Convection Air Temp

  • Active since 1995, Hearth.com is THE place on the internet for free information and advice about wood stoves, pellet stoves and other energy saving equipment.

    We strive to provide opinions, articles, discussions and history related to Hearth Products and in a more general sense, energy issues.

    We promote the EFFICIENT, RESPONSIBLE, CLEAN and SAFE use of all fuels, whether renewable or fossil.
Status
Not open for further replies.
NYBurner

NYBurner

Burning Hunk
Jan 5, 2015
196
Upstate NY
Just wondering what you all see for air temp output from the stove? I bought 2 magnetic stack thermometers (yes I know its not accurate) to get started. With Barefoots, running on Heat level 3 I am seeing just a hair over 300F on both. This is sticking them direct on opposite sides of the blower output airstream....both read identical so I know there is *some* validation in the measurement.

I am trying to trend my heat output to see what brands do burn hotter, how to extract better heat (if possible), and what settings work better in HW vs SW pellets. For this I dont need a super accurate but a repeatable trend. I just got wondering what others are seeing as well. I will probably order a digital setup this week so I can see smaller variations in temps easier and more accurately but hopefully I can help get others some good info too.
 
NYBurner said:
Just wondering what you all see for air temp output from the stove? I bought 2 magnetic stack thermometers (yes I know its not accurate) to get started. With Barefoots, running on Heat level 3 I am seeing just a hair over 300F on both. This is sticking them direct on opposite sides of the blower output airstream....both read identical so I know there is *some* validation in the measurement.

I am trying to trend my heat output to see what brands do burn hotter, how to extract better heat (if possible), and what settings work better in HW vs SW pellets. For this I dont need a super accurate but a repeatable trend. I just got wondering what others are seeing as well. I will probably order a digital setup this week so I can see smaller variations in temps easier and more accurately but hopefully I can help get others some good info too.
Click to expand...

I am guessing the barefoots are a pretty short pellet?

There are way too many variables to get accurate records from our readings.. i am currently running on setting 5. Blower on 9. But only in mode D. Top of stove center 300 degrees. Hottest Exchange tube reads 350.
 
Last edited:
And just an fyi for the price of those 2 thermometers that you got i picked up an ir thermometer
 
  • Like
Reactions: Pete Zahria
The magnetic thermometers work great, but you are better off sticking it to the side of the stove up near the top, but below the heat exchanger level. Allow 15-20 minutes for heat setting changes when monitoring the temperature. This spot has the least amount of inconsistent readings. The needle stays pretty steady at a set heat level. With my Harman P61A, my needle sits at 350-360* on temp 2, but when I turn it up to 3, temp rises to a steady 410-420* after 15-20 minutes.
 
Hey thanks for replying fellas! Yes, the barefoots are known to be 'short pellets'.

You are right regarding the pricing to IR thermometer but I wanted to get a trend established and I can use these for other projects so it is no biggie. As mentioned above, I really want to see if there is legit difference from brand to brand, how pellet burn is optimized by type, and how the damper adjustment affects true heat output. I probably should order a mag gauge as well to quantify my damper adjustments.

I have barefoots, Okie Douglas Fir, & Platinums on hand. If the experiment works and there is any interest I have access to a few other brands as well.


Regarding the Thermometer - I know an IR is a quick easy way to do this, but I have read arguments in various posts AGAINST their use in this type of experiment as it is measuring the metal temp and not air temp.....so my plan was to either use a k-type thermal probe suspended in front of an exchange tube OR a meat probe also suspended in front of the exchange tube. Thoughts?
 
NYBurner said:
Hey thanks for replying fellas! Yes, the barefoots are known to be 'short pellets'.

You are right regarding the pricing to IR thermometer but I wanted to get a trend established and I can use these for other projects so it is no biggie. As mentioned above, I really want to see if there is legit difference from brand to brand, how pellet burn is optimized by type, and how the damper adjustment affects true heat output. I probably should order a mag gauge as well to quantify my damper adjustments.

I have barefoots, Okie Douglas Fir, & Platinums on hand. If the experiment works and there is any interest I have access to a few other brands as well.
Click to expand...

Well by the looks of it you have a selection of the good to better stuff as it is.. if you want something to compare them too just come up here and grab a few thats sold around me :-/
 
  • Like
Reactions: bogieb
I had to do some work to get the okies....but I really wanted to see if they are worth the hype. Back of the hand temperature review did not seem fitting after all of that.....so in a way it really is the motivating push to do this. Im sure there are others curious like me who really want to know what is out there and what an 'AMAZING HEAT' pellet really quantifies to. If nothing else, I get to satisfy my curiosity and hopefully someone else get some entertainment haha.
 
NYBurner said:
If nothing else, I get to satisfy my curiosity and hopefully someone else get some entertainment haha.
Click to expand...

Been doing that for 3 months now.
Im still not satisfied !!!
 
I think I am going to order a digital meat temp probe and put it in the output air stream. Any other good ideas that is not $$??
 
