Lack of heat from PE Summit LE Wood Stove

[Prometeo]

the changes you make, however, affect all operating conditions. The draft limiter limits air especially at slow speeds. When you make a change, check all the circumstances, even starting the fire, fire high and low, and evaluate adjustments.

find compromise

 

[Split]

Is the boost air hole underneath plugged? I'm not seeing any flames coming through the bottom baffle under the door. I believe you said it was a new stove correct? Something is not right. The fire is being choked somehow. I have the model a size down and it burns hot. Most PEs do.

 

[FrozenVT]

Is the boost air hole underneath plugged? I'm not seeing any flames coming through the bottom baffle under the door. I believe you said it was a new stove correct? Something is not right. The fire is being choked somehow. I have the model a size down and it burns hot. Most PEs do.

I some times get flames from the bottom baffle but rarely. I don’t believe the boost air is plugged, I can put a vacuum over it and it seems to pull air.

 

[FrozenVT]

Just wanted to thank everyone for all their suggestions and help, it really means a lot. I still think the stove is under performing but am out of things to try. I find it works best to get the stove real hot, like 600-650 stove surface temp and then the secondary burn really gets going and I get good heat out of it. My concern is when I’m getting the stove up to that temp I’m seeing 700-800 flue surface temps, which seems very high to me but it’s how I burned last year without issue. I will say after the 90 degree elbow the flue surface temps drop quite a lot, I’ve never seen the flue pipe near the wall entry over 500.

Again thanks for all the help and suggestions, the stove is overall performing better.

 

[begreen]

The surface flue temp readings are too hot. You want them to be half of the 750-800º reading reported. (assuming the thermometer is reasonably accurate.) Too much heat is going up the chimney. There are some reasons for this. One is that the fire is getting too much air due to the air not being shut down soon enough or far enough. With dry wood, the air should be at 15% to fully closed in about 15 minutes. The firewood thickness and loading pattern can also affect this. 6-8" thick splits burn well in this stove with smaller splits tucked in between to fill in the gaps.

If you are already doing all of this, then strong draft is likely. There are a couple of options to try. The easiest is to block off the boost air port with some metal tape or a magnet. With strong draft, it can feed too much air to the fire. For some folks, this is all they need to do to slow down the fire. The second is to put in a key damper to reduce the draft strength.

 

[begreen]

Just when I think I’m getting somewhere with this stove it seems like I’m actually not getting anywhere. I went out and got some nice kiln dried local firewood and the stove is running like crap. I made a quick video, im getting barely any secondary burn on high/medium and nothing on low. Hope this video shows my issues and struggles.

That's kind of a small fire. I wouldn't expect to see a 600º+ stove top with it. With the air set to high, you won't see any secondary combustion. There is not enough vacuum pulling on the secondary intake with all that primary air flooding into the firebox.

 

[FrozenVT]

The surface flue temp readings are too hot. You want them to be half of the 750-800º reading reported. (assuming the thermometer is reasonably accurate.) Too much heat is going up the chimney. There are some reasons for this. One is that the fire is getting too much air due to the air not being shut down soon enough or far enough. With dry wood, the air should be at 15% to fully closed in about 15 minutes. The firewood thickness and loading pattern can also affect this. 6-8" thick splits burn well in this stove with smaller splits tucked in between to fill in the gaps.

If you are already doing all of this, then strong draft is likely. There are a couple of options to try. The easiest is to block off the boost air port with some metal tape or a magnet. With strong draft, it can feed too much air to the fire. For some folks, this is all they need to do to slow down the fire. The second is to put in a key damper to reduce the draft strength.

I’ve been using an IR thermometer to take reading on the flue pipe. I notice the temps drop quite a lot right after the 90 degree bend in the flue pipe.

After loading up the stove I can get these high flue temps under 15mins easily, actually under 10mins with good wood. I’ll try cutting the air down to half after a couple minutes and then down more shortly after that. Once I have the stove turned down the flue surface temps drop to around. But if I don’t get the stove ripping hot before turning it down the burn performance seems to go to crap.

I’m reloading the stove now, I’ll try and cut the air down to half after a few minutes and then close it down shortly after that.

I did install a key damper and it seems to hinder burn performance when the stove is turned down.

