Flu temp?

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gradwell

New Member
Mar 26, 2008
40
western pa
I have a newly installed Econoburn 150 and have never burned wood before. I was wanting to know how high of a flu temp. is still safe? My highest temps occur at start
up (about 600 deg.) which I think is normal. I was just curious as to how high of a flu temp I could have before it is unsafe.

My second question is in the event of some type of emergency, how do you quickly shut down the fire?

Thanks for the help. I know these are basic questions, but I still have not yet become comfortable with this wood thing. I find myself running out to the barn every 1-2 hrs. to make sure it hasnt burned down. Actually I probably have no right to even start the fire since I dont even know how to quickly extinguish it.

Thanks again
 
Gradwell; Your Econoburn has a long way to go before it reaches the 2000 degree + that my old EnergyMate was capable of. Factory engineers said it was not uncommon for the flue pipe to glow red hot. This means the outside of the pipe was in the 1300 degree range & flue gas at pipe center was about double that. I personally witnessed a scary white flame through the barmetric damper. I was told this was safe. Unless Econoburn says otherwise I wouldn't worry about the 600 degrees. There are extinguishing logs available at Home Depot. I don't know if these work & other members can probably advise you better with this, Randy
 
Congrats on the new boiler, and welcome to the forum. Did your
installer give you a demonstration on operation and have your read the
manual?

I have the same unit and am really pleased with
it, in particular the level of comfort it has provided and how much money I'm saving
in heating costs. I've been heating with wood for decades and as of yet have never
had a reason to extinguish a fire in a wood stove. They go out on their own soon
enough, but I have over-fired a stove a time or two . I guess to answer your question
regarding putting out a fire in some sort of an emergency, I'd shut down the electrical
power and stop the blower, the boiler will do that on its own if it overheats.

DON'T EVER POUR WATER ON A OPERATING HOT WOOD STOVE, the results can be disastrous.

I've seen a stove pipe glowing hot more than a few times but my
boiler seem to run cooler than any other one I've owned.

The local fire department says the prime cause of wood
stove related fires are from chimneys fires and improper installation.
or leaving something combustable too close.

I'd recommend relaxing a little bit and enjoy the warmth. MM
 
I personally keep a dry chemical fire extinguisher close to my boiler. If things ever get out of hand I'll simply empty that sucker into the upper chamber and watch the fun times unfold. Might be a mess to cleanup but it shouldn't damage anything.

My flue temp gauge goes past 2,000 degrees if I recall correctly. That is scary hot to us boiler guys! I've seen 800 on my EKO after accidentally leaving my bypass open for an hour or so. No big deal....600 is perfectly normal.
 
If your flu temp gets above 101F, head to the doctor promptly. No time to waste! Seriously, ...

Your Econo is similar to the Tarm, and the 1800-2000F temperature is reached only in the refractory at the point of combustion and then rapidly cools as the combusted air expands to form your flue gas. Interior flue temps of 600F (about 12-18" from flue exit at back of boiler) are not uncommon. My Tarm really purrs at 500-600F, and it will go a bit higher on an initial high burn. 400-500F is common after about a 1/2 burn load done as the fire/coals start to cool down some.

Your black stove pipe will start to glow at exterior temp of about 1000F -- too hot and wasteful of energy.
 
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