We had a super insulated (12 inch thick walls/R80 overhead/intensive vapor barrier) home in Hudson WI that we installed a small wood stove in. The stove was in the basement and could handle a maximum of 18" logs. The first year or two, it did a good job of heating the basement, but it took three to four hours to get heat upstairs and even then it wouldn't keep upstairs warm without the basement being hot.
We installed a heat exchanger (with built in fan) that mounted on top of the stove in the flue. A
huge improvement in performance. After the install, the heat would get upstairs within thirty minutes and you could heat the basement and upstairs to about 75 degrees without the basement getting too warm. If you had outside temps of minus 20, you could still heat both floors but the basement would be quite uncomfortable (for me, my wife thought it was just great).
We purchased a Quadrafire 7100FP for our new home. We had read of folks heating areas of 3000+ square feet, etc. and it seemed like just what we needed. After the install, it was an extreme disappointment. Even with the fireplace roaring, we could barely heat the living room, kitchen, and dining room even though it is all open construction. The air flow from the top vent is nil; I had to light a match, blow it out, and observe the smoke moving to indicate that the blower was operating. It is as if there is a complete blockage of the air intake to the heating plenum where the fans are located. (I have checked the fans, they are running). I can put my hand over the vent when the stove is roaring and not have to pull it away. No heat, no air flow felt either. Others say they can put their hand over the vent for only a few seconds before they get burned.
THIS LACK OF AIRFLOW IS A COMMON PROBLEM WITH THIS FIREPLACE, THERE ARE VIDEOS OF IT ON YOUTUBE.
Try this video:
This should be an easy fix, something is definitely wrong with some of the installations. Mine was installed by the local dealer.
Some folks have said that the fireplace performed well before the front panel was installed and after it was installed there was no air flow, and little heat. Before the front panel was installed, people complained the house was too hot. We never had the front panel off, it was installed when the fireplace was installed. One person complained to the dealer who had installed the fireplace and was told that these fireplaces don't have much air flow, that's the way they perform. Since others rave about this fireplaces performance, I doubt that statement was little more than a dodge on the part of the installer.
All the normal issues have been addressed, ash buildup, flue obstruction, etc. Something is preventing air from getting to the blowers or is blocking the air flow out of the vent.
Any thoughts would be appreciated.
