once and for all - putting theories to the test

[iceman]

Ok I have a summit fresh off of being welded.....
It's hard to tell temp on inserts so I am taking the top plate off to find out if there is any significant difference from the front...us insert guys get the front of our stoves to 600, or so but now I am gonna see what the top reads...
There is a problem... My ir reads the stove at. 64.2 degrees... Cold ....
Check my therm..both are off one more than the other.. right off the bat proves one should have at least 2!
Will update once fire starts

One is at 140 so +76 degrees the other is about 70 degrees +/- a couple
And ir is 64.2 which is what we will compare the too

 

[PLAYS WITH FIRE]

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[jatoxico]

I'm an insert gut, Cool idea! Looking forward to it.

 

[Hogwildz]

Hmm, both mine read 0 on the insert at cold. Both read relatively the same when in use.
I remember BB discovering the dif from top to front about 100 degrees.

 

[iceman]

Hog... Why would they be at zero? The stove should be room temp...? The temp on my furnace therm is 64 so I assumed that should have been close to right ...?
Wondering if the heat shield inside the stove will effect anything?

I remember BB saying that, was bored and wondering how much of a difference for insert people

 

[iceman]

Stove is warming up ....
Front above door is 132 with ir
Top therm says 150 ir says 145
The other is about 190.. ir says 138.8


Update 915ish
Top therm is at about 350 .. ir says 344
Bottom therm which was furthest apart at the start is at 350 ir says 298
Front of the stove 315 ir

 

[nate379]

I have that same T Stat and it seems to be fairly accurate. For me it's just more of a novelty than anything to go by though.

 

[woodmiser]

After comparing my spring thermometer to the IR gun I decided it was good enough to use regularly. I don't care about 50 degs. I just don't want the thing pointing east.

 

[Hogwildz]

Hog... Why would they be at zero? The stove should be room temp...? The temp on my furnace therm is 64 so I assumed that should have been close to right ...?
Wondering if the heat shield inside the stove will effect anything?

I remember BB saying that, was bored and wondering how much of a difference for insert people

Oops, my mistake. I meant it is in the lower area that there are no numbers.
Not quite pegged minimal, but not even to the notch that would indicate 50. So who knows.
They are at least both very close to each other.
The numbers start at 100 on mine.
Going on season 6, I just use the thermos as reference. Most is done by second nature now.

 

[iceman]

Some expected news to report... My stove top was about 85 degrees warmer than the front when I went to sleep ...it was Aproaching 600 and the front was 515... The top therm stayed within 30 degrees of the ir the entire time...
The bottom therm got better as the stove went . It started with a 60+ degree headstart but as the stove got hotter actually stayed within 50 degrees .
Once again these are just another helpful guide when burning but not 100% accurate...
Now.....
I did confirm the top of an insert get hotter than the front... BUT, here is the game changer... When I turned the fan on within minutes the cooled.down...as we might think ... But, my stove was close to 600, after turning the fan on it dropped to 498 while the stove front was at 560!
So it seems for us insert guys with fans that we might getting a fairly accurate reading from our therm....
The fan makes a huge difference, mine was running about half way.
The one thing I learned.... 2 therm are better than one, and they aren't perfect but a useful guide. As far as stove top temps go.. to be on the safe side, always run your fan.. it will keep your top cooler and allow the therm on the front to be used as a guide.
******this is an unofficial test YOUR results may vary... I went to bed..lol so they may have gotten hotter with different results

 

[maverick06]

Whats the thought on how the fan plays in though? It sure cools the surface of the steel some, but cools the thermometer a bit more. And shouldnt we be worried about the temperature on the inside of the steel (in this case - 600F) not the surface reading of 498).

I am very surprised of the front readings though.

So with the blower on what is the right reading to guide your operation of the stove?
a) the cooled top
b) the face
c) "corrected" top (reading + 100)
d) "corrected" face (reading +50)
e) other

I run mine by eye as I dont know the answer to the above.

 

[woodmiser]

I think just keeping it roughly under 700 at all times, there's nothing else to do. I wouldn't get that anal about it. If it was that critical the stoves would have come with therms.

 

[Todd]

I don't have an insert but if I did I think I would consider purchasing that Condar digital thermocouple and insert it into the liner right above the flue collar to get a reading of the flue gases. It may be a better way to monitor what's going on in there?

 

[iceman]

My therm will go back on the front. That's where/what I will use. It's nice to know that on nights my front hit 800 the top wasn't 900+ thanks to the fan... Remember, my fan was about half way not full throttle.. my operating range is gonna be 600-750 .. don't wanna go to 8 and will try for 700 as my perfect temp..
This was to find out if people really should panic as I do when stove goes nuclear..
On a side note my flue collar never went higher that the front of the stove and started to cool once I shut it down ..
This is just a FYI. Because someone's stove will runaway this year.. and as long as it doesn't have 900+ sustained temp your stove should survive the rare runaway...