NYBurner said:
I think I am going to order a digital meat temp probe and put it in the output air stream. Any other good ideas that is not $$??
Click to expand...
Read my post again... Take the stove surface temperature, not the air. Air fluctuates too much.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Cedarjunki
NYBurner said:
I think I am going to order a digital meat temp probe and put it in the output air stream. Any other good ideas that is not $$??
Click to expand...


Cory S said:
Read my post again... Take the stove surface temperature, not the air. Air fluctuates too much.
Click to expand...

I monitor mine dead center on the top most of the time.. even tho there are other spots that read hotter.
 
Cedarjunki said:
I monitor mine dead center on the top most of the time.. even tho there are other spots that read hotter.
Click to expand...
Yeah. It should be pretty stable there.
 
I've seen this mentioned recently now. What is the argument against the blower air temp and why would you want to monitor response on a 300+lb heatsink?
 
NYBurner said:
I've seen this mentioned recently now. What is the argument against the blower air temp and why would you want to monitor response on a 300+lb heatsink?
Click to expand...

Just pointless to me.. taking a reading on the top of the stove in the same spot everytime is going to tell me wether or not this brand burns hotter than that brand or not.
 
Having the stove acting like a heat sink allows for more stable temperatures. The temperature of the moving air coming out of the blower changes everytime pellets are discharged into the burnpot.
 
As far as being able to compare notes.. its nearly impossible.. youre stove has a larger blower than mine and moves more air. His heat exchangers are more caked up than that guys. Etc..

Whatever works best for you to compare the differance in pellets is all that matters.
 
  • Like
Reactions: FirepotPete
This is where my temperature readings come from. I can tell when I need to give the interior of my stove a quick scraping. After about about 1.5 weeks of continuous burning, the temperature will drop about 40-50*.
 

Attachments

  • Temp1.JPG
    Temp1.JPG
    36.1 KB · Views: 171
  • Temp2.JPG
    Temp2.JPG
    37.8 KB · Views: 168
Cedarjunki said:
And just an fyi for the price of those 2 thermometers that you got i picked up an ir thermometer
Click to expand...
IR thermometers are not good at measuring air temperature. They give a reasonable measure of the surface temperature behind the air stream, but are highly sensitive to the surface finish.
The ultimate tool for measuring air temperature is with a low mass thermocouple and meter. Those are available on ebay or at Amazon for $10-15.
Even the cheapest of these meters will beat IR for accuracy.
 
  • Like
Reactions: funflyer
NYBurner said:
so my plan was to either use a k-type thermal probe suspended in front of an exchange tube
Click to expand...

This is my preferred method. Those against this have obviously never used one or haven't used it properly. I clip mine just in front of the convection air outlet so it stays in exactly the same spot. With the temp reading on the meter set to "average" I usually see a temp swing of no more than 3 to 5 degrees which is more than accurate enough to test the pellets and different stove settings. If I make a change to the combustion air I will usually see a distinct temp change in about 20 to 30 seconds. When I make a change to the feed rate It takes longer to see the change but usually just a few minutes.

I've read so many posts where guys have problems with their stoves not giving off good heat and someone responds with "set the burn air to x and the feed rate to x" , so they do, the stove gets hotter and they're done and happy. I did the same thing until I started testing and soon realized that there is not a one size fits all for stove settings, too many variables. I like the fact that I can acheive the same temp or higher from my pellets at a lower feed rate and also compare the quality of any given pellet more accurately.
 
If i were able to regulate the combustion air or dial in the feed rates then yes being more technical about it would be the way to go.. unfortunately that extra cost of the probe and time spent monitoring it is pretty much useless. I opoligize ahead of time for not having a good stove. :)
 
Cedarjunki said:
If i were able to regulate the combustion air or dial in the feed rates then yes being more technical about it would be the way to go.. unfortunately that extra cost of the probe and time spent monitoring it is pretty much useless. I opoligize ahead of time for not having a good stove. :)
Click to expand...

Are you saying you don't have the ability or you stove doesn't, because a 25pdv sure does.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

U
Cleavland Iron Works stove adjustments / temp probe ?issues?
Replies
1
Views
2K
The Pellet Mill - Pellet and Multifuel Stoves
dozerdean
D
Crazy Dave
On Topic, But Off... Temp Monitoring.
Replies
5
Views
471
The Pellet Mill - Pellet and Multifuel Stoves
Prometeo
Prometeo
T
Discharge Air temp vs Blower CFM
Replies
5
Views
790
The Pellet Mill - Pellet and Multifuel Stoves
Mt Bob
Mt Bob
F
Feedback on newbie observations - Flue vs SST; Air wash ignition, temp increase prior to coaling
Replies
2
Views
550
SBI: Century,Drolet,Osburn,Valcourt,Englander
begreen
begreen
Q
thermocouple (almost) never gets hot - blower rarely turns on
Replies
3
Views
335
SBI: Century,Drolet,Osburn,Valcourt,Englander
Laststop1949
L
Top Bottom
Back