I've been over firing my stove, not realizing it

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trailrated

Feeling the Heat
Hearth Supporter
Dec 8, 2009
343
Maryland
I have an Englanger 13 and generally back the air down when stack temps get between 4-500 degrees. Sometimes though It will get 6-650 before I shut it down. The thermometer reads "To Hot" at the 700 degree mark. This evening I fire it up and on the first reload I went to shut it down and stack temps were reading about 650. The thermometer is 18 inches up on a single wall pipe. I decided to turn all the lights off (stove is in garage) and check things out. I've never turned the lights out before and this time I see the stove top glowing red around the stove pipe! No wonder my pipe has been turning gray from the stove top up to about 18 inches up the pipe, its been burning the paint! Now it wasn't cherry red but it was red enough to see it with the lights out. I don't have a stove top thermometer so I'm not sure what temps are when it turns red.

So how many are gonna be turning their lights out checking their stoves :)
 
A surface mount thermometer is generally assumed to be reading *about* 1/2 the internal flue temp.. 6-650 is closing on 1300 degrees internal, way to hot. Just out curiosity do you know what the surface temp of the top of your stove is/was? Should have been no surprise about the "graying" of your paint.. look at any vogelzang thread..

At least you know there is none of that nasty old black crud in your stack..lol
 
Dakotas Dad said:
A surface mount thermometer is generally assumed to be reading *about* 1/2 the internal flue temp.. 6-650 is closing on 1300 degrees internal, way to hot. Just out curiosity do you know what the surface temp of the top of your stove is/was? Should have been no surprise about the "graying" of your paint.. look at any vogelzang thread..

At least you know there is none of that nasty old black crud in your stack..lol

No black crud, was just up on the roof last week checking things out. This winter is my second winter burning so I'm no expert yet. Just learned something new tonight. Gotta scale back my temps a bit. I do not know what the stove top temp was, I don't have a thermometer on the stove top.
 
Just take that thermometer off of your stove pipe if it is magnetic and put it on your stove top. Use some gloves if she is runnin :)
 
Anyone know what a safe max stove top temp would be for my Englander 13?
 
You can always use 700 as a good rule of thumb.
 
I'll bet the stove top was over 1000 degrees if the pipe was 600-700. I routinely see 850 stove top and even 900 occasionally but thats surely upper end. Don't know about safe but you'll find out how well the stove is made running those temps alot.
 
yooperdave said:
brave-putting a stove in your garage. i hope it is isolated from the rest of the garage.

Nothing more flammable in the garage then whats in a house.
 
trailrated said:
yooperdave said:
brave-putting a stove in your garage. i hope it is isolated from the rest of the garage.

Nothing more flammable in the garage then whats in a house.

i know in the garage that i used to have a wood stove in (dumb-unsafe,i know) i used to have many flamables. gas cans, paint cans (oil based) thinners, solvents, oils, cleaners, motorcycles snowmobiles (when they needed to be repaired) boat motors, and usually 2 vehicles. when the fumes from all these things gather, they are at floor level....right where we never smell them-unless you are on a creeper working on a vehicle. i'll bet the air intake for the stove is also low to the floor........lots of things more flamable than whats in a house.
thankfully, i never had a problem. but when i look back at the risk-holy cow!

maybe you have one of those pristine garages, huh? nothing in it but 2 new vehicles??!!!!
just be safe.
 
yooperdave said:
trailrated said:
yooperdave said:
brave-putting a stove in your garage. i hope it is isolated from the rest of the garage.

Nothing more flammable in the garage then whats in a house.

i know in the garage that i used to have a wood stove in (dumb-unsafe,i know) i used to have many flamables. gas cans, paint cans (oil based) thinners, solvents, oils, cleaners, motorcycles snowmobiles (when they needed to be repaired) boat motors, and usually 2 vehicles. when the fumes from all these things gather, they are at floor level....right where we never smell them-unless you are on a creeper working on a vehicle. i'll bet the air intake for the stove is also low to the floor........lots of things more flamable than whats in a house.
thankfully, i never had a problem. but when i look back at the risk-holy cow!

maybe you have one of those pristine garages, huh? nothing in it but 2 new vehicles??!!!!
just be safe.

