Stove temp and coal build up

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DaHole

DaHole

Member
Oct 2, 2010
25
WI
I don't want to hijack Bluedogz thread so I started a new one. I too have the same problem with coals building up (Going to get a rake like mentioned in his thread!), but I also have what some might consider high stove temps. Stove info is in my sig, I have a 20" rise out of my stove, a 90 and then a 30" run to dump it into my solid brick chimney that is lined with 9x9 clay fire tile. It was built in 1950(can you say brick s House) and is in perfect condition and approx 24' tall. I get great draft.

Now my stove temps, it sits in the basement and heats my whole 1200sqf house by gravity so I need it to throw,it's of heat. My stack and stove temp images are below. Best I have.

Because of the coal problem I was reading all the stickies and found out I have temps much higher than others, but as you can see in the pick it does not even look a little red, but man is it throwing the heat. -0.4f outside right now and the upstairs is 73. :). Should I be concerned about the temps? Anyone have this same stove and not have a coal problem?

Oh yea, hickory cut three years ago into 8' and then 18" CSS for 1 year.
 

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My Austral likes hot! Measured with an IR gun 650::F stove top seems to be where the Austral likes to be. I've seen 800::F briefly a few times with no hiccups I'm aware of.

Do you have a stove top thermo on your pipe? That seems hot, mine runs up too 500::F and then backs down to 300-350 when stove top is around the 600 mark. Have you hit your stove and pipe with an IR gun to verify your temps? I use my thermos as a guide line only as I find them, well, at best misleading at times.
 
Does the fact that your thermos are upside-down cause confusion? :p
 
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The wood has only been spit for a year, hard woods generally need two years. The length of time the logs have been cut has little barring on the moisture content of the wood. Are your splits at 20% or less in moisture content? This could be why you aren't getting a complete burn.
 
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Nice one on the upside down! Might have had the iPad upside down::P

It's not a stove top thermo, it is a through the pipe thermo. I don't have an IR temp gun. :confused:

Hardrock, my Austral is a 2010 purchased from Fleet Farm. I am not using the outside air intake.

I just did a smoke test and see that I have a small leak on my masonry chimney clean out door. It sits about 6 inches up from the floor. I have some new fiberglass gasket I will put on to solve that. Could some loss of draft in the stove cause a higher pipe temp?
 
Ahhh....if you have double walled pipe that explains the pipe temps indicated. As I recall from reading a few other threads, internal temps on double walled pipe usually are about double that of single wall with magnetic thermos. So, my 350 on single wall would be 700 internal, your 800 internal double wall would be 400.... I think,..... I've never used the good stuff. ;) You might want to do a search.

Your stove top looks high though. I've found the hot spot on my stove to be about 4 inches directly in front of the exhaust exit and use the SBI thermos as well. Mine read inconsistently all over the place, do you have another thermo you could try there?

I use plumbers putty on my clean out, I can then re-use it, I'm cheap.

Btw., you should get more input from other Drolet owners if you put "Austral" in your thread title.
 
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Hmm not sure where I mentioned double wall... I have single wall cheap pipe cuz That is all I need. I looked at an IR gun today, they are spendy.
 
DaHole said:
Hmm not sure where I mentioned double wall... I have single wall cheap pipe cuz That is all I need. I looked at an IR gun today, they are spendy.
Click to expand...

You didn't say double walled, I assumed it. Still, your internal temps are going to be much higher than those of a magnetic thermo.

To the coaling, how often are you feeding the beast? I reload every 6-8 hrs. in colder weather, depending upon need. Have you tried throwing a few smaller splits in on top of the coals, open 'er up a bit and let the stove burn those coals down all the while holding decent temps? Both my cat stove and the Austral require different burn habits when pushin' them harder than usual.
 
Using a probe thermo on single wall pipe can make for some wonky temp readings. They are not really designed for the high surface temps the single wall is radiating to it.

