Good afternoon everyone, I had a bit of an overfire last night with insert face temps up at 850+. Things came under control easily once the air was closed down and the blower turned up, but...an overfire nonetheless. I just went to have an inspection of the firebox and found what may or may not be some cracked welds on the front frame, just inside the door. I can't say I have ever looked for these before, or inspected this particular spot on the insert so can't say if what I am seeing is something of concern or some variant of normal for the PE Super Insert that is in it's 5th season. I've attached some pics--two from each side, upper right and upper left of frame inside of door. (pics with insulation on the right are from the left side of insert and with insulation on the left from the right side) Are there any PE experts or fellow owners who might be able to chime in? Thanks!
Definitely not good! Might want to take some more pictures a little further back so we can see what we’re looking at. Might be a totally unrelated issue, and certainly don’t want to be a ‘downer’ on your stove, but this is the third PE unit I’ve heard of AND seen pictures from over-firing, though all three could be user error. They supposedly make a good unit, but the other two I seen were free-standing units and their innards we’re toast. I hope yours isn’t the case and you get it resolved quickly and painlessly. First thing would be to determine what caused it. It if wasn’t user error, but a stove issue, then I’d be torqued after spending good money and having a problem even after warranty went out. Here’s to getting it resolved to your satisfaction.
Not an expert by any means. Do you cap your chimney in the off season?? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Thanks for the responses. I’ll be doing a more thorough inspection today and will update with any new findings. I have a rain cap on the flue, but don’t seal off the top during the off season.
My father-in- law has a P.E. insert and it runs like a blast furnace! So far no cracks, but I don't know why! I've told him several times to get a damper installed in the pipe a couple of feet above the firebox, but that's like ! His chimney is 35'+ tall so even with the air fully closed he can burn a full stove load to ashes in a couple of hours. This is no fault of the manufacturer but a failure of the selling/installing dealer to recognize the needs of the customer. You may want to take more pictures and check with a P.E. dealer. Hopefully he will take better care of you then the dealer in Columbia County, N.Y.!
