hi folks, just got / installed a new quadrafire 3100 steptop. been burning 3 days now and have a few ?s. temps in single digits and below. no problem heating 2200 sq ft wide open house. i see some people post 8-12 hr. burn times. after 6 hrs all i have is a good bed of coals, air shut down before going to bed. seem normal? also when should i reload? i have been mostly playing (as it is a new toy) and burning wide open or very close for about an hour to raise the temp in stove room to 75-78 then shut down to 1/4 open for the rest of day. this seems to maintain a consistant temp. when i have room for a couple of logs, i reload and dont mess with the air.should i let i burn down more? burning mix of hardwoods all dry and seasoned. (so i am told) i have read that you should burn wide open for a bit every week to help clean chimney. if so how often and how long? my chimney is 5-1/2 ft double wall and 7 ft class a. straight up. this unit / chimney seems to work well no smoke, puffs of smoke or smoke from chimney after burning good. thanks in advance for the advice, oneway.
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Welcome Oneway - Lots of good stuff here so poke around and use the search but we love QnA so feel free to ask away.
Regarding reload - a modern stove is designed to burn in cycles so a best practice is to load and burn through a full cycle down to coals and around 300 on top before a full reload. That said, when I am home all day I do a lot of what you are talking about - I rake coals forward and load 1-2 splits on top of the coals and just keep it hot all day. You are doing things right so just play around with it.
The issue with stoves and this super cold weather is that you often need more fuel to keep up with the COLD and load onto a lot of coals. This makes the stove less efficient as a heat producer but part of the deal when battling super cold conditions. If this is happening try piling up the coals towards the front and burning small splits on top of them to reduce the coal build up.
Chimney system seems short but if it works don't fix it! Pics are always appreciated by us here and remember that stove works best with dry wood so get to collecting your 2015/16/17 stash now. It takes a yr minimum to have split and stacked wood ready to burn safely and efficiently so you cannot have too much - EVER!
enjoy the heat
Regarding reload - a modern stove is designed to burn in cycles so a best practice is to load and burn through a full cycle down to coals and around 300 on top before a full reload. That said, when I am home all day I do a lot of what you are talking about - I rake coals forward and load 1-2 splits on top of the coals and just keep it hot all day. You are doing things right so just play around with it.
The issue with stoves and this super cold weather is that you often need more fuel to keep up with the COLD and load onto a lot of coals. This makes the stove less efficient as a heat producer but part of the deal when battling super cold conditions. If this is happening try piling up the coals towards the front and burning small splits on top of them to reduce the coal build up.
Chimney system seems short but if it works don't fix it! Pics are always appreciated by us here and remember that stove works best with dry wood so get to collecting your 2015/16/17 stash now. It takes a yr minimum to have split and stacked wood ready to burn safely and efficiently so you cannot have too much - EVER!
enjoy the heat
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