HT3000 question

[j7art2]

The wife was gracious about taking a pic while I was at work.

My chimney pipe inside is a double wall telescoping uninsulated seen here. To clean, the plan was to disconnect from the stove and the first connection and simply slide the pipe "up" into itself until both pieces are flush and then go straight up.

My question now I guess is 3 fold.

I assume where the red dot is is approximately where I should put the thermometer. Theres nothing mentioned in the manual about it, so I'd be just guessing. Alternatively I was half tempted to just take that front screw out and drill it all the way through for the probe, which may be acceptable, I truly don't know.

Its simply a matter of drilling a hole through both pieces of steel, and it'll go through both layers and stick on magnetically, correct?

As long as I remove the thermometer beforehand (obviously), it shouldn't interfere with collapsing of the pipe to clean it I hope?


Any risk of creosote build up inside the layers between the pipes through the hole? The gap between the hole created by the drill bit and probe should be as tight as possible, but I'm not sure how dirty these units get. I assume I won't get 5 gallons of mixed creosote in a bucket after each heating season like I used to (I had an external clay lined 30' masonry chimney and pre EPA basement unit, about the worst on efficiency and creosote building as one could possibly get) but I don't want to cause myself to replace this pipe section either or cause a creosote fire between layers of pipe 10 years from now either.


Sorry if these are silly questions; I don't want to ruin the new investment.

 

[Todd]

I have a similar setup with telescoping pipe and I drilled my hole for my probe into the lower pipe that slides up a few inches below the screws. If you drill above those screws where that red dot is you may have trouble lining the hole back up after sweeping.

 

[begreen]

I guess I haven't exactly timed it. I don't turn the air down too much until I start getting some good heat output. I assume I need maximum air for maximum heat on a stone cold unit, even if more of that is going up the flue while warming up. Probably close to an hour when cold, then for about 10 minutes or so after I add new wood until it's lit unless I'm already secondary burning at the time. I assume by choking off the air before I establish my bed of coals, I'm also choking off potential heat. This is my first unit with no flue control and only passive air control, so maybe I'm doing it wrong.

Start turning down the air as soon as the fire is burning robustly. Turn it down enough to slow down the flames until they start to get lazy. Then wait 5 or so minutes for them to regain strength. Then turn it down again until the flames start to get lazy. Repeat if necessary.

The reason for doing this is to encourage secondary combustion and keep more heat in the firebox. You want to get the firebox hot enough quickly to start secondary combustion. By closing off more primary air, the draft draws air from the holes in the secondary tubes. This helps the stove get hot quicker.

This thread illustrates the method:

Starting a fire and running an EPA stove

Questions about starting a fire and avoiding a runaway stove come up so frequently I decided to document starting our stove. This is a Pacific Energy Alderlea T6 with about a 3 cu ft firebox. The stove is connected to a straight-up, 20' interior flue. The outside ambient temperature is 34ºF. The...

www.hearth.com

PS: There are no silly questions. We have all been there at one point.
Do not add a grate to the stove.

 

[j7art2]

I have a similar setup with telescoping pipe and I drilled my hole for my probe into the lower pipe that slides up a few inches below the screws. If you drill above those screws where that red dot is you may have trouble lining the hole back up after sweeping.

Thank you! Little tricks like this are extremely helpful. I was worried if I did it on the lower half of the tube, I'd have the same issue you thought I'd have on the upper, that's why I figured I had to put it higher up. I'll probably order one this weekend. I'm having elbow surgery Friday due to a firewood related injury, so it'll give me something to do next week while I recover assuming I can use my elbow as well as they claim I'll be able to after. Lol.

 

[j7art2]

This thread illustrates the method:

Starting a fire and running an EPA stove

Questions about starting a fire and avoiding a runaway stove come up so frequently I decided to document starting our stove. This is a Pacific Energy Alderlea T6 with about a 3 cu ft firebox. The stove is connected to a straight-up, 20' interior flue. The outside ambient temperature is 34ºF. The...

www.hearth.com

The first thing I noticed that I most definitely do differently is the amount of wood in the stove to start with. I normally do half that. Holy smokes. Maybe that there is my issue. LOL.

It's probably because the firebox is so tiny in comparison to what I'm used to that I keep thinking I can't build my fire nearly that high, or I'm worried I'm going to overheat the stove right off the bat, or I'm just not used to the crammed space of having such a small firebox (Mine's 3.5cuft) in comparison to what I used to have. I'm definitely re-adjusting to the curve of this unit.

By todays standards, 3.5 isn't a small box by any means, but my former wood furnace I had I'd have been able to sit comfortably inside had I been able to fit through the 18"x18" door it had and was every bit 30-40% wider and at minimum 200-300% taller in the firebox.

I also do bottom up fires, but I'm open to top down too if it's quicker to heat. I assumed it wouldn't be.

 

[Simon1980]

The first thing I noticed that I most definitely do differently is the amount of wood in the stove to start with. I normally do half that. Holy smokes. Maybe that there is my issue. LOL.

It's probably because the firebox is so tiny in comparison to what I'm used to that I keep thinking I can't build my fire nearly that high, or I'm worried I'm going to overheat the stove right off the bat, or I'm just not used to the crammed space of having such a small firebox (Mine's 3.5cuft) in comparison to what I used to have. I'm definitely re-adjusting to the curve of this unit.

By todays standards, 3.5 isn't a small box by any means, but my former wood furnace I had I'd have been able to sit comfortably inside had I been able to fit through the 18"x18" door it had and was every bit 30-40% wider and at minimum 200-300% taller in the firebox.

I also do bottom up fires, but I'm open to top down too if it's quicker to heat. I assumed it wouldn't be.

I had the drolet ht 2000 and it was the greatest wood stove I've had. I moved to another house and bought a new wood stove (I wanted the ht 2000) but was no more available so I took the ht 3000. Nothing but deceptions: half the heat of the ht 2000 (exact same lengt and chimney type), had to put a lot of wood to have heat, had to put aid damper on the chimney, had to modify the secondary air intake, if you want heat, you have to be in ''full flame mode'' wich mean to have air intake full open but you have to reload every 3-4 hours...non sense......finaly, with all mods, the stove is relatively ok but sooooooo far from the ht 2000. (I always use seasonned wood (2 years maple)