Question about the flue turning red

Hopefully, you learn from this one!

Many stoves can overheat the flue before the stove top is hot. That's why many of us measure flue temps as well as stove temps.

Wormyone said:

Oh yea.......l have learned my lesson for sure.....I'm such an idiot

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You are NOT a idiot if you learn from this

Your not an Idiot, these are the things that make us good burners. If thats the case Im an idiot too because my SS liner glowed once.

Highbeam said:

Many stoves can overheat the flue before the stove top is hot. That's why many of us measure flue temps as well as stove temps.

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Makes perfect sense when you think about it. The steel on the top of the stove can be 1/4" thick or more, the flue is probably 16 or 18 gauge.

Bah.. I have seen 1000 degrees in the flue with a 175 degree stove top.. can happen.

Your only an idiot if you didn't learn anything.. or if this causes you to leave wood heat.

Other than that, you are just a bit more experienced, which is a good thing.

I have heard of people doing it a time or two, but the whole concept of removing wood from a burning stove kind of scares the crap out of me.. that is an experience point I hope to never try for.

Dakotas Dad said:

I have heard of people doing it a time or two, but the whole concept of removing wood from a burning stove kind of scares the crap out of me.. that is an experience point I hope to never try for.

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Yes, I would suggest shutting the draft to zero, shutting the doors tight, and sitting back and watching before trying to remove fuel. If the red goes to white you should consider calling in the FD. In no case would I try and pull wood out. Yikes.

A wet kitchen towel maybe.

Agreed, the idea of removing wood from an actively burning stove is terrifying and baffling to me. Seems like one of the more dangerous things you could do in operating a woodstove.

Highbeam said:

Yes, I would suggest shutting the draft to zero, shutting the doors tight, and sitting back and watching before trying to remove fuel. If the red goes to white you should consider calling in the FD. In no case would I try and pull wood out. Yikes.

A wet kitchen towel maybe.

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Also, old ashes or sand also work.

Yikes! Perhaps reducing air and/or closing the damper (if applicable) earlier may help? Our stove can and will glow red at the tee connector (rear exit flue from stove for 3' into the tee connector and straight up from there) on any given evening. After filling the stove for the evening on a hot bed of coals it would start to almost whistle and make soft but quick back puffing noises, a minute or two later and the back side of the tee connector is starting to glow red. This happens with the air almost all the way open, the bandaid solution for me was to close the damper when this happens and the stove is happy. Not sure if this will work for you but it works for our Encore when stuffed.

Wormyone said:

Oh yea.......l have learned my lesson for sure.....I'm such an idiot

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Indeed you are not an idiot. Idiots would not learn from their mistakes. Pesonally, I should be one of the wisest man in the States simply because I've made so many mistakes. Fortunately, I have learned from most but am not about to stop learning either.