PE Alderlea T5 or T6

[Firepractor]

Greetings from Durango Colorado,

We are looking to replace our 26 year Harmon Exception TL200 with a PE Alderlea but we can’t decide between the T5 or T6. Our house was built in 1998 and is 1700 sq. ft. open floor plan (entry way, living room, dining room and kitchen) with vaulted ceilings. This is the main central living area of the house and the stove is in the living room corner. There is a front room off of the entry way that also has a vaulted ceiling. The bedrooms are located on both sides of the central living area. Do you have a recommendation on which model to go with? I know there can be so many factors to consider. Our winters can get pretty cold and we heat the entire house with the current stove. We go through roughly 3 cords of wood per year. Any info would be greatly appreciated. Let me know if you need any further information to help me decide on most appropriate model. Thanks in advance for your input.

Cheers,

 

[begreen]

Welcome. Both models will work. The T5 will be close to the TL200's output. The T6 will have more high end output for very cold days. Personally, we love the T6 which is heating out old 2000 sq ft farmhouse. We are in a milder climate, but the house has a somewhat leaky 100 yr old construction and it has had a lot of windows added over it's lifetime. Both stove models are easy to run and happy to burn a partial load in milder weather.

 

[MongoMongoson]

I would go larger rather than smaller. As begreen said, the T6 will run a smaller load just fine. During warmer weather in the shoulder season, we'll often just put 6 splits in our Summit (same firebox as the T6) and run it like that. It burns a smaller load cleanly with a very nice fire view.

 

[Firepractor]

So it sounds like the T6 has more flexibility in that you can burn partial or smaller loads and it would be fine. The T6 I assume would be better for longer burn times overnight compared to the T5 just purely based on the fire box size difference.