Alderlea T5 Cleaning the baffle and flue myself.

[Shsesc]

I have a Pacific Energy Alderlea T5 and it has ash in the top when I removed the double wall pipe that connects to the top of the stove. I removed the pipe to inspect because I thought it was burning differently than it should. The gasket is good, the wood is dry, but I get dark right and left sides of the front glass. I wanted to check if the chimney was black as well. There is a thin black layer on the flue.

Is this something I can clean myself? Can I vacuum out the ash from that hole or do I need to remove the baffle and have a new gasket ready? I'm in East Haddam CT, not sure who stocks gaskets near Me.
What brush do I need to sweep the stainless steel double wall chimney?
I do not want to damage anything. But I'd like to do the work myself if it can be done safely. Last time it was cleaned was 1/2 a cord ago and it was expensive to have someone else do it.

Thanks
Joe

 

[madison]

The fine ash that accumulates on the baffle is IMHO best cleaned by removing the baffle - warning it is heavy.

Take a picture prior to removing the unit to see the position of the side rail insulation. Getting it back into position is a little more difficult than removing. Be prepared to replace the baffle gasket, again, IMHO, the "Hog Gasket" (search this forum) is worth the effort to construct in advance vs the OEM gasket - which seems to only lasts one season.

When the baffle is removed, I carefully take it outside and vacuum the exterior and insulation edges.

No advice on the brush.

Parts and supplies for PE - visit chimneysweeponline.com. FYI I was told that PE is behind in parts in manufacturing - not sure if that is true.

Recommend OEM door gasket, I have used off the shelf gaskets with some success - but read the many forum threads regarding the best adhesive. Stay away from Rutland clear - Rutland black worked OK for me.

Begreen will chime in and will be your best source for info. Along with Hog.

Good Luck

 

[Shsesc]

I read the manual and it says on page 18 not to remove the baffle since I can access from the top with pipe removed. So I just need to know if a vacuum is the ideal tool and also about flue cleaning.

OH, and is it possible that the ash blocking the baffle plate is causing poor draft and creosote buildup, it seems so soon to have such buildup only 1/2 cord of dry wood. I burn with the stove top reaching about 700f near the pipe, then I turn down the air.

 

[Squisher]

Don't measure your stovetop temperature near the pipe/flue collar. Measure it 4-6"s away from the flue collar and not dead centre. I run 700+stovetop at this distance. You have the alderlea so I think you can fit a magnetic thermometer underneath the swingout trivets.

If you are burning dry wood at proper temps the glass will stay perpetually almost entire clean and there will be little to no creosote build up.

It would take excessive amounts of ash build up on your baffle to be fouling your chimney/burn IMO. You can clean the baffle from above as I do on my own stove but usually I drop them down for cleaning. If you do it from above you will need to tape a smaller hose onto the end of your vacuum and fish it around in there. I use a small mirror and high powered flashlight to confirm effectiveness. Be careful not to suck the insulation off of the side support rails, easy to do.

Here is my super insert glass, summit glass, and a pic of where my thermometer is located on my summit stovetop. My glass was last cleaned sometime last year. No joke, I rarely to never clean my glass. Ever. You can see on the summit there is some build up of the 'whitish haze' but never any creosote buildup that doesn't get burned off with regular burning.
All the PE fireboxes are very similar in construction and function.

 

[Squisher]

On metal pipe, class A chimney I would recommend rotary cleaning. Search/google 'sooteater'.

 

[begreen]

You're ok not disturbing the baffle if you have the stove pipe off. Just vacuum out the dust on the baffle. I use a Sooteater to clean our flue. It does a good job and it's easy to use.

It's possible to block the flue with ash, but unlikely. You would see this. You can take mirror to look at the top of the baffle from the front and from the flue collar to look for ash buildup. Darkening of the window corners might be that the fire is running too cool. This could be from poorly seasoned wood. What temperature is the stove normally running at? Has your wood source changed lately? I had a batch of maple that did that a few years back. It had been well seasoned but the top cover was leaking and the wood stack location was poor. The wood was damp and it was hard to get a good hot fire going.

 

[begreen]

Looks like there were some posts while I was writing. Take a hand mirror and examine the top of the baffle area for any obstruction. There is a heat shield plate attached to the underside of the top. That might have come loose. Worth a looksee. If this area is clear then check the chimney. Maybe a bird or bees built a nest up top?

 

[Squisher]

The heatshield is worth checking. While rare so far I have seen them warp and in one case was significantly blocking the path of exhaust flow because of it.

 

[Shsesc]

My thermometer is placed on the cook top under the trivet about 4 inches from the edge of the pipe and 7 inches from the center axis of the pipe. Offset 2-3 inches to the right of center. I have a second further towards the front and right a bit more. The second never gets to 550f.
I'll gently vacuum there is about 5/8 of an inch deep fine ash on top. Maybe I'll let it burn hotter next burn. It had an improper door gasket before and I replaced it with the specified high density gasket with graphite. It seals right and the wood is covered and two years old, was seasoned when I bought it, then stacked about 8 inches off the ground for two years under a tarp with exposed end grain.

