Loose upper door hinge on PE T5 !

[KeithO]

I made a major discovery last night regarding my runaway T5. I have always had control problems with the stove, with flue temperatures peaking out over 1000F after reloading, even with the primary air fully closed. The burn times since new (Nov 2008) have become progressively shorter and shorter.

I thought it might be because of progressively colder outdoor temperatures, but last night we had a warm front come through with temperatures above freezing, yet the draft seemed to be worse than ever. Knowing that the laws of physics would dictate less draft, it was clearly not weather related, thus there HAD to be an independent cause. I was concerned that the high temperatures at the start of every burn cycle may have caused a crack in the shell of the stove, but there is nothing obvious to find. Inspecting the T5 is a little difficult, due to the cast iron cladding.

Last night I was able to actually hear air streaming into the stove, with the primary fully closed. (I modified the primary so that it will close 100%, not how it comes from the factory). I finally figured out it was from the door area and sounded like the top of the door. The T5 does not just have a flat surface for the door seal to work on, it also has a lip that overlaps the inside of the door all the way around. The presence of the lip makes it much harder to see if there is a gap. Since the door is a casting, I did not expect it to warp and it is easy to check if the edges are straight with a straight edge.

Since the door checked out I thought I would see how the hinges were attached. One needs to open the right side trivet to see the hinge attachment point at the top of the door. As soon as I saw it, I could recognize that I was looking at an unpainted surface. This was an immediate red flag, because the stoves are painted after assembly. I opened the door, and tried to lift the end of the door (the opposite to what gravity does). I could see the attachment bolt move back over the unpainted area. Unfortunately it seems that Pacific Energy decided to use a hardware grade (mild steel) hex bolt to secure the hinge to the slotted plate that is welded to the stove body.

I closed the door, pushed the hinge side of the door back against the face of the stove and re-tightened the hinge attachment bolt. End of the problem. Within 5 minutes, the flue temperature dropped from 1200F to 600F and kept dropping. I was able to reload the stove with 5 splits and have a slow burn for over 8 hours. This is compared to a ridiculous 2-3 hours right before with the air fully closed...

So if you have a Pacific Energy stove, check the hinge attachment bolts for tightness. My stove has always been out of control, and I can't tell to what extent this loose hinge has been part of the problem from day 1, but it clearly became much worse in the past few weeks.

good luck..

 

[begreen]

Good info Keith. Sounds like someone at the factory let it go out hand tight. Must have been a Friday night, 5pm stove. ;-)

 

[madison]

keith,

I ran into a slightly similar issue, not runaway or fast burn issues, but just poor door fit, with an uneven dollar bill test around the edges of the door. I ended up removing the cast iron panel on the hinge side, and loosened all three door screws, and realinged the door. I then had to readjust the latch catch as well. Door now closes and latches smoothly without effort, and the dollar bill test has stayed about the same all the way around.

You may find that you tighten that top screw, the stove heats up, and door will move if it is too "tight". This happened to me three times before I decided to refit the entire door.

Fix was descirbed within this thread. https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/34393/

 

[KeithO]

Hello Madison

I missed the comment regarding your hinge issue, since I was ignoring the EBT discussion. It sounds like the perfect overfire device. The problem most of us have is with unburnt coals at the tail end of a burn, for which one certainly needs more air at the end of a burn, and less air at the start. I think cutting back air at the start of the burn is going to offer a much more of an "extended burn time" than the route PE went with this invention. Perhaps they should re-name it the "Coal Preservation Device" CPD, since that seems what it is intended to do....

Last winter, burning wood in my Morso 7110, I collected 1 galvanized iron trash can of ash for the entire season. This season, I am on my 3rd ash can and the reason is because air cannot get to coals at the back of the T5 firebox. Result: more than 3x the amount of unburnt coals that finally get shoveled out of the stove at the end of a week.

So far, my hinge adjustment is holding up. I think the T5 has a different hinge attachment. There is a slotted plate welded to the steel stove body with just a single bolt holding the hinge assembly in place on top. The T6 is a wider stove with a wider door, so I think they went with a beefier hinge assembly with more fasteners. I just looked that the lower hinge attachment on my T5 and lo and behold, to adjust it I need to remove the stove leg on that side It has 2 cap screws holding it in place that are obscured by the cast leg. Brilliant ! I have visions of the assembly line supervisor dragging the designer down to the line by his ear saying those immortal words "SHOW ME "

 

[begreen]

Maybe the wood? I have almost zero coals left, nada, just ash. Much like you've described for the Morso. Or maybe my burning procedure is different? I move the big chunks forward and open up the air all the way and burn them down for about 15-30 minutes before refilling the stove. When I refill, I spread what's left evenly over the firebox floor.

 

[KeithO]

Begreen, these are small coals the size of peas. They are typically buried in ash from subsequent burns. I don't know how you are not meant to get unburnt coals, since it is 2ft from the front of the stove to the back and the only air source is at the front of the stove. Such a deep stove should have have an air source at the rear. I have better seasoned wood this year than last. I can typically put 2 new splits onto the pile of coals raked forward and close the door (without opening the air control) and the splits will be burning in about 2 minutes.

 

[begreen]

Wow, if that means 3x the amount of ash and debris, that's a lot of peas. I totally believe you're getting the unburnt coals, but for us it's not an issue. Short burn times with softwood is what we are dealing with day to day. Coaling can vary with the wood species from what I've seen. Even if the wood is dry, some wood seems to coal more than others. It sounds like you are burning well, so maybe a coal sifting shovel would help out?

FWIW, I think the firebox is 18" deep on the T6. I'll go and visit a couple local folks burning with the T5 to see how they're doing with coals.

 

[KeithO]

It may sound like a lot, but compare 3 cord of hardwood to 3 ash cans and it is not really that much, just a big increase compared to the Morso which has a grate and thus burns the coals more completely.