Temp gauge question

[Jclout]

Can anyone recommend a good stove top and internal pipe temp gauge for a wood stove? All the external temp gauges I have had have varied from one another and so do not appear reliable. Also what should be the difference in temp between the pipe internal temp and stove top for it to be burning properly without too much heat loss up the chimney? This is for my Millennium 3100 EPA stove. Thanks, John

 

[gdk84]

I guess i may not be the right person to ask, but i will give you my view on thermometers. I have not found any real "reliable" one... for me anyway. I have bought a few different brands, im sure not all of them, but they never seem to agree being side by side, with my IR gun or even in the oven. One is 100 degrees higher and then the next time its lower. I dont have alot of experiance with probe stack thermos, but have heard those are random as well. So basically i use them as a refrence, and that about all since they dont seem highly accurate. Im sure some have had good luck but i havnt.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

We found plenty of unreliable thermometers but the Condars gauges we bought from Woodstock has all been good. Rutland is a popular brand but we had no luck with those.

 

[firefighterjake]

Can anyone recommend a good stove top and internal pipe temp gauge for a wood stove? All the external temp gauges I have had have varied from one another and so do not appear reliable. Also what should be the difference in temp between the pipe internal temp and stove top for it to be burning properly without too much heat loss up the chimney? This is for my Millennium 3100 EPA stove. Thanks, John

My Condar stove top thermometer is pretty decent . . . I compared it with the readings from the IR thermometer and the temps were very close to each other . . . which is one reason I went with a Condar probe thermometer for the flue.

Pretty happy with my Condar probe thermometer . . . but at least a few members here did some tests on them and found they were not spot on accurate. Me . . . I use mine as a gauge rather than a calibrated scientific instrument -- recognizing its limitations and price -- I don't take the numbers as hard and fast figures, but rather just use the probe thermometer to give me an idea of where I am with the temp in terms of burning too cool, OK or too hot . . . if you approach it that way the Condar is useful.

If having truly accurate numbers is more important you can pony up some big bucks for more accurate electronic probes -- I know of at least one member who built his own.

 

[Wood Heat Stoves]

The Condar thermometers are good but the need for accuracy plus or minus a couple of degrees is not necessary for operating a woodstove. The chimney temperature is going to vary a lot compared to the stove top. When you're burning the stove with the air control open, as when you've put in a new load of wood, the chimney temperature is going to get hot, that's what you want to establishing a good draft and keep the chimney walls hot to reduce creosote build up. A surface thermometer on the pipe might get to 700-800 degrees, a probe thermometer over 1000. A thermometer on the stove top serves a different purpose. It's like a speedometer in your car, it visually tells you how hot your stove is so you can anticipate opening or closing the air control to adjust the temperature.