Is 1200* dangerously hot?

That's normal for me to get up there once in a while. While I think these condar probes are precise (consistent) I think their warning zones are set too low IMO and here is why. One of these is lying (the rutland was confirmed accurate by my IR gun), and if I thought it were the rutland then my stove top would never be able to go over 475 degrees as anything more than that and the condar says my stack is too hot.



here's the full thread on just this topic if you are interested.

https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/forums/viewthread/51149/

pen

Pen have you tried that Rutland on the stove top? On the pipe, because it is so big, a lot of convection air is pulled up through it.

Most pipe mfgs are rated for a continuous 1100F the last I knew (could have changed though). I would consider your temps bumping the absolute upper limits. Try and keep it south of 1000F at all time IMHO. Temps like that are just pumping heat to the outdoors instead of indoors where it belongs.

I have had that smell before. It is a harsh, chemical type smell. I believe it is from the mega burn that you were cooking at. I only notice it with a high stack temp.

Jags, if I kept it under 1000 the stove top would never be over 500.

BB, the rutland and my IR probe "think alike" both on the stove top and on the pipe. On the stove top, the rutland starts losing it's marbles at about 600 and up when it will begin reading about 50 degrees low

If you look at the reading on my IR here and the max listed blow it , you can see the rutland's not doing too bad.



At the end of the drama post I linked to / referenced above, condar swears these things are accurate. I agree that they are precise and may be accurate in their thermocycler but I don't agree that they are accurate on single wall pipe as their instructions would lead you to believe. I think the extra radiant heat from the single wall causes problems for them. I still use it because I love how quickly it registers and I feel it reads consistently (precisely) however I think that when it reads 1200 on single wall piipe it is actually much cooler inside the pipe.

pen

pen said:

Jags, if I kept it under 1000 the stove top would never be over 500.

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Do you keep a fan running on this stove? Something doesn't sound right. You should NOT need to have a 1000F stack temp to reach a 500F stove top.

firefighterjake said:

1,200 degrees F on a probe thermometer is a bit worrisome for me.

I normally run 600-700 degrees F with the probe thermometer . . . I start to get a bit concerned when I hit 800+ degrees F.

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Zactly.

Easy folks you are jumping the gun here. We've been down this road before. I had a dozen emails w/ a big wig at Condar regarding this and even sent the probe back to him to re-test in his thermocycler. Wes on this site also tested it against his thermocouple and on his stove.

The cliff notes of the saga from last winter (which you guys must not recall or missed) was that condar is erring on the side of cooler flue temps. We agreed to disagree about the validity of these on single walled pipe as they claim. We agree that they are accurate in his testing rig, but I don't think they take into account a real world situation regarding the radiant heat of a single wall stove pipe.

On double wall pipe, I would be more apt to believe the readings are closer to true values and not go to 1200.

https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/forums/viewthread/51149/

pen

11-1200F is pushing the pipe. The highest we see with a probe is in the 800-850F range. And this is only when we space out turning down the air for a little bit. If this wasn't double-wall, I suspect you would be seeing it glow unless this is another case of an erroneous reading Condar at high temps. FWIW, a surface thermometer reading on double-wall pipe is fairly meaningless.

Hard to say what your interior temps are. Condar says they will be about 50% higher on the inside given a surface reading. Others here disagree. But if for sake of argument they are at 600+300, then a 900F spike is a bit hotter than what we are seeing. Hard to say why, perhaps we start closing down the air a bit sooner or perhaps it's because you are dealing with colder outside temps?

If your 650-700F are surface temps, you need to be backing down the primary air more (or sooner). Hold that heat into the stove and the stove will actually warm up faster.

oldspark said:

I did not want to do it but I am thinking about getting a flue probe.

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I personally don't like surface mount thermos on the flue. I just don't. Probe style RULES.

oldspark said:

Jags said:

If your 650-700F are surface temps, you need to be backing down the primary air more (or sooner). Hold that heat into the stove and the stove will actually warm up faster.

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I have tried that and it does not work as well, its funny cause some times the stove top comes up quicker than other times but 98% of the time it is the tortise and the hare with the flue being the hare.

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Maybe because it is red, it thinks its already hot?? Dunno, but 700F surface = ~1400F internal (if readings are accurate) and thats too freaking hot.

DanCorcoran said:

pen,

Just to clarify (since it isn't visible in the picture): the digital IR you're holding in your hand has a probe that extends the center of the flue, next to the Condar probe?

(P.S. Yes, I remember the extensive thread from last year).

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No, it's a surface temp. That picture was taken to confirm the temp reading on the rutland and to discredit the claim of condar that their flue probe would read 50% greater than surface values. I say, no way in hades for single wall pipe and condar confirmed that by saying that my probe tested accurate yet it is no where near what they claim I should be seeing on my actual stove.

I think they are a very useful tool, but take the number values with a grain of salt so to speak.

BTW, you know how stove pipe changes from a shiny finish to a slightly duller one as it's heated and stops giving off that curing smell? The pipe from my elbow on is still very shiny. In other words, even w/ my probe hitting 1300 on my single wall at at times (when the wife is at the helm), there wasn't enough heat in the pipe at the elbow (on the surface) for it to even properly season the paint! To me, that means the pipe is no where near getting overheated. If the paint were burning off / turning white, then I'd say it's being overheated.

I had a fisher stove and trust me when I say that I know what glowing is. No part of this stove or the pipe has ever glowed as I've checked it in COMPLETE darkness when it was at it highest that I have had it.

pen

Methinks we need another round of Condar probe checks. This may be another case of significant error at the high end of the scale.