PE Alderlea T5 (continued, first full season, page3.)

[Woody Stover]

Yeah, as hot as it's been run so far, the glass is still totally clear.
Looks like a couple more cool nights coming, so I'll probably burn a couple partial loads. I'll cut the air sooner and more aggressively this time if I can, but at the same time I want to burn clean. Last time, at 400 the plume still wasn't totally clean. It's going to take some trial and error but I'm just about outta time until next fall...

 

[begreen]

Has your SIL or your brother run the stove? How is it working for them?

 

[Woody5506]

Only time the glass gets dirty is if you're burning not-so-seasoned wood, or cutting air down all the way too soon.

Regarding stove top temps, I think it takes a lot of actually overfire this stove. Not saying it should be run at some ridiculous temp but I've definitely let mine go a couple times and had the thermometer pegged over to the right. Only thing I could see was baffle rails inside the stove beginning to glow red. Shut the air off and within minutes the stove top temp is falling.

 

[Woody Stover]

Has your SIL run the stove?

No...she is physics-ly challenged. I told her to keep an eye on it and turn it down if it got hot at the end of the last load (a partial,) but I'm pretty sure it didn't, and she didn't say anything when I saw her later.
I want to get a good feel for how the stove runs, and then for how it will run on the various woods I've been getting for her. Then when I feel comfortable that I somewhat know what is going on, I'll bring her up to speed. That's on hold, as all we'll be doing over the next couple cool nights is burning a couple of short loads.

Has your brother run the stove?

No, he has a Regency F2400, and doesn't live here. But yeah, he would have a better feel for the stove than I do, coming from a cat...

 

[Woody Stover]

Went over and lit a pretty good-sized load, top-down start. Two Red Oak in the lower corners, Dogwood round between those, and splits above that and right, with a Red Mulberry on the left. Easy start even though it was over 50 outside.

The plume cleaned up pretty quickly as the kindling flamed well. There was a transition where the kindling was flamed out but not a lot of flame on the main load yet, and I think there was a little smoke, which seemed to clean up again as the main load flamed more. It was dusk, and getting hard to see the plume well.
At that point I had the air cut fairly low, surface flue meter about 270 maybe, and the stove top had climbed to 400 by the time I left, still rising.
She's going to keep an eye on it and if it looks like it wants to go to 700, she has a little more air she can cut.
She's going to log time, flue and stove top temps when she checks on it periodically.
She's enjoying the big window.

 

[begreen]

I would add a couple splits on top if you are anticipating a cold night and want a longer burn. Maybe you already did that.

 

[Woody Stover]

No I didn't. It was still 68 in there, and with it only going down to 43 or so, I figured the partial load would hold room temp pretty well. Low-60s tomorrow. We'll probably do another partial again tomorrow evening.

 

[Woody Stover]

Those Dogwood coals will go for a while, too.

 

[begreen]

Ah ok, I was thinking you were seeing temps in the 30's like folks in MI, WI and NY are reporting.

 

[Woody Stover]

Ah ok, I was thinking you were seeing temps in the 30's like folks in MI, WI and NY are reporting.

I can only wish. OTOH, these warmer temps are better for doing all the repairs on my beat-down 25 y.o. rides.

 

[bcrtops]

What do you guys use to lube the door hinges, trivet hinges and door latch roller? It appears that they greased them at the plant, but when the time comes, could I use B'laster Dry Lube PTFE or graphite spray, and not have to remove the door and trivets to apply grease?
The door latch mechanism seems to make a solid seal, with the gasket pressing against the flat front wall of the box, like the Buck 91 does. I didn't do the dollar-bill test, I will next time I'm over there. The website mentions a "knife-edge" door gasket seal...I guess that is on the steel-box-only models.

I know that begreen said no lube, but our hinge squeaked & the trivet hinges sounded horrible & difficult for the wife to move due to friction. Aerosol graphite has become my normal summer routine when cleaning chimney, baffle, interior. Trivet now always swings freely without noise, as well as the hinge assembly. I have had problems with the hinge pins (too short & moved down into the drilled door), but never had any issues with the door latch in all these years of use. Our wooden handle was drilled off-center, which looks a bit weird when going over the stove with an inspectors eye, but has always functioned properly.

Excessive smoke &/or soot on glass always cause by the following: 1) Wood not seasoned 2) Turning down air too soon 3) Having too small of a fire to start with & never getting up to clean burning temp, or small fire separating causing lower burn temps----- & 4) An air leak around the door or window gasket cooling the glass in that area.

 

[Hogwildz]

Soot on glass can be as simple as loading with split near or a couple inches from the glass. The ends of the splits with offgas against the glass causing it to soot up.

 

[Woody Stover]

Soot on glass can be as simple as loading with split near or a couple inches from the glass.

