PE summit owners: help needed

[carpniels]

HI PE summit owners,

I have been looking at this stove for a while. I have a Quadrafire Isle Royale, which has a great capacity, but lacks the even overnight temps. I can heat the house, but when I clamp it down to have the overnight burn with the stove full of wood, I lack the output to keep the house up to temp. The wife does not like that and wants to have the oil heat come on every night for 15 or 30 minutes to keep the bedrooms at 60 (for her and the kids).

So I have been looking at the epitome of stoves: the PE summit. I read the manual on the internet and looked at the brochure. I even checked the patent for the EBT. Looks great and promising, but I have a few questions:
- I saw Roospikes pictures and filmloops. The cleanout pictures show cleaning the stove when it is off. Great, but is it as easy to clean when you go 24/7 for 4 months straight? What happens when you open the ash trap door and there are still coals, charred wood, etc. burning?
- Does it really provide the overnight burns with the extra heat that EBT promises? Does it really turn up the air when the fire goes down? So do you get overnight burns that effectively heat the house?
- Does anyone use the PE summit with an air kit? I want to install it with the back air kit (not the normal bottom air kit). Please tell me about your experiences.
- Any other pros and cons I need to know?

Thanks

Carpniels

 

[Gunner]

My house is 1800sq ft give or take, and when it's real cold (-20 Celcius) I need to run the summit 600 stove top constantly to maintain the temp in the house. If loaded right I can get 8hrs of heat above 600 degrees no problem, after that it starts to taper off. I don't even notice the EBT to be honest, I know it's doing it's thing but I can't tell when it's kicking in or out.

Dispite all the jokes/names the summit gets, there is nothing magical about it's heating capacity, it is still a 3cuft stove, you get out what you put in. What makes it really shine tho is the build quality and design. 304 stainless baffle, floating firebox, good airwash, nice ashhole etc, etc. really heavy duty parts.

 

[elkimmeg]

My neighbor has a Pe sumit but he lets it burn dow once a day so it can go out and hang his clothes on the line.

If I had the top flue outlet option I would have taken a serious hard look at the summit. In the old forum I posted where the PE stoves had the highest customer satisfaction in Canada

As much as I kidd Roo I believe PE makes a top line stove

BTW please start a separate post and explain how your Island Royal works. I would like to know. It has many of the features m I'm used to and could possible work in my flue location.

I know BeGreen is looking at them we need an honsest reporting of how it measuers up and how to get to to work for best results

 

[begreen]

Neil and I have been swapping info about his stove and mine. He's been a great resource for info on the older Castine and the new Isle Royale. Funny thing is that we both have/had an F400. He's gone to the Isle Royale and now is one step ahead of me with the Summit. The Summit fits about 80% of my needs. The only downsides are that it is top vent only and it looks like a steel box. The Isle Royale has wife approval. Though it is big, it has excellent corner clearances though not quite as good as the Summit. I like top loaders and Neils is seeing some real heat from this baby. But the Summit likely wins the long burn time contest. However, he's up against a tough house layout for total wood heat. This is not our problem fortunately. So the Isle Royale may end up here, though I am not a fan of the enamel colors.

For Neil, my advice was to supplement the back of the house with a 220v electric, water filled heater like an Intertherm. Personally though, I'd have no problem running the boiler once or twice a night for 20-30 minutes during severe cold spells. I think it's good for the equipment to cycle once and awhile. I don't think the Summit will solve getting late night heat to the back of the house. And if he gets another stove he may to have to go into the used stove business . An alternative, long term solution might be a wood fired boiler and just having a small supplemental stove upstairs?

