PE Summit Air Control

  • Active since 1995, Hearth.com is THE place on the internet for free information and advice about wood stoves, pellet stoves and other energy saving equipment.

    We strive to provide opinions, articles, discussions and history related to Hearth Products and in a more general sense, energy issues.

    We promote the EFFICIENT, RESPONSIBLE, CLEAN and SAFE use of all fuels, whether renewable or fossil.
Status
Not open for further replies.

chris2879

Member
Nov 8, 2010
117
Western MA
I am second guessing my air control setting. After the wood ignites i will gradually turn the air control down to almost full closed, but never all the way. If i turn it all the way down, the logs get real red... not many flames and some secondaries on the top, but hardly any visible flames once 45-60 minutes have elapsed. Is this ok? I really do not want to burn too low and cause chimney issues, but would like to get a little more time out of the burn. It seems that with the air control open even 5% or so... i m still burning splits at a faster rate than i would have expected. The stove face of the insert is cruises around 550 once dialed back.

The wood i am burning so far is 2 yr seasoned boxwood maple and some plum that is seasoned for 1 year.

What do all you other summit owners do?
 
And the chimney is 28' tall?

FYI I believe the stove face is really unreliable and would not really use that as a guide.

Sounds like the wood may not be optimal. Has it been stacked, off the ground, in the sun single rows for two yrs?
Yes, chiminey is about 28' tall, maybe a couple feed taller. Yes, all the wood has been stacked in single rows and off the ground. The boxwood is really really dry... it goes up really fast.

On your T6, do you close your air control all the way?
 
I have an insert with 27' of liner. I close my air lever all the way and have no issues. You may want to try closing all the way and observe what happens.
 
I am second guessing my air control setting. After the wood ignites i will gradually turn the air control down to almost full closed, but never all the way. If i turn it all the way down, the logs get real red... not many flames and some secondaries on the top, but hardly any visible flames once 45-60 minutes have elapsed. Is this ok? I really do not want to burn too low and cause chimney issues, but would like to get a little more time out of the burn. It seems that with the air control open even 5% or so... i m still burning splits at a faster rate than i would have expected. The stove face of the insert is cruises around 550

Sounds pretty normal. I wouldn't hesitate to close the air control all the way with good dry wood at that stage. Glowing red wood with occasional secondaries is optimal. If the wood is dry this is unlikely to cause chimney issues. The fire is not smoldering. Check the chimney outside to verify.
 
Here is the summit burning on low. This is about 45 min after reload. 3 pieces of boxelder maple, and 4-5 smaller chunks of plum. How does this burn look? Does it look normal or does it need more air?


 

Attachments

  • summit on low.jpg
    summit on low.jpg
    96.7 KB · Views: 134
Normal, even less air looks ok.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.