# Outside Air Kit for Quadra Fire CB 1200 Question?



## Gman12 (Oct 14, 2011)

Does anyone know if this can be bought anywhere else besides from the dealer? They want $140.00 for it and I'm wondering if I could find it cheaper anywhere else and if so, can you tell me where please. I'm also curious from a post I found on here with placement of the air kit. It looks like it goes directly on back of the stove pipe and out the wall. Is this true? I thought you'd need the thick 3" or 4" piping from the vent kit on the back of the stove. Thanks everyone for any feedback.


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## DexterDay (Oct 14, 2011)

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Quadra-Fire...047?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item23149999bf

This one is $109. Its a little cheaper... I got mine awhile back for $100.00 even. Good deals are out there. You just have to find them. 

Quad has a really leaky system. If you do end up putting one on, I would seal up the stove a little bit. The Channels that the air comes in (Under stove, up back channel, area under burn pot/where ignitor is, the entire base of stove/if it sits on tile with grout lines) have a lot of gaps.. This allows the quad to draw in some inside air, which is no big deal.. The BIG DEAL comes when your stove is off and cold air comes in through this vent and leaks out of all these cracks..

Good luck and an OAK is a must in my book.. Quad may not have the best system, but air takes the path of least resistance. You can burn the air in your house and pull cold air into your bedrooms/bathrooms/kitchen.. Or use an OAK and use cold outside air for combustion, which allows you to heat the area in your bedroom/bathroom/bedroom.. 

Many are skeptical that I can heat my Entire 2,180 sq ft Ranch (70 ft long!) with just this stove... ON its Lowest setting. I only use low 24/7 except when it hits around 0*, or in the shoulder seasons (Now)
I now have the Englander 30-NC woodstove in the basement (Wife does laundry and I have a Bar/Man Cave downstairs). Just installed this year. Wow will this save me some pellets... 
Also have a Pellet/Bio-Mass furnace... Will be installed this year also. But for 3 yrs, I got along just fine with the Quad and about 4 ton of pellets.. 

Hope this helps. Its only $30 cheaper.. Having done mine. I would fab up the Peice that you need to bolt to the stove and just buy a cheap $30 kit from someone online. But if your not handy, then this still will save a little...


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## Gman12 (Oct 14, 2011)

Thanks for the reply. I have to do the oak kit due to mass code requiring it. As for all the sealing of it, I honestly have no clue how to do that and what to use to make it air tight??? It looks like the air kit is a flexible vent kinda like a dryer uses. Is that really fireproof and going to resist heat coming directly out of the stove?


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## Lineman30 (Oct 14, 2011)

I had an OAK on my Classic Bay before i sold it. I just used the 2 inch manifold intake air flex pipe you buy at the automotive store. I made and outlet through my thimble to the outside. I also sealed all around the base of the stove with clear silicone to seal any leaks. It really made a difference when it came to drafts. I alleviated them all together. After i did all that i really noticed a difference in how the stove performed. I totally agree an OAK is a must for any stove. And the Quad is really a poor design with it comes to the intake portion.


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## DexterDay (Oct 14, 2011)

Lineman30 said:
			
		

> I had an OAK on my Classic Bay before i sold it. I just used the 2 inch manifold intake air flex pipe you buy at the automotive store. I made and outlet through my thimble to the outside. I also sealed all around the base of the stove with clear silicone to seal any leaks. It really made a difference when it came to drafts. I alleviated them all together. After i did all that i really noticed a difference in how the stove performed. I totally agree an OAK is a must for any stove. And the Quad is really a poor design with it comes to the intake portion.



Yep... Needs to be sealed.. 

To the OP (Gman12). The OAk itself is not that "Leaky"... Its where and when it enters the stove cavity. Open your bottom left hand door (Looking at stove from front)... there is a hole in the Base of the stove.. The air comes in the bottom of the stove, travels up a small channel that up against the back firewall of stove (Still looking into the 2 left side doors/little box on the bottom of firewall), this then leads to the area where the ignitor is (Front plate, where the pull rod cleaning arm resides/2 phillips screws on front of stove above ash pan), look in the back of this area, this is whre the air comes from "Under the stove and through the channel"... 

The bottom of your stove will not seal well if its on Grout and the back channel going from the base, to the area with ignitor needs high temp silicone.. 

I have been working straight through the weekends and my schedule is crazy. But I will try and post Pics...


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## tjnamtiw (Oct 14, 2011)

I put an OAK on my Castile and working on dropping one down my chimney to my Sante Fe as we speak.  I second the motions on how 'unsealed' the Quads are.  I still did not have any concrete ideas on how to seal them but the silicone idea is feasible but I may opt for the 500 degree stuff instead of the clear since you won't see it anyway.


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## Gman12 (Oct 14, 2011)

Thanks, I think pics could definitely help since you have the same stove as me. I'll take a look at the stove tomorrow and look at the parts you described on stove where the air could get out.


