Reworking my Quadrafire 5700

[chadihman]

I really like many parts of my 5700. It holds lots of wood,cranks some serious heat and has really good burn times. I also love the view of the secondary burn through the large glass door.
Theres one thing that really bugs me about this stove though. It has a good sized ash pan that is useless if your asking me. The quad 5700 has a plate in the bottom of the stove that has to be removed and a lever turned on the side of the stove to open a sealed drop away door into the unsealed ash pan compartment. I used it once and said the he## with that. I just clean the ash with a shovel.
My plan is to remove the trap door from the bottom of the stove and replace the plate in the bottom of the stove with a grate. I'm then going to make a larger sealed ash compartment for a larger as pan to sit in and then have a sealed door on the front. I'll use the grate for easy removal of ashes and I can open the ash door for an air blast from the bottom for getting rid of the coals and get usefull heat from the last of the fire before reloading.
So what say you fellas?

 

[jags]

DO NOT use the ashpan door for a "blast" of air. Repeat - DO NOT. I did this once with my Isle Royale and the resulting flashback dang near blew the stove to the basement. I will gar-own-tee that you will be changing your britches if it happens to you.

Please - heed this warning. It can be very dangerous.

Also, the heat that can be generated by doing this is WAY more than the stove was designed for. You are essentially turning it into a coal stove (fed air from the bottom) and not a wood stove (air fed to surface).

Not sure if it matters, but an altered stove no longer meets the requirements for a "safe" install (the stove was never tested in the altered config). If something were to happen, and your INS Co. got wind of altercations, they could easily deny a claim.

 

[shelbythedog]

My goodness the safety police came out swinging in post two of the thread, way to go!

But enough already, I couldn't agree more, the ash pan on my 4300 looks to be so useless I have never even attempted to use it. Been scooping them out since day one. Good for you on working to fix an obvious problem with your piece of equipment.

 

[chadihman]

DO NOT use the ashpan door for a "blast" of air. Repeat - DO NOT. I did this once with my Isle Royale and the resulting flashback dang near blew the stove to the basement. I will gar-own-tee that you will be changing your britches if it happens to you.

Please - heed this warning. It can be very dangerous.

Also, the heat that can be generated by doing this is WAY more than the stove was designed for. You are essentially turning it into a coal stove (fed air from the bottom) and not a wood stove (air fed to surface).

Not sure if it matters, but an altered stove no longer meets the requirements for a "safe" install (the stove was never tested in the altered config). If something were to happen, and your INS Co. got wind of altercations, they could easily deny a claim.

I dont think a flashback would happen if the main air control is wide open before opening a door. A flashback happens when the fire is choked down and a fast charge of oxygen hits the wood. Add the air slowly by opening the air controls wide open before opening any door. I have a stove top thermometer and a stove pipe probe thermometer and would watch those closely when opening the ash door just a crack to add a little air for burning up coals. I wouldnt open the ash door wide open. Simple common sense has to be used. I had an Isle royale that I loved because of the grate and the sealed ash compartment.

 

[jags]

When you open the ashpan door, things can get crazy real fast. I mean fast. Within minutes it went from "starting" to thermonuclear. Shutting down the ash pan and adjusting the primary air caused the flashback.

I am not usually a policy wonk. Do as you wish, but when I have personally been on the receiving end of a bad experiment, I would prefer to share the experience and save you the same. I guess that if this is seen as the "safety" police - then so be it.

 

[Highbeam]

Ash pans on woodstoves are stupid. They are only put there to satisfy the checklist buyers that want one. I wish my blaze king didn't have one since it surely added cost to the stove, creates a weakness compared to no pan, additional parts to maintain, and is insulting to our intelligence.

The least they could do it make the pans large enough to hold a full stove belly of ash. Most pans require multiple loads to empty one firebox.

Also stupid is that most ash pans are designed with some sort of chute in the bottom of the box requiring you to dig into the ash to open the chute. You may as well be scooping the ashes with a shovel like an intelligent human.

 

[chadihman]

Ash pans on woodstoves are stupid. They are only put there to satisfy the checklist buyers that want one. I wish my blaze king didn't have one since it surely added cost to the stove, creates a weakness compared to no pan, additional parts to maintain, and is insulting to our intelligence.

The least they could do it make the pans large enough to hold a full stove belly of ash. Most pans require multiple loads to empty one firebox.

Also stupid is that most ash pans are designed with some sort of chute in the bottom of the box requiring you to dig into the ash to open the chute. You may as well be scooping the ashes with a shovel like an intelligent human.

I love ash pans when there big and work. Opinions are like a holes everyone has one

 

[jags]

The ash pan on my Isle Royale is large, easy to use (has a grate on the stove bottom, not a plug) and will hold quite a bit. It doubles the time between ash cleaning. Only shoveling the stove = about 2 gallons of ash. Stove plus pan = about 4. Not all pans are created equal.

 

[TBrown]

I have the same stove since January. I don't mind the current setup at all. I don't use the cast plug. I just cover the trapdoor with some ash. I do really like the stove, am very happy we upgraded from a briar wood 2. Chad, happy with the 460 crank?

 

[savageactor7]

After having 3 stoves with easy to use ash pans I didn't think I could heat 24/7 without one.

But now after heating with the QF 4300 for a few years it's become 2nd nature and imo easier that using our ash pan stoves.

When the stove is coolest, usually in the mornings we'll just shovel out the white inert ash and rake the hot coals forward.

With our other stoves when the ash pan is full you had to deal with it PRONTO or the hot coals would work on the grates...now with just shoveling a few scoops of ash into the bucket daily I control when the ash bucket goes outside to the garden.

I would leave the 5700 as is.

 

[chadihman]

I have the same stove since January. I don't mind the current setup at all. I don't use the cast plug. I just cover the trapdoor with some ash. I do really like the stove, am very happy we upgraded from a briar wood 2. Chad, happy with the 460 crank?

Yup thanks man. I got the crank installed and the 460 rips again