fire temps in my Lopi Endeavor

[tommus]

I installed a Lopi Endeavor last fall and it's been really great. I've had to start a new fire and/or clean out the ashes maybe a dozen times this year - it burns that clean and that long.

My question is about burn temperatures. I have a simple spring-type thermometer placed on the front of the little "step" between the upper and lower stovetop surfaces. I can load up with seasoned maple/cherry/ash and never get the thermo past 400 even with the air opened up all the way (and the bypass open). Close the bypass and I can get it to 500 with a nice secondary burn. (there's about 15' of vertical pipe/chimney, btw)

Do these readings seem accurate? They seem kinda low for a full on burn.
The stove is definitely doing its job of cranking out heat. The secondary burn tubes glow orange.
Most posts I've read imply that it's not that difficult to overfire a stove - it seems I couldn't overfire mine if I tried.
Since this stove has built-in shielding all around and a double-wall pipe it's hard to tell if anything is glowing red, but from what I can see it's not.

Any thoughts?

 

[DBoon]

With the bypass closed, you should also restrict the primary air. You may not be burning with enough restriction on the primary air to force a really good secondary burn. It could also be that your wood is just not quite dry enough to get great secondary combustion. Some loads of wood in my smaller Lopi, I found, were not as dry as others. In that case, I had trouble maintaining good secondary burn and the stove top temps struggled to get much over 500 degrees. When I had really dry maple, oak and cherry in the stove, it was easy to get well above 600 degrees on a cold night (i.e. good draft).

 

[Pagey]

During a good secondary burn, my Endeavor consistently reads about 550-575F. I think my thermometer won't go beyond that, though, because there have been several times things have just "felt" hotter, but the thermometer always stays on 550-575F.

 

[tommus]

where do you folks place your thermometer?

i think the secondary burn is pretty good - the tubes glow and I get that "sheet of fire" across the top of the firebox.
the wood, however seasoned, probably has more moisture in it than ideal - that alone could be worth 50-100 degrees.

 

[madrone]

I think DBoon is wondering if you close the primary air much when up to temp. I usually have the bypass closed within 5 min, and the primary down to about 1/4 open within 30 min. Ideally you'll have it closed as far as you can while still maintaining secondaries. I get lots of secondary action with the primary open, but higher temps and longer burns come from finding the sweet spot on the air control. If I'm burning dry oak, I have to close the thing almost entirely.

 

[wisconsindvm]

I have a new endeavor as of this fall as well. When you say the tubes glow are you talking about the orange flames coming out like jets or is the metal hot and glowing? I have had the metal of the tubes glowing orange red at times but thought this was overfiring and possibly causing damage. Just curious if this is what I want (the metal glowing) or just the flames.

 

[madrone]

If I'm running a full load, I'll often have the center tube glowing. Not always. I've never had any other tubes glowing much.

 

[madrone]

I can load up with seasoned maple/cherry/ash and never get the thermo past 400 even with the air opened up all the way (and the bypass open). Close the bypass and I can get it to 500 with a nice secondary burn.

Seeing this again, I think two things are happening: your wood is a little too wet, and a lot of your heat is going up the flue. The bypass is mostly just for starting up and reloading. If you run with it open, your heat just escapes. If you're running with your primary wide open, you might be losing a lot of heat up the chimney as well. If you can't get secondary burn without running wide open, then your wood's probably the culprit.

 

[Jack Straw]

I have an endeavor and it seems to burn cooler than what I have read on this site about other stoves. I contribute that to many factors including chimney height, wood moisture content, house insulation... etc. I don't get much creosote and it heats my house good.

 

[DBoon]

I put my stove thermometer in the middle front, in front of the stove pipe (which exits out the top).

When it's cold outside and I'm using dry wood, my primary air is closed as much as allowed AND my secondary is like a jet flame with lots of color to it - not just orange. Good secondary combustion will be a mix of blues and purples. When I have slightly wetter wood in the stove (not on purpose), I struggle to close the primary air more than half, and the secondary burn comes in and out, and it is more orange colored, and I don't get much over 500 degrees. This sounds like what is happening to you. It probably seems to you like your wood is dry, but it's not dry enough. Next year, your luck should be better.

 

[WidowMaker]

I think you'll find temperatures considerablly hotter if you place your therometer in the center of the lower top surface.

 

[tommus]

Thanks for all the responses.

I still haven't reliably found that sweet spot for closing the primary.
I've been learning to choke it down after closing the bypass but haven't really got it yet.
(and yes I only have the bypass open when starting up or loading)
But I really get the best performance with the primary full open, which points to the wood as being the issue.

The wood was seasoned in log lengths 1 year but split only recently, so yeah it could be drier.
This is probably the biggest factor as several of you have pointed out.

Also, I will try moving the thermo to the middle of the top and see what it says.

 

[rdust]

The wood was seasoned in log lengths 1 year but split only recently, so yeah it could be drier.
This is probably the biggest factor as several of you have pointed out.

This is probably the biggest issue, wood doesn't season too well until it's split.

 

[DBoon]

You'll find when you have dry wood, closing the primary is simple and easy. With dry wood, I get the firebox up to 500 degrees, then start closing off the primary in 25% steps every 5 minutes or so, and in 20 minutes, the secondary combustion is going like a jet engine out of the tubes if it's really cold outside (i.e. I'm getting strong draft in the chimney) and less so if it is warmer outside.

If my wood is a little wetter (again, not intentionally - I'm a first year woodburner with good but not great first year wood), then I struggle to adjust the primary and I don't get strong secondary combusion.

I have the smallest Lopi stove. Yours is larger, but it should be the same. I second the previous comment that your stove top thermometer should be placed on the lower edge of the top of your stove, farther from your stovepipe. I don't have this lower ledge on my stove.