reducing Alderlea T5 combustion air

[oldspark]

Does any body know why they dont control the secondary air on their other models, I think the T5 is the only one they do it on.

 

[raybonz]

Does any body know why they dont control the secondary air on their other models, I think the T5 is the only one they do it on.

OS are you sure you aren't controlling both primary and secondary air with your one lever like the T5? The T5 has been very impressive and I hear great things about the T6 too..

Ray

 

[oldspark]

OS are you sure you aren't controlling both primary and secondary air with your one lever like the T5? The T5 has been very impressive and I hear great things about the T6 too..

Ray

Its been talked about on here before with some confusion, no air control on the secondary air on my Summit.

 

[raybonz]

Its been talked about on here before with some confusion, no air control on the secondary air on my Summit.

Interesting OS on the T5 there is a rod connecting the lever to both the primary and secondary air.. Maybe they couldn't do it on the T6 so they came up with EBT instead?

Ray

 

[oldspark]

It would be nice to see a picture of the set up on the tT5, so the T5 does not have EBT?

 

[raybonz]

It would be nice to see a picture of the set up on the tT5, so the T5 does not have EBT?

No only the T6 has the EBT on it.. Hard to take a pic as it under the stove with little clearance plus the ash pan lives directly below the stove.. What I see is the lever is directly controlling the primary air in front and a linkage connects this to the secondary air in the back somewhere so they move together if this makes sense to you..

Ray

 

[begreen]

Does any body know why they dont control the secondary air on their other models, I think the T5 is the only one they do it on.

Each firebox size needs its own design to maximize clean burning over a wide range of load sizes. However, it looks like they now control the secondary air on their 3cu ft models too with the new EBT design.

https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/pe-summit-insert-series-b-and-experiences-in-ope

 

[begreen]

Ok..The pic is upside down and through a mirror But in the first picture you can see the ground out part of the arm and the second is it closed.. I did it very slow as i didnt want to cut off the air totally,and there woulda been no going back

I would advise against modifying the valve this way, especially for anyone that intends on selling the stove at some later point. Not everyone is going to need this mod. A simpler and reversible modification is to slightly bend the stop tab so that the air valve closes a bit more. This takes less time than it takes to type about it. Just bend it at the tip a little with a pair of vice grips or a pipe wrench. It doesn't take much.

 

[loon]

I would advise against modifying the valve this way, especially for anyone that intends on selling the stove at some later point. Not everyone is going to need this mod. A simpler and reversible modification is to slightly bend the stop tab so that the air valve closes a bit more. This takes less time than it takes to type about it. Just bend it at the tip a little with a pair of vice grips or a pipe wrench. It doesn't take much.

I hear ya begreen but i was a little worried of snapping the weld.

I could replace the arm to sell but pretty sure this will be my last stove i will buy

loon

 

[oldspark]

Its kinda funny, about the last thing I want is to be able to turn my stove down more.

 

[raybonz]

Its kinda funny, about the last thing I want is to be able to turn my stove down more.

You must have a large home OS..

 

[oldspark]

You must have a large home OS..

Yes its 2500 sq ft or so with an open floor plan so it takes a fair amount to over heat the house, and its cold here in the winter.

 

[raybonz]

Yes its 2500 sq ft or so with an open floor plan so it takes a fair amount to over heat the house, and its cold here in the winter.

Big space to heat with any stove! What sort of temps do you see there and how well is your home insulated? FYI you have around 900 sq. ft. more than I do..

Ray

 

[oldspark]

The house is well insulated but has a lot of south glass so a south wind when below zero is not good (looking into insulated window shades), some winters we will have a fair amount of below zero temps, in fact we are going through that now. Cant complain on the stove but I wish I would have bought a more radiant type.

 

[raybonz]

The house is well insulated but has a lot of south glass so a south wind when below zero is not good (looking into insulated window shades), some winters we will have a fair amount of below zero temps, in fact we are going through that now. Cant complain on the stove but I wish I would have bought a more radiant type.

Sounds pretty cold there and this week we will be getting some serious cold here. If you don't have a blower I feel it makes a difference getting the heat out. Essentially these are radiant stoves with a skin for convection, the blower will enhance getting the heat out..

Ray

 

[oldspark]

Yea I have the blower, dont think I could get by with out it.

 

[raybonz]

Yea I have the blower, dont think I could get by with out it.

Hope you stay warm OS I feel you've done all you can to maximize your heat output.. Large home and cold climate are a big challenge for any stove.. I heat about 900 sq. ft. less with the T5 and it seems good so far but will know more this week with some cold and wind setting in here.. I think I will be OK heatwise..

Ray

 

[mcgster]

I have been reading a few threads like this and i'm wondering about doing a foil tape mod to my t6 just something to test out with my extremely high chimney. I noticed earlier on in the thread people have stated that the t5 and t6 use different secondary air controls. The t6 uses EBT which on their site looks like a square secondary air inlet with a baffle that automatically opens and closes. If this is the case i'm curious as to the best way to go about a reversible mod...

 

[raybonz]

I have been reading a few threads like this and i'm wondering about doing a foil tape mod to my t6 just something to test out with my extremely high chimney. I noticed earlier on in the thread people have stated that the t5 and t6 use different secondary air controls. The t6 uses EBT which on their site looks like a square secondary air inlet with a baffle that automatically opens and closes. If this is the case i'm curious as to the best way to go about a reversible mod...