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## ehkewley (Oct 14, 2011)

DexterDay said:
			
		

> http://www.ebay.com/itm/Quadra-Fire-Outside-Air-Kit-Pellet-Stoves-811-0872-/150669466047?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item23149999bf
> 
> Many are skeptical that I can heat my Entire 2,180 sq ft Ranch (70 ft long!) with just this stove... ON its Lowest setting. I only use low 24/7 except when it hits around 0*, or in the shoulder seasons (Now)
> I now have the Englander 30-NC woodstove in the basement (Wife does laundry and I have a Bar/Man Cave downstairs). Just installed this year. Wow will this save me some pellets...
> Also have a Pellet/Bio-Mass furnace... Will be installed this year also. But for 3 yrs, I got along just fine with the Quad and about 4 ton of pellets..



What made you decide to get a furnace? Will it be replacing the pellet stove?


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## DexterDay (Oct 14, 2011)

ehkewley said:
			
		

> DexterDay said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...



The furnace will n ot replace a stove. The Quad will remain upstairs, the woodstove downstairs and the furnace downstairs and ducted into HVAC. Might not need the Pellet stoves to do so much work anyways. The woodstove is a MONSTER of a heater and I am figuring on at least 30% reduction in my consumption.. 

I bought the furnace for 2 reasons... 

1. It was cheap. I bought it used and the previous owner had no idea about Cleaning or Maintenance. Used 1 season and he went to start it up (After burning 5 ton of pellets and some corn to boot) on the 2nd season and it was not running so hot. As soon as I seen it, I knew the problem. Got all the Duct Work he had, Backdraft dampers, and exhaust venting for $2,000. Which is a mighty good deal in my book. Got it at the end of last season.

2. The MAIN reason was My Wife was Pregnant last season with our daughter. Her room is the farthest away from the Quad. I was looking for another stove to heat either the basement and get some heat upstairs or a pellet furnace, to get some heat to her room.... Well after buying the furnace last season, I looked on this Forums "Articles for Sale" board and there was a Forum member that lived pretty close selling the woodstove..  Knowing that when and if we lose power, the stoves will not work... Talked the Wife into that stove also.

Also picked up the Englander 25-PDV last yr off of Craiglist for $300 (Came with venting and 21 bags of pellets). So I went from just the Quad at the beginning of the season... To the the Quad, the Fahrenheit, Englander 25-PDV, and Englander 30-NC.... All in the search for heat (For my Daughters room)... I found it. 

My Wife jokes and says that snow wont come within 4 ft of our house. That there will be a ring around our home, because it will have gone nuclear., She jokes about it. But it saves us thousands every yr. $4,000 a yr in LP or around $800 a yr in pellets. This yr with the woodstove, hopefully less than that..


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## slls (Oct 14, 2011)

Here is my stove setup, home made, a tube soldered to a plate. Outside plate with screen and tube and rain shield.


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## Gman12 (Oct 14, 2011)

When I get the outside air kit for my Quadra Fire, can that be used directly from the pipe on the back of pellet stove and directly vent outside the house without the need for any other venting kit? Or do I still need to connect it into the pellet stove venting kit? Sorry to sound stupid. I'll try to upload pics on here where I'm installing.


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## DexterDay (Oct 15, 2011)

Gman12 said:
			
		

> When I get the outside air kit for my Quadra Fire, can that be used directly from the pipe on the back of pellet stove and directly vent outside the house without the need for any other venting kit? Or do I still need to connect it into the pellet stove venting kit? Sorry to sound stupid. I'll try to upload pics on here where I'm installing.



Quads dont have a "Pipe" that ths hose slips over. There is a "Fitting" that comes in the kit that makes mounting the Pipe possible.. Just got home, let me get the kids situated and I will see about posting some photos.

slls - posted a good photo, the actual hose goes over the "fitting" that comes in the kit. If Quads csme with a Pipe that you could stick the hose onto, then you could buy any plane jane kit out there.


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## DexterDay (Oct 15, 2011)

Here thet are.. 

I dont know slls got his pipe through that small hole. I remember like it was yesterday... I was cursing and throwing $hit everywhere. That hose was NOT coming through that square opening that you snip the corners on.. If you look in the last pic. you can clearly see where I took a Saw-zal and made the hole big enough. By that time I had screwed up so much of the pipe, that I couldnt cut off anymore and had to use the "Ugly" section that I last tried to SHOVE through the hole before cutting with Saw-zal.. 

Anyways, you can see in the other photos the high temp red silicone. Its on the channel that goes up the back inside firewall of the stove, you can see where the ash pan latch is on the right side of the photo and the combustion blower on the left side of the photo.. Kinda hard to get in there. Could use my hands for the sides (High temp silicione on finger and spread).. Although its not pretty, it works much better at pulling "Just" outside air.

