Tips for cooling down a Hot Stove.

NordicSplitter · Jan 17, 2016

I think all of us from time to time have gotten a little aggressive in loading up our stoves. I wanted to see how many tips we could put together in the event to actually cool it down. The first 2 I have are: 1. Turn on your blower full blast. (if you have one) 2. Choke down the damper to almost closed.....Hopefully we can help each other out in this thread.

pen · Jan 17, 2016

And if that doesn't work,,,, or even makes it worse, then turn the blower off and open the door fully to let the room air rush in. This will stop the very efficient secondary burn. Just be there with it so nothing pops out of the open stove door.

DougA · Jan 17, 2016

I have gone through this a few times and a fully open door does work although it goes against logic and it may cause some dirty underwear.
A wide open door allows a lot of very cool air to blow through the stove and cool down the stove and chimney. It will make it look like you have hell in your stove but the temps will come down immediately and you need to leave the door wide open long enough to burn off the excess wood. Grab a beer and wait. It may take awhile but it's the best answer. I have put a pint of water on a hot fire to cool things down and it works to but it's actually more dangerous.

NordicSplitter · Jan 17, 2016

pen said:
And if that doesn't work,,,, or even makes it worse, then turn the blower off and open the door fully to let the room air rush in. This will stop the very efficient secondary burn. Just be there with it so nothing pops out of the open stove door.

I would think that the rush of air would be like adding gas on a fire! What am I missing?

D8Chumley · Jan 17, 2016

Subscribing... I read to throw ash into the firebox so I do keep a metal bucket with cold ash next to the door side of my stove. Anybody else ever hear that? I also have a 10" fan next to the stove to help blow cooler air on it, and 3 fire extinguishers just in case

mass_burner · Jan 17, 2016

I gotta say that I've never had this issue. Maybe this is less possible with an insert. Wait, you can't fill your stove without it being "overly aggressive"?

iLoveWood · Jan 17, 2016

Been a lurker for years, finally signed up. Opening the door really works best, once the temps cool I can shut the door and air intake and continue business as usual.

bholler · Jan 17, 2016

yeah open the door it works very well and very fast with very little risk of anything bad happening

barmstrong2 · Jan 17, 2016

bholler said:
yeah open the door it works very well and very fast with very little risk of anything bad happening

Good to know. I've only done this one time when I over loaded the stove with some hardwood flooring scraps, but, I had no idea what to do. All I could think was to shut the air down and try to slow it down. I sat fixed next to it for a couple of hours.

bholler · Jan 17, 2016

barmstrong2 said:
Good to know. I've only done this one time when I over loaded the stove with some hardwood flooring scraps, but, I had no idea what to do. All I could think was to shut the air down and try to slow it down. I sat fixed next to it for a couple of hours.

well yes shut the air down first but if it either keeps climbing or wont drop then open the door the rush of fresh air and the fact that there will be no secondary combustion will cool it quickly then you should be able to control it when you shut the door.

BrotherBart · Jan 17, 2016

NordicSplitter said:
I would think that the rush of air would be like adding gas on a fire! What am I missing?

As bholler said, opening the door wide breaks the draft vacuum and shuts down secondary combustion.

jatoxico · Jan 17, 2016

NordicSplitter said:
I would think that the rush of air would be like adding gas on a fire! What am I missing?

Rush of cool air and lots of it. Turns the stove into a fireplace.

AmbDrvr253 · Jan 17, 2016

Yup, think that covers that.........Again......LMAO

Stinkpickle · Jan 18, 2016

pen said:
And if that doesn't work,,,, or even makes it worse, then turn the blower off and open the door fully to let the room air rush in. This will stop the very efficient secondary burn. Just be there with it so nothing pops out of the open stove door.

I agree. Have a firescreen handy if you're burning mulberry or hedge.

Longstreet · Jan 18, 2016

`One of the benefits of a cat stove. Just turn the air lower, sometimes almost all the way closed. Problem solved without wasting btus.

fire_man · Jan 19, 2016

Longstreet said:
`One of the benefits of a cat stove. Just turn the air lower, sometimes almost all the way closed. Problem solved without wasting btus.

Sometimes on a cat stove, you need to turn the air UP to lower the temperature. It's counterintuitive, but more air causes more flame, less smoke, and lower Cat temps. At least that's how the Woodstock cat stoves behave.

