Pellet stove roll call!

[Wayne M.]

I just moved, and the new place has a Quadra Fire pellet stove- model Mt. Vernon AE, which is down with a bad thermocouple that I’m getting ready to replace today. I’m hoping to have it up real soon because the temps are dropping here in the northeast.
I’d like to open a discussion on these stoves. Do you use one? What kind is it, and has it been reliable? What fuel do you use with it? Hard or soft wood, etc? What do you use to clean it? Do you have a basic shop vac, or did you get a special ash vac?
Another room in the house has a Marco gas log fireplace that I hate. I’m seriously considering some type of insert to replace it, so I am also looking for input on that too. It seems logical to stick with pellets, but I’m open to ideas.
I’m not a complete newbie to pellets, some may recall my somewhat recent dive into wood pellet grilling with my Pit Boss grille.

 

[NIsaacs]

We bought a used Austroflamm Integra insert and used it as free standing. It was old but very sophisticated/complex for it's age. It was very needy and expensive to repair. Hard to clean, high maintenance and would plug up the auger continually. Pellets are key.

We now have a King Stove, very simple and works good. Again, pellets are key. When you find a good combo stick with it. It is on it's 4th year and never has plugged up the auger. I have replaced the igniter and the thermal unit. Ya gotta keep the system clean all the way to the spark arrester screen. Would never go back to wood stove.

 

[Wayne M.]

So I replaced the thermocouple and it lit right up, so I’m ecstatic about that. 3 guys at the 2 fireplace store locations warned me that I’d need a control board either because it’s bad already, I’d fry it by not unplugging it first before doing the job, or I’d rip the socket off the board. Hmm, I guess I dodged all those bullets.

 

[TFucili]

Gonna iron some shirts, I see.

 

[Timd32]

I had an EPA insert put in a few years back, 6" SS liner and its pretty neat little wood stove.

I did a ton of research on the hearth.com site, never really participated in the forum that much but it has tons and tons of info on stoves. I had ours installed as they did our furnace chimney liner at the same time.

Those EPA inserts for typical wood really need properly seasoned product, so its kinda hard to get off the ground year 1 on that unless you have a known good source, so pellets sound like a good choice.

 

[Wayne M.]

Gonna iron some shirts, I see.

One of my Mother In Laws many knickknacks.

So I sat on a chair and worked through the thermostat. I have to say it’s a decent unit. I programmed it and we will see how it does......

 

[AH64ID]

We bought the house we live in back in Dec of ‘14. It came with a Quadrafire 1200i pellet insert, and we love it.

The date code on the stove is from ‘06.

Upon moving in I had to replace the fire pot, and did so again last winter. Not sure if the previous owners replaced it, or if it was original in ‘14. It’s possible we use it a lot more than they did. We go thru about 3.5-4 tons a winter, and 450 gallons of propane annually (furnace, stove, tankless hot water heater).

I’ve had to replace one hinge on the hopper lid, and the exhaust fan. Otherwise it’s been pretty reliable.

We burn premium Douglas Fir pellets as a rule. Occasionally if we need an extra ton in the spring we have to get something else when our normal brand is sold out. It’s always a crapshoot when that happens, and this last brand was horrible, horrible, beyond horrible. They don’t light on anything but high, are dirty, and cold burning. Never again, I already bought 1 ton this fall and will buy 3 more next month, vs my normal 2 in December. They will all live in the horse trailer until I need them.

One thing I did that I am rather proud of is I set it up on a Honeywell WiFi thermostat. Quadrafire uses 12VAC vs the standard 24VAC thou, so it took a couple of relays and a 24VAC transformer. I can explain it further if you are interested, but it’s really nice being able to program my stove and start it remotely. I set it 1-2° above my propane furnace 22 hours a day. The other 2 hours, one in the morning and one in the evening, I let the propane furnace heat the whole house quickly. This really only happens when it’s below 20° outside. When it dips below 10° the pellet stove can’t keep up and the furnace runs about 10-15% of the time. Below 0° and the furnace runs 25% of the time.

All in all we’re very pleased and would do the same thing again if we moved/built.

 

[HPSimpson]

Congratulations on your new house!

