My opinion on the Quadrafire 7100 zero clearance fireplace

[BarbadosSheep]

After years of planning and saving, I finally got my Quadrafire 7100 zero clearance EPA fireplace installed. I have been heating with this unit exclusively all winter now. While this is an expensive unit, it was so worth it. I did the stone work myself...it was really easy. The stone comes glued together in sections and it just has to be adhered to the wall with thinset. It took me two weekends to get it done. The mantel will be antique black walnut. Its mostly done, but I can't do the finish on it until the weather warms up so it won't be up intil spring.

This "fireplace" is sealed and performs more like a woodstove. it has a blower, although it's not required to use it, so the unit will work during a power outage just fine. My biggest problem with this stove is it heats my house up too easily. lol. I end up having to open the windows to cool things off a bit. It holds a good bed of coals overnight and is easy to reignite in the morning.

this fireplace has a secondary burn. I didn't really understand what that was until I saw it. it's beautiful to see! This photo shows it pretty well. there are gasses that burn off in the top section of the stove, under the baffles.

Another great feature is the air wash across the glass doors works well enough that the glass stays pretty clean. It does soot up if I run a long slow burn, but as soon as I make a good fire the glass cleans up perfectly all by it's self. When I load the stove, I leave the left door shut and only open the right. if I do this, no smoke ever comes in the house. Leaving the right door cracked is a great way to really get a rolling fire in just a few minutes.

Overall, I love this unit. it is beautiful to look at and is extremely easy to operate. it's a little expensive, but I am still very happy I got it.

[Rita]

We will need another woodburner when we move so this is very interesting and I will look up info on the stove but was wondering in the meantime if it has any sort of damper to damp down the fire if it is getting too hot. Nice job on the stone. What brand was the stone?

[Backfourty,MI.]

We have a Quadrafire pellet stove. Bought it in 2007, it was expensive also but so worth it. It's heats our whole house & we've been realy happy with ours too.

You did a Great job on installing the stone & looking forward to the finished project picture with the mantle all done too.

[BarbadosSheep]

Rita, there is a damper. There is also an automatic combustion control that will start the fire hot, then shut it down to where you have the damper pre-set. Very easy to operate. It draws combustion air from outside and also has another air supply that draws either room air or outside air (your choice) and runs it across the baffles and returns the warmed air to the room. We use outside air for that too, so we can create some positive pressure in the room. The stone came from Lowes, but not all lowes stores carry it. It's called quartz ledgestone. Its about 1/2 to 3/4" thick, very random. It looks a lot like stacked stone, but much easier to put up. It comes in sections that are 6" wide and 16" long. Here's a picture that kind of show it better.

My dad bought a bunch of antique rough cut walnut boards about 50 years ago and he's been hauling them around ever since. The boards were very old when he got them....the tree was felled with an ax! He's in his 80's now and decided he probably isn't going to use them so he gave them to me for this project.

[Cabin Fever]

We have a similar set up to yours, except our fireplace woodstove is made by RSF (a Canadian company). It heats our entire home, too.

The fan makes the fireplace so much more efficient. I am sure the stove would heat the house without the fan, but it would take so much more firewood. Consequently, it concerns me what would happen in an extended power outage. So, I did some research. Our fireplace fan is powered by an 87-watt motor. I am planning on cutting the two wires that lead to the fan and inserting a plug. Then, during a power outage, I can disconnect the fan from our homes electrical system and plug it into a DC to AC inverter powered by a deep cycle battery. With only a 87-watt draw, a deep cycle battery should keep the fan going for quite a while.

[Rita]

Barbados, thanks for the info and additional photo.

[cdehne]

We have a Quadrafire woodstove insert and love it for all of the same reasons that you said. We also have the "problem" of it heating the house too much at times. But I don't mind opening a window or door for a few minutes-the fresh air inside is nice!

[tinknal]

What kind of chimney does it use?

[MN Gardener]

I am a real estate appraiser and have been in quite a few houses with woodstoves and everyone with a Quadra were extremely happy with their choice. There was one house thar was 3000 sq ft and was heated exclusively with a Quadra and it was very warm in January in Northern MN

[BarbadosSheep]

Originally Posted by tinknal

What kind of chimney does it use?

There are two chimney systems that quadrafire approves. One is a duravent.....which is a triple wall insulated chimney. It's expensive. The other one is the SL300 series chimneys which is double walled with an air space between. The air space is vented to keep it cooler. I went with the double wall because of the price.

[Awnry Abe]

We have a Kozy Heat ZC stove, which is similar. Of all the things in this shiny new house, I shopped hard and heavy for three things: the cooktop, fridge, and fireplace. If I recall, of the handful of choices that on the wood stove, it boiled down to availability in our area. I have been absolutely thrilled with ours. We moved in October 2011 and had absolutely 0 winter. We used it once that winter and it blew us away. This winter, I have been able to crank it up more.

