Hi All, Great Site,My first post, PE Alderlea T5 my third season burning with it. Ok 1500 sq ft. 2 floor colonial home. Stove up to temperature Ok, Secondary burn great,air control closed, nice dry maple hardwood. Nice heating to rooms great. Flue temp is reading 1000-1100 deg. on my new Condar internal flue Thermometer located about 2 feet above stove. 6inch ss chimney 25 feet long running outside the house. We love stove but want to make sure it is operating safely. No chimney fires to date lol. I replaced stove gasket it made no difference. Overnite burns ok. Too much chimney draft? Could these temps be normal? If so what about a magic heat to reclaim all this wasted heat? Just burned my first measured cord today since early Oct. Thanks so much.
Alderlea T5 Flue Pipe Temperature
- Thread starter Rustyball
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Welcome Rusty. That doesn't sound right. At what stage of the burn are you getting this reading? If the thermometer is correct, the flue temp is too high. We might peak at about 800F during ignition of a fresh charge of wood, but as soon as the air control is closed down, the stove top temp should go up and the flue temp down to around 4-600. What are the stove top temps reading? FWIW, last season several members reported high readings on their Condar probes thermometers. A couple were checked against a digital probe and were found reading too high, particularly at the high end of the range and especially on single-wall pipe.
https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/forums/viewthread/51880/
Describe the interior connection in greater detail. Is the stove connected with single-wall or double wall? If single-wall, put your stove top thermometer next to where the probe thermometer is and let us know what it reads.
For further investigation, look closer at the door. Even though the gasket was replaced, the door might be sealing incorrectly if it is not parallel to the stove body. There is an adjustment for this. If you take a dollar bill and close the door on it, then pull the dollar out, does it come out with some resistance or easily? Test at several locations around the perimeter of the door. Also make sure that the ash trap door is sealing tightly. If a chunk of charcoal gets caught in it, it won't close all the way.
For the door alignment issue, read up on this thread where a similar issue was reported. KeithO provides pictures and instructions for aligning the door, should this end up being the issue.
https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/forums/viewthread/35890/P22/#383130
https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/forums/viewthread/51880/
Describe the interior connection in greater detail. Is the stove connected with single-wall or double wall? If single-wall, put your stove top thermometer next to where the probe thermometer is and let us know what it reads.
For further investigation, look closer at the door. Even though the gasket was replaced, the door might be sealing incorrectly if it is not parallel to the stove body. There is an adjustment for this. If you take a dollar bill and close the door on it, then pull the dollar out, does it come out with some resistance or easily? Test at several locations around the perimeter of the door. Also make sure that the ash trap door is sealing tightly. If a chunk of charcoal gets caught in it, it won't close all the way.
For the door alignment issue, read up on this thread where a similar issue was reported. KeithO provides pictures and instructions for aligning the door, should this end up being the issue.
https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/forums/viewthread/35890/P22/#383130
Ok Thanks for your quick reply. I believe my condar is ok but nothing to test it against. the condar has a 3 inch probe inserted into the double wall flue pipe. Door gasket with dollar bill is ok but is tighter on hinge side. Stove rarely boils water with pan directly on steel plate [stove top]. ash door is fine no air leaks. I did find the dime size front air inlet with no control. Right beside that dime size hole is the main air opening with the damper plate it does not fully close with lever in closed position, I assume this is the calibrated position. Lots on info to digest, Thanks so much BeGreen!
That doesn't sound right. The stove top on our stove is typically running at 500-600 and can easily boil water. Even our pot on the trivet top steams away about 3 qts of water a day. Somehow it sounds like either too much air (thus the ash trap door theory) or the baffle is in incorrectly and allowing flames to bypass the baffle and head directly up the flue.
madison
Minister of Fire
Stove barely boils water? But yet it heats the room? When is that 1000 temp reading taken? Air control open or closed?
I would double check the ash chute, even though it looks closed, and the handle is in the appropriate position, it can leak quite a bit of air. Especially if you are using the ash chute to clean out the stove, and it is not filled with old dense ash, I would examine that area, if it is white hot looking with the air control closed it is probably leaking.
Still doesn't explain the water barely boils .....
I would double check the ash chute, even though it looks closed, and the handle is in the appropriate position, it can leak quite a bit of air. Especially if you are using the ash chute to clean out the stove, and it is not filled with old dense ash, I would examine that area, if it is white hot looking with the air control closed it is probably leaking.