I think the T5 and T6 are different so I will let BeGreen or someone else familiar with the T-6 guide you.. I did file the stop down on my T-5 and it made a big difference. This allows me to reduce the air more which reduces my flue temp a lot. This is very helpful when things get too hot. Now when I start with a full load I can keep my flue temp in the high/normal range which is good.. Before this it would hit 800 degrees surface temp which is too hot.. Glad I did it!

Ray

 

[begreen]

I have been reading a few threads like this and i'm wondering about doing a foil tape mod to my t6 just something to test out with my extremely high chimney. I noticed earlier on in the thread people have stated that the t5 and t6 use different secondary air controls. The t6 uses EBT which on their site looks like a square secondary air inlet with a baffle that automatically opens and closes. If this is the case i'm curious as to the best way to go about a reversible mod...

What problems are you having with the stove currently?

 

[mcgster]

Burn times are my only issue. I have a very tall chimney my alderlea is in the basement and I'm in an old 1880s house with 12 ft ceilings and a mansard roof. So I'm dealing with at least 40 to 45 ft of draft! I just reloaded the firebox and room the primary control all the way down and it's an inferno in there!

 

[begreen]

Do you have a key damper that is closed to reduce draft? That's the easiest retrofit and it does not require altering the stove.

 

[dyerkutn]

This allows me to reduce the air more which reduces my flue temp a lot. This is very helpful when things get too hot. Now when I start with a full load I can keep my flue temp in the high/normal range which is good.. Before this it would hit 800 degrees surface temp which is too hot..

I was JUST reading this thread today when it got restarted--how great. Ray--thanks to your advice I also have the T5. Love it. Was installed in April.
Now with the cold season fully going and having the week off I have time to really examine my burning so I have been asking lots of questions.

My question from this thread is how to get longer burns without blasting myself out of the house. Or if I am warm enough should I even bother about burn times. And I am confused---I thought more wood equals more heat AND longer burn times. How can these factors be independent?

the area I am heating is only 950 sq. ft BUT with many ceiling height levels varying from 8 to 14 feet including down a partial flight of stair to my entrance area which is still open to the rest of the space. I have a ceiling fan to keep the hot air from getting trapped in all the little ceiling crevices. (In one of my first posts someone said they imagined it like an Escher painting). Am also using floor fans facing stove room to push warm air toward a bedroom which is not a straight line from the stove.

With the stove only loaded 1/2 full (or sometimes less if it is already hot) the place gets steaming, especially if I reload with more than just a couple of splits or before the stove gets down to literally embers. Yesterday I did no reload all day because temp in the house was still 70 from when my son reloaded at 4am. (Of course it was not that cold outside yesterday.) So maybe that is my burn time--14 hours from reload to when I feel I need more heat!! even if that means the stove is cold???

To avoid creosote, I try to get the fire hot as quick as possible and then totally shut the air down (as totally as you can in the T5!!). Sometimes this means starting the reload with very hot coals or using a bunch of smaller pieces that fire up quickly.

I have not even tried to fully load my stove because when I try to fill it even 2/3, before I can turn down the air my flue temps can shoot up to 650 on a single wall magnetic therm. which kind of scares me. This is true whether using kindling and small pieces to get a new fire started or reloading medium-large sized splits on a hot bed of coals (stove top at 300).

 

[begreen]

Start turning down the air sooner, say when flue surface temps are 450F. Do it in increments if the fire is too lazy or all the way if not. As soon as you start turning down the air down the flue temps should settle down too, even with a full stove.

 

[raybonz]

I was JUST reading this thread today when it got restarted--how great. Ray--thanks to your advice I also have the T5. Love it. Was installed in April.
Now with the cold season fully going and having the week off I have time to really examine my burning so I have been asking lots of questions.

My question from this thread is how to get longer burns without blasting myself out of the house. Or if I am warm enough should I even bother about burn times. And I am confused---I thought more wood equals more heat AND longer burn times. How can these factors be independent?

the area I am heating is only 950 sq. ft BUT with many ceiling height levels varying from 8 to 14 feet including down a partial flight of stair to my entrance area which is still open to the rest of the space. I have a ceiling fan to keep the hot air from getting trapped in all the little ceiling crevices. (In one of my first posts someone said they imagined it like an Escher painting). Am also using floor fans facing stove room to push warm air toward a bedroom which is not a straight line from the stove.

With the stove only loaded 1/2 full (or sometimes less if it is already hot) the place gets steaming, especially if I reload with more than just a couple of splits or before the stove gets down to literally embers. Yesterday I did no reload all day because temp in the house was still 70 from when my son reloaded at 4am. (Of course it was not that cold outside yesterday.) So maybe that is my burn time--14 hours from reload to when I feel I need more heat!! even if that means the stove is cold???

To avoid creosote, I try to get the fire hot as quick as possible and then totally shut the air down (as totally as you can in the T5!!). Sometimes this means starting the reload with very hot coals or using a bunch of smaller pieces that fire up quickly.

I have not even tried to fully load my stove because when I try to fill it even 2/3, before I can turn down the air my flue temps can shoot up to 650 on a single wall magnetic therm. which kind of scares me. This is true whether using kindling and small pieces to get a new fire started or reloading medium-large sized splits on a hot bed of coals (stove top at 300).

Try what BG mentioned 1st as BG offers great advice..If that doesn't resolve this then pursue other avenues..