I really like the ZC stoves. Ours has a smaller firebox than what I am accustomed to, but I just need to tweak my log cutting and splitting. I can still load it up in the evening, and restoke it in the AM. It pretty much rocks. We have it in the finished area of the basement, and it heats the upstairs pretty well.

[Awnry Abe]

By the way, I really like your stonework. Very nice.

[pheasantplucker]

Looks great...I can't tell from the photos but what about the ash pan?

[stanb999]

Any modern stove or insert will completely blow a smoke dragon of 25 years ago out of the water in terms of even heat, long burn, and efficiency. You do have to watch quality, that was true back in the day as well.


As for the quadrafire. It's a nice piece of engineering. I just don't like the "big" fire bricks or panels. The other brands use just plain bricks which are cheaper in the long run.

[BarbadosSheep]

Originally Posted by CrownRanch

We have a Kozy Heat ZC stove, which is similar. Of all the things in this shiny new house, I shopped hard and heavy for three things: the cooktop, fridge, and fireplace. If I recall, of the handful of choices that on the wood stove, it boiled down to availability in our area. I have been absolutely thrilled with ours. We moved in October 2011 and had absolutely 0 winter. We used it once that winter and it blew us away. This winter, I have been able to crank it up more.

I really like the ZC stoves. Ours has a smaller firebox than what I am accustomed to, but I just need to tweak my log cutting and splitting. I can still load it up in the evening, and restoke it in the AM. It pretty much rocks. We have it in the finished area of the basement, and it heats the upstairs pretty well.

that was another one I had considered. And like you, when we built this house I shopped hard for only a few things. for me, it was the cooktop and the wood stove. And granite countertops. I was so sure I was going with the quadrafire that I framed the chase up for that one. Its one of the biggest ones on the market so I knew if I changed my mind, any of the other nice ZCs would fit. But in the end, this one won out. main deciding points.....firebox size, and the beauty of it. I loved the Nepoleon stoves too, but they required metal framing studs and I had already framed with wood, plus they cost more than the Quadrafire.

Originally Posted by pheasantplucker

Looks great...I can't tell from the photos but what about the ash pan?

there is no ash pan. that bothered me when I was shopping, but now that I have seen how efficient this unit is, it's not a big deal at all. I could not find a single EPA non catalytic zero clearance that does offer an ash pan. The floor is lined with firebrick and you don't use any grate....just set the logs right on the floor. When I told hubby that's how it works, he was REALLY skeptical. But the combustion air inlet is located at floor level in front of the door so the logs on the floor get plenty of air to ignite and burn beautifully. and because it is so efficnet, there is not that much ash to remove. we remove ash maybe every two days if it's been really cold. We use a two gallon galvanized pail. We first move the ash to the right side of the stove and then set the pail down inside the firebox. Then shovel the ashes into the pail. The draft draws most of the loose ash that's stired up right up the chimney so very little mess gets in the house.

Originally Posted by stanb999

As for the quadrafire. It's a nice piece of engineering. I just don't like the "big" fire bricks or panels. The other brands use just plain bricks which are cheaper in the long run.

quadrafire uses real firebricks too. That was important to me. years ago I had some zero clearance that used a sheet of refractory material and it cracked within the first year. that was an expensive replacement and the new one didn't hold up any better. Quadrafire's firebricks are easy to pull out and replace if one gets cracked.

[Cabin Fever]

Originally Posted by BarbadosSheep

....there is no ash pan. that bothered me when I was shopping....

Ash pans are over-rated, IMHO. Our RCF fireplace has an ash pan and we never use it. We find that it is easier to just scoop out some of the ashes from the firebox periodically.

[BarbadosSheep]

Originally Posted by Cabin Fever

Ash pans are over-rated, IMHO. Our RCF fireplace has an ash pan and we never use it. We find that it is easier to just scoop out some of the ashes from the firebox periodically.

yep, I agree. once I saw how this stove was actually constructed (firebrick in the stove's bottom) I realized why there could be no ash pan. I don't mind a bit not having an ash pan.

[Cabin Fever]

Originally Posted by BarbadosSheep

yep, I agree. once I saw how this stove was actually constructed (firebrick in the stove's bottom) I realized why there could be no ash pan. I don't mind a bit not having an ash pan.

Ours has a round piece of firebrick over the ash hole *ahem* leading to the ash pan area. You pry out the round firebrick, then pull a metal plug out, then push all the ash toward the hole. Next, you swing back the bottom air vent to expose the area below the firebox and pull out the ash pan. This process takes so much more time then just scooping the ash directly out of the firebox.

[BarbadosSheep]

oh yeah, that is WAY too much trouble. it sounds like they included an ash pan just so they could say they had one, since many folks think they need one.