Heating With My Progress Hybrid Without The Cooktop On

[Cross Cut Saw]

So the family and I went to the In-Laws for Thanksgiving and we let the stove go out for the 3 days or so while we were gone.
My plan was to clean the screens and the cat out when we got home before firing up the stove again.
Everything looked great inside, nothing built up on the stove just some tannish/reddish "dust" on the inside and the cat really didn't have much of anything on it at all.
Next I'm cleaning off the underside of the cook top when I notice a long crack in the thing almost from front to back.
I had saved the original stones and heat shield that came with the stove and decided I would just put them back on and call Woodstock to discuss my options about the cook top.
They said that I wasn't the first person that this happened to and they would be glad to replace it.

The thing is that the stove burns completely different without the cook top on it than it did with it.

With the cook top the stove heated up really fast (according to the stove top thermometer) and if I didn't close the flue entirely before around 400 or so degrees the thing would take off on me and be hovering above 600 degrees making me nervous I was going to overfire.

Now without the cook top the stove still comes up to temperature very quickly but I can leave the flue cracked just a little bit with some great secondaries taking place and have the stove top temperature hover around 550 and the stove feels like it's kicking out WAY more heat.

I'm convinced the cook top was super heating and altering the temperature reading I was getting on the stove top.

My burns are MUCH more controllable now and the stove is just radiating huge amounts of heat and I'm really topping out at about 575 degrees on the thermometer...

Discuss!

 

[Flamestead]

Hmmmm. Just tonight I was contemplating my cooktop, wondering if it was radiating heat off the top the same as the original stone did, or if there was a bit less efficient heat transfer going on.

I can fully close my damper this year once I get all the wood well-charred - last year got back-puffing on similar attempts. The only changes are the cooktop and screen. I haven't seen much change in ability to control the fire. I have wondered if I'm getting the same temp readings (I've moved the stovetop thermometer back onto the metal). Last year I could easily get up to 600 degree stovetop. This year I'm spending a lot more time in the low 500 degree range - it takes an inferno to nudge it upward.

I think I'll switch back just for fun and see if it does burn differently (or if I'm just running it differently, or if my wood is not quite the same, or...).

 

[Flamestead]

Snip...

The thing is that the stove burns completely different without the cook top on it than it did with it.

With the cook top the stove heated up really fast (according to the stove top thermometer) and if I didn't close the flue entirely before around 400 or so degrees the thing would take off on me and be hovering above 600 degrees making me nervous I was going to overfire.

Discuss!

Are you measuring the cooktop temp on the castiron of the cooktop? Woodstock's recommendation with the cooktop is: "If the stove is rear vented, the surface thermometer should be placed on the cast iron cover plate toward the back of the stove." I interpret this to mean not on the cooktop itself.

20 minutes after a reload, with my stovetop thermo, I get 425 at "A", 480 at "B", and 650 in the dead-center on the cast iron of the cooktop. I've been running the cooktop with the stones on, and find the reading on the stone to be similar to "B".
[edited for clarity]

 

[Cross Cut Saw]

My the manual that came with the stove says "place the stovetop thermometer on the soapstone, in the center of the top of the stove, over the catalyst".

That's where I've always placed mine.

The cooktop was definitely overheated, when reading about what overfired cast iron looks like (reddish) it's definitely just like that.

With the cooktop gone the fires themselves are similar but they produce a lower temperature on my stovetop but the stove itself is radiating much more heat. I think I'm going to invest in a new thermometer as well.

Anyone know where to get a good deal on an infared one?

 

[Flamestead]

My the manual that came with the stove says "place the stovetop thermometer on the soapstone, in the center of the top of the stove, over the catalyst".

Yes, the same as my manual. But then they invented the cooktop, and their recommendation changed.
See http://woodstove.com/images/editorial_support/ProgressManual/operation.pdf on page #15.

Check the "Gear" forum for the infrared - I think there was a recent thread.

 

[Cross Cut Saw]

Yes, the same as my manual. But then they invented the cooktop, and their recommendation changed.
See http://woodstove.com/images/editorial_support/ProgressManual/operation.pdf on page #15.

Check the "Gear" forum for the infrared - I think there was a recent thread.

