What are your flue thermometer habits?

[pen]

Just curious to find out if / how everyone monitors their chimney temperatures.

I have a probe but also have a magnetic on there since I have an extra. I mainly use the probe so I chose that in the poll.

pen

 

[BrowningBAR]

Just curious to find out if / how everyone monitors their chimney temperatures.

I have a probe but also have a magnetic on there since I have an extra. I mainly use the probe so I chose that in the poll.

pen

I use the IR gun. The Heritage is double walled for clearances.

 

[BrotherBart]

I don't use'em. What's happening in the firebox and on the stove top tell me what I want to know. For the life of me I can't figure out what a thermometer 18" up on a stove pipe is gonna tell me about what is happening thirty feet on up. If I didn't have glass in the doors I would use'em on the pipes to tell me what was going on in the stoves.

Which is what they were for in the first place.

 

[begreen]

I like data, but refuse to use an anal probe.

 

[Battenkiller]

I like data, but refuse to use an anal probe.

:lol:

And I hope you wouldn't share that with us if you did.

 

[begreen]

Sleep well. It will never happen.

 

[BrowningBAR]

Sleep well. It will never happen.

Thank god...

 

[soupy1957]

When I first started burning wood in a wood stove, I was watching the temps on the Thermometer mounted on the firebox, and trying to keep things at a good level with that.

That is NOT to say that I didn't pay attention to what was going on "visually" with the fire, because no matter what "other" tools I use, what's happening with the fire itself is my first point of reference, no matter what. (Which is why I'm not a big fan of stoves that don't have a good viewing window).

Then I moved to a flue thermometer because the temps found there, in combination with what I see visually in the fire itself, have worked well for keeping things in a safe burning range.

My flue thermometer tells me a couple things.......it tells me when I've reached the max on the safety rating for the Class A Double Wall Flue pipe material, and it tells me when I'm running too cold and getting more creosote build up potential.

I've tried the IR (InfraRed) Meters (bought one) but in the end................I can't even tell you exactly where it is, THAT'S how much I use it.

-Soupy1957

 

[oldspark]

I don't use'em. What's happening in the firebox and on the stove top tell me what I want to know. For the life of me I can't figure out what a thermometer 18" up on a stove pipe is gonna tell me about what is happening thirty feet on up. If I didn't have glass in the doors I would use'em on the pipes to tell me what was going on in the stoves.

Which is what they were for in the first place.

BB, it helps keep the wife from melting the flue pipe, and another thing every ones setup is different, just because you think you do not need it does not mean others do not, my flue temp can get crazy on some fires so I reduce the air some to keep it in check.

 

[Highbeam]

True, my flue temps can very easily exceed the rated maximums before the stove itself is even hot to the touch. I find that I use the flue meter way more often than the stove top meter. Heck, I can feel it when the stove is hot, the flue can overheat without much evidence.

Plus, I can see the flue meter from across the room. Only the flue meter tells me when my chimney is smoking.

 

[Fsappo]

I just toss the wood in, set the air to low after it catches and go to work.

 

[Creature]

I've had a probe thermometer in my double walled pipe since day one of burning (only a month ago). However, I've come to rely less on that and more on look and behavior of the fire as I get more experience burning. That and stove-top temp seem to give me better indicators as to what to do.

I learned early that if I rely on stack temp I burn too hot and waste a lot of fuel (creosoteaphobia?). We'll see though, if we don't have rain this weekend I'll get up on the roof and see whats going on from the top of the stack. I'll probably take pics and post anything unusual, or maybe I'll just post the pics anyway.

 

[brianbeech]

For me, I use a magnetic on my single walled flue pipe 18" up. On my stove (Jotul 118 classic), I can see the stove top thermometer sitting at 500f, but I have no window. With this particular setup, if I have the air open too much, my stove top is 500f and my flue temp is 500f. Close the air down some and my stove temp will be 500f and my flue temp will be about 270f.

I find it very helpful to give me enough data to realize what's going on. Sure, I don't know what's going on 20 ft up the pipe, but I do know that I'm not burning too fast and that I'm holding more heat in than I would without one.

 

[WES999]

I use a digital thermocouple probe to monitor flue temp. I have seen flue temp go form a few hundred degrees °F to 1000 °F in just a few minutes.
Probably faster than a by-metal type thermometer can react.

The alarm on my monitor is set to go off at 850 °F, when it does I start turning down the air. I like to keep the temp under 1000 °F