I also sealed the Metal fitting that the pipe slips over (I call it a "Neck") It had holes and gaps in it. Along with taking aluminum foil and filling all the holes on the floor of stove (You can see some in the photos, small peices that fill the shipping bolt holes along with a bunch of other small ones) I could have used high temo silicone, but these seal well and are removable without ever knowing they were there. 

Hope this better helps with the understanding. The instructions are pretty straight forward. If you need more help, just ask. Kit comes with a lot of extra parts (Also goes to Santa Fe, Castile, Insert models also)


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## Gman12 (Oct 23, 2011)

I got the stove all installed...I do have a question regarding the outside air kit though. I know from the following pics you both provided it goes through back of stove and into the bottom of the right inside of stove. From the pics I provided when my father in law helped install it when I had to work, he put the collar assembly right into the back underneath the stove pipe and then clamped the house into it there. Only problem now is that I don't know if there is enough of the flex hose to place it to where the diagram shows to put it inside of the stove from the way it is now going through outside wall. Every other pellet stove from quadra fire shows to put it where he did except for the classic bay 1200 freestanding which I have. If I can't get it down to where it is suppose to go, would it be ok to keep it there as long as its sealed like crazy all around it? This morning the flex hose had condensation on it. Is this also normal? Please help. Thanks.


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## Lineman30 (Oct 23, 2011)

Not sure how effected it will be the way you have it. When I had mine it wad attached to the base with a home made collar. You might be able to find a 2 inch 90 degree somewhere. You won't be able to really tell unless it's attached to the base.


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## DexterDay (Oct 23, 2011)

The mounting plate is not to go on the back plate of the stove. It should mount to the floor of the stove.  Where the hole in the floor of the stove is.  Is where the plate goes. Then the hose goes through the square hole and connects to it.

He hooked the mounting bracket to the wrong location.  Needs to be corrected.


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## Gman12 (Oct 23, 2011)

Yeah, I wasn't home when he installed it. I left the directions and thought he'd follow them, but I'm not sure if he looked at the cb 1200 insert and the rest and saw it like that. I am really hoping I can fix it. That kit was expensive. I don't know if I can stretch that flex cable anymore though. What do you think?


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## DexterDay (Oct 23, 2011)

Gman12 said:
			
		

> Yeah, I wasn't home when he installed it. I left the directions and thought he'd follow them, but I'm not sure if he looked at the cb 1200 insert and the rest and saw it like that. I am really hoping I can fix it. That kit was expensive. I don't know if I can stretch that flex cable anymore though. What do you think?



There are really cheap OAK kits online. Some as cheap as $20. I have thought about purchasing one to replace my kinked hose. But it only looks bad inside the stove. On the back of the stovr it still looks fine.

You should be able to remove the mohnting plate off the back of the stove and put it in the proper place (on the base/floor of unit) and try to get the hose to reach.

And Yes to the condensate on the OAK. It will do that and may even frost over in colder weather. Some people have insulated theres. I have just tried to seal my system as well as possible. The route in which the air travels on a Classic Bay, is a long one and the air is preheated plenty before reaching the burn pot. And if you dont seal it, the air is mixed with inside air and preheated. So either way it should be fine. If it starts dripping and forming puddles, then I would worry. 

The hose can be had pretty cheap. Or try the auto parts store and get some flex pipe there.


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## Gman12 (Oct 24, 2011)

I need help. I am trying to get the collar assembly to fit to the floor of the stove and there is a metal loop that is holding the wires that go to the blower in place. It a solid metal piece. I placed a pic of it below. Should I cut this? Cause it's blocking me from being able to fit the piece right so I can screw in the holes marked for it. Need help quick. Please reply. Thanks.


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## slls (Oct 24, 2011)

I didn't cut mine, Trim the collar if need be.


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## Lineman30 (Oct 24, 2011)

I think the OEM collar fits diagonally.


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## DexterDay (Oct 24, 2011)

I trimmed the collar also. Or you could grind the tab. But you can take the collar outside and leave the grinding out of your living room. Either way. One has to be cut/trimmed.


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## Gman12 (Oct 24, 2011)

What did you use to grind the collar down with. I really don't have much for tools yet...lol. For the price this kit costs, I'm surprised they didn't make it fit better. This is crazy!


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## DexterDay (Oct 24, 2011)

I have several grinders. I used my DeWalt cordless grinder. But a Hacksaw on either the tab or the collar will work.


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## Gman12 (Oct 24, 2011)

Ok, It is cut and fits now. I need to now figure a good way to get the wires out of the way. I'm afraid any of the condensation from the flex pipe could do something around the wiring. I don't want any electrical getting wet and catching fire. Can this happen or am I good? Also my flex pipe I'm having trouble getting to go around the collar on the inside now. Plus the flex pipe is right up against the main venting from the stove going outside. Can that hot venting melt that flex hose?


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