quadrafire cb1200 heating issues

[wreckhead]

Hi all. New to the forum but have already found a wealth of knowledge here.
I recently purchased a brand new quadrafire cb 1200 and am having problems actually heating my space. It sits in a restaurant that is approximately 1500-1600 square feet. The stove seems to work fine, (good fire, pellets seem to feed ok etc.) But the highest temperature I can get in the room is 57 degrees. I've tried adjusting the pellet feed door and all this does is suck through the pellets quicker. The dealer has come back and replacex the thermocoupler. It seemed to be better for a bit but I still have the same issues. Also stove seems to create a large amount of ash which I need to clean about every day and I'm going through 2-3 bags of pellets a day. The stove never shuts off because it never reaches the temp on the thermostat.

The building is super insulated so I know its not that. There are times when I put my hand in front of the stove and it seems to be throwing cool to luke to

warm air. Thankfully the restaurant is not open yet so I'm not worried about
customers but when people stop by they need to stand right in front of the stove to stay warm. Any suggestions?

 

[mralias]

1. What brand of pellets are you using.
2. You sure the convection fan is coming on?
3. Where is you thermostat located compared to the stove? (Take it out of the loop and run the stove with the jumper for a while to see if that kicks up the room temp)
4. How high are the ceilings in the building and how many windows? (Are they good windows?)

These are some starting points. Based on what you have posted, it does not make sense that the best you can do is 57.

 

[wreckhead]

The pellets are Tracor Supply bagged but are produced in Ashland Maine.

Not sure about the covection fan. Isthat the same as the fan that blows heat into the room? If so yes if not I don't know

I've tried thermostat in several locations and tried swapping it for another. No improvement. I have bypassed it like you requested.

I have 9 foot ceilings with 2 ceiling fans circulating the air. There are 7 24x40 brand new Pella argon filled windows. I don't feel any air infiltration around them

1. What brand of pellets are you using.
2. You sure the convection fan is coming on?
3. Where is you thermostat located compared to the stove? (Take it out of the loop and run the stove with the jumper for a while to see if that kicks up the room temp)
4. How high are the ceilings in the building and how many windows? (Are they good windows?)

These are some starting points. Based on what you have posted, it does not make sense that the best you can do is 57.

 

[mralias]

The pellets are Tracor Supply bagged but are produced in Ashland Maine.

Not sure about the covection fan. Isthat the same as the fan that blows heat into the room? If so yes if not I don't know

I've tried thermostat in several locations and tried swapping it for another. No improvement. I have bypassed it like you requested.

I have 9 foot ceilings with 2 ceiling fans circulating the air. There are 7 24x40 brand new Pella argon filled windows. I don't feel any air infiltration around them

There are two fans. The combustion fan is for the exhaust of the stove and convection fan is to distribute the heat once the stove is up to proper temp. You should hear both turn on at the specified times. First the combustion as soon as the stove is turned on then about 10 to 15 mins. later the convection. As long as the room temp is prompting the stove for heat and the stove is up to the proper temp for the convection fan to run there should be no cool air at all coming from the stove vents. The air should be hot almost too hot to hold you hand in front of. If your stove is not doing this then something is very wrong.

Is the flame coming out of the burn pot about 4 to 6 inches and snappy rather than a tall lazy flame with black wisps of smoke?

You could also post a short video of the stove running for everyone to see. This will help assessment of possible issues. Include the fire in the burn pot, the venting, the stove location and an overall of the room you are trying to heat.

 

[Jaymaine34]

What are you running the stove on for settings ? You say the fire looks good ( active ? Color ? Height ? )
This stove should have no problem with this space ! 2-3 bags a day is crazy ! Those are Not the greatest pellets but I don't Beleive that's your major issue here .
Also for my own interest what part of Maine are you in ?

 

[wreckhead]

Yes. Both fans are working. I actually have more heat coming out the exhaust than I do the stove. I held a thermometer in front and the air temp was about 110 degrees at the stove. There are times when I can lay my palm against the glass and not get burned.

Flame is good. 4-6 inches and snappy. I will work on the video.

 

[wreckhead]

Jay, I'm in Millinocket

 

[Jaymaine34]

Jay, I'm in Millinocket

Very nice area have family up there !
110 is way to low ! Is this on high ?

 

[mralias]

I have the cb1200i which is a bit different than the cb1200. Is it possible the convection fan is not seated in the right spot and the air is not being pushed through the stove? Jaymaine34 may have much better suggestions as I see he has three of these bad boys.

 

[wreckhead]

Both settings are on high. I trying to load a video. Tech skills aren't that great though.

 

[Jaymaine34]

I have the cb1200i which is a bit different than the cb1200. Is it possible the convection fan is not seated in the right spot and the air is not being pushed through the stove? Jaymaine34 may have much better suggestions as I see he has three of these bad boys.

Starting to sound like it maybe something like that ! Since its a brand new stove I would try bumping the gate open just a little more ( a little can make a huge difference ) would help if I knew how far open it is now 1/4-1/2 ect .
When you feel the blower is it a strong feeling fan ? Switch the fan speed up and down and see if you can see a difference in wind speed .
This will let us know if we are getting good air flow over the heat exchangers . I don't think this is your problem either because if it was the stove would be overheating and tripping the snap disk .
Is this a self install ? Do you have an OAK ?

 

[wreckhead]

Starting to sound like it maybe something like that ! Since its a brand new stove I would try bumping the gate open just a little more ( a little can make a huge difference ) would help if I knew how far open it is now 1/4-1/2 ect .
When you feel the blower is it a strong feeling fan ? Switch the fan speed up and down and see if you can see a difference in wind speed .
This will let us know if we are getting good air flow over the heat exchangers . I don't think this is your problem either because if it was the stove would be overheating and tripping the snap disk .
Is this a self install ? Do you have an OAK ?

