PE Summit question - new owner

[red247dog]

Just had my new summit delivered, freestanding stove with legs and ash dump kit. Had a few questions for you experienced owners.

1) I am going to connect to outside air through the bottom knock out on the ash pan assembly. The whole ash pan assembly seems to have a number of other ways for air to sneak in, mostly through areas of the ash pan assembly that are not welded or gasketed at various seems as well as where the ash pan itself seats against the assembly. Is it worth it or advisable to seal these gaps with high temp silicone/gasket material? I don't know if that is a bad idea or not worth the effort. Does it get too hot in these areas to even do that? What materials would you use?

It just seems that the hole covered by the air intake lever is so small (silver dollar sized) that cumulatively all these gaps could let relatively quite a bit of air in, rather than coming from the outside air duct. I suppose it could allow air from the room to be drawn up the flue when the stove is not burning as well. I think there was just a post about that.

2) Burning temps. What temps should I be shooting for and where are you measuring the temps from? I will be using a single walled stove pipe with a magnetic type thermometer. Should I get two thermometers?

Thanks so much for your thoughts, I have learned a ton at this site and am looking forward to a much warmer winter in my house next year.

 

[Jags]

The skin of the mystical PE Summit is self healing and will grow together, given enough time. With the 24 hour burn cycle, you do not need anything more than a dime size opening for air. Did you get the wireless belt pager so the stove can signal you when reloading is needed?

Just pulling your leg of course. ;-P Ya got a heck of a stove there. I would not concern myself with sealing those little cracks you see, unless you see it stated in the manual. I am sure the engineers have that all taken into consideration.

Safe burn temps for stoves is a gray area, and most mfg's somewhat avoid advertising these numbers for some reason. There are several PE owners on here that may give specifics, but for round about figures 550-600 is a sweet spot for most stoves. That being said, I do NOT want anyone to mis-understand. That is not for ALL stoves. Some mfg's will claim that 600 is on the upper limits of where a stove should run.

 

[begreen]

I have to agree, the ashpan area is not tightly sealed. Up to this point I've been running the T6 without the OAK attached.

So far I have only had a couple of biggish, but not fully loaded fires. The stove, if warm, wants to head north of 600 pretty quickly, especially during the strong secondary burn phase. I would say expect it to run in the 600-700 range at peak and 500-600 range after that when cruising.

 

[red247dog]

Thanks for the input. Where are you putting the thermometer for the temperatures that you reference?

 

[begreen]

Mine is on the stove top, about 5" to the front and left of the flue. I also have a flue thermometer, but the temps cited are for the stove top.