 

[dego]

I will have had my Summit 2 weeks tomorrow. My first impressions have been extremely positive. To be honest, I was press ganged into buying the Summit, as my Osburn 2400 decided to s&$t the bed (I will not mention that again). I never comparative shopped, I found a stove that would fit my needs of heating my 2000 sqft log home. I surfed around for 3-4 hours, found what I thought was a decent stove, was lucky enough to find this forum and bought a Summit the next day!!
The Summit is a heat-producing brute. It is truly amazing how fast it comes up in temp, and maintains it. On cold nights, -20 - -25 C, it labors a little. The house will drop to 17-18C. But at 5am, I rustle the coals around, shove in a couple of splits and by the time I have showered, the stove is ready to be stuffed for a 6-7 hour burn.
I have spent a couple hours sitting in front of the stove and I think I have noticed the EBT doing it's thing. Every once in awhile during a good secondary burn when the front of the stove is being to burn down and produce fly ash, the back begins to burn brighter for a couple of minutes. I must admit, I should have better things to do...but you know how it is!! Might be my imagination, but I have had no complaints with the overall performance of my stove, including overnight burns.
I have never been a big fan of ash cleanouts, but I must admit, PE has done a good job. When you say 4 months of 24/7 burns, you have to still clean out the stove. I know of no stove that burns wood that can burn for 4 months and never have to be cleaned. All I do is force the coal bed to one side and scrape the ashes (and some live coals) through the ash shoot, then repeat the process for the other side. I have found the majority of ash if found in the front of the firebox, where the primary air is concentrated. I have found this cleanout system very effective in reducing the amount of fly ash that seems to get into just about everything.
To answer your question, when the trap door is opened, the ashes and coals are deposited into the ash can. When the trap door is shut and the clean out is complete, just empty the ashcan into a metal bucket outside. Very simple.
I do not have the blower.

I hope this has provided you some useful information.

 

[Gunner]

Didn't get time to finish my first post but would like to add and I've said it before IMO the BEST thing about PE stoves is if you get the "classic" (in any model) you are getting a double walled stove as I like to call it. Very even heat, no blasting you out of the room as you would expect from a big stove, I was quite surprised. This makes them unlike any other steel stove out there. People talk about convection vs radiant...summit classic's are convection 4" to combustibles and only ember protection for the floor (I can remove the ashpan under the stove with a bare hand at 600++ deg stove top) confirms that.

 

[Roospike]

Damn , I go away for the whole day , come back and all the Summit ( Pacific Energy ) questions are answered . ;-)

All good answers as posted.

I'd like to add, the extra magic to wood heating 24/7 is high BTU wood for the longest of burn times , good home lay out for heating and good insulation.
The Summit and other Pacific Energy models are serious wood heating stoves and the points of the ash cleanout system and also to the classic model are very valid points.

The film loop of the ash clean out system IS with hot coal but taken with a flash on the cameras so it kinda looks like black unburned coal (but isnt ) When burning 24/7 its the same deal but with more coal and when its time to clean out ashes there is just more volume and is to be done at reloading time. I normally set the timing up to be cleaned of ashes during the day at the higher day temperature as so to let the stove burn down a little more. If you pushing the stove for all its got for what ever reason and getting a very large volume of coal then you can invest in a coal shovel to move the coal to one side of the fire box and separate the ash to the other side and then pull the ash to the ash pan. Large hot burning in super coal weather stoves end up with ash at the bottom of the stove vs just at the front on normal burning above 15° F .

If there is any stove that can take higher BTUs and hot loads then the Summit and other Pacific Energy stove are very well built and stronger materials to take this kind of use. Thicker steel and quality built stainless steel inners are make to take a lick-n.

O' and the Lifetime Warranty on Pacific Energy is a very nice backing to have with a wood stove too. I lot of manufactures offer only a 5 year warranty so when adding another 15-20+ years to that means a lot.

 

[Gunner]

If there is any stove that can take higher BTUs and hot loads then the Summit and other Pacific Energy stove are very well built and stronger materials to take this kind of use. Thicker steel and quality built stainless steel inners are make to take a lick-n.

The fact that there is a SS baffle instead of burn tubes is what makes these higher temps possible. Burn tubes buy their nature are made of very thin metal vs a solid piece of thick SS.

That being said I think we all get alittle too cautious with overfiring sometimes, I did at first too...was worried about 700+ temps then thought heck, how hot does your oven get in self cleaning mode? what about your BBQ? How are they built compared to a woodstove?

