PE Summit LE Plan

[GoStove]

Hey guys have been set on installing a PE Summit Classic LE for some time, but I see some reports out there of this stove possibly overdrafting or burning too fast / hot in some installs. Curious what you guys think of the plan - install on this is quite a commitment financially so obviously would need it to work.

This would be a basement install in a 2 story house, from the top of the stove to top of the chimney would be 20-25’ straight up. Wood used would be pine. Do have some windy days. Some very windy. Most of the time would be burning in outside temperatures 0-32F but there would be some use of the stove down to minus 20F maybe colder.

I would be hoping to heat the basement and get as much convective air and heat upstairs as possible. One main hope / need is to be able to load up the stove and get an overnight burn say 10 hours where I still have coals to get things going again in the AM.

I do see some people seem to be struggling getting things dialed in with this line of stoves and longer pipe runs. I am curious if you guys think the Summit LE line would work well in this type of install, environment, and for the needed burn times?

Thanks in advance for any input.

 

[stoveliker]

Do plan for a key damper.

Is the chimney inside or outside?

 

[GoStove]

Thank you, I have seen key damper and this stove mentioned a few times. Would it make cleaning that much more difficult? I am hoping to do that myself to save on ongoing costs.

Chimney inside would be the plan except for the 6’ or so above the roof.

 

[stoveliker]

A soot eater can get past a damper.

 

[begreen]

Many Canadian stoves are easy breathing and draft well on shorter chimneys. This includes SBI (Osburn/Drolet/Englander), Regency, and PE stoves. For a 25' flue a key damper is recommended. Blocking the boost air port may also be needed due to the quick combustion characteristics of pine. This is a simple thing to do and easily reversible

The Summit will work well, but there are unknowns for basement installs that may affect performance. If the basement is uninsulated, expect a large heat loss through the walls. Also, some basements are negative pressure zones due to air leakage on the above floors and exhaust fans running. Plan on connecting an outside air supply if this is an issue.

 

[GoStove]

Thanks, and thanks for mentioning Osburn etc., as their 3500 or equivalent Drolet continues to be a secondary choice due to the tax credit issue at hand. But we like the PE better from what we have seen. Installation is quite pricey, almost twice the cost of the stove.

 

[GoStove]

Also on the basement issue @begreen I am hopeful, we have passive venting to the basement in each upstairs room and there is the stairway. In addition if the upstairs furnace did kick on it draws intake air from the basement or I could run it in fan mode. I am thinking I can cut in a few more passive vents to the floor if needed as well. Mostly uninsulated unfortunately, trying to go as convective as possible. If any other strategies, I am all ears.

 

[begreen]

Thanks, and thanks for mentioning Osburn etc., as their 3500 or equivalent Drolet continues to be a secondary choice due to the tax credit issue at hand. But we like the PE better from what we have seen. Installation is quite pricey, almost twice the cost of the stove.

There is also the Englander 32-NC which is now an SBI stove.

 

[stoveliker]

With passive venting, be careful as a hole in a floor is a hole in a fire barrier. Even wooden floors slow down the spread of fire and smoke - regardless of whether there is an open stairwell or not.
Code may say that you have to add fire dampers.
Do place smoke and CO alarms at appropriate places.

That said, passive vents work best if cold air can sink at the outside walls, and warm air rise (stairs) in the center. Create a circuit.
Don't only think about warm air rising, but make sure the returning air can flow without mixing/creating turbulence with the rising warm air.

One way would be to have a 3 ft chase below the passive vents. This prevents the warm air (near the basement ceiling) to try to get up there, and allows the colder air to sink to the basement, which will push the warm air up the stairs.

Or you could do the following as I did.

Post in thread 'Moving heat from basement'

May 1, 2023

I heat from the basement, and if I include my basement squre footage, I have 2500 sqft.
825 in the basement and 1700 above that. Late 70s. Brand new triple pane windows, fantastic sealing and insulation (R57) in the attic. Mediocre wall insulation.

My basement walls are insulated, but the floor is unfortunately not.

Heating my home above the basement is easy. Only when it gets to be 5 F do I have to push the stove (as in 8 hr reloads), still keeping my main floor around 70 F.

However, I second the comment above that heating from a basement benefits from consistency, i.e. you heat...

• stoveliker

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[GoStove]

Thanks for the input guys. Sounding like a key damper and a Sooteater will be added to the plan. Have tried with some convection heaters running in the basement and seems to help upstairs…maybe trying some of these additional steps I can get it all the way there or close with a stove.

 

[Enplater]

My old basement install liked to backdraft. It was tough to light a fire unless the garage door was open and when the stove started cooling when the coals were going out it would backdraft a little and sometimes set off the co alarm.
Also the basement walls would soak up half the heat the stove would put out. I had an Englander 30 and it would have a hard time heating a 1500 sqft house where my T5 easily heats the house on the main floor.
If it’s possible to install the stove on the main floor I’d do it.

 

[GoStove]

Thank you. Have been leaning basement just to make that space more livable and also to hopefully help heat the upstairs as well. The basement has the issue of a long pipe run which seems to be causing issues with too much draft from what I have been reading in some cases, worried about that as a big goal is to be able to have coals in the morning after an evening reload.

Also expensive. I have seen that when I crank up the electric heat in the basement, it helps out upstairs quite a bit. I know I am losing heat to the walls and floors however. A stove upstairs and in the basement both could be nice but hoping to get this covered with one.

 

[Enplater]

The wood stove on the main floor vs the basement is so much better for me.
I always thought maybe having a pellet stove in the basement and wood stove on the main floor would work really good. I just need to come across a good deal on a pellet stove,

 

[GoStove]

Thanks. I think I might be more concerned about too much draft right now with the basement. Seems as though it’s a relatively common issue.