What is more important Flue temp or Stove temp

[Magus]

In your opinion what is the more important temp Flue temp or stove temp?
The reason I ask is that I only have one thermometer and wanted to know the best place to put it.

Also, I can get my stove up to about 450 to 550 degrees flue temp...(550 being the max before I get into over fire range) only for about 1/2 hr...then the flue temp starts to go down and will hover just above 300...toward being a clean burn and creating creosote.

What should I be shooting for and where should I be taking the temp from

Just saw that my thermometer is only supposed to be used for single wall stove pipe..Imperial BM0135 Stove Thermometer

 

[remkel]

All I can relate is what I see here:

I use two thermometers to monitor stove top and flue temps. Stove top once up and running is usually somewhere between 450-550. Flue temps can range from 300 or so while the new load is burning down and wll then settle down to 250-275 or so.

I like to try to keep my flue temps up as I have a long chimney run (33 feet or so) with a 45 degree offset approximately 6-10 feet up. Looking at your manual quickly I did not see a recommendation for thermometer placement. Perhaps you could call the customer service people.

Not certain if I helped, but all I can relate is what I do. Seems to me you would want to monitor your stove top to ensure that you are not over firing.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

I think both are important, but the stove top is the most important in my opinion.

On our stove we can run up to 700 degrees but our flue temperature usually runs from 300-350 except on reloads when we take it to 500. As soon as we cut the draft back the flue temperature drops and the stove temperature increases.

 

[Battenkiller]

I have both, but I run the stove based entirely on the flue temps. Too high and I'm wasting heat. Too low and I'm either burning dirty (beginning of the cycle) or need to fill the stove (tail end of the cycle). That's all I need to know.

My stove top temperature will stay close to the same over a wide range of flue temps, so it really doesn't tell me much about how the stove is actually running. The stove top temp is just for curiosity to me. Different stoves, different needs, different philosophies, I guess.

 

[firefighterjake]

Asking which is more important is like asking which is more important in a car . . . a working speedometer or a working gas gauge . . . in my own opinion both are equally as important in running your stove efficiently and safely . . . one thermometer measures the heat in the flue and lets you know if you're burning too cool (which can cause creosote) or too hot (which can cause pre-mature failure or more likely ignite any creosote that may be in the flue) . . . the other thermometer lets you know if your stove is at risk of being over-fired from being too hot.

In the same way a speedometer is important in keeping you from getting in trouble with the law from driving too fast and getting a speeding ticket . . . and a gas gauge keeps you from running out of gas at an inopportune time or having to stop every few miles to fill up to avoid running out of gas . . . like thermometers on the flue and stove . . . they do different things . . . but both are designed to keep you driving along safely and efficiently.

That said . . . if you rephrased this question and ask which thermometer do I tend to use the most when running the stove . . . I would say I tend to use my flue thermometer more often . . . although I routinely check the stove top temp.

 

[begreen]

I'm going to vote for the stovetop if only one thermometer. Living in a rural area it is pretty rare to have a smokey on my tail and I have a good sense of the correct speed, so I could do without the speedometer. But a fuel gauge is something I don't like to be without. Running out of gas in a rural area 5-10 miles from the nearest station is no fun.