PE Alderlea T6 Learning Curve and Observations

[certified106]

Well so much for waiting until Sunday.......I took a half day and got the T6 moved in this afternoon.
First break in fire is in progress and being able to actually see the fire is awesome!
First picture is the old Dutchwest the rest are the new addition to the family.

 

[leeave96]

Very nice!

Bill

 

[pen]

Great looking stove there. Anxious to hear how to heats compared to the dutchwest.

Now you need to update your profile!

pen

 

[begreen]

Looks like you're off to a good start. Have a nice warm weekend.

 

[VCBurner]

Wow, Cert, your old DW still looked great huh? Too bad you couldn't see the fire in those older DW's, the new ones stay clear with dry wood. I'm gonna give mine a paint job this year when the last fire has gone out. I had a inner sole of a boot fall on the top and just partially melt on it. Luckily it was only from a small kids boot!

The T6 looks great in its place, thanks for the pics. Could you send us one that shows the slide out trivets open as well as the front? I think that's one of the coolest stove tricks ever!

 

[maxed_out]

sweet stove!

 

[certified106]

Vcburner I will post some more pics tomorrow unfortunately I am at a water park party today with 57 four year olds. Man I wish I was sitting in front of my stove in peace and quiet right now.

 

[VCBurner]

Vcburner I will post some more pics tomorrow unfortunately I am at a water park party today with 57 four year olds. Man I wish I was sitting in front of my stove in peace and quiet right now.

:lol: I know how you feel, we are sort of home bodies around here too! Especially when you have a new toy to play with. Enjoy your party though, I'm sure they will! We have four boys and one due in May, so there's never a dull moment here either. They are 10,9,7 and the youngest just turned 5. The 7 year old is at a martial arts party and I just got back from an indoor soccer game with the 9 year old, they came back from 3-1 to win 5-4! What a nail biter! :gulp:

 

[certified106]

Ok, so update on the T6. I started the third break in fire this morning (the last two barely got the stove top to 250) and made it slightly larger as I was instructed to. It consisted of some small pine kindling and a couple of thicker than kindling chunks of oak. Once the fire was started I added two medium chunks of oak and a largish piece of poplar (we are talking 12" long) and let it catch. The stove hit about 350 and I started shutting it down (all this occured in about 25 minutes) and noticed the secondary's were firing. Fairly long burst followed by a little pause and another fairly long burst this has been going on for about 15 minutes and the stovetop settled in at just under 400. Is this normal? I expected from everything I have read on secondary combustion that you have to burn the stove hard an hot to get them to light off but that's not what I just saw. Heck my cat would not have even been close to getting warmed up at this point! Last observation I have from my very limited experience is that the flame path is really weird in the firebox. I had my concerns with an open flue passage in the front of the firebox that flames would be getting sucked up the chimney easily however it appears that the flames are pulled to the rear of the firebox so I guess it must just be the way that they have the supply air flowing into the firebox. I can't wait to actually get to do a medium sized fire this evening and see what this thing will do as of yet I have not even had a 1/4 of the firebox filled with loose stacked splits and very low fire.

Edit: The stovetop settled in at 439 to 452 depending on where you measured it and the secondarys started going from long burst to sustained and floating in the top of the box I haven't added any more wood and it has been burning those three small splits for about an hour and so far I'm impressed there is no smoke out of the chimney. I'm thinking about breaking this post off to start a differnet thread to document my learning curve and review of the stove.

 

[Mt Ski Bum]

Ok, so update on the T6. I started the third break in fire this morning (the last two barely got the stove top to 250) and made it slightly larger as I was instructed to. It consisted of some small pine kindling and a couple of thicker than kindling chunks of oak. Once the fire was started I added two medium chunks of oak and a largish piece of poplar (we are talking 12" long) and let it catch. The stove hit about 350 and I started shutting it down (all this occured in about 25 minutes) and noticed the secondary's were firing. Fairly long burst followed by a little pause and another fairly long burst this has been going on for about 15 minutes and the stovetop settled in at just under 400. Is this normal? I expected from everything I have read on secondary combustion that you have to burn the stove hard an hot to get them to light off but that's not what I just saw. Heck my cat would not have even been close to getting warmed up at this point! Last observation I have from my very limited experience is that the flame path is really weird in the firebox. I had my concerns with an open flue passage in the front of the firebox that flames would be getting sucked up the chimney easily however it appears that the flames are pulled to the rear of the firebox so I guess it must just be the way that they have the supply air flowing into the firebox. I can't wait to actually get to do a medium sized fire this evening and see what this thing will do as of yet I have not even had a 1/4 of the firebox filled with loose stacked splits and very low fire.

Edit: The stovetop settled in at 439 to 452 depending on where you measured it and the secondarys started going from long burst to sustained and floating in the top of the box I haven't added any more wood and it has been burning those three small splits for about an hour and so far I'm impressed there is no smoke out of the chimney. I'm thinking about breaking this post off to start a differnet thread to document my learning curve and review of the stove.

Would love to see some pics of those secondairies if you have 'em!

 

[madison]

Would love to see some pics of those secondairies if you have 'em!

https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/forums/viewreply/495668/

 

[VCBurner]

Hello Certified,

Nice to hear things seem to be just fine. I'm very curious about your findings with the new stove. Sounds like the thing works huh? I bet the secondary flames are great. You could go back and edit the title of your thread for those who have been following it to continue to get updated with your new findings. I did this with my Dutchwest thread, everything is in there from the day it came home to new experiences today! I think this gives people a more comprehensive look at a particular stove in one thread. It may help people who are researching a certain stove to get all sorts of information. Just a thought. Good luck, glad things are going well!

