another bis question

3 degrees outside, so the stovetop hits 700. Cruises down slowly to 400 and hovers. Reload at 350 when awake or home. This is keeping house nice and cozy. Sounds like you are doing just fine! As long as your comfortable.

kartracer said:

Sorry,I should have stated I have thermometer on the flue pipe on the stove and on the stove top.My wife thinks I'm nuts,becuase I'll sit there for an hour drinking a cold beverage watching the temp and the fire,The flue,which I guess is single wall right on top of the stove has never gotten orange or red.

Click to expand...

Are you referring to the area behind the upper louver? I am in the middle of my long process of installing the Ultima's sister product (Lennox Brentwood) and recently have been wondering about temperature monitoring (how I will do it). That would mean removing the upper grate to see the temp every time? Or maybe you are using a remote with the wire running through the louvers?

Just curious.

Thanks,
Pete

Thats where I have been running my Ultima, 450*-500* at the stack behind the louver. I sent BIS an email asking about temps and they told me that temp range should be fine. For convenience I put a thermometer on the face, above and to the left of center gets me over the edge of the firebox. I watched and learned where the temp difference is because it reads significantly cooler there than on the stack but its easier to watch the temp. When the stack reads 450-500 the face reads 325-400, but it still gives me an idea of where I'm running at.

Does anyone have a suggestion for a brand of thermometer that works well on these BIS stoves? I have a BIS Nova, and would like to take similar measurements. It is a louver-less design, so smaller is probably better given tight access. Will be easy to see, just not easy to place.

I have a multimeter with a thermocouple and USB connection to a laptop. That works well for more scientific studies, but requires wires and a computer. My wife says I'm spoiling her stove experience with all that technology. I admit...it's super geeky. But it's also super helpful at times...I'd like to characterize the temperature vs. air correlation, and it will work well for that.

Anyway, I'd like an every day temperature monitor we can use to learn most efficient operation.

I would probably just opt for a inrared thermometer then. They can be had from anywhere from $40 on up, just make sure its operating range is where you need it to be. Some only read to 400* and some to 1000*.

You can get them from most anywhere from Ebay, Harbor Freight tools, Napa auto stores etc.

We've purchased several stove thermometers and the only ones we found were accurate are the ones from Woodstock. By comparison, one from Lehman's registers about 90 degrees cooler than the Woodstock brand. Still good to check them in an oven to see if they are somewhat near accurate.

Thanks...I'll look at a Woodstock and a Rutland. They all look about the same size. An IR thermometer is also a good idea...I could also think of other uses for that...

The multimeter option works well if anyone wants to record temperature over time, such as over a burn cycle. Cost about $70, and its a full feature DMM also. I can provide details...

I keep one on the pipe behind the louvres on my Ultima also, to read it I just walk up, squat down, and peer through the slats. I know the stove well enough by now that I know what it's going to read most of the time anyway. I bring it up to 500-700 before shutting the air down, but I don't go by the thermometer so much as the state of secondary burn. Once that's self-sustaining I cut the primary air. The BIS literature shows an overnight burn starting at 800 degrees, so that can't be considered overfiring. I got well above 800 a couple of times the first year, but now I'm more careful.

My new Napoleon is completely different - I go by the thermometer on that one. The secondary burn isn't as good an indicator.

I would vote for IR, very easy to check temp in a few spots with it. Once you understand the relationship between stack / stovetop and front glass temp all you will need to check is temp on the front and you will know when you are in the right range. I agree with Disco, with dry wood and a BIS the burn is very predictable.

Nice thing about the IR is that there are many uses for it after you have your stove running smoothly. I would recommend the Fluke HVAC Pro.

my $.02cad ($.0168 us)