Insert running hot

[parsimonious]

Since I bought a thermometer a couple of weeks ago I realize that I had been running hot. With a full load I was easily doing 800-850 degrees.I now only load it about half to two thirds full.
This is keeping things under 750 and I get at least 6 hour burns before the fan turns off. Last night by stacking a large split way in the back and the usuall 2/3 fill I went from 10:30pm till 7 in the morning and the fan was still on with stove top temps just under 300. So I am generally happy with stove.

Last night I was reading about dampers on a thread here. I thought that a damper might work for me. A member pointed out that this is an issue with inserts with 25ft plus chimneys and that you cant add a damper.

So should I continue with what I'm doing? I really can't complain about the performance of the stove, but would like to be able to load it fully.Also the ability to slow it down would be safer I feel as this stove can really take off if you're not careful.

Its a one piece 6inch flexible liner that they layed down inside the house and the guy outside on the ladder just winched it up. Its about 30 ft in all.
Any info or thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

 

[bpm44]

Any pics of where you have the thermo located on the stovetop? How fast are you dampering down after loading up, and at what temps? Is the air control then pushed in all the way or is it out an eighth or quarter inch?

I've noticed with mine that just an inch or two in one direction or another can make quite a difference in what the gauge reads. I played with my location a bit to come up with a spot on the left top towards the front. Seemed to read the best there, had the least spikes and matched up with my IR repeatably too.

I've also noticed that generally speaking if you look at a lot of threads about Lopi's that they seem to like to run pretty hot. Combine that with the general discrepancies that there seems to be among gauges in terms of their true accuracy and you'll find that your results aren't too far off of what other folks have posted up.

My chimney is insulated but only 15 feet tall. I intentionally run around 700 once it is 20 degrees or colder. Typically around 25 to 40 degrees the stove will settle in and cruise at about 650 fully loaded, shutting down the air control in stages to about an eigth of an inch from fully closed.

Your wood type, how long it has seasoned for, your amount of draft and chimney set-up, outside air temps, how hot you let a fresh load get as you are dampening down ( and probably some other things I have forgotten to mention) come into play in terms of it "taking off". I have found that it took a bit of experimenting with the stove - things as simple as wether the coals were spread out or all pulled to the front when re-loading, and definitely at what temp you re-load, all made a difference in how the stove responded both temp wise and how contolable it is to get it to settle at cruising temps.

I would continue to do what you are doing, but also experiment a little and keep track of the different things you try so you know what works best for you. When experimenting it helps to only try one change at a time so you can isolate and track the progress of your changes.

Happy burning!

 

[parsimonious]

Thanks for such a thoughtful response.

Temp gauge is located as close to center as possible, just to the right of bypass lever. Typical air control was all the way out till the wood looked well alight and stovetop temps around 500 then shut down all the way, then temps would climb.

Just tried something different and seems to be working, instead of completley in on the air I left it out half an inch. Seems counter intuitive(more air equals less heat?)but the the stove rose to 650 and stayed there. Will try this a couple of loads and see if this is the trick.