Overfired my Insert - A Case Analysis for Hearth Members

CleanBurnin said:

I have done exactly the same thing with my stove. I find that once it is warmed up, you can close the damper almost fully and it may still climb to over 800*F stove top.

I don't think you'll find anything is wrong with the stove, and I doubt you have hurt anything. Do you have a stove top thermometer? Once my stove hits 500*F, I close the air to the minimum that will allow for constant flames. If yours is like mine, it makes different expansion/contraction noises when cooling than heating. Between the noise changes and the flame, you should be able to close the air earlier and avoid the overfire.

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800 stove top,that would make me pee my pants, I know a good stove can take a blip to 800 but still-wet pants. :cheese:

oldspark said:

CleanBurnin said:

I have done exactly the same thing with my stove. I find that once it is warmed up, you can close the damper almost fully and it may still climb to over 800*F stove top.

I don't think you'll find anything is wrong with the stove, and I doubt you have hurt anything. Do you have a stove top thermometer? Once my stove hits 500*F, I close the air to the minimum that will allow for constant flames. If yours is like mine, it makes different expansion/contraction noises when cooling than heating. Between the noise changes and the flame, you should be able to close the air earlier and avoid the overfire.

Click to expand...

800 stove top,that would make me pee my pants, I know a good stove can take a blip to 800 but still-wet pants. :cheese:

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The Kennebecs seem to cruise well at 750*f without any effort. That temp is taken dead center in front of the flue exit, so it is the hottest spot in the stove top.

Francois,

This is my second year with my Jotul Kennebec and ironically I had the exact same situation you had with a glowing unit (LOL) last night also for the first time. Last year I thought my wood was good but after being educated on this site i realized it wasn't. I struggled to get the temps up over 500. Fast forward to this year and I have six cords of wood that is more then perfect. Last night I started a fire with some kindling and some small splits and within 20-30 minutes I had it cruising over 550. I closed the air down all the way and things were great at 600-650. I got the bright idea after about an hour that I wanted to top off the stove with a few more splits because i was going to bed. I opened the air up all the way (temp was still at 550-600), threw in 3 splits and left the air open for about 20-30 minutes while I checked my e-mail and this web site as I recall. When i came back the temp was over 750 and the top of the insert as well as the flue pipe were glowing red. I also saw the laser lint light show on top of my stove as well. Sacred the sh$#! out of me....so I immediately shut the air down all the way, turned the blower on high, and after about 10 minutes the glowing stopped. I guess my wood is super dry now combined with the fact that I topped the stove off when it was still at 600 and i walked away from it wide open for a good 20 minutes. I called my dealer today and he said to keep it below 650. Yep i'm a learnin'!!

try starting fire from top down or from front after stove is loaded?

I have found that once you have a burn cycle started, it is best to let it finish. Adding fresh splits to a load in the middle of a burn cycle can cause huge temp spikes in my Endeavor.

I hear you pagey...in my greed to load up as much as I could I pushed it to hard. Shoulda left it alone...

BrotherBart said:

Also, let the stove work its way down to around four hundred or so before loading a big load on top of a hot coal bed. As I have said here before, stuff a new load on top of coals in a five hundred degree+ stove and life is going to get real interesting for an hour or so. That will seem like a week.

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What BB said.

It happened to me last year. Stove at 450F or so, laid in some 3 YO oak rounds (5-6" ish), and watched the temps go to 850F + after 45 minutes . It just kept going up, even with the air cut all the way back. Temps held for more than an hour, and went higher. (There is a thread here about it, but I'm not looking for it). About scared me to death.

On the plus side, the secondary burn was quite "powerful" to say the least. My glass was really, really clean >:-(

Doing The Dixie Eyed Hustle said:

BrotherBart said:

Also, let the stove work its way down to around four hundred or so before loading a big load on top of a hot coal bed. As I have said here before, stuff a new load on top of coals in a five hundred degree+ stove and life is going to get real interesting for an hour or so. That will seem like a week.

Click to expand...

What BB said.

