How hot before overfiring?

This is my first season with a pellet stove. I have a thermometer stuck to the side on my new p61a and am concerned about overfiring it. I have been running it where the temp of the steel gets to 500 degrees. Stove is set at feed rate 3 and stove heat set at 2.5. How hot can the steel itself get before it warps? Don't want to wreck a new stove. Trying to learn all that I can. Thanks.

Good Gawd....500 degrees??? Doesn't seem possible. The stove is loaded with sensors, including a high limit sensor:
"The P61A is an intelligent, biomass-burning machine. It is loaded with smart-sensing technologies to deliver powerful heat, with impressive, money-saving efficiency"
If it gets too hot, she will shut right down, but 500degrees seem awfully hot!

Yes 500. That is what the Rutland burn indicator thermometer stuck on the side is reading.

I am perplexed. You would be melting all of the internal electrical components. Something's not right.

Is your distribution fan pushing any air through that stove?

500 seems very high...although different stove I have one of those gauges on the side of my stove tight next to the glass. Stays just above two hundred....I cannot imagine it getting anywhere near that hot. Sounds dangerous.....if anything touches that a fire could start quite easily.

Turned it down to 2. Went down to around 450.

I would think that the stove high limit would shut it down. I would get an IR thermometer and verify the actual temperature.

Do you have an infrared gun to check the temp? Maybe the indicator is not calibrated correctly?

That thermometer may not be accurate. Hey did you get the Accentra burn pot all squared away??

I put a new flame guide on the accentra and that cut down on some of the problem.

I've had my 25 PDVC up to 450F on setting 6 for heat and the room blower at 7.

That's good , sounds like it's still not 100% ??

Haha....nice avatar.

The stoves controls are separate and housed with the feed bin on the P series so would have a much cooler environment. Steel would have to be hotter than 500 for damage. That is hot for a pellet stove. Visable red color in the dark is about 750.Just shot some temps of my pc45 on idle and the hottest area on the stove was on the lower ash pan hold at close to 195. Newegg sale on IR guns for $18. Fun tool

Thats on the side of the firebox wall. There is fire behind it.

On Low, I get over 300° when stuck to my firebox wall

Some stoves have side shields. Some dont. His doesn't. So that should be normal. That's a very large stove and the stove will kill itself before overfire.

I see temperatures around 400 on my pdvc running heat=4 convection=9 measured with an IR thermometer. That is in a concrete basement with an air temperature of about 65. A firebox wall temperature of 500 doesn't seem unreasonable to me. I don't find a need to run my stove that hot. The heat setting of 5 warms the shop (1100 sq ft) surprisingly fast.

I would put something on the bottom of a pan of water and boil that thermometer and see the temp. I have one and it is only good to get a basic baseline reading from one pellet to another. IR temp guns are cheap and some are not accurate on gloss surfaces so keep that in mind.

My IR thermometer checks out against other thermometers (checked against my oven and other references) it may be off, but not by much. Stove paint is flat black, which should be ideal for a cheap IR thermometer.

Thanks

I would have to look it up, but, I think steel under load will start deform at 600 F. Cast iron will take more, mild steel less.

The Harman p series throw a lot of radiant heat. I measured my stove surface temps on the side of the firebox and came up with these different readings with an ir thermometer.
Stove temp setting/surface temp
1/327
2/404
3/493
4/556
5/595

Yes, the p series certainly throws a lot of radiant heat. I see we have the same stove and are getting temps that are close. What number do you normally run that p61stove on?

Well, I was wrong...... It happens.
I did not know that the newer P61s were so radiant. That's the best of both worlds right there!
Nice stove!

My woodstove goes to 750° before it starts to fall and has went well over that if I became preoccupied and forgot to close the air (900°). No worries...

Stell can handle 500° all day everyday. A flame is over 1,000° F. The steel baffle above the flame and the pot below are subjected to this temp daily. No worries.

When a pellet stoves firebox walls reach 900°, thats when i will worry. 500° is par for the course