New Mansfield install

[MasterMech]

I'm back again with a successful report and a few more questions.

I started a fire Saturday night after the cold front moved through, outside temp at 39 winds gusting to 40mph. Used the top down method and it worked great! Loaded her up about an hour in, had the center stone temps at 400 and for what it's worth the outer wall of pipe at 210.

Ten hours later I had a really good coal bed so I moved them to the center and put a small split of walnut on to help burn them down and buy some time. Then I tried Shawn's zipper method and really kicked out the heat. That's when I noticed a huge thermometer discrepancy, the ir gun was at 550° and the stovetop was at 650.

Then last night I did the zipper again and it event crazy on me, she got up to around 650 and I was nervous so I opened the door up to let it cool and that didn't seem to really help.

So my questions are, 1 should I install a flue damper to give me more control? If so how to operate never had one before.
2. Wear should I be concerned on temps, and were sould I be taking them from? The center stone seems to be the hottest so that's were I have been reading from.
3. Which thermometer to believe? The ir seems to be pretty close on everything I've checked it against and stye stovetop low until it breaks 400 then it's high.
Sorry for the long post. Thanks

Emissivity will affect an IR thermometer whereas it will not affect a stovetop. IR Thermos do not get accurate readings from polished surfaces. I would trust the stovetop.

 

[BrowningBAR]

I'm back again with a successful report and a few more questions.

I started a fire Saturday night after the cold front moved through, outside temp at 39 winds gusting to 40mph. Used the top down method and it worked great! Loaded her up about an hour in, had the center stone temps at 400 and for what it's worth the outer wall of pipe at 210.

Ten hours later I had a really good coal bed so I moved them to the center and put a small split of walnut on to help burn them down and buy some time. Then I tried Shawn's zipper method and really kicked out the heat. That's when I noticed a huge thermometer discrepancy, the ir gun was at 550° and the stovetop was at 650.

Then last night I did the zipper again and it event crazy on me, she got up to around 650 and I was nervous so I opened the door up to let it cool and that didn't seem to really help.

So my questions are, 1 should I install a flue damper to give me more control? If so how to operate never had one before.
2. Wear should I be concerned on temps, and were sould I be taking them from? The center stone seems to be the hottest so that's were I have been reading from.
3. Which thermometer to believe? The ir seems to be pretty close on everything I've checked it against and stye stovetop low until it breaks 400 then it's high.
Sorry for the long post. Thanks

Emissivity will affect an IR thermometer whereas it will not affect a stovetop. IR Thermos do not get accurate readings from polished surfaces. I would trust the stovetop.

I need more info on this. The IR gun seems just as accurate on flat matte cast iron as it does on polished enamel and polished stone.

 

[Dairyman]

Shawn, I'd love to have a probe thermo but I've spent all my cash on this big ol' rock. :-( Maybe Santa will bring me one.

To the best of my memory when I'm loading stove top temps around 250. First load on the zipper I didn't fully load and I followed your instructions, trying to pay close attention to the flame and it worked great. The second load I loaded her almost full, could've put 1 more small split on and it didn't talk off quite as well. I left the air around half for around 25-30 minutes then shut down to 1/4 for about 5 then closed. About 2 hours in is wear the excitement happened.

I was thinking a damper for a safety valve?

 

[Dairyman]

Mastermech I'm very curious about this. Why would they read the same until around 400? I've read alot here about thermometer discrepancy but never heard of this. I also get up to a 40° swing from from to back on the center stone, front being higher which is why I was asking about where to take readings from. More research! Again

 

[shawneyboy]

Shawn, I'd love to have a probe thermo but I've spent all my cash on this big ol' rock. :-( Maybe Santa will bring me one.

To the best of my memory when I'm loading stove top temps around 250. First load on the zipper I didn't fully load and I followed your instructions, trying to pay close attention to the flame and it worked great. The second load I loaded her almost full, could've put 1 more small split on and it didn't talk off quite as well. I left the air around half for around 25-30 minutes then shut down to 1/4 for about 5 then closed. About 2 hours in is wear the excitement happened.

I was thinking a damper for a safety valve?

I don't think a flue damper is a bad idea. I have one on my flue, I don't use it that much but Browning has inspired me to experiment a bit, when the weather gets a bit colder. He uses his to keep some more heat in the stove,with some success. Aparently that is NOT the situation you are having. They are great to have if for no other reason as an insurance policy against a run away. Just another tool, that you may never need, but may want to have just in case.

If I were you I would definately put a flue thermo on your Santa list, at the top.

The one thing about the big rocks is a stove thermo does not give you any where near real time info. It is sorta like when in mid October the feds tell us what the GDP was for the third quarter, it is looking back at info. Where the flue thermo tells you what is happening then and there.

Loading stove at 250 sounds about right, especially at this time of year. So your issue was a full 2 hours into the burn ? I am wondering why it took so long, at the 2 hour mark I am easily in cruise mode with temps actually falling in the flue and steady on the rock. Usually with a full load I will creep up to 575-600, hold there for many hours then slowly fall.

What temp was the stove when you first cut it back? I am wondering if you should have cut it back sooner.

I am glad you found success using the zipper, I don't use it that much at these temps, since I light it up at night and usually burn it out completely, still to warm for 24 hour burning for me, but it is getting close to all day everyday.

Keep us up to speed on any other issues you have, we will speed you through the learning curve.

 

[Rich L]

[quote author="Dairyman" date="1322531533"]I'm back again with a successful report and a few more questions.

I started a fire Saturday night after the cold front moved through, outside temp at 39 winds gusting to 40mph. Used the top down method and it worked great! Loaded her up about an hour in, had the center stone temps at 400 and for what it's worth the outer wall of pipe at 210.

Ten hours later I had a really good coal bed so I moved them to the center and put a small split of walnut on to help burn them down and buy some time. Then I tried Shawn's zipper method and really kicked out the heat. That's when I noticed a huge thermometer discrepancy, the ir gun was at 550° and the stovetop was at 650.

Then last night I did the zipper again and it event crazy on me, she got up to around 650 and I was nervous so I opened the door up to let it cool and that didn't seem to really help.

So my questions are, 1 should I install a flue damper to give me more control? If so how to operate never had one before.
2. Wear should I be concerned on temps, and were sould I be taking them from? The center stone seems to be the hottest so that's were I have been reading from.
3. Which thermometer to believe? The ir seems to be pretty close on everything I've checked it against and stye stovetop low until it breaks 400 then it's high.
Sorry for the long post. Thanks[/quote ]

I installed the pipe damper and now I get more heat with longer burns and good control.