 

[certified106]

Wow, Cert, your old DW still looked great huh? Too bad you couldn't see the fire in those older DW's, the new ones stay clear with dry wood. I'm gonna give mine a paint job this year when the last fire has gone out. I had a inner sole of a boot fall on the top and just partially melt on it. Luckily it was only from a small kids boot!

The T6 looks great in its place, thanks for the pics. Could you send us one that shows the slide out trivets open as well as the front? I think that's one of the coolest stove tricks ever!

Yeah the Dutchwest looked great because last fall I drug it out on the deck, wire brushed it, repainted it, and replaced all the gaskets. Even thought it's probably just a personal taste issue I repainted the stove in a glossier black than normal and neither my wife or I liked it we much preferred the flat black. Sorry I still haven't gotten the pictures I promised but I spent all day bucking wood and when I came in last night I grabbed the camera but the battery's were dead so maybe tonight.
Were you able to get the melted boot off the Dutchwest?

 

[raybonz]

Hey Cert very nice stove! Your old Dutchwest looked very good as well! Enjoy!

Ray

 

[certified106]

"PS: If you decide to get a probe, I would try to get an older style Condar 3-19 while they are still available. Recent tests on the new 3-39 probe indicate it reads quite high.
(broken link removed) "

Begreen, I ordered the flue probe you suggested above and the directions say at least 18" above the stove so I was just curious where you had yours installed.
Anyone else feel free to chime in here if you have an opinion on where in the flue it should be installed

 

[begreen]

20" above the stove top.

 

[Highbeam]

I put mine in at 15". I actually called and talked to Condar and they said something to the effect of, "it don't matta nun son". Obviously a southern company.

 

[certified106]

Thanks for the input guys, I went about 18" on mine due to a stovepipe joint. I also did the fourth and final break fire in last night. Fourth fire was 5 small splits (barely enough to splits to even cover the bottom of the firebox) stacked in the center of the stove with one fire starter. Anyways it took the stove top to 550-570F with my flue temps running about 450 on the flue probe. Had really nice secondaries going with the air shut down on low after about 15 minutes into the burn. Fairly impressed that the fire lasted from 6 pm to 10:30 when I went upstairs and was still going with somewhere about 1/3 of the load still burning and the stove top still at 550F. I cna't imagine what this thing will do with a full load in the middle of the winter. When I got up this morning there were a couple of red coals when moving the ash around (not enough to start a fire) and the stove top was still 110.

A few observations during this final break in fire:
1) this stove heats up quicker than my old Dutchwest
2) It radiates heat much better than my old stove in fact so much better that I don't think I will have to run the blower as much as I used to.
3) I has a strange rushing air sound at the back of the stove that I can't pinpoint where it's coming from. Is this Normal? I checked my stovepipe and couldn't find any air leaks. Am I hearing secondary air rushing into the stove?

Final couple of questions for those with PE stoves:
1) Where exactly is the secondary air intake located at? I looked under the stove and saw the EBT hole and the primary air hole but as of yet I have been unsuccessful in locating the secondary air.
2) what are the normal flue temps on this stove? I have never had a probe in the flue before so not real sure what I should be looking for temp wise.

 

[begreen]

Good to hear that it's performing well for you. Now it's time to put some good sized splits and let that stove rock and roll. Yes, that is air you are hearing as it rushes past the partially closed air intake. It's normal when the air supply is closed down.

The secondary air intake is located at the back, bottom of the stove. Our flue temps peak up to about 7-800F when first starting the stove with a full load of wood, but settle down to 4-500F when the air is reduced and secondary combustion kicks in. Stove top temps will depend on the wood load. With a full load it's not uncommon for it to want to cruise at 700F for an hour or two.

 

[leeave96]

How about some pics of that T6 in full burn action?

I know - I know - I need to post some pics of my Keystone - just ain't good enough with these 'puters ... yet

Thanks,
Bill

 

[certified106]

How about some pics of that T6 in full burn action?

I know - I know - I need to post some pics of my Keystone - just ain't good enough with these 'puters ... yet

Thanks,
Bill

Hopefully tonight since it hasn't been over 40 today and supposed to get down to 27 tonight plus break in fires are over. This is probably the only year you will see me get excited about 27 degrees in April. How do you like Englander?

 

[VCBurner]

Were you able to get the melted boot off the Dutchwest?

The insole out of one of my kids boots fell on it and left a small mark on the top. The mark is still on it , but I'll repaint the top this summer as well as front and sides. The rest of the stove doesn't need it, but I want it all to match. I also want to paint the inner top inside the convection chaimber to give the color back to it.

 

[raybonz]

Were you able to get the melted boot off the Dutchwest?

The insole out of one of my kids boots fell on it and left a small mark on the top. The mark is still on it , but I'll repaint the top this summer as well as front and sides. The rest of the stove doesn't need it, but I want it all to match. I also want to paint the inner top inside the convection chaimber to give the color back to it.

Chris did you get the private message I sent a couple days ago? It has a link with a vacustack on it (along with piping).. Thought you may be interested..

Ray

 

[VCBurner]

Ray,
Yes, I'll send you a PM reply right now!

 

[certified106]

Wow, Cert, your old DW still looked great huh? Too bad you couldn't see the fire in those older DW's, the new ones stay clear with dry wood. I'm gonna give mine a paint job this year when the last fire has gone out. I had a inner sole of a boot fall on the top and just partially melt on it. Luckily it was only from a small kids boot!

The T6 looks great in its place, thanks for the pics. Could you send us one that shows the slide out trivets open as well as the front? I think that's one of the coolest stove tricks ever!

Here you go, I finally got around to it.