Oh I agree with you, but 98% of the time nothing is parked in it except my RTV. I do have some solvents in cabinets on the other side of the garage. The air inlet is on the top of the stove. The garage is finished with drywall, paint etc. Its more of a man cave than a garage.
 
wkpoor said:
I'll bet the stove top was over 1000 degrees if the pipe was 600-700. I routinely see 850 stove top and even 900 occasionally but thats surely upper end. Don't know about safe but you'll find out how well the stove is made running those temps alot.
Not necessarly, I hit 600 to 700 flue temp (surface temp) all the time, some times the stove top is only 300 or so, no constants in wood burning.
 
trailrated all our pre-EPA stoves glowed red at one time or another and they still ran fine...just say'en.

As far as your NC 13 glowing red around the collar, HUH! Most folks I mentally fault for slow burning but you surely not in that category. Man I burn WOT 99% of the time so I'll be going dark tonight for a look see.
 
oldspark said:
wkpoor said:
I'll bet the stove top was over 1000 degrees if the pipe was 600-700. I routinely see 850 stove top and even 900 occasionally but thats surely upper end. Don't know about safe but you'll find out how well the stove is made running those temps alot.
Not necessarly, I hit 600 to 700 flue temp (surface temp) all the time, some times the stove top is only 300 or so, no constants in wood burning.

Agreed. Some nights the draft really takes off and the external pipe temp soars while the stove top temp is kinda lazy, just like you mentioned. I use the built in damper in my flue collar to slow it down for a minute or two.
 
savageactor7 said:
trailrated all our pre-EPA stoves glowed red at one time or another and they still ran fine...just say'en.

As far as your NC 13 glowing red around the collar, HUH! Most folks I mentally fault for slow burning but you surely not in that category. Man I burn WOT 99% of the time so I'll be going dark tonight for a look see.

Let us know what you see. I tried to get a pic when mine was glowing, but when I saw the red I shut her down, and by the time I got the camera the stove wasn't glowing red enough for the camera to capture the red.
 
Well last night I went real hot and everything looked good no glowing at all on our jacketed stove.

Lets say I did over fire and suspected damage. If I found any splits I'd weld some 1/4 plates over them and drive on or follow the advice I got here. imo the most important function are the tubes that re-burn the smoke. That's what makes these EPA stoves more efficient.

trailrated, take a look on how the chimney looks 5 min after loading on an established coal bed. If you don't see any smoke and the stove cooking off hot then you should be golden imo...

...but truthfully I'm not one of the great thinkers here. So there ya go.
 
~*~Kathleen~*~ said:
Mine cranked up to 800 stove top when my door wasn't latching tight, and it wasn't glowing.

Did you check it with it being as dark as you can get the room?
 
It is not right to correlate flue temps with stove temps.

I run both a probe meter in the flue and a stovetop meter. I regularly run the flue temps past 1000-1100 once per day. Stove surface temps are under 300.

True, I do run a stone stove but you get the idea. It's not a direct relationship. To the OP, keep that flue surface temp at around 500 max. Get a surface meter and keep it under 800 or under the temp at which something glows.
 
I wonder if my single wall pipe is cheap crap. I got all supplies at my local hearth store. Like I said, its been slowly turning gray inch by inch since last winter, starting at the collar from the stove. I know I've probably ran too hot a few times but.......does the paint burn off anyone else's pipe here?
 
No, I had some heavey wall pipe on my old wood burner and I know I had that pretty hot a few times and it looked new after 30 years, been running the flue temp as much as 700 (surface) on new stove and it shows no sign of heat damage to paint what so ever, it is 22 gauge.
 
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