What caused this

[FredH]

Not bashing original op ( Arrow ) on your operation of stove . As I Stated , My Parents have almost identical stove in their living room . Hottest he has ever had it was 700 , with usual hi temp only being in the low 600 range , with operating range from mid 400's to upper 500 range , depending on what they are doing , ( early morning start-up to mid day shut down ) . In your picture , there is obvious dis-coloration on that side meaning it has gotten very hot , thus my questioning of the ash pile . As I also stated , there is a reason that the fire brick is there and " Yes " your stove cracked above the fire brick , but with ash pile so deep basically your main heart of fire was burning above the brick line also .

Been around and used wood stoves all my life , Does not matter what brand , style or material it is made from , they all have limitations . Virtually all makers of Every product on the market have limitations to warranties , thus protecting themselves in some sort of fashion . I Don't Sell or have anything to do with Quadra fire , I do own this fire place : http://www.quadrafire.com/en/Products/7100-Wood-Fireplace.aspx# and my Parent's is similar to yours . We have had Ours for 5 year's ( maybe 4 ?? , old age , cannot remember ) , while my parents is like at least 10 year old , neither with issue's .

I really doubt you can find any stove maker that would back up a warranty once they looked at the stove .

Fred H.

 

[Renze]

I agree that a big high amperage MIG will penetrate, but as Ghenges said, those little 110V MIG machines just lay the metal on top and aren't much better bonded than Bondo.

Yep but you cant say that with a welder salesman nearby !! It destroys all appetite for people to buy the more expensive MIG instead of the better penetrating buzzbox !!
I've burned my number of wire rolls, both with high-end commercial welders, and 160A hobby welders. Even with a small MIG at high amperage, you just dont get more penetration, but get a flatter bead. So you end up grinding beveled edges to get things solidly attached.

 

[Mark @ Everlast]

Yep but you cant say that with a welder salesman nearby !! It destroys all appetite for people to buy the more expensive MIG instead of the better penetrating buzzbox !!
I've burned my number of wire rolls, both with high-end commercial welders, and 160A hobby welders. Even with a small MIG at high amperage, you just dont get more penetration, but get a flatter bead. So you end up grinding beveled edges to get things solidly attached.

That's what you are supposed to do with ANY weld over 3/16" or so in the first place. A single pass, gobby weld is destined for failure. Small, multi pass welds are what they use on pipe and any critical weld. It sounds as if you haven't been properly taught because of this statement.

As far as the flatter bead comment goes, that depends upon a lot of different factors, most of which surround technique, whether you push or pull...inductance, wire speed, gas type etc. Pulling produces a narrow deeply penetrating bead.

As far as a welder salesman goes...I sell ALL processes, so the argument isn't making any sense. Truth be known, TIG is the preferred method for quality welds...But I haven't promoted that...even though that is our main business and my bread and butter.

When you are talking penetration, for the root pass, you need a key hole, but the root pass may not be but less than 1/8" thick if done correctly. The weld on the back looks almost as good as the front. It's more of a "bridge" for future passes. The rest of the passes need only to melt the top layer and fuse the bottom of the top weld to the top of the bottom weld without voids. At this point penetration means something different, and anyone seeking more penetration than this is destined for a failed weld due to a large Heat Affected Zone (HAZ).

 

[joshuabardwell]

Not bashing original op ( Arrow ) on your operation of stove . As I Stated , My Parents have almost identical stove in their living room . Hottest he has ever had it was 700 , with usual hi temp only being in the low 600 range , with operating range from mid 400's to upper 500 range , depending on what they are doing , ( early morning start-up to mid day shut down )

That is consistent with my experience. My stove's manual says that peak operating efficiency is between 400 and 600 degrees surface temp. At 600 degrees surface temp, the burn tubes will be between 900-1000 degrees, which is right about where iron and steel start to glow, so I figure a surface temp over 600 degrees is overfiring. Now, like I said, there have been a time or two when the stove got away from me and got to a surface temp of as much as 850 degrees, and it doesn't seem to have done it any harm, but I suspect that such harm can be both cumulative as well as catastrophic, so I don't make a habit of it.

EDIT TO ADD: My stove is a Jotul F500.

 

[Scooby074]

Did you post over at Hearth? Those guys will know whats up and if this is a common problem.

 

[Scooby074]

Personally I think the biggest problem with Mig welding is, people don't run it hot enough!

This is it in a nutshell. MIG is a fine process but you need proper joint prep and HEAT. At a previous employer we built and maintained aggregate equipment and 95% of it was mig. These things took all kinds of abuse and vibrations with no failures, but we had BIG MP machines with lots of power.

Problem is people go out and buy a $500 mig "glue gun" and have attractive looking yet weak welds, because they are trying to use it to weld stuff way over its capacity. A $500 stick is a better purchase for these people on a budget, but stick requires practice to have nice welds (as we all know) and sure isnt as sexy as push button mig.

Same sort of thing with plasma IMHO. O/A is just as good, actually better for many on here because it has the ability to heat rusted items, but it isn't as easy or sexy as plasma.

 

[rankrank1]

This is it in a nutshell. MIG is a fine process but you need proper joint prep and HEAT. At a previous employer we built and maintained aggregate equipment and 95% of it was mig. These things took all kinds of abuse and vibrations with no failures, but we had BIG MP machines with lots of power.

Problem is people go out and buy a $500 mig "glue gun" and have attractive looking yet weak welds, because they are trying to use it to weld stuff way over its capacity. A $500 stick is a better purchase for these people on a budget, but stick requires practice to have nice welds (as we all know) and sure isnt as sexy as push button mig.

Same sort of thing with plasma IMHO. O/A is just as good, actually better for many on here because it has the ability to heat rusted items, but it isn't as easy or sexy as plasma.

Actually the problem is worse than you think as far too many people go out and buy the $89-$129 wire feeders from Harbor Freight (and other discount outlets like TSC) that are AC only and there is not a mig wire (or flux core wire) made that is designed for AC. In most of these cases the welds are neither pretty nor strong.

If they would only bother to spend a few more dollars to get something decent then that mig unit would be fine if used within its design limits, but everybody tries to overextend the capabilities of even the decent smaller machines. I do agree with you though that a capable stick welder is by far the best value going for those on a budget.

 

[Mark @ Everlast]

The type unit from HF you speak of is only really about 70 or 80 amps though they list more. You can't weld anything with a 70 amp stick welder very well either.

 

[94BULLITT]

I emailed quadrafire when I got my 5700 and asked how hot you could get it. They said you could normally fire it to 650* or spike it to 700*. They said you can tell if you are over firing it if the fire brick are peeling.

 

[Shield Arc]

This over firing of a wood stove seems so strange to me. Never heard of the term until this thread. But then again I have never bought a wood stove. Built a few though, the ones for my self I've seen red hot, and no problems. :confused3: