# Quadra Fire Air Control Questions



## BotetourtSteve (Jan 9, 2011)

A friend of mine has a Quadra Fire (don't know model number but it is at least 6 years old as he bought house with it in it; would call it mid-sized) pedestal stove.  He did not have an owner's manual so has never really known how to use the stove, mainly with the 2 air control levers (one on bottom below door, one on side).  He simply leaves both pushed all the way in all the time and says it burns ok that way so why rock the boat.  He goes through a bunch of wood and I told him I am sure he could adjust those levers to extend burn times.  From what I gather from researching some archive posts, I take it that one of these levers controls air when starting/reloading and the other is the primary burn control lever.  

So long story short, can a Quadra Fire owner give me the lowdown on what the 2 air control levers do, and in general terms how to adjust them to control burn rate?  Thanks!


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## maxny (Jan 9, 2011)

You push both controls in to get your fire started. After the fire gets going you pull out the air control on the right side of the stove(secondary air control) and regulate the fire from the primary control in the center of the stove. If you leave both controls open you risk over firing the stove. Also the stove burns more efficiently using the single front center control.


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## sbk12rs (Jan 9, 2011)

After two seasons of running MY 3100 Quad and what I thought was a good start to the season .......... good wood ........great temps , both top of stove and pipe temps ...

After reading this thread , found out that I've been running the AIR Control WRONG !! 

This place rocks !

I have a manual too !! I guess I should have read through it again at the start of the season ........... ?

Now I know why it would run like someone had a vacuum cleaner on the top of the chimney once I had a good hot fire . 

Let the Saving wood ,, START ! 


READ THE  MANUAL , STUPID ! note to self ...............


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## ChoppingAccountant (Jan 9, 2011)

Just a quick note as a new Quad owner. I was having problems with the temps shooting up too high very quickly, I was turning the primary air down all the way to no avail. I finally figured out that the start-up air was still hanging on a longer than I thought and driving my temps too high, there is a start-up air override on the back lower right-hand side of the stove to stop it if needed.

Hope this helps.


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## jtp10181 (Jan 10, 2011)

This is my best guess as to the stove model. Either this or the 4300, but that usually has legs on it.

http://www.quadrafire.com/~/media/Files/Quadrafire/Installation Manuals/man_3100act.ashx
http://tinyurl.com/25azyl6

Tell your buddy to read it over, he might learn something useful.

Also there should be a rating plate stuck on the back of the stove, this will give the exact model number and you can get any manual you want from
http://www.quadrafire.com/en/Ideas and Advice/Customer Care/Installation Manuals.aspx

ChoppingAccountant, the timer and override is only for the new ACC model, being 6 years old he probably has an ACT model which has a manual slider for the start up air.


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## BotetourtSteve (Jan 10, 2011)

Thanks everyone!  My friend is a stubborn ol' mule, but maybe I can teach him a thing or two about his stove finally.  I knew something was not right with the rate of wood he uses, plus the fact there are two controls that he never touched.


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