How full can I pack my PE Alderlea T6 LE?

[Sean in the woods]

Congratulations. You will do fine. The stovetop temps seem on the low side, especially with oak. When I am burning locust they often top off in the 650 to 700º range. What is being used to measure them and where?

An Auber digital with a magnetic surface probe on top of the fire box under the rear of the left swing-out trivet. Also, the blower was on all the time and at least one of the large splits was hissing.

 

[SpaceBus]

I run a noncat really hard in my shop for real heat.

I have found that leaving space above the fuel load, 1-2”, allows some space for secondary combustion to occur without just creating a second primary combustion area where the tube air hits the wood. That second primary fire on the top is being fed by full throttle secondary air and really burns fast and shoots up the stack. I believe that filling wood to the tubes is usually safe but wastes wood. It get the same burn times and heat output with less fuel when I maintain space for secondary combustion above the fuel load.

Turns out, some owners manuals even specify not to load above the bricks.

I found the same in my cookstove. If I load above the firebricks the wood fibers burn rather than burning the gasses. The mfg claims 1.4 cuft, but real life is more like .8-1, which is great for a cookstove, and right in line with the 31k btu rating. My cast iron Morso can be loaded to the baffle without issues and I get the longest burn time with most heat by cramming it as full as humanly possible.

 

[SpaceBus]

Yay!

This morning, from a cold stove, I followed instructions using an almost full load of oak. It did not run away. Looks like I don’t need a damper after all. Here are the times and temps of today’s burn.

Time	Flue	Stove Top
6:30AM	000	000	Started
7:30AM	826	615
8:00AM	730	500
9:00AM	624	421
10:00AM	374	246
11:00AM	464	257
12:00PM	376	257
1:00PM	342	225
3:00PM	336	199

Next thing to learn is how to properly start a full load from coals of the previous burn.

Thanks again everyone.

You may still want a key damper for when really cold temps hit and make the draft even stronger. I say this looking at your flue temps, but you could probably do just as well closing down the stove a little quicker. I run off surface temp on single wall, which isn't as precise, but I start turning it down around 200 df surface temp, which is about 400 df internal gas temp. By the time I'm done turning down the stove the flue temp has started to peak around 300 df surface temp. Now that I'm good at running the stove after the last two winters I can get the stove settled and the air turned down in 30 minutes or less on a cold start, and this is with an oversized (and probably compromised) clay lined interior masonry chimney. After I install the insulated liner system sitting in our spare bedroom I will probably need a key damper myself or be very quick on the turn down.

 

[Sean in the woods]

You may still want a key damper for when really cold temps hit and make the draft even stronger. I say this looking at your flue temps, but you could probably do just as well closing down the stove a little quicker. I run off surface temp on single wall, which isn't as precise, but I start turning it down around 200 df surface temp, which is about 400 df internal gas temp. By the time I'm done turning down the stove the flue temp has started to peak around 300 df surface temp. Now that I'm good at running the stove after the last two winters I can get the stove settled and the air turned down in 30 minutes or less on a cold start, and this is with an oversized (and probably compromised) clay lined interior masonry chimney. After I install the insulated liner system sitting in our spare bedroom I will probably need a key damper myself or be very quick on the turn down.

Turning it down as fast as you do, do you find that it gets very smoky out the chimney?

 

[SpaceBus]

Turning it down as fast as you do, do you find that it gets very smoky out the chimney?

No, as I always make sure there is an active flame or secondary combustion happening. Usually the secondary combustion will get more robust as I close the primary intake down. On my stove the primary air often becomes hot enough when nearly closed to cause wood gasses to combust rather than make the wood fibers burn. I find the stove burns very cleanly and we only have visible smoke on fresh lights and reloads. Many members on this forum light one fire and keep it going until the end of winter, but we rarely need that much heat so we have lots of cold starts. My cookstove gets multiple cold starts nearly every day.

Part of this controllability is having very dry wood. Our wood last year wasn't quite as dry as this year and my cookstove was slow to heat the oven and not as controllable. With marginal wood I cannot turn the Morso down as quickly and have more issues with a hotter fire than I want and a hotter flue. Based on your flue temps you are losing a decent amount of heat up the stack. Definitely a clean burn, but not as efficient.

 

[Sean in the woods]

Based on your flue temps you are losing a decent amount of heat up the stack. Definitely a clean burn, but not as efficient.

I think you are right about that. And the possible need for the damper after all. I just put in 3 splits on a small bed and began to shut down the air as soon as I had self sustaining flames. In 1/2 an hour secondaries were fully engaged and the air was all the way off. In an hour, the flue is reading over 700.