It happened to me last year. Stove at 450F or so, laid in some 3 YO oak rounds (5-6" ish), and watched the temps go to 850F + after 45 minutes . It just kept going up, even with the air cut all the way back. Temps held for more than an hour, and went higher. (There is a thread here about it, but I'm not looking for it). About scared me to death.

On the plus side, the secondary burn was quite "powerful" to say the least. My glass was really, really clean >:-(

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Cleans the glass but makes laundry day come sooner eh?

Slow1 said:

Doing The Dixie Eyed Hustle said:

BrotherBart said:

Also, let the stove work its way down to around four hundred or so before loading a big load on top of a hot coal bed. As I have said here before, stuff a new load on top of coals in a five hundred degree+ stove and life is going to get real interesting for an hour or so. That will seem like a week.

Click to expand...

What BB said.

It happened to me last year. Stove at 450F or so, laid in some 3 YO oak rounds (5-6" ish), and watched the temps go to 850F + after 45 minutes . It just kept going up, even with the air cut all the way back. Temps held for more than an hour, and went higher. (There is a thread here about it, but I'm not looking for it). About scared me to death.

On the plus side, the secondary burn was quite "powerful" to say the least. My glass was really, really clean >:-(

Click to expand...

Cleans the glass but makes laundry day come sooner eh?

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You bet your sweet Bippy it does. I had an escape plan for the dogs, and had the valuables ready to g out the back door, and it was done in 10 minutes.

Does anybody who has had this over fire happen have any idea what the flue temp was when the stove top hit 850+?

Spark, on the insert, over the right side of the door, we pegged at max temp.

Guys,

I have exactly the same situation described in the post. It was with a Jotul Rockland. Where should I measure the temperature? I have the harbor freight IR thermometer. Pointing the laser at the wood in fire is about 450F - 550F. Pointing the laser at the top middle of the place where hot air comes is anywhere between 550F - 960F.

The top of the insert glowed slight red before I reduced the temperature of the stove.

Yep that would scare the poo out of me. I hope my short chimney will help cancel out the fact that all I have around me is pine. I did find where the secondary air enters the stove so if it ever does run away I will plug that hole with a piece of fiberglass rope. The manual for my Osburn says anything over 840f is overfiring, I really don't want to get it over 700 though.

I doubt you did any damage though when a the top warped and a weld failed on my old grizzly it sounded like it took an anti tank round.

Pagey said:

I have found that once you have a burn cycle started, it is best to let it finish. Adding fresh splits to a load in the middle of a burn cycle can cause huge temp spikes in my Endeavor.

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Another problem with reloading before the first load burns down completely is you build up an annoying coal base. Reloading before the first load burns down smothers the 1/2 burnt coals so air can't reach them as well so they burn even slower. You end up with a stove full of coals and no room for new wood if you do it too often - especially if the wood is not dry. This tends to happen when people want to crank higher heat from the stove in deep winter and reload too often. Moral of the story: Let the natural burn cycle be completed.

Doing The Dixie Eyed Hustle said:

BrotherBart said:

Also, let the stove work its way down to around four hundred or so before loading a big load on top of a hot coal bed. As I have said here before, stuff a new load on top of coals in a five hundred degree+ stove and life is going to get real interesting for an hour or so. That will seem like a week.

Click to expand...

What BB said.

It happened to me last year. Stove at 450F or so, laid in some 3 YO oak rounds (5-6" ish), and watched the temps go to 850F + after 45 minutes . It just kept going up, even with the air cut all the way back. Temps held for more than an hour, and went higher. (There is a thread here about it, but I'm not looking for it). About scared me to death.

On the plus side, the secondary burn was quite "powerful" to say the least. My glass was really, really clean >:-(

Click to expand...

That isn't hard to do with a Pacific insert. A full load of wood and mine will peak at 700-750, and occasionally get into the 800s (the thermometers are along the front). I don't like that the air "control" does not completely shut the air off. If the temps get too high, you have to ride it out vs shutting the fire off.

op_man1 - Did you find anything wrong after it was glowing? Like the welds or anything?

Inspected, all is fine. Figured out thorugh the dollar trick the seals needed to be replaced. HUGE difference. now it's been running like a champ! Crusing on loads and staying at a constant temp!

Thanks all for the help! And advice, check your seals!!