Remote temp sensors, computers and general geekdom..

[kregars]

All,

I am a pretty big geek/redneck/newbie in the woodstove arena (own woodstove in my own house)...and with being a geek, I like data. That said, anyone know where I can get a remote temp sending unit to install in my new chimney stack we are installing. I want to grab temp data from just out the stove, midway up the flue, and top of the chimney. Anyone have a similar setup. The setup I had would only read up to 220 degrees, and well..that's not alot of heat and I wasnt able to probe directly in the flow, I had to probe just outside the chimney cap.

I know you can also get draft meters, however, the ones I have found thus far are ones that are not permamount, and also not recommended for extended use (ie: I cant install it and leave it in place to constantly collect data at specific intervals).

I really got to thinking today as I was looking at new (not yet received but ordered) pipe at the Hearth Store where it looked like it had precast locations on the chimney pipe for a probe. I wouldnt need to be all that grand, but I want to be able to track my stove temps from firebox to just prior to leaving the chimney and set alarms specific to high temps.

Thanks in advance,

 

[Corey]

Haven't done a ton of research on this, but I suspect the cheapest solution would be to head down to radioshack and grab their Model: 22-812 PC Interface 46-Range Digital Multimeter. This is $70 and has the ability to interface with a computer to log data from the DMM. The downside is that it doesn't appear to have a temperature measurement. The solution for that would be a simple piece of type K or type J thermocouple wire, either would be good to 1500F +. Then just let the DMM log the thermocouple voltage, import the voltages into a spreadsheet, apply the thermocouple equation to convert to temp. Very cheap, but not incredibly elegant.

The next step up would probably be a dedicated data logger like:

http://www.onsetcomp.com/Products/Product_Pages/BoxCar_Pro_pages/BoxCar_Pro.html

I've never used this, so can't vouch for it, but it seems pretty cheap at $100 and somewhat interesting. Maybe a neat project sometime.

From there, you could get into the full blown A/D converters, etc but that usually runs into the big bucks!

Corey

 

[Mo Heat]

Corey, Does that HOBO s/w come with temp probes? It doesn't say.

Kregars, Don't forget to allow for chimney sweeping. Long probes might be a problem.

 

[kregars]

I had thought about that being a possible problem. I am still researching my plan of action when building the new chimney and have a few feelers out with big industry as to how they aquire their stack temps. Amazingly enough some are extremely low tech solutions (comparatively) but well within the home owners grasp. I have 2 working ideas at this time. 1 is to utilize data center environmentals monitoring that will read up to 2500F yet I am waiting on a response regarding sustained or spike temps and what the constant temps could be expected and the life of the probes and second, using a 2 point method. first point would be a high temp unit for initial reading out the exhaust of the stove which would indeed have to be a high sustained temp reading probe, the 2 remaining wouldnt need to be at that high level, but I am also thinking about stack temp just out of the stove and a probe at the top of the stack just prior to exhausting into the open air...

Still researching and tinkering with my current stove setup for baseline readings..but think my best solution will be to wait till closer to the time of purchase of the new stove and chimney system before making a final decision.

 

[Corey]

Mo - I think the $100 introductory system is just for the datalogger. Then you can add sensors as you see fit. Thermocouple wire isn't too terribly expensive. If you are looking for an actual probe that will fit through a port into the stack, that might run considerably more.

Corey

 

[webbie]

All,

I am a pretty big geek/redneck/newbie in the woodstove arena (own woodstove in my own house)...and with being a geek, I like data. That said, anyone know where I can get a remote temp sending unit to install in my new chimney stack we are installing. I want to grab temp data from just out the stove, midway up the flue, and top of the chimney. Anyone have a similar setup.

I have not dug around either, but in the mid-90's I had digital probles that were dirt cheap and went up to 2000 degrees....instead of 10K probes, they used a simple twisted wire probe - and the wire was that stuff with high temp insulation around it.

I would guess that the problem is the small market size! Ideally, we could get X10 (or whatever you call that stuff) and wireless sensors that could hook it all together to a display or to a computer. Wouldn't it be cool to monitor from work and see what your wood stove chimney temps was, and the room temp, etc?

Of course, the next step would be a small camera in which has a pic of the stove so you can see the level of the fire, and then after that, a small motor that allows remote control of the draft!

These things, I predict, will come to pass! A company in the late 70's had an electronic chimney fire alarm, but since then the industry has pretty much forgotten about electronics as related to wood stoves. Perhaps there is a market for a simple system (wireless, again, would be ideal).

 

[Marcus]

I e-mailed the manufacturer and they said these units would read up to 410 degrees:

http://www.maverickhousewares.com/thermometers/remote_therm.htm

 

[Mo Heat]

I e-mailed the manufacturer and they said these units would read up to 410 degrees:

http://www.maverickhousewares.com/thermometers/remote_therm.htm

That might be okay for nominal operating temps, but a 'mini-chimney fire' would likely 'take it out' $quick.