Worried about firing temps from Napolen 1402

710 on a steel stove/insert should not damage your stove if that was the actual top temp. Welcome to the burning world.

If you can get a good reading with your IR 500-650 should be a good range. I usually try to get a peak of 600 on a full load and settled down to about 550 for the long haul with a full load. When you get to a "full load" these peak a little bit and usually settle down. Every stove is a little different so you will have to get the feel for yours. For example with mine when I get close to a "full load" (I would say this is when I am getting within 3-4" of the secondaries) I have to get a hold of it as soon as the secondaries fire or it "takes off". Now "takes off" is not an over fire, but gets a little scary the first few times,it goes to 700 or so if I don't catch it quick. The only real problem with this is it ends up 90 in the house and I just lost 30% of my burn time on that load. If I'm not going by my probe in the flue then it is by sight. Take note where this starts to happen when you start loading close to the top. Normally an actual full load will be that 3-4" down from the secondaries and as you start to get closer than that your stove will take on a whole new personality.

BrotherBart said:

Nobody ever listens to me, but if you hear loud bangs heating up a steel stove then make sure it is sitting level. They are made level in a jig and the stress of sitting torqued will cause the banging noise. Ticking sounds are normal. Banging sounds mean it is trying to tell ya something.

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+1

I am by no means an expert, but can tell you first hand my experience so far with the 1402. Since I've had mine I've reached stove top temps of 750 to 800 a couple of times .This was primarily due to loading over hot coals with the air intake open too much. My wood is also good and seasoned. Like you, this happened over the first couple weeks. I've learned to not load up fully over hot coals and leave the air intake in a near closed position in this situation. From a cold start, I usually get the temps up to 400 and gradually begin to close the air intake over a 15-30 minute time frame. I regularly get temps up to 600 and then see them settle down to between 400 and 500 for an overnight burn. I think as you burn the stove more you learn what It likes and doesn't like. I defer to some of the experts on the bang sound. I have heard ticking and the occasional clank with the steal heating up and consider this normal. Good luck with the stove, before you know it you will have it dialed in.

Elsewhere on this site are many mensions of the effects of the stove fan on stove performance. Yes the Napoleon is an eager burner and I too have come back to a 700 degree stove after leaving the air intake lever open during stove start up. I can say that running the stove fan after closing the lever, does cool off a stove which has gone nuclear.

Check out this thread I started on my 1401.


https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/draft-modification-what-a-difference.81010/

BrotherBart said:

Nobody ever listens to me, but if you hear loud bangs heating up a steel stove then make sure it is sitting level. They are made level in a jig and the stress of sitting torqued will cause the banging noise. Ticking sounds are normal. Banging sounds mean it is trying to tell ya something.

Click to expand...

Mine bangs occasionally and is very level. However you are absolutely correct on the telling me something. It's yelling "hey dumb, dumb. You did something wrong." As it only bangs when it is either in an extreme warm up, such as I didn't catch it quick enough. Or, it stalled causing it to cool quickly. In proper operation it just barely ticks a little. I can almost run the stove blind just by the sound. It gets me once in a while in bed, I here a mild bang and think "damn it I shut the air down too far". Get up, check the stove, and sure enough, it stalled. I still haven't figured out why it is that the finicky load usually only happens at night, when I am late loading the stove before bed.

i usually get my thermometer to read 550ish, then close it. it'll climb to 600, then settle in around 500 for the night. My stove likes to be brought up to 550, then shut off down to 1/4 open all at once for the night. secondaries will be going good, then after a hour or two the secondaries will quit and the logs will burn. then i'll get heat from the coals burning off. Mind you when i bring it up to 550, its around 650. This is because of the double steel on top, and the blower cooling off the thermometer.