Scary Night - 750-800* Stove top

[indiana4spartans]

Third year burning. Have a bunch of basswood for the shoulder season and we've been burning small fires at night to take the edge off. Last night decided to go half load NS after the initial start up fire. Highest I've ever seen my stove top therm go - 750-800.

The thing was crazy inside and I had it shut down all the way. Never seen it do that and wasn't sure what to do. Did my dollar bill test before season and last night lit a couple of candles and then checked the smoke around the door to see if I was getting an air leak - nothing.

Am I okay? What did I possibly do wrong?

 

[pen]

Pretty sweet huh!?! :coolsmirk:

I consider 750 my unofficial "redline" so to speak. I've seen 900 before but I'm not doing that often.

It seems completely backwards, but if the thing takes off like that again and you don't like it. Open the door right up for a while (with you right there of course).

That stove is designed to burn clean. by turning the air all the way down on a very hot load those secondaries will go nuts trying to do their job.

Opening the door allows a lot of air in, cooling things and turning off the specially designed super injected air jets at the top of the stove. With the door closed your stove is one effecient beast, w/ the door open, you remove it's ability to burn so well.

Sounds like your wood is well seasoned too! Well done

pen

 

[Bub381]

Fill us in,what kind of stove? Did ya get this thing up to temp as fast as possible or did you just do a normal add wood as needed fire,lol Did ya fill her to the rim? I bet ya had some good dry wood. I'm siiting back and learning on this 1.

 

[thewoodlands]

Third year burning. Have a bunch of basswood for the shoulder season and we've been burning small fires at night to take the edge off. Last night decided to go half load NS after the initial start up fire. Highest I've ever seen my stove top therm go - 750-800.

The thing was crazy inside and I had it shut down all the way. Never seen it do that and wasn't sure what to do. Did my dollar bill test before season and last night lit a couple of candles and then checked the smoke around the door to see if I was getting an air leak - nothing.

Am I okay? What did I possibly do wrong?

Did you have high winds last night that would effect the draft?


zap

 

[indiana4spartans]

Winds hadn't started yet - a little breezy but nothing like we've seen later or this morning.

Napoleon 1101 insert. It is good dry wood as I've learned (with the help of the lovely people of Hearth.com) to get ahead. Glad I didn't fill it all the way up! Only a half load.

 

[Bub381]

Thanks for the info Pen.Indiana i see ya said half load but weren't sure how ya meant it,half load E W and half load N S etc.

 

[thewoodlands]

Winds hadn't started yet - a little breezy but nothing like we've seen later or this morning.

Napoleon 1101 insert. It is good dry wood as I've learned (with the help of the lovely people of Hearth.com) to get ahead. Glad I didn't fill it all the way up! Only a half load.

What stove top temps did you reload at?


zap

 

[pen]

Forgot to ask, you did have the blower going right?

pen

 

[indiana4spartans]

I'm not sure - 350-400? Initial start up fire had gone to nice big coals with just some lazy flames. Might have not backed it down quick enough.

 

[indiana4spartans]

Yep - blower always going.

 

[oldspark]

My temp gauge is about 100 to 150 high on its readings (checked with a IR testor) so you may have been a little cooler that but with the fan thats cooking.

 

[thewoodlands]

I'm not sure - 350-400? Initial start up fire had gone to nice big coals with just some lazy flames. Might have not backed it down quick enough.

We are burning Quaking Aspen for the shoulder season and still let the stove top temps get down just below 300 before reloading. It was running at 600 after a reload last night and holding.

Last nights fire was for drying clothes.

zap

 

[ozzy73]

I had similar situation last night. have been slowly building hotter/bigger fires in the HT2000 to burn it in slowly. My other stoves do not have the 2ndary burn tubes so this is new to me . I have not seen the 2ndary's light off with the small fires so I wanted to see how it runs on a full load so put in a mix of some hard/softwood and let it go.
Definitely started to damper down to late ( around 500 ) once temp got around 550 the holy s&^#t ( 2ndary ) tubes lit up and began to do their job.
The stove took off and it looked like the gates of hell opened up, finally leveled out at around 800 + and it held that temp for about 2 hours before it started to gradually drop. Let me tell you it was an intense few hours, scary but amazing at the same time ; )

On my stove the intake for the 2ndarys is in the front near the ash pan. So for those 2 hoursI tried holding a work glove over the intake to cool things down but it was way to hot to hold my hand there. Opening the door slightly took the 2ndary's offline and that helped with cooling and preventing the stove from going even higher.