I have a small amount of soot in the left corner. I'll check the door and glass gaskets, but it's probably just that I grabbed a couple splits that weren't quite as dry. I've been burning stuff that I got out of the woods a couple weeks ago, and while you can somewhat judge by the heft how dry various species are, it's not an exact science. I did notice a little moisture on the end of a small round I put in Sunday AM. It wasn't bubbling, just a couple spots of dampness. The wood has been placed back of the boost manifold, so that's a couple inches at least from the glass.
I wanted to fire up Saturday night, but it got late on me so I went over Sunday AM. Nice top-down start with some Tulip kindling, and secondaries started firing really early, like five minutes or so.

Hard to see in the pic but upper left of that reflection, the side insulation is forming the hypotenuse of a right triangle with the side of the baffle and the horizontal top of the baffle/brick rail. A little flame was pulling into there, and back to the flue. I'll have to think about that, weather I'd rather have it going around the front of the baffle...I assume so.
I started cutting air but may have been a bit hasty. There was still some smoke when I looked, though not a lot. Stove was around 480 at that point...I think...shoulda took notes.

I opened the air a little, and the plume cleaned up soon after. Nice secondaries off both the bottom and front holes. This was about the hottest the flue ever got. It comes down when you have less secondaries throwing heat up there.

It seemed to be settling into a nice burn and leveled off about 580, and the flue came down to around 360, so I left with the air like it was, open just a touch. There was even a cute little secondary coming off the boost manifold.

I went home and fired our stove, then went back in an hour to check on hers...cruising along, about where I left it. This is with 40+ outdoor temps, so we'll see next fall if it will still run with this kind of control. I feel like I'll have to add a second damper. Hard to believe at 15'.
I'm getting a little more comfortable, and really starting to like this stove...I might be falling for her. But I've loved every stove I've had so far, so take that with a grain of salt.

 

[begreen]

I feel like I'll have to add a second damper.

Leave it alone. The stove is working fine even if the person running it can use some fine-tuning.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

I'm getting a little more comfortable, and really starting to like this stove...I might be falling for her. But I've loved every stove I've had so far, so take that with a grain of salt.

*From Woody's stove to Woody's stove's friends*

I just don't know. I think he's cheating on me. He still comes home and stokes my fire... but it's not the same. I bet he's visiting that new non cat across town. You know their type, with that cast iron cladding and secondary light show! I bet she'll still put out heat with damp wood! Humph.

 

[Woody Stover]

Leave it alone.

I haven't done anything yet, just pondering what will happen in cold weather. Maybe you don't notice much difference, but average winter lows here are fifteen or twenty degrees below what you see. And you have a different stove. I'm already seeing flue surface temps pushing 400, and it was over 40 out. If we get a stretch of teens at night, below-freezing days, and I see flue surface flue temps pushing 500 with her blowing through a lot of wood, I'm gonna see that as a problem. As long as the stove can keep up at lower burn rates, while burning clean, that will be my goal. I have to cut at least six cords a year to keep up with our needs and the in-law stoves...not looking for more work.

 

[Woody Stover]

We're getting some abnormally cool weather here. I've been firing our Keystone with partial loads in the evening for the last couple of nights.
Yesterday afternoon, I stopped in at my SIL's. She had fired up her furnace, as it had gotten down to 60 in her house. Yikes, how is that place losing so much heat?? Our place was barely dipping below 70. I guess our basement is pumping more heat upstairs; She has a walk-out, ours is full. I'm also going to check out air leaks in her place, around door weather-stripping etc. I'll also put in the foam inserts under the electrical outlet plates, and see if I can seal better around her attic access and light fixtures in the ceiling. She has 2x4 walls.
She had only bumped up the furnace to 63, so we fired up another load in the T5.
I started a top-down fire with a couple of SuperCedar chunks in the back/top, with a couple Pine kindling and small soft Maple splits. I figured that starting the fire in the back would get less wood burning, since the burn would have to work "upstream" toward the air wash. I thought I was cutting the air a little more aggressively once I saw secondaries starting, but I was a bit distracted by the Sixers/Raptors game 7, since the winners will have to face my Bucks. I spaced out...I should have also closed the pipe damper earlier to limit the gassing of the load more and get her burning lower, around 600 like I had last time. As it turned out, it ended up going to 700 stove top, with 500 on the surface flue meter. That's a lot of heat wasted up the flue, as I see it.
In the pic you can see that I didn't have all big splits in there, but I have to work with what I had stacked for her before we decided to go with the T5. Most of the wood you see in this bay (one of four, with another full bay behind it) was gotten by me this spring. Some of it was still kind of wet so I thought I'd better split it.
I still have some dead Oak limbs and dead White Ash to grab and if they are low 20% moisture I won't split them as small, and try to leave more rounds to slow the burn.

 

[Woody5506]

Been firing mine up the past couple days with basically pallet oak kindling, small ash splits and let it mostly burn out, then add a couple bigger ash splits and I'm good for the evening/night.

 

[heavy hammer]

Fired up both stoves tonight I have been burning the last of the cedar splits I have in the garage to clean it out. One stove load is good for an overnight burn/ to heat the house.