No Oak. Pro install. I just checked the switches and the one marked "heat" shows a big difference in air speed from low to medium but NO difference from med to high. Bad switch maybe?

 

[mralias]

One thing you can rule out right away and fairly cheaply is go buy a bag of good pellets and see if that makes any difference, although I would be more incline to believe it has to do with the function of the stove rather than crappy pellets. 2-3 bags of pellets is way too many pellets in a day. OAK could help and I thought recommended by Home and Health Tech.

 

[SwineFlue]

No Oak. Pro install. I just checked the switches and the one marked "heat" shows a big difference in air speed from low to medium but NO difference from med to high. Bad switch maybe?

What about the other switch?

Are your kitchen exhaust blowers running yet? If they exhaust to the outside, then you absolutely need an OAK. No way can the combustion blower compete with those puppies.

 

[wreckhead]

The othe switch seems fine. This is not in the kitchen area but the blowers are not on yet.

 

[SwineFlue]

One thing you can rule out right away and fairly cheaply is go buy a bag of good pellets and see if that makes any difference

I'll second that: get a day's worth of good pellets and run them through after cleaning the burnpot and the heat exchanger tubes. (Ash up around the heat exchanger tubes will act as an insulator.)

The stove is creating "a large amount of ash"... if it's in the burnpot, make sure those 8(?) tiny holes around the very bottom of the burnpot are clear. I use a small allen wrench to push out any ash.

My experience running a Quad is that, to run on High for more than a few hours at a time, the burnpot performs a lot better with good low-ash pellets.

 

[Jaymaine34]

The othe switch seems fine. This is not in the kitchen area but the blowers are not on yet.

With the fan switch do you see a big difference in air movement ? Low med high is heat .fan only has hi/lo .

 

[Jaymaine34]

What about the other switch?

Are your kitchen exhaust blowers running yet? If they exhaust to the outside, then you absolutely need an OAK. No way can the combustion blower compete with those puppies.

I agree with those exhaust hoods running you will most likely need an oak , but since they are not running now we can rule that out . If you can get the video up of the fire that will help . A few good bags of pellets are not a bad idea they will help , but I'm pretty sure that's not the root of the problem . Even when I burn GS I get readings of 220 plus . On a day like today my home is keeping 75 and the stove is off most of the day ( more space then you are trying to heat )
Step one is to clean the stove ! Also has it always run like this ? If the ansewer is no I'm leaning towards a dirty stove !

 

[wreckhead]

Jay
The stove is only 3-4 weeks old and has run like this since day one. As I said before the burn chamber gets full of ash very quickly so I'm usually cleaning it every day. Could there be a gasket that's not sealed properly?

 

[mralias]

Make sure the burn pot bolts are snug, That gasket could be sucking air not allowing the ash to be ejected from the burn pot. Normally if that were an issue your flame would be lazy and tall though. I would still try a different pellet to be sure.

 

[Jaymaine34]

An air leak could cause what you describe . Have you done the dollar bill test ? The hard part here is there are a few things that could cause this . There is an air flow issue ! We just need to find it . Couple things to try one the dollar bill test . The other is to pull the ash pan out some while the stove is running and see if the flame changes ( be careful !)
Do the dollar bill test first . Check the door and ash pan ( do this with the stove off and cool ) also at this time be sure and check the fire pot holes and be sure they are all clear and open ( I use a 4 inch deck screw ) while we're at it open the fire pot panel ( 2 screws in the front and see if everything is moving smoothly ) give it a full cleaning and fire it back up .
Do you have photos of the install and venting ?

 

[wreckhead]

Well I guess the fine folks at Quadrafire did not find it necessary to put gaskets at the top of all 3 windows. Also found a couple spots on the door not sealing well and 2 spots in the ash pan door that I could actually see into the fire box. I replaced all gaskets on the stove (ash pan, door and windows). Only been on for an hour or so and I can already feel the difference. i just hope i see a reduction in pellet useage.Thanks to everyone for the input. You don't know how much it helped.

 

[Phoenix Hatchling]

You may want to divulge the name of the dealer, since if he was unable to diagnose that there were no gaskets installed and replaced the thermocouple instead, he may not be all that competent in the wares which he sells. Potential customers may want to do their due diligence when engaging this businessman.

 

[richg]

If it were me, I would be requesting 20% off my next purchase of pellets from your dealer. Old saying, "You don't ask, you don't get". I bought a top of the line generator from Northern Tool...it screwed up the first time I used it, and it took three small engine repair shops to fix the engine. After it finally was working correctly, I called their warranty dept and asked for a $250.00 gift card for the time it took me to transport the generator to three repair shops. It arrived five days later. Glad things worked out for you.

 

[Jaymaine34]

Well I guess the fine folks at Quadrafire did not find it necessary to put gaskets at the top of all 3 windows. Also found a couple spots on the door not sealing well and 2 spots in the ash pan door that I could actually see into the fire box. I replaced all gaskets on the stove (ash pan, door and windows). Only been on for an hour or so and I can already feel the difference. i just hope i see a reduction in pellet useage.Thanks to everyone for the input. You don't know how much it helped.

Glad you got it dialed in ! As for the top of the 3 windows not being sealed lets be sure you didn't plug up the air-wash !
Not sure you needed to replace the gaskets ( the screw sets on the latches should have been able to correct this )
I'm in shock your dealer didn't catch this ! I would at the very least letting him know what I found !