PE Alderlea T5 air intakes

  • Active since 1995, Hearth.com is THE place on the internet for free information and advice about wood stoves, pellet stoves and other energy saving equipment.

    We strive to provide opinions, articles, discussions and history related to Hearth Products and in a more general sense, energy issues.

    We promote the EFFICIENT, RESPONSIBLE, CLEAN and SAFE use of all fuels, whether renewable or fossil.
Have all measures to regulate/restrict incoming combustion air been exhausted. Or?
If it isn't coming in it's tough to believe too much would be going out.
Does not sound like your installation should exceed recommended parameters.
Perhaps you have done all you can in this respect.
I did play around with blocking boost air and other air hole next to it. It did slow the fire but the temps still continued to climb.
 
Ok so playing around with the ICC damper and boost air hole blocked it didn’t seem like the damper did a whole lot. I took some sheet metal and bolted two pieces together to cover up the ICC. That really seemed to help control the fire more. I loaded it pretty damn full and was able to keep temp flue temps at 800 degrees which I could never be that low in the past. It would have been 1300 easily.

Maybe I can tweak my wood stacking, keep turning down early, not reload hot and I can continue to lower the temps. I am excited for my digital probe to come in next week so I can really see real time temps.

Not sure though if I want to keep my modified damper, or see if I can get a cheap hardware store one to fit my double wall pipe.

Also on a side note, I just replaced my gasket again. Seems like maybe there was a tiny air leak when I held a lighter to the hinge side it pulled the flame in . I went to my dealer and got the PE gasket. It is totally different than the supposedly PE gasket I got from cheapstoveparts. It’s bigger and softer. The one I got online is hard and it doesn’t even measure 5/16.

I thought I read on here somewhere that the doors on the PE don’t require a lot of pressure to seal? Maybe mine was too tight and it flattened the gasket it on the handle and hinge side. Not sure if that’s an issue or not. How hard are you guys pressing to close your door and handle?
 

Attachments

  • [Hearth.com] PE Alderlea T5 air intakes
    IMG_7022.webp
    217.2 KB · Views: 5
  • [Hearth.com] PE Alderlea T5 air intakes
    IMG_7021.webp
    352.3 KB · Views: 5
  • [Hearth.com] PE Alderlea T5 air intakes
    IMG_6998.webp
    222.1 KB · Views: 5
  • IMG_7005.mov
    11.8 MB
When I changed my gasket, it was noticeably harder to turn the handle and latch it shut. I used it as an excuse to lubricate the hinges and latch mechanism, which helped.

How hard is it? I don’t have an easy way to measure my pressure vs yours. But say it took 3lbs of pressure before. It takes 6 or 8 now. Significantly more percentage wise, but in the grand scheme of things I’m not worried about it wearing out my joints.