 

[Wayne M.]

Congratulations on your new house!

Thank You!

 

[Wayne M.]

We go thru about 3.5-4 tons a winter, and 450 gallons of propane annually (furnace, stove, tankless hot water heater).

Wow that’s a lot of pellets! How many bags a day is that? What do you do with the ash?

 

[AH64ID]

Wow that’s a lot of pellets! How many bags a day is that? What do you do with the ash?

We average about a bag a day, when it’s COLD we can run 1.5-2 bags a day.

As far as cleaning we open it up and vacuum it about once a week, and clean the glass too. About once a week we clean the fire pit with the pull tab, that gets dumped in the outside fire pit. Every ton I open it up completely and clean out the hidden compartments. It’s not a lot of ash, I normally don’t fill 2 bags on the 5 gallon shop-vac over the winter. I do double the filtration thou. I use the canister filter and a filter bag. Even the dirt pellets don’t produce as much ash as the wood stove in my shop, which runs near WO most the time.

We like the fire and it’s central to the house, so we run it often.

 

[Wayne M.]

So that leads to my other question- you use a basic shop vac? Is that a filter bag over the cannister filter?

 

[AH64ID]

So that leads to my other question- you use a basic shop vac? Is that a filter bag over the cannister filter?

Correct, just our garage shop vac (Lowe's brand) with a cartridge filter and a bag. No issues... well normally no issues, 3 winters ago I didn't change the bag in time and it ripped.. man that was some ash out the exhaust now I change the bag 1/2 way thru the winter as a steadfast rule.

 

[Wayne M.]

I saw a dedicated ash vac at Tractor Supply. I was wondering if it’s worth it.

 

[AH64ID]

I saw a dedicated ash vac at Tractor Supply. I was wondering if it’s worth it.

Could you tell what the difference was?

 

[Wayne M.]

Could you tell what the difference was?

Well I didn’t take the ash vac apart, but from glancing at it on the shelf, it sure was very robust looking. Kind of like the B&D my dad had when I was a kid. Metal can and lid with buckle clips.
https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/redstone-ash-vacuum-cleaner?cm_vc=-10005
Hmm. It did get crummy reviews.

 

[AH64ID]

Metal can is probably what makes it designated for ash, as most others are plastic. I clean when cool and then keep the shopvac outside overnight. Unlike a wood stove there are not embers.

 

[TFucili]

Back in my Stihl days, they got into industrial vacuums and power washers. They were made by a neighboring German manufacturer called WAP. Top shelf stuff all the way. I still have one of the vacuums. It is wet/dry, has excellent CFM and "pull", and can run triple filtration. Basically, nothing comes out the exhaust. On top of that it is very quiet. They appear to have been bought out or changed hands.

I think I have the granddaddy to this:

Amazon product ASIN B00HQOB0ZC

 

[NIsaacs]

Back in my Stihl days, they got into industrial vacuums and power washers. They were made by a neighboring German manufacturer called WAP. Top shelf stuff all the way. I still have one of the vacuums. It is wet/dry, has excellent CFM and "pull", and can run triple filtration. Basically, nothing comes out the exhaust. On top of that it is very quiet. They appear to have been bought out or changed hands.

I think I have the granddaddy to this:

Amazon product ASIN B00HQOB0ZC

That looks like a dandy. I hate a vacuum that wont suck..I mean "pull"

 

[NIsaacs]

Back in my Stihl days, they got into industrial vacuums and power washers. They were made by a neighboring German manufacturer called WAP. Top shelf stuff all the way. I still have one of the vacuums. It is wet/dry, has excellent CFM and "pull", and can run triple filtration. Basically, nothing comes out the exhaust. On top of that it is very quiet. They appear to have been bought out or changed hands.

I think I have the granddaddy to this:

Amazon product ASIN B00HQOB0ZC

Thanks for the tip, Tom. Stihl offers two models, the SE62 and SE122. I think I will order the 62. The specs are very similar but way less money.

https://www.acehardware.com/departments/tools/wet-dry-vacuums/wetdry-vacuums/1001075

https://www.acehardware.com/departments/tools/wet-dry-vacuums/wetdry-vacuums/1001074