 

[Squisher]

The type of soot/creosote you are seeing will tell the tale. Stage1 Ash or a light brownish soot is a sign of proper wood seasoning and proper temps, it's a normal by-product of burning and to be expected. Stage 2 Starts to go from brown to black and chunky or starting to form little reflective glassy bits to it and becoming much heavier and less dusty seeming is a sign of unseasoned wood or not quite getting up to temps. Stage 3 is glassy, sticky, runny and smells rank. That's the really dangerous stuff.

All various combinations of burning wood at varying moisture levels or burning not quite hot enough with even well seasoned wood will cause endless variations on what's found in the pipe.

Sounds like you're on the right(safe) track. And most importantly you are monitoring your buildup.

 

[Shsesc]

The type of soot/creosote you are seeing will tell the tale. Stage1 Ash or a light brownish soot is a sign of proper wood seasoning and proper temps, it's a normal by-product of burning and to be expected. Stage 2 Starts to go from brown to black and chunky or starting to form little reflective glassy bits to it and becoming much heavier and less dusty seeming is a sign of unseasoned wood or not quite getting up to temps. Stage 3 is glassy, sticky, runny and smells rank. That's the really dangerous stuff.

All various combinations of burning wood at varying moisture levels or burning not quite hot enough with even well seasoned wood will cause endless variations on what's found in the pipe.

Sounds like you're on the right(safe) track. And most importantly you are monitoring your buildup.

If I understand this correctly, I would classify this as stage 2, it is flakey and dry some Shiney spots of black. I never had this problem before, but the old gasket was thicker low density that the old homeowners must have put in. Door shut really easy maybe I was getting extra air from the door leaking before?

What temp should I try to get to on the location shown in the above attachment? Also what are the first signs of too high a temp so that I can correct as soon as possible of I'm increasing Temps and go too far?

 

[Squisher]

If you are talking about my picture of where my thermometer is. I get right up to 800+f at times. I usually try to stay with 750 as a max there but I've overrun it many times with no harm, but no less than 500 until I'm entering the coaling stage, once wood has turned to charcoal your temps can safely drop down lower as most all of the nasties are burned off at this point.

@begreen @madison do you know if the top under the trivets on a alderlea sees these similar temps in operation?

 

[begreen]

I typically run at 650-700F stove top under the trivet. Occasionally it will get up to 750F if burning locust or I don't turn down the air soon enough and there's a full load of wood.

 

[bcrtops]

I typically run at 650-700F stove top under the trivet. Occasionally it will get up to 750F if burning locust or I don't turn down the air soon enough and there's a full load of wood.

^^This^^ -- we don't like letting the stove get up to 750F.

As to ash on the baffle, below the pipe -- yes, always have as much, or more ash there than in the stack. We never, however, have any black creosote, just gray/brown fluffy stuff, 1-2qts. max at yearly cleaning. The ash on top the baffle does affect our draw, especially in the summer -- getting smoke in the house when opening the door slowly means it is time to clean the chimney/baffle/stove!

As to "black" stuff on the glass --- I believe the main reason for this is not having the fire going hot enough for the secondaries to burn (do their job). We sometimes have black on the glass, but it is our own fault for running the stove:
1) With some wet wood

or​

2) Small fire (not hot enough -- shoulder season)

or​

3) Closing down the stove too soon before the secondaries get going (happens at night when in a hurry, resulting in a slow burning overnight fire & always results in a dirty glass.)

The above cases will always have smoke showing outside, because the stove is not burning efficiently, nor as designed.
Get the fire up to temp. with involved secondaries & the glass will self-clean in short order.

 

[Sodbuster]

^^This^^ -- we don't like letting the stove get up to 750F.

As to ash on the baffle, below the pipe -- yes, always have as much, or more ash there than in the stack. We never, however, have any black creosote, just gray/brown fluffy stuff, 1-2qts. max at yearly cleaning. The ash on top the baffle does affect our draw, especially in the summer -- getting smoke in the house when opening the door slowly means it is time to clean the chimney/baffle/stove!

As to "black" stuff on the glass --- I believe the main reason for this is not having the fire going hot enough for the secondaries to burn (do their job). We sometimes have black on the glass, but it is our own fault for running the stove:
1) With some wet wood

or​

2) Small fire (not hot enough -- shoulder season)

or​

3) Closing down the stove too soon before the secondaries get going (happens at night when in a hurry, resulting in a slow burning overnight fire & always results in a dirty glass.)

The above cases will always have smoke showing outside, because the stove is not burning efficiently, nor as designed.
Get the fire up to temp. with involved secondaries & the glass will self-clean in short order.