Valuable information that was never passed along, maybe a printout packaged with the cooktop itself would have been appropriate...

 

[Machria]

Cross cut, when you remove the cooktop, you replace it with the stone you used to have there prior to having a cooktop? OR do you just put the normal top stonesover the "hole" where the cooktop was?

 

[Cross Cut Saw]

Cross cut, when you remove the cooktop, you replace it with the stone you used to have there prior to having a cooktop? OR do you just put the normal top stonesover the "hole" where the cooktop was?

You have to replace the cooktop with the original stones and heat shield or you'd have a lot of smoke on your hands. The original stones were slightly thicker and had gaskets in them to create a seal, the cooktop stones wouldn't create a seal for you without the cooktop under them.

I had them all on a shelf in the basement just in case...

 

[Waulie]

Interesting. I'm 96% sure I'm seeing the exact opposite. My stove top temps are running lower with the cook top than they did with the original shield and stone. It seems like about 50 degrees cooler on top in general. Fire control seems exactly the same.

I can see how stove temps would vary in some locations with the different top, but I'm having a hard time seeing how overall heat output could change.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Cross Cut you definitely are not the first but Woodstock does take care of the problem. I don't think 600 degrees is anything to worry about as far as the overheating. I know some are concerned about this even with the Fireview but 700 is the point Woodstock recommends not going above. Our first time of a hot stove was a bit unnerving. It just kept climbing and I was about ready to go berserk but it stopped rising at 690. Whew! Now it is old hat.

 

[Waulie]

The Progress certainly works a little different than the Fireview. I've been running it for almost a whole year now and have had the top stone above 600 for sure once and maybe twice. At those temps, the stove is giving off an unbelievable amount of heat. I'm not saying it will hurt anything to run that high, but it doesn't seem like the norm. My normal highs even in cold weather with a full load are in the 500's.

There must be a difference in how the Progress heats up compared to the Fireview. I think it was Tony that took some all around the stove temps and compared them to the Fireview. He found that the Progress was all around hotter while the Fireview would be way hotter on top compared to the rest of the stove. IDK. Interesting stuff though.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

The Fireview can vary a lot on temperatures. If you give it more air to keep a good flame, then the stove top is not as hot but the sides and front are hotter. Good to hear someone has had this stove over 600 and yes, I can imagine the heat that thing will give. Don't remember for sure what we had at Woodstock but that thing would roast you out for sure.

 

[Slow1]

[quote="Waulie, post: 1277206, member: 18389"
There must be a difference in how the Progress heats up compared to the Fireview. I think it was Tony that took some all around the stove temps and compared them to the Fireview. He found that the Progress was all around hotter while the Fireview would be way hotter on top compared to the rest of the stove. IDK. Interesting stuff though.[/quote]

I can second that! I've been taking temp readings on my PH and had done so as a course of habit on the FV as well. With the FV I would generally have a significant difference in temperature between the top and the sides of the stove - on the order of 150* delta. When doing a lower burn the top would be hotter (more cat activity) and once down to coals and pushing more air to burn them off the bottom (sides) would be hotter. Now with the PH I find the temps are much more even - surprisingly so for me as it seems once cruising (and I am generally burning relatively low) I find the sides and top are within 90* of each other (door being hotter than the stone side - probably due to the metal on the inside and thinner stone?). All in all I think it results in more overall heat given the greater surface area. I just checked and the top is just under 400, sides are reading 330ish with a fire that is dark with whisps of flame that was lit from small pile of coals about 3.5 hours ago (1/2 full box of oak). Air is fully closed and has been for about 3 hours.

These stove burn differently I can attest to. Not necessarily better/worse, just different.

Back to the OP however - I wonder if the overfire signs in the cooktop (the reddish color) could have happened after the crack developed - perhaps air was being sucked in through it and causing weird/bad flaming in the smoke chamber there?

 

[Cross Cut Saw]

Interesting. I'm 96% sure I'm seeing the exact opposite. My stove top temps are running lower with the cook top than they did with the original shield and stone. It seems like about 50 degrees cooler on top in general. Fire control seems exactly the same.

I can see how stove temps would vary in some locations with the different top, but I'm having a hard time seeing how overall heat output could change.

I think I was running it cooler because the cooktop was giving me a false hot reading...