need help heating with my alderlea t6

[twocrows]

Hello all,
I've purchased and installed an alderlea T6. As recommended from the dealer, I've crammed the thing with wood (it's burning between 500 and 600 degrees) and even while burning it wide open can't seem heat more than about 200 sq feet and even that not well. If this stove is supposed to heat 3000 sq feet, what am I doing wrong?

brrrrr in Nova Scotia

 

[Nic36]

If you are burning with the damper completely open all the time, you are losing most of your heat out the chimney. Once you get the fire good and hot with some good coals, damper it down. I can damper my stove all the way down with good results. You may even see the thermometer continue to rise after that because not as much heat is being lost out the chimney.

 

[twocrows]

Hi and thanks for the quick reply. I've tried that, too with little difference. This is something I do at night and still, my house is freezing. I'm wondering if the location of the stove is at play. Still, the heat just doesn't seem to move from the alcove it is in.

 

[thechimneysweep]

Sounds like green, wet or punky fuelwood to me. A wide-open T6 should hit 800 degrees on the top plate within an hour.

 

[Hogwildz]

Is the wood sizzling &/or foaming out the ends?

 

[snowtime]

I agree my T6 will go to 800 without a thought after putting a couple of large splits on a good 4" coal bed with the air set at 3/4 open. I do not need it to run like that yet as we are not into serious cold but I expect to be running it at 750 to 800 during the -40 events. The fact is the stove is heating well and I have pushed it a few times to see what it will do but haven't needed that much heat yet. I have very dry pine. Learned a long time ago the degree of dryness of your wood is key when things get cold.

 

[twocrows]

No sizzling, no foaming. It's good birch/oak/maple. The only thing green here is me. My first wood stove and I've moved to a big old farm house from a big old city. I'm in the process of replacing windows and doors and after a heat audit, will do the insulation.

since I've closed down the damper, the temp's risen. I think I need to find a way to have the heat migrate through the house. It's on a north wall and I'm wondering whether the place of the stove is the issue, too, along with me learning how to use it properly (thanks for your help, here!) and also patching up all the leaks in the house.
\

 

[Hogwildz]

Before you "cram it with wood". Get like 3 good dry small to medium splits going and to coals. Then load her full.
If you don't have at least a couple of inches of red hot coals on the bottom. A full load will not take off well.

 

[twocrows]

okey doke. Thanks for your help everyone.

 

[InTheRockies]

Are you using fans to circulate the warm air throughout the house? (There are a number of threads discussing this issue--consensus seems to be the best way to do this is set a fan on the floor, pointing the air flow toward the area where the stove is located--the cold air will cause the warm air to move to other parts of your house. It also seems to help if there's a ceiling fan in the room where the stove is located.) If you aren't using any fans, try using one. You shouldn't need a huge fan and you should be able to have it set on low. Here's the fan I use, it's small but powerful

 

[twocrows]

hmmm. I'll try this. thanks!

 

[Elfin]

Is 800 an ok temp to run on the Alderlea? I've been avoiding going that high, worried it's overfiring... but it does seem to want to go that high with little effort. I try to top it out at 600 if at all possible... but am I being overly cautious, perhaps?

I find that we can regularly damper it all the way down... it seems to not need extra air once it's burning nice and hot.

 

[Jimbob]

Fixing the air leaks and insulating will definitely help, too. That "big old farm house" might not be insulated.
;-)

 

[begreen]

Agreed, my first response was - the stove's at 600 and you can't heat 200 sq ft.?! Close the window!!

This is a big heater, but it's not designed as an outdoor stove. Seriously, you need to deal with the leakage from this building first. If it's like our house, you'll probably find some gaping holes in there.