Just curious to know why.

I think the fuss is they do not think the temp is going to stop there and continue on up.

So at what temp do you start to worry? Metal turning red?

Can anyone tell a story of a run-away fire that got to 800F and kept on going? How high did it get and what happened to the stove and the house?

Does Blaze King have an overfire temp in their manual? I always thought steel stoves could take a little more temp than cast or stone.

As others have said, the fear is of it not stopping there. The hotter you run your stove, the bigger the test of the entire system. Being a firefighter for 34 years and a wood burner for almost 40, I have always tended to keep my stoves at a little lower temperature than most. It just gives me some peace of mind. Not saying anyone else should do it, but for me, the risk of fire is something that is always in my mind and not something I want. If it works for you, that is great. Every system is a little different. Just make sure your system is up to the task and be vigilant and careful. Sorry, old firefighters are a little paranoid. :smirk:

Newbie, that's my excuse.

fv

Most of time an overfire will come into play later when you try and sell the POS.

The Resolute Acclaim I have cruises at about 650 but if I just leave it alone as the top wood settles to coals the stove temps will rise up past 750. Then gradually over the next couple hours the coals burn themselves out and it just all turns to ash.

I think the air flow is at maximum as the load runs it course and the hopper gets pretty empty and the coals just have that secondary air flowing over them and the thermometer is on the griddle and showing quite hot. I usually have the damper closed and above the damper the stove temp is reading ~300F or less on the inlet to the chimney in a single wall pipe.

I'm not worried. I've been around with a real chimney fire, and when you experience a good one of those a hot running stove isn't a big deal. If you know your flue is clean and in good shape you don't worry, you just enjoy not polluting the country side.

ohlongarm said:

Lately i've seen alot of the burners here get in a panic when their stoves start reaching temps of 6-7>hundred degrees. Now I frequently hit those and higher not hard to do with my stove,last night ,I burnt a full load of larch for over an hour at 7 to 750 before I kicked her down,this was on a setting about 2.75,I saw no adverse effects no noises from the stove alot of real nice flames.Is burning this hot a detriment in any way,if it is I'm not going to stop, my cat was at 1600 and glowing beautifully.The hottest I ever had this stove was 800 and no ill effects were seen and heard at those temps either.Just wondering what all the fuss is about.

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Well to get to 800 you would need some fairly big flame...at least on my BKK.
I don't like beating the cat with flame.
I see no reason to do it. Maybe when your house cools down you want to get up to temp fast..I dunno.
I like no higher then 650..and cruising at 500+..cat surface temps.
In other words..I like my cat probe to be around 2/3 over..but I don't really get to excited it exceeds that during gas off on a full load.

ohlongarm said:

You are absolutely right running at 800 you will have alot of fire.If i can get a couple hours a day no more of a fireshow, I'm happy,this happens only in the dark cold evening hours. Now if the cat can't take it ? then we go to step two buy another cat if I abuse my cat and have to replace it every other year no big deal,the amenities the BK provides offsets the cost of replacing it by a mile. PS doesn't the shield protect the cat from flame impingement?After all this is a woodburning appliance with fire involved. Thanks

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The shield helps some no doubt.
Awhile back someone had a pic of a cat with flame impingement damage..not a pretty sight.
But hey!
Fire away!
You can let me know how it works out for ya! lol.

For me I just never see the need to run her hard.
You're talking about a stove that will go at least 24 hours in the shoulder..12 hours in bitter cold no problem.
Once in a great while I'll put a split or two in partway in a cycle just to stretch it a little longer though.

If I was one to burn only a few hours each day ..I would prolly go tube.
I believe you can run a tube hotter ..and get there faster...and not damage something like a cat.
If I only get 3 years I would be happy..off a cat.
Once a year ..not so much.

Matter of fact..I rigged my stove so even if someone turns it up all the way ..it's really at about 2.75 on the dial.

Yet I can back my saftey screw out to burn down coals faster if I want to..don't do that much.

ohlongarm said:

Lots of good answers,I think under most circumstances it would be very difficult to really seriously overfire a stove since even cheap steel won't turn red hot till 1300> and won't melt till 2700>. However if your setup is not up to par the higher temps could pose a hazard,also when a stove gets up to 700> you get alot of heat.One thing with my stove which I hadn't noticed previously on my other 4 stoves is the great control you have with it.Should it ever get beyond 800 simply turning the fans on high drops the temp alot in the stove not the area being heated.In essence whatever works for ya and keeps ya warm and safe.