Still doesn't explain the water barely boils .....
I took some more readings with my fluke 52 with thermocouples k type. condar is accurate got 900 deg with probe installed center of double wall pipe 2 foot above stove. put condar back reading 900 deg. with air full open. top of stove was 250 deg center where pot of water would be. closed air to built in stop. flue at 1100 deg top of stove at 480deg.after 20 mins. What i did was plug that dime size hole with tin foil as KeithO tried.Flames eventually went out at logs but continued flaming on and off at baffle [secondary burn] flue at 500, top of stove at 300 deg. Could I have too much chimney pull? only time flue temp drops below 500 is when wood supply is exhausted. Roaring fire 20 min stove top temp 500 deg max. Thanks
The flue temps are too hot, at least at the connector. They are pushing the tested spec of the pipe. It could be too strong draft, though the flue height of 26 ft from stovetop to cap doesn't seem that unusual. The next thing to try is a key damper in the connector pipe.
KeithO
Minister of Fire
Rusty, for sure add a damper in the flue. The T5 is not set up for the kind of draft your getting. In my install with outside temps down in the 20's the flue will run 900F with the primary air closed, the dime sized hole reduced to 1/4" by stove cementing a 1/4" washer over it and with my damper in the single wall closed all the way.
Just remember to open the damper anytime you want to open the door to load wood, or smoke will spill in the house.
I'm afraid PE thought all their customers live in log cabins with total 10' of chimney run...
Just remember to open the damper anytime you want to open the door to load wood, or smoke will spill in the house.
I'm afraid PE thought all their customers live in log cabins with total 10' of chimney run...
Forgot to mention the stove has the optional fan to blow warm air into the room,that air flow goes around the pot of water possibly keeping it from boiling?
Thanks guys for all your help. Will the key damper fit inside of double wall pipe? I was going to remove the cleanout cap outside at my tee connector to limit the draft pull temporarily to try this out. Thanks again.
Fan on will definitely drop stove top temps by about 100-150F, but that doesn't cover the flue temps. What type of pipe is the double-wall? There may be a special 6" damper section made for it.
As a test, I was wondering about putting a stone to block off about half-two thirds of the flue exit at the tee. Could this be done through the cleanout?
As a test, I was wondering about putting a stone to block off about half-two thirds of the flue exit at the tee. Could this be done through the cleanout?
KeithO
Minister of Fire
6" single wall or double wall will be the same ID. The damper is not exactly a precision fit and it won't shut it off air tight LOL... But it does slow down the rush somewhat. It makes an intolerable situation somewhat better.
Rusty, depending on what you are trying to use to boil water: I tried a cast iron kettle: Total waste of time. I tried cast iron trivets. Waste of time. I then went with a domestic style stainless kettle, thin wall, worked great. In addition, I added a stainless steel pot about 10" in diameter and which holds about 3/4gal and that works even better. I get the highest rate of evaporation with the pot (about 2 gal per day) about half that with the kettle (I think quite a bit of steam re-condenses on the cooler walls inside) and probably less than 1/4 with the cast iron devices.
The stainless kettle and pot are easy to clean and look great. The cast iron is a brown/orange rusted mess inside and was banned from the house in no time...
Rusty, depending on what you are trying to use to boil water: I tried a cast iron kettle: Total waste of time. I tried cast iron trivets. Waste of time. I then went with a domestic style stainless kettle, thin wall, worked great. In addition, I added a stainless steel pot about 10" in diameter and which holds about 3/4gal and that works even better. I get the highest rate of evaporation with the pot (about 2 gal per day) about half that with the kettle (I think quite a bit of steam re-condenses on the cooler walls inside) and probably less than 1/4 with the cast iron devices.
The stainless kettle and pot are easy to clean and look great. The cast iron is a brown/orange rusted mess inside and was banned from the house in no time...
summit
Minister of Fire
may have excessive draft... a pipe damper could solve it, but I would reccommend trying to cut the air back 1st. Sometimes you can have too much air flow when wide open. This cools off the stove. I had one guy w/ a LOPI who had a problem getting the stove to temp. I got out there and started a fire in it, and the thing took off with the air intake shut down 1/2 way from a dead cold start. Told him to forget about using it wide open: It may make lotsa flame, but too much air flow thru the stove.
KeithO
Minister of Fire
I know that this is an old post, but I seem to be having the same exact problem. Did the damper work?
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