ETA...12 month seasoned hickory is part of your coaling issue. BUT it isn't all that uncommon to have lots of coals if you are really pushing the stove
 
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It depends on what I need for heat. I try to keep it above 70 upstairs. I last put wood on 6 hours ago and my temp is now down to 70 so it's time for a couple of smalls to nurse it 2 more hours before I feed it for the night. That will be 10pm and then it will sit until 6am. I guess tonight's feed will be time number 3 for the day.
 
All I can suggest is to get a magnetic thermo so you get a more accurate indication of pipe temps. Your burning as I and most others are, just remember, if pushing your stove in colder temps it will require a bit more babysitting.

Keep warm.
 
Thanks Hardrock. I love prime. Overnight to BFE by me for $3.

Stove top reads 578 and my pipe reads 380
 

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It's tough for a stove to be perfect. Mine fits the bill 95% of the time perfectly. However, this last week has pushed the 5% to a tilt (the last 2 or 3 years never really made it stretch its legs). I can run things hard so long as I'm home to open the air back up once stove top temps dip below 500 to help burn down coals, and keep things up to temp down to about 0. But, if I have to leave the house (as in go to work) and I'm not here to open the air up at that point so I can fit an extra load in during the day, I'm going to get a build-up of coals.

Even being home, I've been pushing the stove for several days now and tonight I had to spend 2.5 hours burning coals down to get ready for the night load. (Did that by raking the coals forward, putting a small-med piece of pine on the coals East to West, leaving the air full open and let it go to town for an hour, then unlatched the door handle, yet kept the door very close to closed, and raked coals around and back to the front about every 15 minutes until I hit that 2.5 hour mark where I had things down where I was ready for a night load.)

In all, if I want this stove to do 100% of my heating in the worst of years, it just isn't going to do it unless I'm willing to let things in the house get colder. Since I'm not willing to do that, my options are to either get a bigger stove, or use some supplemental heat for the 3 to 10 days a winter this is an issue. I find it much easier just to accept that abusing the stove / buying a bigger one isn't worth that little bit of time where I need to supplement.

pen
 
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Well said, Pen. I got a new, bigger stove this year based on the last five winters, and it's perfect for those temperatures. And then THIS winter came along, and I'm back to being understoved and too often frankly chilly. Plus, the new stove got me used to 80 in the main room and lots of good heat in the adjoining spaces, but now it's damn hard to go back to high 60s and less in the other rooms with this brutal cold spell. My Spartan pride has completely evaporated and I've gotten soft after just a couple months of bliss. Still, it doesn't make a lot of sense to me to put in a stove that can easily cope with a "polar vortex," when that's something that only comes along once in a long while.

I am longing for a good "January thaw," though.
 
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The trick with the coals is to keep opening up the air as the load burns down. Makes me wish I had my good old VC Resolute bimetalic thermostat back!

These posts make me feel better, I broke down and turned on the heat last night. The Progress ran out of "steam" in these brutal temps and just could not keep the house comfy.

Like Pen said, as long as you are good 95% of the time, you may as well just use supplemental heat not go crazy.
 
fire_man said:
The trick with the coals is to keep opening up the air as the load burns down. Makes me wish I had my good old VC Resolute bimetalic thermostat back!

These posts make me feel better, I broke down and turned on the heat last night. The Progress ran out of "steam" in these brutal temps and just could not keep the house comfy.

Like Pen said, as long as you are good 95% of the time, you may as well just use supplemental heat not go crazy.
Click to expand...
Had a Defient
fire_man said:
The trick with the coals is to keep opening up the air as the load burns down. Makes me wish I had my good old VC Resolute bimetalic thermostat back!

These posts make me feel better, I broke down and turned on the heat last night. The Progress ran out of "steam" in these brutal temps and just could not keep the house comfy.

Like Pen said, as long as you are good 95% of the time, you may as well just use supplemental heat not go crazy.
Click to expand...
Had A Defiant myself. My progress would benefit from one. Blaze King seems like the only game in town when it comes to controlling the burn rate.
 
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