 

[begreen]

An Auber digital with a magnetic surface probe on top of the fire box under the rear of the left swing-out trivet. Also, the blower was on all the time and at least one of the large splits was hissing.

Ah, that explains it. The blower will drop the surface temp reading down 100+º. I only run the blower when it's very cold out.

You're doing fine. You will get better with each burn, and each burn will be a little different. Wood is organic and is a variable that you work with. So are outside temps. It's all part of the art of fire.

 

[Draughts15]

I have a new PE Alderlea T6 LE and will be trying for long burns soon. Those of you who have them:

• How full do you pack them?
• How close to the baffle plate?
• How important is it to carefully choose splits that leave air gaps between them?
• North-South or East-West?

Thanks.

How do you like the T6? What type of house and sq ft are you heating? Think its my top pick right now. I'm wondering if it will meet the 2021 75% EPA Standards.

 

[begreen]

PE says the T6 efficiency (HHV) is 74%.

 

[Sean in the woods]

How do you like the T6? What type of house and sq ft are you heating? Think its my top pick right now. I'm wondering if it will meet the 2021 75% EPA Standards.

I like the T6 a lot. It throws out a lot of heat and gets up to usable temperature quickly. If I define a burn as from the time I light it to the point where the stove has cooled to where it is no longer contributing heat, I have gotten 11 hours out of it. Since it is cold and this is our main source of heat, I have not been waiting for it to get down to that point before I load it again. The flue temperature runs on the high side but that is probably due to the draft caused by a 26 foot flue and the wood I am burning. (Still learning). Once I added a damper in the flue, the T6 became more friendly.

Our house is 3 story’s, including the basement. The stove heats the main and upper floors, about 3000 sq/ft. It is in the living room on the main floor. The living room has a 2 story ceiling so the heat from the stove warms the upper floors well. The rooms at the end of the hall aren’t as warm but there are fans or sweaters for that. I am still figuring out how to heat a home with wood and the personality of the T6. It does the job.

What is your home like and what are your expectations?

 

[Draughts15]

I like the T6 a lot. It throws out a lot of heat and gets up to usable temperature quickly. If I define a burn as from the time I light it to the point where the stove has cooled to where it is no longer contributing heat, I have gotten 11 hours out of it. Since it is cold and this is our main source of heat, I have not been waiting for it to get down to that point before I load it again. The flue temperature runs on the high side but that is probably due to the draft caused by a 26 foot flue and the wood I am burning. (Still learning). Once I added a damper in the flue, the T6 became more friendly.

Our house is 3 story’s, including the basement. The stove heats the main and upper floors, about 3000 sq/ft. It is in the living room on the main floor. The living room has a 2 story ceiling so the heat from the stove warms the upper floors well. The rooms at the end of the hall aren’t as warm but there are fans or sweaters for that. I am still figuring out how to heat a home with wood and the personality of the T6. It does the job.

What is your home like and what are your expectations?

I have an elevated ranch style house. Rectangular in shape, 8 ft ceilings, about 1350 sq ft on main level with an unfinished basement. We have a larger sized living room at one end, which is where I'd like to put our stove, with a bathroom and bedroom off one end of the living room. Middle of the house is our kitchen. At the far end are two more bedrooms, dining room, and another bathroom. Open layout for the most part. We have a ceiling fan in the living room, kind of close by a side entry way where you either go up three stairs to our main level or go down about 5 steps steps to the basement. Im hoping this stove can heat our main level. I've narrowed it down to the T6 or Neo 2.5. My dad has a PE Summit and I love it. Really cranks out the heat on the cold winter days and nights.

 

[Sean in the woods]

I have an elevated ranch style house. Rectangular in shape, 8 ft ceilings, about 1350 sq ft on main level with an unfinished basement. We have a larger sized living room at one end, which is where I'd like to put our stove, with a bathroom and bedroom off one end of the living room. Middle of the house is our kitchen. At the far end are two more bedrooms, dining room, and another bathroom. Open layout for the most part. We have a ceiling fan in the living room, kind of close by a side entry way where you either go up three stairs to our main level or go down about 5 steps steps to the basement. Im hoping this stove can heat our main level. I've narrowed it down to the T6 or Neo 2.5. My dad has a PE Summit and I love it. Really cranks out the heat on the cold winter days and nights.

Others with more experience will likely need to jump in on this one. From what I’ve read (mostly here) heating a ranch style from one end is difficult. With an unfinished basement you may have the option of ducting the heat from the stove room and/or the cool air from the other end of the house to get the heat there.

Forgot to mention that the swing out trivets on the T6 are very handy for warming plates and keeping dinner warm.