 

[Woody Stover]

Next fire try to turning down the air sooner, use thicker splits, packed tighter.

Larger splits for longer, slower burns. Less fuel for less needed heat. If you fill her, she will eat, but if you pack it tight, it will last a long time.

Some larger splits, less splits, and earlier turn down might help slow her down woody.

I can see how the lack of control would be upsetting when coming from a good cat stove.

Yeah, you'll read "Look how simple the non-cat is, only one lever!" They don't tell ya "Hey, look out, don't put too small of splits in there, and don't let them get burning too much, or you'll be grabbing flaming wood out of the stove and throwing it into the nearest snowdrift!"
With the weather cooling off, I've lit fires in the T5 to ward off the chill the last couple of upper-30s nights. I'm trying to employ the good advice given above, and might be starting to figure a couple things out.
First night didn't go too well..too much wood got burning, yet not enough heating of the box happened and it took me half an hour to finally get a clean plume. That night I had loaded a couple smaller Red Elm splits on top with a couple sticks of kindling. I guess maybe the Red Elm wasn't "flame-y" enough to generate much heat, or had a little damp spot as it sometimes can. With the amount of the load that ended up burning by the time I had the air fully cut, the stove top bumped up over 700 and the flue surface meter was pushing 500.
Last night, as this pic shows, I loaded a couple bigger Ash split/rounds, one small split of I-don't-know on the left top, and a small split of soft Maple nestled betwixt the big wood with an SC chunk and kindling sticks. That soft Maple flamed up really well and generated a lot of heat, and I had a clean plume and not much wood burning at 15 minutes. I cut the air the rest of the way, closed the flue damper, and was outta there shortly after that when it looked like the fire was settling in. At that point, stove was only a little over 300 and the flue meter was about 250. My SIL wasn't going to stay up much longer but she hopefully looked at the temps before retiring, and can report. I expect this was probably my lowest-output run with the stove to date. I stopped by after she had left this AM, 11 hrs after starting the load, and there was still a coaling split remnant a little bigger than a football and the stove was still cranking heat at about 280. That's encouraging!

 

[Woody5506]

Glass looks pretty dirty in that first pic - Is it sub par seasoned wood or just cut the air too soon? Lately I've just been burning 4x4's from hardwood pallets (yes they are untreated) usually oak, poplar and maybe some cherry, over a bed of the same type of kindling. This gets going fast, and takes the chill off enough to not totally heat me out of the room this time of year. Although I had a couple nights where I added another load right after that small fire and ended up heating myself out. Shoulder season really isn't my favorite time to burn wood - hate cold starting, using kindling + firestarters and so on. I can really see the appeal of a cat stove during shoulder season.

 

[begreen]

FWIW, our glass never looks like that unless the wood is right up against the glass or poorly seasoned. It doesn't look like that is the case here, but maybe it is. A thick, unsplit round can take years to season. Does the door gasket seal well and pass the dollar bill test on the latch side?

 

[Woody Stover]

Glass looks pretty dirty in that first pic - Is it sub par seasoned wood or just cut the air too soon?
Shoulder season really isn't my favorite time to burn wood - hate cold starting, using kindling + firestarters and so on

FWIW, our glass never looks like that unless the wood is right up against the glass or poorly seasoned. It doesn't look like that is the case here, but maybe it is. A thick, unsplit round can take years to season. Does the door gasket seal well and pass the dollar bill test on the latch side?

Secondary was kicking pretty good before I cut the air too far, but I'm not really sure about the big wood in there. It was from a White Ash I dropped recently. I had put it on top of her ready-to-go wood in the shed so I guess that when I was cutting and metering, I figured it was dry enough to burn. Whether it was it was 18% or 21%, I don't recall, but not real wet, anyway. Could be that where I stuck the meter was a little drier than another section, as it was fresh-cut, not dried in the stack where it's gonna end up being uniform moisture throughout.
When I go over there after a load has burned out, there is a slight residue on that side of the glass, but nothing alarming. The pic lighting is making that look worse than it was. The wood was behind the boost air cover, so not real close to the glass.
I took a dollar bill over a couple days ago, the gasket is hitting but it's not real hard to pull it out so maybe I could snug it up a bit.
I don't mind starting a cold stove. That load build was simple..big wood, soft Maple split between, two kindling sticks on top of the flaming SuperCedar chunk. No muss, no fuss.

 

[begreen]

I took a dollar bill over a couple days ago, the gasket is hitting but it's not real hard to pull it out so maybe I could snug it up a bit.

If it's like the T6, this is not a knife-edge seal. So as long as there is some resistance it is ok and best left alone.

 

[Woody Stover]

If it's like the T6, this is not a knife-edge seal. So as long as there is some resistance it is ok and best left alone.

Right, it's like the Buck 91, where the gasket hits the front of the stove box flat, around the door opening. I hadn't thought about it but what you say makes sense..it wouldn't have to be as tight, since there's a wider amount of gasket doing the sealing.