way or having to pay a lot more money to have them haul it back, get the chimney inspected and fixed, and then paying them to come out again to try again. I live so far out that I get charged extra for almost everything due to travel time. Now that I'm realizing how unsafe and underperforming this set up is I'm just going to have to do it the expensive way.
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Ok it has a blockoff plate that is a good start. But does the stainless liner have a positive connection to the clay? Is the clay liner less than 3x the volume of the stove outlet? Are all of the clay tiles in good condition and are all of the tile joints properly mortared with refractory mortar? Does the chimney have the required 1" clearance from the outside of the masonry structure to any combustibles? I can tell you from the pics that your chimney is to short.
That's way too many questions for me. I didn't build the dang thing. I'm a traveling RN not a masonary professional. I just wanted an alternative to spending $2500/year in oil which is why I purchased it from a dealer and had it professionally installed. I know my limitations. Thanks for your input, but I'll let the certified chimney professionals take it from here.
I am sorry to overwhelm you with that but those are the things that are needed to make an install like yours code compliant and safe. I can tell you that the vast majority of chimney even newly constructed ones do not meet minimum code.
bholler is trying to give you information so you know what type of questions to ask or what information to look for. You've already relied on a "professional" who should have known better so just blindly relying on anyone because you think they have your best interests in mind is, at best, ill advised. You said you had it "professionally" installed? You ought to start with them. They're the responsible party to install it to code.
MAD MARK
Feeling the Heat
If you dont have a positive connection between the liner and chimney and the liner doesnt go the whole length of chimney, I wouldnt be saying it was "professionally installed"
bholler who you are talking with in this thread is the most certified chimney professional on here.
Help only goes as far as it is taken. Thats up to you.
I appreciate the "help" , but this language is all Greek to me. Yes, I could be the guy who asks all of these questions, but he could lie the whole time and I wouldn't know the damn difference. If I did I would be doing this job myself. Plus, I don't think you understand how rurally I live. I don't have several experts to pick from to come take a look who I can ask these questions to and check up on. I have like one or two, each of which are 50+ miles away to start with and if I don't like what they have to say I'm SOL because nobody else services my area. Frankly, if I can get a liner to the top that's gonna be code enough for me.
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