Stove top and stack thermometer

[gdk84]

So here is a good one... went into my local stove shop to purchase new thermometers for the stove top and my doublewall pipe. To date i only use a stove top unit and nothing on the stack. To my suprise, i was advised that having any type of thermo's was not needed! It is kinda like a waste of money! Am i missing something here? How do you know what your stove is doing, maybe people around here cannot read them? I dont know. Guess ill go to lowes!

 

[pen]

It's like your car's speedometer. Your car will operate just fine w/out one, and with experience you can make a good guestimate at what speed (temps) you are cruising at w/out it. I suggest them for anyone new to wood burning or for anyone that has a curious approach to analyzing their own burn processes.

pen

 

[begreen]

If you're driving without a thermometer, keep an eye out for smokey in the rear view mirror (stove glass).

 

[remkel]

Can you plead ignorance when you exceed the speed limit and overfire the stove? More worried about the upper limit than the lower.

 

[begreen]

Ignorance is no excuse in the eyes of the law.

 

[oldspark]

It goes like this.
I over fired my stove and wondered if I damaged it
Did you have a temp sensor on the flue and stove top
No
You sir are an idiot

 

[CTYank]

I too was told by a very competent salesperson/installer that I didn't need any thermometer- "just burn it."

Sorry, but no way. So there's a magnetically attached thermometer on the stack a foot or so above the stove-top. I especially needed to know for startup/restart when the gas temps were high enough to close the door/damp down the draft so the stove would continue to burn clean. (And I could focus on other things.)

So now I've two temps in mind, and fudge-factors for wood quality and species. Actually quite simple.

IR thermometer is also very useful for "seeing" temps from stove-top to thimble under different conditions. (Impacts efficiency, of course.)

 

[begreen]

The moment you put that thermometer on the stove you knew more than the salesman.

 

[pen]

The moment you put that thermometer on the stove you knew more than the salesman.

Well said

Additionally, the difference between the speedo I mentioned earlier and a stove thermometer of any species is that the speedo is instant and the thermometer will not be. There are times where I load on hot coals that if I were to wait for my thermometer to read 550 I'd be WAY overboard inside. Use some observation skills along w/ that thermometer. If you have a firebox FULL of roaring flames, close it down a bit regardless of what the thermometer says. Sometimes they just haven't had a chance to catch up yet.

pen

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Of course you can run your stove with no thermometer. After all, I burned wood for 50+ years with no thermometer so it certainly can be done. However, now that I am using the thermometers on stove top and flue, I won't go back to the old way for sure. But one also has to realize these newer stoves are much different. It is about the same with automobiles. Compare a 2011 auto with a 1920 model and tell me then if there is a difference. So would you also like to try that with a stove? Take my advice; don't. Just go buy a couple of stove thermometers.

 

[firefighterjake]

It goes like this.
I over fired my stove and wondered if I damaged it
Did you have a temp sensor on the flue and stove top
No
You sir are an idiot

Where's the "like" button . . . very true Old Spark.

 

[firefighterjake]

The moment you put that thermometer on the stove you knew more than the salesman.

In the same vein as Old Spark's comment . . . I like it.

----

As others have said you don't technically need a thermometer for your stove or your stove pipe . . . then again you don't technically need a speedometer or fuel gauge for your car . . . but they sure do help you run your car more efficiently (i.e. in the case of the speedometer and odomoter --by not driving too fast and wasting gas and by not stopping too often to get more fuel when you have plenty and in the case of thermometers -- by knowing at what temps you can dial back your air and by knowing when you should add more wood to the coals) and more safely (i.e. by operating within the speed limits and not running out of gas in the cas of my car analogy . . . and by not overfiring your stove and running the flue temps so that they're not too cold and producing creosote or too hot and risking cactching any creosote in the chimney on fire.)

Me . . . I like having the additional feedback from the thermometers . . . and by using them correctly you really can learn how to better operate your stove.

 

[nate379]

I bought one and put it on my stove, but it was a waste of money. It's not even close to accurate and I have no need for it anyhow.

Overfire? Well BK says an overfire is when the stove is glowing...

 

[Bill]

Having two thermometers lets you tweak the stove, for best performance. It's like the computer on your car that lets you know your MPG'S. You then can change what your doing to get the best bang for your buck, whether it's MPG'S or a clean burn.

 

[MishMouse]

The best is to have one on stove top and one on the stove pipe.
If not you may over fire your flue and have to replace some very expensive pipe.

I posted a few times here about some of the issues I have been having.
Basically since my secondary burn chamber was not operating at peak efficiency it caused me to overheat the flue causing back puffs and damage to the duravent and the class A pipe.

So watch those pipe temps especially if they get over 500 on your double wall pipe using a magnetic thermometer.

 

[shawneyboy]

The best is to have one on stove top and one on the stove pipe.
If not you may over fire your flue and have to replace some very expensive pipe.

I posted a few times here about some of the issues I have been having.
Basically since my secondary burn chamber was not operating at peak efficiency it caused me to overheat the flue causing back puffs and damage to the duravent and the class A pipe.

So watch those pipe temps especially if they get over 500 on your double wall pipe using a magnetic thermometer.

Could I suggest a probe thermo if you have double wall. Then you really know what is going on.

Shawn

 

[Backwoods Savage]

I bought one and put it on my stove, but it was a waste of money. It's not even close to accurate and I have no need for it anyhow.

Overfire? Well BK says an overfire is when the stove is glowing...

Ya, one time I had a car where the speedometer didn't work. Occasionally it would but was not accurate. Still drove the car okay. However, just because you bought a thermometer and it was not accurate (how could you tell?), that does not make all thermometers bad. For example, we've tried the Rutland which lots of people have and they were awful.....but that did not deter us. The two Condar thermometers seem to be pretty accurate.

As for me, I would not even want to think about the possibility of a stove glowing.... What is wrong with keeping track of what is happening inside that firebox?

 

[nate379]

I can tell it's not accurate because I checked with a temp gun. I adjusted it to be close to correct, like stove top is 500* so that is what the gauge reads, but then when the stove is room temp, 65*, it reads the stove top is 200*

I left the T Stat on the stove for S&G, but it's not like I go by it. I just go by "feel" I guess, same way I did on every other stove before I bought a T Stat.... well and on the BK there is the factory T Stat I watch to know when I can close the bypass.

As far as the double wall stove pipe, I've never had a fire that I couldn't put my hand on the pipe. With the stove cranking, stove top ~600*, the pipe gets to about 200*