Wood Duck · Jan 19, 2016

When you open the door on a hot stove you probably will get tons of flames because of the extra oxygen. You will also get lots of heat loss up the chimney because of the high rate of air flow. Remember that the temperature in the stove depends on both the amount of heat produced in the fire AND on the amount of heat lost up the chimney, and lost through the walls of the stove (into the house). When you open the door you might increase the amount of visible flames, but you lose the secondary combustion so I am not sure if you are producing more or less heat from burning. At the same time you lose a lot more heat up the chimney, and about the same amount through the stove walls, at least until the outside of the stove cools off. The net result is a cooler stove, although it takes a lot longer than you'd like - as others have said it takes 10 or 15 minutes at least for my stove to start cooling off, as recorded by the stovetop thermometer.

NordicSplitter · Jan 20, 2016

One thing is for sure....Burning that hot, you won't have a creosote problem Haha...

bholler · Jan 20, 2016

Wood Duck said:
When you open the door on a hot stove you probably will get tons of flames because of the extra oxygen. You will also get lots of heat loss up the chimney because of the high rate of air flow. Remember that the temperature in the stove depends on both the amount of heat produced in the fire AND on the amount of heat lost up the chimney, and lost through the walls of the stove (into the house). When you open the door you might increase the amount of visible flames, but you lose the secondary combustion so I am not sure if you are producing more or less heat from burning. At the same time you lose a lot more heat up the chimney, and about the same amount through the stove walls, at least until the outside of the stove cools off. The net result is a cooler stove, although it takes a lot longer than you'd like - as others have said it takes 10 or 15 minutes at least for my stove to start cooling off, as recorded by the stovetop thermometer.

Actually you will reduce the temperature going up the stack also. By opening the door wide you will be introducing lots of fresh dilution air that will cool the stove and stack quickly. It also stops all secondary combustion so it reduces the heat produced greatly as well. But if you think you have a chimney fire this is absolutely not the thing to do. It will make it worse.

Wood Duck · Jan 20, 2016

bholler said:
Actually you will reduce the temperature going up the stack also. By opening the door wide you will be introducing lots of fresh dilution air that will cool the stove and stack quickly. It also stops all secondary combustion so it reduces the heat produced greatly as well. But if you think you have a chimney fire this is absolutely not the thing to do. It will make it worse.

By opening the door you will reduce the temperature of the air going up the chimney, but you are also allowing a lot more air to go up the chimney. The result is that more BTUs are pulled up the chimney when you open the door. That is why the stove cools off.

Clydeburner · Jan 21, 2016

Anyone try putting a cold wet split or round in the box, if there is room? I have done this once and it worked well, sounds like the opposite thing to do, but the cold wet split will suck the heat out of the existing fire therefore cooling the stove down. I still sat closely with the said dirt underwear ha ha.... I have also heard cold ashes will work to smother the fire, but they will fly all over the place so be ready for a fun time cleaning up after. I'd say opening the door is the best option, just call the kids to roast some smores and enjoy a sweet treat while you try not to chit yourself. Be safe and learn your stove and how to load it to prevent this.

dyerkutn · Jan 22, 2016

pen said:
And if that doesn't work,,,, or even makes it worse, then turn the blower off and open the door fully to let the room air rush in. This will stop the very efficient secondary burn. Just be there with it so nothing pops out of the open stove door.

When you open the door should you open the air too if you have already damped it down?
I have an Alderlea T5 and unfortunately using kiln dried which seems to fire up awfully hot.

pen · Jan 22, 2016

dyerkutn said:
When you open the door should you open the air too if you have already damped it down?
I have an Alderlea T5 and unfortunately using kiln dried which seems to fire up awfully hot.

It really shouldn't matter. With the system opened up, I doubt there'd be enough pull inside the stove for much air to be drawn through the stove's air inlets as they are much more restrictive than the big open door.

heavy hammer · Jan 22, 2016

It seems like everyone is on the same page with opening the door and sitting there with a little uncertainty and a much needed change of pants.

pen · Jan 22, 2016

heavy hammer said:
It seems like everyone is on the same page with opening the door and sitting there with a little uncertainty and a much needed change of pants.

Honestly, most of the time when an event that would warrant using this procedure occurs, the operator is too busy staring at the inside of their eyelids to notice what the stove is doing

That's why keeping a clean chimney, and a stove/chimney system that are installed to the proper specs is so important, and will survive the occasional over fire event without incident.

Tips for cooling down a Hot Stove.

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