T5 burn time and damper issues update

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Here are pictures of the hole from my old Pacific insert. My new Super insert also has a similar hole. It goes right through the firebox. If you lift the boost manifold, you will see it.

As the other posters have stated, I think it is there to maintain the burn to EPA standards.
 

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im not running much more than 16-20 feet of class A either. with same issues.
 
The EBT flap is what they were talking about, not sure what that hole is all about.
 
may be part of the air wash system to keep glass clean. i would rather have more control and longer burn times then clean glass. jmo
 
Looking at the PE manual it looks like it might be part of the boost air.
 
oldspark said:
The EBT flap is what they were talking about, not sure what that hole is all about.

This I think is the dime sized hole that they are referring to. The T5 does not have an EBT but has a similar firebox construction to the Pacific and Super, minus the ash pan.
 
Sisu said:
oldspark said:
The EBT flap is what they were talking about, not sure what that hole is all about.

This I think is the dime sized hole that they are referring to. The T5 does not have an EBT but has a similar firebox construction to the Pacific and Super, minus the ash pan.
I know that but there was some confusion in the thread over it, raybonz gets good burns with his and he has not plugged the hole on his, I wonder what the deal is.
 
oldspark said:
Sisu said:
oldspark said:
The EBT flap is what they were talking about, not sure what that hole is all about.

This I think is the dime sized hole that they are referring to. The T5 does not have an EBT but has a similar firebox construction to the Pacific and Super, minus the ash pan.
I know that but there was some confusion in the thread over it, raybonz gets good burns with his and he has not plugged the hole on his, I wonder what the deal is.

I have never plugged mine either and I do get good burn times. But the plugging the hole might enable more control (ie. ability to shut down a runaway fire).
 
My thought was it might be compensating for some thing else, I hope some PE expert chimes in here.
 
I believe the difference in burn time and control between users is all in the wood. I'm running desert dry Ponderosa and need to shut the air way down to keep the stuff from going POOF. If I load the stove with some wet maple, I would not need to plug the hole and probably open the primary air a bit. The hole is just additional primary air to keep the stove from smoldering, I'm sure there's an engineer out there who thought this was a good idea, but I would really rather have control over my stove than save the planet from a 2 cords a year worth of smoke. My plan is to make an adjustable flap to cover the hole that will move with the primary lever.
 
Well I am confused over the whole thing (pun there), the summit's primary air control wont close all the way and is how they keep you from smoldering the fire, does yur primary air control on the T5 totaly slose off the hole.
 
oldspark said:
Well I am confused over the whole thing (pun there), the summit's primary air control wont close all the way and is how they keep you from smoldering the fire, does yur primary air control on the T5 totaly slose off the hole.

The primary air control is completely separate of the hole. This is simply a hole in the firebox without any controls. When I first saw the hole, I put a screwdriver in it and sure enough it came out at the bottom of the firebox.

I am not sure if the T5s' etc. primary air controls fully closes all the way or not. Those that have sealed the hole should be able to answer that. B
 
The T5 primary is the same way. It only closes partially leaving about 15% of the adjustable hole open. The other hole in question is always 100% open unless you stuff some tin foiling there. On my stove I modified the primary air control to close almost all the way and also stuffed the bonus hole.
 
I've not plugged the boost air hole, and am able to get overnight burns. I like to rake my coals to the front of the stove, and if I were to pug this hole off, they would not burn down as well. By closing it off, you might not be getting all the maximum heat available from the coal bed, especially once the "secondary light show" is over. Longer burns, maybe - but is it usable heat?
I suppose the long and short of what I'm trying to say is that fire does need air. I wouldn't get too carried away with trying to choke it back too much, as you may be sacraficing some efficiency. A longer burn doesn't necessarily mean a better burn.
 
Good News Tuna said:
The T5 primary is the same way. It only closes partially leaving about 15% of the adjustable hole open. The other hole in question is always 100% open unless you stuff some tin foiling there. On my stove I modified the primary air control to close almost all the way and also stuffed the bonus hole.

Sorta curious if you have ruled out other issues for fast burn rate, ie ash chute not completely closed, door fit etc.
 
Good News Tuna how did u mod ur primary air to close. did u grind down the steel stop?
 
madison said:
Sorta curious if you have ruled out other issues for fast burn rate, ie ash chute not completely closed, door fit etc.



I spent all last burn season and 2 months this year trying to track the problem down. Never found anything wrong other than the engineering and I understand why it's designed the way it is, but sure don't appreciate the inability to make needed adjustments. Last thing I wanted to do was modify my brand new stove. I made very small mods thru November trying each out for a couple days before moving forward. Until I saw this thread I thought I had done all I could do, but now with the "tin foil resolution" it's almost perfect. It will be perfect when the primary air adjustment works on both holes.
 
marreque said:
Good News Tuna how did u mod ur primary air to close. did u grind down the steel stop?

Yes, I used a bar chain file to remove material from the sheet metal in front of the air intake as well as the mild steel stop. I stopped removing material when the lever stops with 1/4" of the primary hole open.
 
i was thinking the same thing, but thought i would ask ur opinion too. thanks. looks like we have worked all the bugs out for PE. next thing we need to do is make the fife box bigger!!!
 
Good News Tuna said:
madison said:
Sorta curious if you have ruled out other issues for fast burn rate, ie ash chute not completely closed, door fit etc.



I spent all last burn season and 2 months this year trying to track the problem down.

How is the door fit? ie dollar bill test? FYI Quite a few have had to realign the door. Plus the ash chute is another area I would investigate for air entrainment.
 
Ash door is as tight as it is going to get. Dollar bill test is good. Door glass seal is good, I put dish soap all around the glass on the inside and blew compressed air around the outside with no bubbles. It's just the wood. If I burned oak or maple, I would not have needed the mods. The Ponderosa I burn is beatle kill dead and desert dry.
 
Good News Tuna said:
Ash door is as tight as it is going to get. Dollar bill test is good. Door glass seal is good, I put dish soap all around the glass on the inside and blew compressed air around the outside with no bubbles. It's just the wood. If I burned oak or maple, I would not have needed the mods. The Ponderosa I burn is beatle kill dead and desert dry.

Yup that wood will burn much faster than oak and hard maple.. I would expect much shorter burns if that was what I had to burn.. What might help is to burn big rounds to slow it down and pack them tight..

Ray
 
my ten dollar bill test was also good, and ash door is closed correct. it didnt matter what i was burning, it was uncontrollable. these mods have helped 110%!! next is primary air mod.
 
FWIW i just replaced some cracked fire bricks in rear of my T5 and recemented door gasket at upper left corner, while at it i plugged the dime sized hole with foil and am going to see if it makes any difference in burn times and fire control.. i love my stove and can get 9 hours burns with some coals left but would like a little more control of flue temps usually at 2 hrs into a full load my flue can read 450 to 480 with dry oak in stove.. we will see what happens.
 
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