I too get black corners on my glass, usually only this time of year, when I'm trying to idle my stove along to avoid being blasted out of the house. Windex or other such glass cleaner actually does a fairly good job of removing this. I would second,(or third), the Sooteater product. I have one and can clean my chimney from the bottom up, just by removing the baffle. I need to get a few more rods and a new brush head. I trimmed the strings too close the first time and now need to run up all four sides of the pipe to get complete coverage.

 

[DuaeGuttae]

I too get black corners on my glass, usually only this time of year, when I'm trying to idle my stove along to avoid being blasted out of the house. Windex or other such glass cleaner actually does a fairly good job of removing this. I would second,(or third), the Sooteater product. I have one and can clean my chimney from the bottom up, just by removing the baffle. I need to get a few more rods and a new brush head. I trimmed the strings too close the first time and now need to run up all four sides of the pipe to get complete coverage.

My husband handles the chimney cleaning, so I may be wrong here, but don't you just need to buy new string trimmer line and trim it properly rather than replacing the whole part? I thought that was part of the attraction was that you could use it on different size chimneys, if necessary, with little expense. I haven't done it myself, though. We did love our sooteater for cleaning our chimney.

 

[Sodbuster]

My husband handles the chimney cleaning, so I may be wrong here, but don't you just need to buy new string trimmer line and trim it properly rather than replacing the whole part? I thought that was part of the attraction was that you could use it on different size chimneys, if necessary, with little expense. I haven't done it myself, though. We did love our sooteater for cleaning our chimney.

That is certainly something I'll look into before buying, thanks. Had to get up on the roof and work from the top down to get the last 6' a couple days ago, I am glad I did, it was very dirty. I always thought I was getting to the top, but I wasn't. Had 5 years of contaminate build up on there.

Need to get a sweep out to install a new chimney crown as well. Old galvanized one is rusting badly and my current storm collar is undersized; guess the climb was worth it.

 

[Squisher]

I've mentioned it a number of times on here now. If you clean bottom up, always go out and visually confirm that your whip is through to the cap. Binoculars are handy for this. Always do this every time.

A big part of cleaning is confirming the effectiveness and thoroughness. Verify the pathway.

As to high temps. That pic above was my stove today and at three years old I have easily hit 800+ many many times. Probably 900 on more than one occasion. My baffle and rails are dead straight. You can see the slight whitish butt print on the top but so far so good.

 

[Sodbuster]

I've mentioned it a number of times on here now. If you clean bottom up, always go out and visually confirm that your whip is through to the cap. Binoculars are handy for this. Always do this every time.

A big part of cleaning is confirming the effectiveness and thoroughness. Verify the pathway.

As to high temps. That pic above was my stove today and at three years old I have easily hit 800+ many many times. Probably 900 on more than one occasion. My baffle and rails are dead straight. You can see the slight whitish butt print on the top but so far so good.

Good advice Squisher, I will be changing practices from here on out, wife will be outside with the phone and let me know when I to the cap. I'm just glad nothing bad happened in the meantime.

 

[Squisher]

The top is mostly always the worst build up. If the roof is accessible without to much fuss you should always go up top to give the cap a thorough cleaning and check,things out like flashing storm collar, look down the pipe,to verify cleanliness, and of course to check the view. The best view is always from the rooftop.

 

[Hogwildz]

Pull the boost manifold off the front and make sure the holes aren't clogged with ash. Shop vac works well against the holes. If you have a screened cap, make sure the screen isn't clogged.

 

[Woody5506]

Pull the boost manifold off the front and make sure the holes aren't clogged with ash. Shop vac works well against the holes. If you have a screened cap, make sure the screen isn't clogged.

Is the boost manifold the strip that sits down in front of the glass? If so, it sure doesn't take long for that to get plugged up with ash. Actually I didn't even realize it was a removable piece until I cleaned out the stove at the end of last season.

 

[Squisher]

Yah pull that always and clean it right out. Also there will be a hole that feeds that area, give that a good vacuum too. And always remember to put it back in place properly. I only mention this because I've seen it flipped 180 and put back into place completely blocking the primary air. By the time those people called me they were almost ready to give up on woodburning.

 

[Sodbuster]

Is the boost manifold the strip that sits down in front of the glass? If so, it sure doesn't take long for that to get plugged up with ash. Actually I didn't even realize it was a removable piece until I cleaned out the stove at the end of last season.

Actually part of my reloading process, is to take my ash rake and just flip that up to knock any ash out of the holes. Just a habit that developed over time.

 

[Hogwildz]

Actually part of my reloading process, is to take my ash rake and just flip that up to knock any ash out of the holes. Just a habit that developed over time.

I do the same thing with my poker. I get it underneath the edge of the manifold plate, and flip it up and let it fall back down a few times, with each reload.