PE Summit Pedestal Cold Start Up

[Squisher]

Cold start up PE Summit pedestal. Fir kindling and fir wood. I always start up with a crumpled newspaper and crisis cross of kindling on top. Generally I have very pitchy kindling. But well cured wood so very cured pitch, crumbly almost. I start on kindling and then to a few small splits and right into bigger splits. The door was closed in the first minute and only opened again to add wood, never 'cracked'again after the 1st minute to help draft. Here's my times and some pics to show what it looks like and what I'm using at each step.

12:10 start
12:11 close door
12:14 add smaller splits
12:15 stovepipe thermometer moves up out of creosote zone
12:18 add a few more smaller splits and thermometer is more than halfway through the "best burn" zone
12:26 add large splits thermometer continues to climb
12:30 shut air to half max temp on stovepipe.
12:33 cut air back to 1/4" open lots of secondary's
12:34 cut air to 1/8" lots of secondary's.
12:38 running air about 3/8" temps are starting to come back down off max, slowly.
12:56 check the stove and cut the air a bit, still running in the hotter end of the "burn zone" and lots of secondary's.

From here the stove is up and running and I may have to turn it up a bit or down to maintain good secondary's and stay within operating range on my stovepipe. The only time it would creep down into the creosote zone would be on a overnight burn when it's all coaled up. I have very little ash, in almost a month I've scooped a bit out once, all the wood burns down completely if I let it burn out. I've never cleaned the glass on this stove yet and I'd have to estimate about 1/2 to 3/4 of a full cord of wood is what I've burnt so far.

I'm wondering people's comments/suggestions on my methods.

 

[Squisher]

Rest of pics. Hope it's ok to put up so many. Last two pics show the fire at 12:56.

 

[Squisher]

A couple more pics showing the general setup and my heat shield. I did all the installing myself.

 

[Squisher]

So to recap I'm about an hour and fifteen into my burn and I've used 12-15 small pieces of kindling four small splits and then the two big splits. Air is currently shut right off and the stove is cruising hot with lots of secondary's and I would estimate four hours until I'll need to reload.

I should also add this start up is at 3Celsius outdoor temp. My chimney is 23' to stovetop with a uninsulated interior chimney lined with a nova flex 6" stainless liner. That was all I could fit down my 8x8 tile lined masonry chimney.

 

[Sconnie Burner]

Sounds like a good method. I would try a top down fire. Similar to what you did in reverse. Lot less fussing with opening the door though! Google it if you get confused by my description. Basicly you make a row of regular splits on the bottom. Then a row of medium splits, then a row of your smaller splits mixed with kindling. Then newspaper, rolled and tied with a knot in the middle, on top with a couple pieces of kindling on top. Light, close door, adjust air in intervals as needed. Should burn close to 3/4 of your normal burn time. And no fussing with opening the door allowing a chance for smoke to come back in the house.
Similar to this but I don't log cabin stack it. I run the splits all the same direction.

 

[Sconnie Burner]

It will warm your flue and secondary tubes quite quickly and you will see secondaries starting within a few minutes of your smaller splits starting to light. Be ready to adjust your air quite rapidly as youre flue is going to warm quick and cause a good draft sooner than your other method. People either love or hate this method. Give it a few tries! I use it quite often in shoulder season, when lighting a fire twice a day this is a great method with less messing around and babysitting of the stove.

 

[jeff_t]

I usually start my 27 with bigger splits on the bottom, then a few smaller ones with a bit of space in the middle for a fire starter and a couple pieces of kindling on top. Generally shut down and cruising in fifteen minutes or less. This is with around 13' of straight up chimney that drafts surprisingly well, and really dry hardwood.

Easy peasy, lets me get on with other things. This stove is in a vacation home, so there's lots of stuff to do while the place is warming up.

This never worked well in my BK. That required more like the op's method. Burn kindling down to coals then load on top of that.

 

[Squisher]

I've read a bit about this top down burning but never quite got the gist of it until your post Sconnie Burner. The point of it is to avoid having to open the door and babysit it. Makes sense now. I'll give it a try next time I think. Thanks. I have to watch for smoke spillage when opening the door but it usually isn't an issue if I do it halfways slowly.

I was hoping to get some ideas from people to on what my time to up and running was like and if it seemed similar to any other PE owners with a similar sized firebox.

Also would like opinions on whether it would be worthwhile going to two 45's on my flue pipe instead of the 90? The inspector who certified my install first mentioned it to me and was kind of a miss on my part to not have thought of going that route. I don't know that it would be worth it to change it out now though as I may as well use up the useful life of this piping as I feel the setup is performing well and don't know that I'd see a lot of benefit from trying to improve the draft more?

 

[jeff_t]

PE stoves with the baffle seem to be more forgiving as far as draft. I think it's the smoother ceiling of the firebox and easier airflow through the baffle, as opposed to having two or three tubes up there.