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Let me guess.

When you say the fans drop the temp of the stove top fast you're talking about the cat probe dropping right?

Must have took off on me!

Well anyways having the fans on will drop the probe reading fairly fast..but it's a false reading you are getting.
Even a mag thermometer will give you a wrong reading..the coils are getting the relativity cooler room air moving over them.
Fans will not slow a fire in the stove..it can help transfer heat off the stove but nowhere as fast as you think..certainly not enough to slow a runaway stove..no way.

Will the stove melt? No.

Will you pop a weld? Maybe.

Is it a waste of wood? In my opinion, yes.

-SF

One more thing on saftey if I may..

When your running high stove temps ..so is your stack..chimney.
I know all that is supposed to take it fine..but most of the time there is a house around all that..usually made out of wood.

Old timers years ago used to run a hot fire once a day..thinking that if they were to have a chimney fire it would be a small one.
Some did it thinking it helped keep their chimney clean.

I don't like either thought.

I run around 800 flu temps as my stove has to when the afterburner is in use, but when it is not in use it runs around 650 flue. These temps are very common in newer EPA stoves and some need to run that hot in order to run properly. The stove on the other hand above 600 just waste fuel and heat as you have to load more often.

Pete

HotCoals said:

One more thing on saftey if I may..

When your running high stove temps ..so is your stack..chimney.
I know all that is supposed to take it fine..but most of the time there is a house around all that..usually made out of wood.

Old timers years ago used to run a hot fire once a day..thinking that if they were to have a chimney fire it would be a small one.
Some did it thinking it helped keep their chimney clean.

I don't like either thought.

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That's vague, how hot is hot, I run a flue temp in the range it is supposed to be, running a flue temp in the correct range does keep the chimney clean. What are you saying give us some numbers here.

Pete1983 said:

I run around 800 flu temps as my stove has to when the afterburner is in use, but when it is not in use it runs around 650 flue. These temps are very common in newer EPA stoves and some need to run that hot in order to run properly. The stove on the other hand above 600 just waste fuel and heat as you have to load more often.

Pete

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Single wall, double wall, probe, surface help us out a little here.

Pete1983 said:

I run around 800 flu temps as my stove has to when the afterburner is in use, but when it is not in use it runs around 650 flue. These temps are very common in newer EPA stoves and some need to run that hot in order to run properly. The stove on the other hand above 600 just waste fuel and heat as you have to load more often.

Pete

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That's why for me the cat stove works better.
My pipe 18" up from my stove top(single wall) is never around 400..usually around 275-300..the last half of the burn closer to 250.
I like it like that.
Less going up the flue from the load but yet the cat cleans it up and really helps heat the house.
I burned the same stove for 24 years but without a cat...the old stove was not even half as good.
This thing is so easy to run..a few days is all it took for the basics.
Load it up,,burn hotter for maybe 20 mins till cat temp is up..flip the bypass..set the temp control and walk away for up to 24 hours or more in the shoulder..at least 12 in the deep freeze...16 hours avg.

The stoves they're running are a different animal to burn. Last year with my Endeavor it was always an exciting time after a reload to see if the stove would head for the moon or not. I never got over the 800* published over fire temp but it was close many times.

The BK is different, I can run it up to 750* on 3 and as soon as I turn it down to 2 the temp goes down in minutes. The people freaking out are doing so when the stove is turned down all the way and it's still going up, that is not fun.

Oldspark I run double wall pipe from the stove up and use a Condor insert thermometer on my double wall and a Vermont Castings surface thermometer on the center top of the top load door.

Pete

HotCoals said:

Must have took off on me!

Well anyways having the fans on will drop the probe reading fairly fast..but it's a false reading you are getting.
Even a mag thermometer will give you a wrong reading..the coils are getting the relativity cooler room air moving over them.
Fans will not slow a fire in the stove..it can help transfer heat off the stove but nowhere as fast as you think..certainly not enough to slow a runaway stove..no way.

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Turning the fan on isn't in hopes of slowing the fire, it's in hopes of transferring some heat off the stove to keep the surface temps down while the fire peaks and settles down . When I turn the fans on the stove top temp comes down and it comes down rather quickly. This is always measured with an IR gun so this has nothing to do with cooler room air moving over the coils.