Scared to death of overfiring my non existent Napoleon NZ26

You may get 'er pretty warm at some time . . . maybe very hot . . . but I suspect as long as you are careful with your wood, air control, watching temps at first until you get to learn the stove you should be OK . . . it's natural to be concerned . . . but I think as long as you're not routinely over-firing it you should be good . . . I know my stove has got pretty warm a few times . . . and I've learned some important life lessons because of that . . . without damaging the stove. They're tougher than you may think.

At some point down the road it will get to hot on you.

You don't have anything to worry about at first, because your fear and concern indicates you have the right mentality, and you will be cautious and conservative while you get to know how your insert likes to run. The thing to really watch out for, I think, is 6-12 months from now when you and your wife know the routine and how to run the stove safely. That's when you start dealing with the temptation of getting distracted, multi-tasking, etc. I made this mistake myself once. . . . Once. I had a very slight overfire and it was enough to put me back on the straight and narrow. No damage done.

Getting in the habit of setting reminder alarms, etc. and other devices to enforce the proper habits is a good idea.

-Jim

As long as you create good burning habits you should not have a problem but it is normal to have a bit of fear before and when you actually start a fire. What we've seen to be the biggest problem is folks leaving the door open for more draft and walking away from the stove. Never, never leave the stove room if the door is open. In addition, when starting a fire and on reloads, you will have the draft full open. Remember that it is open. If you have to set an alarm to remind you, do it. You just would not load a stove and leave the draft full open for the whole burn.

We've read on this forum about folks starting the fire, leaving the firebox door open and going to take a shower. Even worse was the fellow who went to the corner grocery while leaving the firebox door open. These type mistakes are inexcusable and will lead to big problems. You will do better.

Yes, always treat the stove with the respect that a fire within your home deserves and you'll have no unsafe situations arise. Maybe bordering on a bit perturbing, but everything will respond well to conservative action. Take care, and you'll be just fine.

You're going to like have a wood fire in the house.

Wesasetsider said:

Thanks for the good advice everyone. I called napoleon for some specs and how to measure the temp, but they really couldn't offer any specific advice. I guess it seems impossible to measure the NZ 26 temps accurately for overfiring. Was hoping for a solid answer like, don't get near 500 degrees when taken from front glass... Or something like that.

Would the smaller chamber of 1.7 of the NZ 26 have less potential for getting too hot or more potential than a larger burn chamber?

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Yes, it does help a little bit. Also, that 500 degrees you wrote is certainly a long, long ways from overfiring. If it gets over 750, then you could be a bit concerned but I doubt you will get it to that temperature.

If you really want something to worry about, worry about your fuel. This would be more of a concern for me rather than a possible overfire. If you have purchased wood or about to, you might be in for a shocker. Although you will be told the wood has been seasoned, that term is meaningless. There is about a 99% chance that the wood will not be dry enough to burn. Then if you persist, like most do, you will be fighting the fire trying to get it going and keep it burning and soon will complain about the stove not working right. It won't be the fault of the stove but of the fuel. I hope I am totally wrong.

I think you are worrying to much these EPA stoves are built tough they are made to contain the the fire.

If i were you i would be more concerned about it running to cool and that is what creates creosote.

Then when you do have a overfire you could ignite that creosote from burning to cool

I'm going to throw this out there...heating with wood is not for everyone. If you're really scared "to death" and worrying about overfiring a brand new stove that you haven't even bought yet, this might not be for you. And that's OK. You don't want to invest in it and then be too afraid to use it - may as well put that $$ into insulation or oil or gas heat for your home.

That's not to send you away, if you really want to do it, then go for it. But you'll be much happier if you can let go of some of this fear.

Install a stainless steel flue and what tiny bit of creosote that would build up from a 80 percent efficient stove and burning dry wood well lets just say it would faze that stainless insulated flue

Wesasetsider said:

Oh I'm buying it, tomorrow. I was scared to death, but now I'm just scared to fainting... Not quite death... Thanks to all, can't wait.

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You're going to love it. You and your wife will get the hang of it. Take it slow. Play around with it while you're both home so you can learn together. But go easy on her if she doesn't take to it as fast or has different burning techniques then you do. Let her find what she's comfortable with and encourage her in that.

You'll soon find out that these stoves like to burn hot. Hot fires are clean fires and the most efficient way to run these units. Good luck!