Burn Zone

[dulcierae]

A while back I bought a rutland magnetic thermometer for our stove. There's a yellow burn zone between about 250* and 600*. I keep the thermometer right on the top of the stove under the stove pipe. Someone recently told me that those are supposed to be placed 18 in above the stove on the actual pipe in order to be accurate. I used a laser thermometer to measure the temp of the pipe when the stove is around 500* and the stove pipe is only around 250*. that's a huge difference! is it true that the pipe temp is what I should be measuring? If so that means that I've probably been burning WAY too cool! oh dear, please help thanks

 

[begreen]

There are different types of thermometers. Some for stove tops and some for flues. The temperature readings are the same, but the painted zones are different. It's not uncommon for the flue temps to be lower than the stove top reading. That's actually a good sign of an efficient stove. This is single-wall flue pipe, correct? The surface temp is going to be a lot less than the flue gas temps inside the pipe. For example, 250F could equate to somewhere between 375F-500F interior flue gas temps.

It sounds like you are not doing too badly. If this goes to an exterior flue you might want to burn a little hotter, but if this is an interior flue it could be fine. For peace of mind, check the flue and cap for creosote accumulation.

 

[precaud]

What stove is it?

Chances are your "laser thermo" is more accurate than the magnetic one at higher temps. I've calibrated my two Rutlands to a Fluke temp probe, and they were pretty good up to 300F and from there they were wildly different.