 

[carpniels]

HI Roo,

Thanks for the explanation on the ash cleanout. Glad to hear that that was while it was burning. The flash made everything look like the fire was completely out. Glad it wasn't.

What burn times do you get? Are they longer than you had before with other stoves thanks to the EBT?

Gunner,

That burntime sounds amazing. 8 hr at 600 or above. I have never seen or heard that. My best is maybe 4 hours. And then I have nothing left except flyash.

So no one used the summit with an exterior air kit? I would like to know if that works better. I would assume it prevent outdoor air infiltration because it will suck all needed air from the outside instead of the indoor air. That will hopefully prevent a lot if air infiltration. Am I right?

Thanks for all the comments. Any other PE owners want to add something?

Carpniels

 

[Gunner]

With the same size firebox how are you only getting 4hrs with nothing but fly ash left. Is it packed full? what is the air set at? Most of my wood is beech,oak, maple. How about you?

 

[carpniels]

Hi Gunner,

At 4 hours, it still is at 400 degrees. But it feels cold to me so I have to reload. Air is normally 1/2 open (sometimes a little less). When I reload, I always add as many splits as it will hold. I burn cherry, locust and some ash.

Thanks

Carpniels

 

[Gunner]

I have a very good draft(bordering on needing a damper) so that may change things alittle. During good cold weather I reload between 4-500 stovetop aswell. I run the air closed all the way unless charring and regulate more with the amount of wood loaded than the air setting. This may account for the difference in our burn times. I only pack the firebox when away at work and for overnight.

 

[Willhound]

Mine's a Summit insert, but it has the exact same firebox, door, EBT etc. as the free standing models. Unfortunately inserts don't have the ash cleanout, and I really wish it did. Two of my best friends have Summit Classic's and love that feature. We often get weeks of -30 to -40 C and the Summit heates my entire 1800 sq. ft. backsplit, built in 1978 with fairly decent insulation, but crappy windows. I sealed the downstairs sliders with plastic film for the winter and it helped immensely. Furnace rarely, if ever, kicks in and we generally maintain around 76 F on the lower level where the insert is, 72F next level up with living room and kitchen and third level bedrooms are usually around 70F, cooling off to around 67 or 68 overnight. Easily get 6 to 8 hour burn times, with full flame, and 8+ with a good hot bed of coals.
The insert has a built-in temperature controlled fan, and from full load at bedtime, to when things cool off enought for the fan to kick out is usually around 10 hours. Fan seems to kick in and out at around 250 to 300 F, measured with a thermometer stuck on the front of the insert to the top of the door.
I investigated the outside air kit, and my installer talked me out of it. His opinion was that it really wasn't neccessary for the additional cost/work, and that if the air the stove used was causing that much of an air infiltration problem, then I should spend the $$$ instead on improving my insuilation and sealing cracks, windows etc.

 

[Roospike]

HI Roo,

Thanks for the explanation on the ash cleanout. Glad to hear that that was while it was burning. The flash made everything look like the fire was completely out. Glad it wasn't.

What burn times do you get? Are they longer than you had before with other stoves thanks to the EBT?

Gunner,

The stoves i had before the Summit were pre-EPA stoves (and a wood furnace) and i know burn times doubled to 2/3 and more and use a lot less wood . As for the EBT i can tell when its kicking in and out if I'm setting there in the room with the stove and watching it over a perod of time. When running all night and long burn time the only thing you have to make sure is the wood is chared and then you turn it all the way down or at what ever setting you like and the EBT does the rest.

I cant get 8-12 hour burn times and over 14 with hedge wood and it all depends on how much home heat i need.

That burntime sounds amazing. 8 hr at 600 or above. I have never seen or heard that. My best is maybe 4 hours. And then I have nothing left except flyash.

So no one used the summit with an exterior air kit? I would like to know if that works better. I would assume it prevent outdoor air infiltration because it will suck all needed air from the outside instead of the indoor air. That will hopefully prevent a lot if air infiltration. Am I right?

Thanks for all the comments. Any other PE owners want to add something?

Carpniels