I guess the only thing's you can do in a situation like this is :

1. Crack the door slightly to take 2ndary's offline
2. Block the intake via magnet
3. Turn blower on high
4. Be more vigilant with the primary air control
5. ???

 

[pen]

1. Crack the door slightly to take 2ndary's offline

I'd open the door more than slightly. Opened slightly air will rush in the small opening at high velocity. It'd slow it down open more. You'll be right there with the stove while this is happening anyway.

 

[nate379]

800* is scary? I'm not following.

I forget how high my T Stat goes to... over 1000 I think. I know I have pegged it out before.

 

[North of 60]

Pretty sweet huh!?! :coolsmirk:


Open the door right up for a while (with you right there of course).

That stove is designed to burn clean. by turning the air all the way down on a very hot load those secondaries will go nuts trying to do their job.

Opening the door allows a lot of air in, cooling things and turning off the specially designed super injected air jets at the top of the stove. With the door closed your stove is one effecient beast, w/ the door open, you remove it's ability to burn so well.


pen

I totally disagree. Opening a stove door when its blazing from hell. :roll: Get to know your stove. Find where the secondary air is fed from. Usually where your main slider is at the mechanical stop is/fixed opening. Slap a piece of aluminium tape on it until she has settled down. Starve it!

 

[pen]

I totally disagree. Opening a stove door when its blazing from hell. :roll: Get to know your stove. Find where the secondary air is fed from. Usually where your main slider is at the mechanical stop is/fixed opening. Slap a piece of aluminium tape on it until she has settled down. Starve it!

You are welcome to disagree but it does work. Counter intuitive maybe, but all the cool kids are doing it :smirk:

I think an advantage of opening the door is that it also gives you the chance to rearrange the wood in there into a formation that is less likely to go thermonuclear again.

If you don't believe me, just open the door up next time things are cruising along happily and see what happens. Fire goes from running like a turbo vette to a 58 farmall tractor.

Starving it will work, but what about an insert?

pen

 

[Mrs. Krabappel]

Opening the door works great. I was chuckling last night at my 650 -700 cruising temps. There was a time not long ago when that would have freaked me out. And a time many years before that when I didn't have any way to gauge temperature and I thought the fire should be gangbusters all the time.

 

[My Oslo heats my home]

I'm with kathleen and pen on this one. I ran a hot stove early last year, she was at 825 and showing some cherry red. I opened both doors and she cooled down to a safer number in short time. It worked for me.

 

[BrotherBart]

Somebody ought to find the fool that suggested opening that door wide to cool it down and hang him.

Do it. It works.

 

[wkpoor]

I like the magnets on the secondary inlets (very easy for me to do ). With my 35' chimney there is alot of draft and opening the door would only be a temporary fix. I'm afraid the burn rate would soon catch back. Back in the pre-epa days it was as simple as shutting down the one air source. By closing off the secondaries it would be just as effective as before ( at least with my stove that allows complete primary regulation).
I was at 800 the other day after adding a new load and getting distracted by a phone call. Those situations might have contributed to a premature death of some of my other stoves. I contacted the mfg and he assured me it was of no concern. He said when the body of the stove turns red (about 1200 degrees) you might want to slow er down a little.

 

[greythorn3]

hit 750 for a bit tonight, didnt seem to bad to me, who knows tho i got a cheap mechanical gauge sold at lowes, with a big dial and a crown logo with a c in the middle.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ipaCjsMtoo

 

[MarkinNC]

It would seem logical to me that opening the door would turn the stove into an inefficient fireplace ergo not hot.

 

[EJL923]

ive had my insert that high more than a few times, not on purpose. The jotul rockland seems to burn hot after speaking with a few other owners. i think inserts tend to burn hotter because of the air that has to be heated. If its high like that, i turn off all lights and look for glowing etc... I see no warping, cracked welds, or any other signs of overfiring. Im not saying its good, just keep an eye out.

 

[indiana4spartans]

Thanks everyone. Like I said, third year burning - always learning something new.

Opening the door seems like a plan - hoping to not have to do that. No issues last night, I think I just reloaded too soon with really dry basswood that took off fast and I never stayed on top of it and it got a little bit away from me.