Overfire question...My first full burn...Need Quick answer please!!!

Sounds fine.

I think the manual is referring to stove top temps.

What part? Wherever your owner's manual tells to locate a surface thermometer.

Andy, I'm sure you've cooled down by now. It is good to be concerned but not too much. Those temperatures you gave will seem low in a couple of months. It takes quite a bit of heat to get that stove top to 600 degrees, so I highly doubt you'll reach that until the dead of winter when you really stoke it up. For now, relax and enjoy the heat. Good luck to you.

was wondering if a laser thermometer is better than a stove top one? Have been trying to decide which one to purchase. Have an stove pipe magnetic one but it seems the temp readings are not correct on the stove top

I have the Tribute stove manual regarding the stove temp:

MONITORING STOVE TEMPERATURES
Monitor the stove temperatures with a stove thermometer
(available from your dealer) placed on the top center stone
of the stove. The thermometer could read as high as
500°F(260°C) on High Burn and 200-300°F(93-149°C) on
low burn. Maintaining temperatures in excess of
600°F(316°C) will cause the stones to crack and other
damage to the stove.

Andy99 said:

Right now the top center soapstone is at 250 degrees but the soapstone on both side of the stove are at 350 degrees. Now the metal part behind the soap stone the part of the stove that sticks into the opening of my fireplace that is reading 425degrees.

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I agree with all the other posters that your temps are fine. I find it puzzling that the sides are hotter than the top - I've never experienced that. In any event you can't go wrong by figuring where the stove is consistently hottest (I believe that will be top-center) and using the thermometer there.

Hearthstone is a great product but their instructions are weak. They warn you to not overfire or run the stove too hot, but won't give actual temperatures as to what to look for. I haven't hit 500 degrees yet but I think that will be my upper limit just to be safe.....

deck2 said:

was wondering if a laser thermometer is better than a stove top one? Have been trying to decide which one to purchase. Have an stove pipe magnetic one but it seems the temp readings are not correct on the stove top

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Deck2, careful about which IR thermometer you purchase. There are on the market that have temperature operating ranges that are too low for stove surfaces. For example, my friend bought one and it only goes up to 420, which is below the operating temperature of important surfaces, so it's not much use. Some dont even list this on the packaging, so do your homework up front. There are various reviews on that discussion group, so check em out and save yourself some potential headache.

Most magnetic thermometers are fine for stove surfaces. They have to be that accurate, as +/-20F isnt really all that important. Keep in mind as well that stove top temps are slow to change (compared to inside the firebox) for thick stoves. A second magnetic, or flue gas (probe) thermometer on your flue pipe connector is the most accurate and real-time measure of firebox conditions.

Just for reference, my stove top normally reads about 450-550, w/ flue gas temps of 1000-1400 (divide by 2.5 for surface temps)

Andy.. look in the back of the manual.. under maintenance.. it states to put the thermometer on top of center stone. You think they would put it under the heading of over firing but they want to make it difficult I guess.

Andy- your first season burning is going to be full of times like this when one second you are sure you are burning down the entire neighborhood, and the next feeling like a worry wart. It is normal, and I would venture that a good portion of burners felt this way their first season.

Worrying too much about overfiring is better than not being aware of it at all, by a long shot- I got as far once last year as locating all the animals in case I had to make the evacuation call. It was fine. Hot as the dickens, but fine.

Just keep reading and learning. In a couple of months you will have it mostly down pat and the warm cozy glow will replace the cold sweat of panic. You are in the best forum available and the guys here will not steer you wrong, nor advise anything even remotely unsafe.
Enjoy!

Cearbhaill said:

Andy- your first season burning is going to be full of times like this when one second you are sure you are burning down the entire neighborhood, and the next feeling like a worry wart. It is normal, and I would venture that a good portion of burners felt this way their first season.

Worrying too much about overfiring is better than not being aware of it at all, by a long shot- I got as far once last year as locating all the animals in case I had to make the evacuation call. It was fine. Hot as the dickens, but fine.

Just keep reading and learning. In a couple of months you will have it mostly down pat and the warm cozy glow will replace the cold sweat of panic. You are in the best forum available and the guys here will not steer you wrong, nor advise anything even remotely unsafe.
Enjoy!

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Sweet post, Toni. Good on ya.

it would be skin temp you dont want to crak the soapstone. I put my thermometer on top of the soap stone. I dont put any pots on top of the stove, if the water boiles over it could crack the soapstone.

EngineRep said:

Hearthstone is a great product but their instructions are weak. They warn you to not overfire or run the stove too hot, but won't give actual temperatures as to what to look for. I haven't hit 500 degrees yet but I think that will be my upper limit just to be safe.....

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Boo. The heritage and also the tribute for sure clearly state the 600 degree overfire temp. I've got to think that each model also has this info in the manual. Providing this temp is one of the things that HS actually does better than most stove makers that simply say that overfire is occuring when your stove glows red.

Tu-Tu Sue, Post #8' "Maintaining temperatures in excess of
600°F(316°C) will cause the stones to crack and other
damage to the stove.

I think the key word here is "MAINTAINING", as in keeping that sucker hot
all the time, like trying to heat too large an area with a stove too small for
the job. If they self destructed if you bumped 600 degrees on occasion, there is
a stove maker that would be out of business in short order.

Look at it like a redline on a car engine tachometer. You could run it at 599 all day but that will shorten the useful life. Running past 600 can cause immediate damage like cracked stones and warped castings. They wouldn't give you the 600 number unless they meant it and they certainly have a little bit of safety margin in there that I don't want to test.