vermont castings ewf30 sequoia II technical questions

[MountainStoveGuy]

Elrack, thats exactly what he did. What that accomplished for him is slowing down the daft, and giving the stove a chance to burn the flue gasses before they escaped up the chimney. THis increases stove temps, and slows the air down in the unit and provides longer burn times.

 

[slashct]

If I get the damper installed it will be this summer since they have to take the wall out, if they go and do this I might just have the dealer put the bigger fireplace in if we have to, I will work VC over to take this one back. I tweaked the tape some more on the OAK and can get 4 hour burn times and 400 degrees. I will continue to play with it.

Now an Update on the whole thing: I talked this morning with my builder and he has talked to the owner of the company that installed the fireplace and expressed his dissatisfaction (along with mine) and how we have been strung along since May on this. One issue I did not mention was when it was installed the electrical was not installed correctly on the stove and the cord melted and shorted out. My builders electrian fixed this when they upened up underneath the fireplace installers ran the cable under a piece of metal not through the correct location. My builder has been a good a customer with this company for over 20 years and they agreed that they will straighten out this mess and make us happy (otherwise my builder is ready to sue his ass). So tomorrow the company is looking at the fireplace and going to go over everything. And get this as well The VC rep is due in the area next week and will look over the fireplace and go overthe performance issue.
Right now the dealers feedback is not very good for us, they feel that this fireplace was in the recall and was not fixed, and they will have to do so. They feel that the performance issues could be a combination of items, including the missing insulation on the fireplace, bad flue bypass, and that I should not need a damper. They think that the reason the cord melted was because the insulation was missing in that area. If the fireplace is in the recall they will replace it at no charge, however it means making a nice mess in our FR. If they are opening up the wall to do this I will just go to the bigger unit.

 

[MountainStoveGuy]

I would agree with that, if you have the option get the larger unit, do it. what are you calling burn times? we define that as a firebox full of wood lit, to a cold stove. With a firebox of that size, i would say you should be loading it avery 4 hours and not having to relight it.

 

[slashct]

I have to stoke it and reload it about every 4 hours now down to maybe 2" of coals, before it was every 1 1/2-2 hours. The stove retains the heat for quite a while afterward.

 

[elrack]

That is about the same performance that I am getting. 3-4 hours of usable heat.

 

[slashct]

There is a definite warmer feel in the room, but I still cannot get the temperature in the room much higher than a degree or so than what the thermostat is set.

 

[begreen]

That's pretty much how my stove works when it is cold out. There's nothing wrong with the stove in our case, works like a charm. It's just that in it's location it is doing a good job of evenly heating most of the house. For a 2000 sq ft, burning soft maple, it's a bit undersized for when the temps drop into the mid-20's. I've found out that by controlling the heat distribution, (see my experiments in another thread), I could get the living room warmer. But this would be at the expense of another area being a bit cooler.

Solution for us is either : a bigger stove, burn hotter wood or manufactured logs, or just live with it. In the meantime we continue to tighten up the house. Reducing heat loss is the best long-term investment.

 

[elrack]

Jason, so you taped up some of the OAK. Is your air intake for inside air plugged? You are seeing the dancing flames at 200-250, about 100 degrees less than you are heated the fireplace up to? Sorry about the questions, I am trying to get a better handle on this and relating it to my fireplace.

 

[slashct]

Carl, I took tape and covered one half of the OAK, I did nothing with the inside air intake. I was going to look at that and see if I could get a blast gate or something on that and than reopen the OAK. Not sure which is the best way. If there are any questions you want me to ask VC when they are here next week let me know.
The dancing flames for me occur when the temperature drops (not when the fireplace is heating) to around 200 degrees. I do not get many just a few I think I have a pretty wicked draft still. I mean when I open the flue to start the fireplace it is very drafty through it, which like MSG said is too much draft.

 

[elrack]

Thanks, Just wanted to compare. I get dancing flames at a lower temp as well however I get alot of them and they last for about an hour or more. I will let you know if I have any questions.

Carl

 

[elrack]

Jason, last night I followed your lead and blocked the OAK. It was real quick less than 2 hours before I went to bed. I just ended up stuffing a rag in the outside and I also plugged the indoor intake as well. It may be a fluke but I jumped about 20 degrees in temperature on the fireplace and it seemed to not burn as fast. Also my air intake control started working. Fully closed it would stifle the flames, fully open I would get the dancing flames. Now if I can get in contact with my installer and talk about putting in a damper control.... Anyone here know of a good service person in the mid-Michigan area?

 

[slashct]

Carl,

How did you block the indoor airtake? I have half of the OAK blocked, I might do a little more. It still draws a good amount of air in from the outside, when I put my hand over it when it is running their is a pretty good rush of air over my hand. Our house is pretty tight so I am leary of blocking the whole OAK. Last night was the first night I had a decent burn, I put two good size logs in the fireplace at 10:30 pm and this morning at 6 we had a few embers in the fireplace and was still warm. I might have been able to restart the fire with some kindling.
Like you now my air control seems to be working, if I turn it all th eway down i get some low flames around the logs and up the back, fully open much bigger flames. What I found is keeping the air control almost closed I can get the temperature of the fireplace much hotter and up just over 400 degrees. Let me know what you find for a damper control, the guys here want to rip open my wall.
I am leaning towards a 4" dust collector blast gate that I can control maually from my basement right now, I think it would work similar to a damper control without the cost of ripping a wall out.
Oh and for quality of the fireplace, the gasket has fallen out from around the door, the cement is failing on it, this mind you has only been in use for less than 6 weeks...

Jason

 

[elrack]

The indoor air intake is right behing the rheostat for controlling the fan speed. I took the rheostat mounting plate off so I can get my hand in there easier. I stuffed a rag in both intakes. So I fully blocked it but it is still pulling air through. When I get time I will block it like you have done.

what is a 4" dust collector blast gate?

WOW! That is really bad, your installer should be getting you replacment stuff under warrantee.

 

[elrack]

OK, I see what a blast gate is now. So you are looking at controlling burn on the intake side?

 

[slashct]

The installer is due by the house today, maybe I will finally get my new handles! Heck it has only been installed since last year when they were building it! VC is due in next week.

I figured if I can control the air from the intake side it would be the same as from the exhaust. I think it would be easier than what the installers want to do. Not sure what we can do otherwise on the exhaust side. I have not played with the intake from the room yet.

 

[slashct]

Carl,

My findings are that I can on some days get the fireplace up to 400-450 degrees, when I do so I can get some good heat and keep the house at about 70. Once the stove temperature is below 300 the heat output is drastically lower. I blocked off just over 1/2 of the OAK and it seems to make a difference. Does anyone know what the operating temperature should be on this fireplace?