 

[begreen]

Sounds good. Also, add more wood. One layer of splits is not a big load.

 

[FrozenVT]

Sounds goo. Also, add more wood. One layer of splits is not a big load.

Ya that was a bad photo, I generally load the firebox as full as I can.

Just loaded it up and took 5min notes.

Stove is cold, with embers left to restart a fire
SST - around 180
FST - around 150
Loaded up the stove, left door open several inches(any less and it’s like a blow torch effect) got some flames going and closed the door

Waited 5min
SST - around 225
FST - 270 just below the 90, 200 just after it
Decent fire going

Waited 5min
SST - around 350
FST - 420 just below the 90, 325 just after it
Nice fire going, put air control in the middle. Fire noticeably died down after turning the air down.

Waited 5min
Flame is very low, one small spot of secondary burn in the top of the front left corner of the stove.
SST - around 400
FST - 280 just below the 90, 233 just above it
Don’t feel comfortable turning the stove down any more. At this point I want to turn the air back up and get it ripping again but will wait.

Waited 5min
Flame is a little more active, and some additional secondary burn.
SST - around 400-420
FST - 270 just below the 90, 225 just above
Made no air adjustments

Waited 5min
Flame and secondary burn are still about the same as before.
SST - around 420-440
FST - 304/244
Made no air adjustments

Waited 5min
Flame is about the same, more secondary burn
SST - around 475-500
FST - 371/290
Made no air adjustments

Waited 5min
More flame and more secondary burn
SST - around 550
FST - 545/405
Closed air all the way

Waited 7min
Fire has died down, decent amount of secondary burn
SST - around 600
FST - 430/330

Waited 30min
Solid secondary burn going
SST - around 625
FST - 430/320

Turned the blower on high and headed to bed!

Seems like the high flue temps at start up are due to operator error, inexperience and being impatient! @begreen do you think those FST are still too high with the air all the way shutdown? This was all with the damper full open, I can play with closing it some in the future if you think I should.

 

[Woody Stover]

think those FST are still too high with the air all the way shutdown? This was all with the damper full open,

They still sound a bit high, at 2' above the stovetop.
My SIL's T5 will have some lazy flame coming off the wood, decent secondary, air cut all the way, one of the flue dampers closed, and maybe 300-325 FST about 12" above the stovetop, which is around 650-700. Stack is 16' of pipe, straight up.

 

[begreen]

@FrozenVT now you're cooking. I find the flue temps vary a lot from load to load, and also on the type of startup. When we give advice, it is general. In practice, every loading and every fire is a little different. Sometimes you hit the bullseye with a perfect burn and sometimes not. This morning on a hot reload our probe flue temp got up to 850º briefly. Yesterday, on a cold start, it never got over 700º.

You're doing well now. With some practice, you will start getting more consistent results. The Summit is a robust, well-behaved heater.

 

[Iowa snow]

Thanks, everybody for the info on my Pacific energy summit. LE . I put a butterfly damper in and it’s hot in here lol fix’s the stove.100% different just got a 15 hr burn on 3/4 full and stove top is still at 305f. And beforehand was only geting 9 hr burns and max temperature 400f now sails smooth at 650-700

 

[begreen]

Awesome, thanks for the update Iowa snow. It sounds like you are in the groove now. What is the outdoor temperature now?

 

[Woody Stover]

Thanks, everybody for the info on my Pacific energy summit. LE . I put a butterfly damper in and it’s hot in here lol fix’s the stove.100% different just got a 15 hr burn on 3/4 full and stove top is still at 305f. And beforehand was only geting 9 hr burns and max temperature 400f now sails smooth at 650-700

Beside the flue damper, what else has changed from the way you previously burned? For example, are you cutting the air lower after the stove is up to temp, or maybe you are cutting back the air sooner? Are you burning the same wood?
I'm still finding it difficult to believe that you had too much draft on a 12' chimney, and that a flue damper fixed the problem.
Then again, maybe the 2020 versions of the PE stoves make it very hard to cut the air low enough, even on a 12' stack. In that case, the flue damper could be helping...

 

[Itslay90]

I thought 700 was pushing the stove..

 

[Woody Stover]

I thought 700 was pushing the stove..

Cast iron or soapstone, 700 might be as much as you want. I've seen it said here that 800 is pushing plate-steel.