How hot is too hot?

Guess you don't have to worry about creosote build up. What's the stove temp?

Love it, I hit 750-800 on full load. Nooooo buildup in your chimney at those temperatures.

I think this depends on the stove, some run cooler, some run hotter.

The Ideal steel runs on the cooler side, cruising temps are lower than that.

Also, you need a surface thermo. That will tell you how hot you are actually getting your stove. You want to avoid anything over 700 for surface temps, as you really are risking changing the composition of the steel when you go much hotter (if you do it on a regular basis). That said, without a surface thermo, the manual that came with my stove says that surface temp is roughly 1/2 flue temp, so if your stove follows that same pattern, really your stove was probably in the 450 - 500 range. I would be more worried about your pipe at those temps than your stove

Either way, lesson learned.

I regularly see stove top temps between 550-700*. Seen 750* a few times. Heated the house quick! Not worried one bit. Good clean out for the chimney too.

Looks perfect to me.
Wood stoves seldom burn at a specific constant temperature for very long, we are usually trying our best to stay within a certain temperature "range". The best way to do that for a standard burn cycle is to start at the top temp within that range and let it slowly burn down. It seems that is exactly what you are doing. The fact that you went into the black by a degree or two is hardly significant, but I agree that it's good to get a stove top thermometer and see what's going on there.

The thread timing is good. I've been burning my T5 since October, roughly a half cord through it thus far. The chimney is new this year also, and I opted to go taller, which has been giving great draft. (~22' high with 2x15deg offsets)
I've had a few burns where I've smelled paint burning, so I added a stovetop thermometer only a few weeks ago. I've been getting used to seeing peak temps in the 650-700 zone, right where it goes to red and work its way down through the burn cycle. A couple times I've seen the needle just creep into the red zone with full loads but haven't been too concerned.

Last night we had colder than normal temps, (~10F) and I raked the coals forward, filled the firebox up just below the baffle, and let it take off. I shut the air down in 2 stages and watched the stovetop temps climb to a peak of ~750F. There was some paint smell at the peak of the burn, but otherwise the stove behaved just fine and didn't turn into a pool of molten metal on the hearth. My main concern was that the needle of the stovetop thermometer was in the red, more-so than normal.

Based on prior posts, 750F stovetop is hot; I shouldn't try to hit that on a regular basis.
Was this because of increased draft due to colder temps, shutting down the air too late, or a combination?
Is the occasional 700+ temperature creep indicating I should be looking at restricting the incoming air slightly based on my draft?
Certainly user error is a plausible source of the problem.

I added pictures from last nights incident for reference, also one showing where I have the thermometer placed.

If I am not mistaken, BEGREEN has this stove or a very similar model. He would be a great person to send a message to (perhaps guide him to your post). He would be a great reference for your specific stove.

pma1123, I'm a relative newbie, so I may be wrong here, but it looks from your pics that you're loading your splits NS. As far as I know that makes for a hotter, faster burn... Maybe loading EW might help keep the rising temps a little more controllable whilst you get to know your stove? Just a thought...

I usually on a full load shut down around 500 or 550. I find it goes up around 150 degrees after I shut it down, so 500 goes to 650 and 550 goes to 700. While this is not every time, it is a good rule of thumb that works for my Osburn insert. You'll have to experiment with your stove.

My summit also will go from400-450shut down to 600-700 before it comes down and cruises at 550 for awhile. They'll come up on you for sure after the air is shut down

Appreciate all the replies here. I've been paying closer attention to shutting down the air since posting, and I consistently see ~200F stovetop temp increase after air shutdown. More than likely shutting down the air too late was my issue, but I'll pay attention when the next cold snap hits. I also pulled the trigger on the optional $300 "cooling fan" which will probably reset the learning curve for stovetop temps a little bit.

Like anything else, you start to learn about your stove after a while, but a lot also has to do with the wood. Is it fully seasoned, is it pine, oak, etc.? I don't let my stove go past 700. While I realize this may be conservative to some, it helps me sleep at night. So I always shut down at 500 or 550 depending on my load.