Secondaries going, single wall stovepipe temp ?

Mark Richards said:

whoops, its actually from a company called Meccos but looks almost identical to the Rutland.

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If you have any doubts about it's accuracy, I'd get that Condar I linked before. It's what most users here have, and it's useful to have one for both the stove top and for the flue. Condar has one designed for each. I like to use the flue thermometer as kind of an efficiency meter to keep the stove temps and flue temps in a nice efficiency zone.

Sprinter said:

It seems to be marketed for use on both surfaces, which is fine, but I just think that the "creosote" - "burn zone" line is a little conservative at 275 surface temp. It may make you sometimes think that you're making creosote at 250 which is about 500 internal and a normal operating area.

Let us know how your flue looks. I'm guessing it will be fine.

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Nope the 250 surface temp is right on the money, the creosote forms on the pipe below 250 degrees.

" At temperatures below 250 degrees F creosote will condense on the surfaces of stove pipes or chimney flues.When the temperature gets below 150 degrees F the creosote deposit will be thick, sticky and similar to tar. This tends to trap carbon from smoke which dries and bakes inside pipes and flues. This flaky substance is very flammable"

This is good info, thanks. Mine reads between 275 and 350 most times and I was worrying when it would go below the "burn zone" (300 low side). Chimney fire from last year with the old stove is still fresh in my mind. I was on the roof this afternoon inspecting the cap and it wasn't bad, a slight amount of creosote but nothing to worry about after 1 good month of burning I think

oldspark said:

I agree, it really should not smoke for an hour.
Your temps on your flue compared to your stove top are impressive.

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Thanks and thanks as well to the bed of coals everyone seems to hate. 5 inches of coals in a small stove and a couple of bio bricks is what made that happen. When you are stuck with marginal quality wood and a very bad back to make it different you get pretty creative harvesting BTUs from what you have to work with. I see a pile of coals 5inches deep as a pile of heat to be recovered rather than burned down to get rid of. Right now the stove top is 650 the stack is 475 on the probe and the surface temp just over 200 and well out of the safe zone and I doubt that a lot with very clean glass etc...

ddahlgren said:

Right now the stove top is 650 the stack is 475 on the probe and the surface temp just over 200 and well out of the safe zone and I doubt that a lot with very clean glass etc...

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Well I wonder if the flue temps can be run lower then with a non EPA stove, cat stoves run with a lower flue temp so it seems plausible that the recommended flue temps need to be adjusted for the different types of stoves. My flue temps are higher with the new stove then my old stove.

Along the same theme of restarts, chimney temps and smoke, I am a bit frustrated this morning because I cannot seem to get my chimney smoke down to zero. My Condar magnetic thermometer says 350 on single wall, my air is all the way down, I am pretty sure it is all secondaries because it has that smooth swirly look as opposed to the hopping and dancing look of regular flames, but I still have what looks like smoke piling out of chimney. I am wondering if this is because it is 15 degrees out. Could this be condensation. I know my wood is dry because it chars up within a few minutes.

Also, the smoke is a dfferent quality than the smoke I saw when I started the reload--at that point the coals were very low so I put a couple of pieces of newspaper and some very thin kindling type pieces and then some small splits to get it refired before adding in the larger ones. That smoke was wafting across the neighborhood--this smoke just dissipates in about 12 feet or so from the chimney cap.

Water vapor? Does it disappear quickly and not hang like smoke does?

oldspark said:

Well I wonder if the flue temps can be run lower then with a non EPA stove, cat stoves run with a lower flue temp so it seems plausible that the recommended flue temps need to be adjusted for the different types of stoves. My flue temps are higher with the new stove then my old stove.

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I've burned the same stove (Woodstock Keystone) on two different chimneys and my stack temps run much higher on my shorter 14' chimney than my 20' chimney which had me scratching my head. Both stoves had similar stove top temps and burn times and also heated just fine. I wouldn't get too hung up on stack temps unless your stove isn't performing the way it should. I'm running 375-425 external temp for the first hour or so 12" up on single wall pipe, then it slowly drops throughout the burn. Seems pretty hot for a cat stove but it's heating my 1200 sq ft beautifully.[/quote]

oldspark said:

Does it disappear quickly and not hang like smoke does?

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yes

wouldn't water vapor indicate moisture in the wood?

I'm going to invest in some gauges. Your saying Condar is good and they make 1 for the stovetop and the exhaust? I'm doing too much guessing I suppose. I do know with a good load and the air set halfway which I don't do unless I'm around to monitor it the kettle of water I have on top for moisture would surely boil over if it were full which tells me I'm well over 200 with the air setting that high.
Is 12in from the stove the correct distance for the exhaust gauge?

dyerkutn said:

wouldn't water vapor indicate moisture in the wood?

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Yes but nothing to be concerned about if the wood is dry.

esox said:

I'm going to invest in some gauges. Your saying Condar is good and they make 1 for the stovetop and the exhaust? I'm doing too much guessing I suppose. I do know with a good load and the air set halfway which I don't do unless I'm around to monitor it the kettle of water I have on top for moisture would surely boil over if it were full which tells me I'm well over 200 with the air setting that high.
Is 12in from the stove the correct distance for the exhaust gauge?

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Condar seems to be about as there is unless you want to spend more money to get a more accurate one, if it was me I would just use the same type for both stove top and flue temp. 18 inches above stove top is kinda the norm.

Todd said:

I've burned the same stove (Woodstock Keystone) on two different chimneys and my stack temps run much higher on my shorter 14' chimney than my 20' chimney which had me scratching my head. Both stoves had similar stove top temps and burn times and also heated just fine. I wouldn't get too hung up on stack temps unless your stove isn't performing the way it should. I'm running 375-425 external temp for the first hour or so 12" up on single wall pipe, then it slowly drops throughout the burn. Seems pretty hot for a cat stove but it's heating my 1200 sq ft beautifully.

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[/quote]
That is a little high compared to what some others with cat stoves have reported, my chimney is only about 18 feet, maybe a slower draft causes the flue temps to run a little higher.

oldspark said:

That is a little high compared to what some others with cat stoves have reported, my chimney is only about 18 feet, maybe a slower draft causes the flue temps to run a little higher.

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I think my super insulated chimney contributes to the higher flue temps. I installed a 6" liner inside a 12x12" clay liner and dumped perlite insulation all the way down into the old fireplace smoke shelf.