Going to a pair of 45s can only help, but I don't know of many stove that you can just rip the door open. Slowly opening the door is pretty much the norm. You should see draft improve with colder outside temps.

 

[Seanm]

Heres a picture of a top down fire from my archives in my super 27. Same stove but yours has the more envious fire box size. I will light two fatwood fire starters two rows down, no paper (personal preference). Close the door, air wide open, monitor flue temps and to a lesser degree the stove top, after a bit the air is "closed" down in increments, timing dependent on dryness of wood and out door temperature (aka draft), then I walk away for an hour or three until its time to rake the coals forward and fill er up! With the air wash on these stoves the glass should remain clean at this stage. Beautiful stove by the way!

 

[begreen]

Tried a quick start this morning in the T6. 10 minutes to secondaries, 12 minutes to air fully closed. Man this wood is dry.

 

[Squisher]

Well I've been trying this top down burning and must say I am really impressed with it. Much less fussing around and babysitting on a start up. So far it is seeming to be a superior method. I haven't timed it yet but I suspect it's going to be close.

I have been finding that it works best for me to stuff my paper into/around the bigger splits under the kindling instead of just laying it on top? Anyone have thoughts or opinions on that? When I lay it on top it seems to take longer to get going.

 

[Seanm]

Well I've been trying this top down burning and must say I am really impressed with it. Much less fussing around and babysitting on a start up. So far it is seeming to be a superior method. I haven't timed it yet but I suspect it's going to be close.

I have been finding that it works best for me to stuff my paper into/around the bigger splits under the kindling instead of just laying it on top? Anyone have thoughts or opinions on that? When I lay it on top it seems to take longer to get going.

I like sticking my firestarter part way down. The idea is to get the top kindling and smaller splits blazing quicker than the big stuff, secondaries will light off quicker to, It also helps put more heat up the chimney quicker which helps reduce creo build up. Glad you like it. I learned how to do it from the good folks on hearth as well.

 

[Squisher]

The not having to open the door seems to be a big advantage. No heat loss.

 

[begreen]

I like sticking my firestarter part way down. The idea is to get the top kindling and smaller splits blazing quicker than the big stuff, secondaries will light off quicker to, It also helps put more heat up the chimney quicker which helps reduce creo build up. Glad you like it. I learned how to do it from the good folks on hearth as well.

In the sequence I posted the SuperCedar quarter chunk is at the bottom. The trick for quick ignition is to have smaller, dry pieces in the flame path with plenty of room for air and flame to travel upward through the wood, igniting larger pieces along the way.

 

[Squisher]

So after all my fancy timing and pics from the first post in here I have now learned the better way. If I ever have to relight my stove again(been going steady so long now I've forgotten when the last time was) it's top down burning all the way.

My new summit has proven to be a very capable whole home heater at this point with multiple days of overnight temps down to -15 to -20c. I couldn't be happier with the performance of this stove both with burn times and heat output. I've opened it up a bit in these temps to crank out some heat and it's been up to the task and then some it would seem.

 

[Sconnie Burner]

If I ever have to relight my stove again(been going steady so long now I've forgotten when the last time was) it's top down burning all the way.

Great idea huh? Its the way to go!

 

[Ricky g]

I have the same stove and so far so good as well. I can count on one hand how many times we have had to relight this thing. there alsways seems to be enough coals to just toss in a couple of pieces (any size) open the damper and walk away. Go back 15 minutes later and its usually past the normal operating temp by then. So damper down and more wood and good to go. I posted in another thread about very high ash build up however. 3 full pails yesterday. Burning yellow birch and maple seasoned about a year. Not sure what the moisture content is. After reading some comments on this site we are trying smaller hotter fires and seems to be going better. Squisher says no ash at all. Hoping to get to that

 

[Squisher]

Birch is a high ash wood, good heat and burn times but certainly more ash than d.fir.

 

[Squisher]

I looked back to see where I said no ash at all, because obviously there will be some. I actually said very little ash, which I would still say. I've removed ash two or three times this burning season in total. It's a rare occurrence for certain.

 

[Squisher]

I can't seem to find it if it's in my manual. What would be max for stove top temps on this stove?

 

[begreen]

It's not there. If the stove is glowing red anywhere it's too hot. Keep in below 750F stove top temp and your undies will stay clean.

 

[Squisher]

Ok thanks. I can hit 750f pretty easy with fir it seems. I like how hot the stove easily gets, just don't want to overdo it.

 

[begreen]

I can hit 750 with fir, but I find that burns up the load too quickly. Instead I turn it down when the stove pipe (probe) is around 600F. That lets me ease up on 600-650F for a more controlled and longer burn. Big splits help too.

 

[Squisher]

Yah it seems a bit wasteful when I go that hot. Im trying to learn where my sweet spots are. My stove seems to settle in around 550 for my best burn times, slowly coming down off of that. Or atleast seems to easily settle in At that temp I am trying to find how to run a consistent say 650, without it overheating or falling off to where I loose secondaries easily.