overfire?

  • Active since 1995, Hearth.com is THE place on the internet for free information and advice about wood stoves, pellet stoves and other energy saving equipment.

    We strive to provide opinions, articles, discussions and history related to Hearth Products and in a more general sense, energy issues.

    We promote the EFFICIENT, RESPONSIBLE, CLEAN and SAFE use of all fuels, whether renewable or fossil.
Status
Not open for further replies.

mattjm1017

Feeling the Heat
Oct 23, 2012
408
Corapeake NC
Its been crazy night first the water heater leaked everywhere and now my stove is hovering around 700*. The air is set at .75-1 im just worried about continuing to climb im not going to bed until it goes down. What can I do to get it to go down in the future? As I write this it is dropping a little so im feeling better but man that really freaked me a little thats the hottest ive seen it since I got this stove. Im guessing all is well now but its got me thinking what if I do have a major overfire what do i do then? Also I read in another thread about someone that had an of and he was told to check his liner why is that I thought the liners were rated for a couple thousand degrees. What could happen to the liner if theres a small overfire in the stove?
 
Thanks thats what im figuring now that its dropped. Im also thinking maybe I should wait a little longer before I jump on here and bug people but y'all have just been so friendly and helpful I know im doing to get quality advice every time. Thanks again begreen.
 
No reason to overfire the Fv; When you cut the air, it slows down. Unless you set the air early, then the load takes off a little more later in the burn. I usually factor in that possibility if I'm leaving or going to bed, and cut the air accordingly...like .3-.5. I'm also getting a better feel for what various loads/species will do in the stove. That said, several folks here have had theirs up around 700. 550 has been tops for me, AFAIK...
 
As BeGreen said, it was a temporary peak. My stovetop sometimes hovers at 700 for 1-2 hours when it gets out of control (it has happened a couple of times...)

Happy burning!

ANdrew
 
I have read some threads on here for taking care of a more serious over fire.

I assume your Charcoal Fireview is a Woodstock cat stove, if you've closed the air all the way and opened the bypass and you're still not cooling down you can always throw some cold ashes on top of the fire or even grab a big cold piece of wood and toss that in there. Pointing some fans at the stove wouldn't hurt either.

I've done the fans and big cold piece of wood with good results.
 
Matts thats nothing, I had my temp gauge pegged at 800 and the stove top was glowing, had to cahnge my drawers after that one lol. All kidding aside its the scares that make us better wood burners. Welcome to the club.
 
Very sorry to hear about your traumatic evening. Did the Fireview get away from you because of the hot water heater?

If you have a slow leak, be sure it is the liner and not the plumbing that is the issue. If its an older heater and the liner is good, get the plumbing fixed. The newer liners are all amde in Mexico, even those on really high end heaters, and only last about ten years. Older liners will last just about forever. Mine leaked two years ago after 35 years of service. Manufacturer no longer around, called plumbing supply places for cost on replacement, looking into a stianless one, advised evne high end have lousy liners and to see if I could get the old one fixed. Called the plumber and told him about the problem, that I thought it was a plumbing issue. Short story, the (electric) hot water heater was fixed two years ago and is working fine. I looked into the on-demand heaters at the time, but found they took so much power to heat that it was more cost effective to put a timer at my fuse box in line with the hot water heater, and set it to go on twice daily for a total of five hours at off peak times. Has saved me a great deal in electric costs. Was (is) the biggest user of electricity.

You have a stainless cat, I believe, so not the same problem as when the cats were ceramic. With a ceramic cat, you might damage it with the fireview that hot. Flame impingement issues among other things with a roaring fire. I'd check and clean the cat if I were you. Really easy to do with the Fireview.

Your chimney should be nice and clean!

For your peace of mind, if you know the manufacturer of your liner, check their web site and see what temp the thing is warranteed to. It should give you both safe extended burning temp, and also safe short term temp. But I'm sure a 700 degree fire is safe. Do you know it didn't get hotter? Was temp rising as opposed to falling when you caught it?

That Fireview, lovely and efficient heater that it is, can quickly take off. Needs to be monitored until it has settled in for a long burn. Enjoy it. Had mine for years before I sized up to a PH.
 
Yeah everything got out of hand when I found the water heater. I was just going out to turn the garage sink to drip for the night and saw all the water on the floor completely forgot about the stove at that point. I have no idea whats going on with that but any way the stove is under control and keeping us warm i really appreciate all of the help here.
 
Bummer about the hot water heater. They have a finite life span. Replace if in doubt.
 
Different stove but I am often at or near 700 without issue. If we am talking about two completely different appliances please forgive my ignorance - just trying to let you know 700 is common and ok from what I understand. I learned this here on hearth. Prior to hearth I was afraid at 500 that things were getting out of control.

I also have found that 700 on my stove top therm is about max. I am burning very good ash mostly and even on a perfect load with nuclear secondaries it stops at or just short of 700 and sits there for a long time. I will say the 30 is throwing so awesome heat when it is that high!!
 
I have been a total wuss since my over fire keeping my stove top at 550-600, now thats its cold Im going to let her go alittle more. My over fire happened and it was my fault by leaving the air open too long, then I insulated around my liner and the sides of the insert and for whatever reason it dosent go off to the races as it did pre-insulation making it much more controllable, I think I will try to be 600-700 this weekend and see how it goes. I can always throw some cold ashes on it if it hits 800.
 
The Woodstock stoves are not intended to be operated at 700. 650 is the top Woodstock wants us to see, but prefers continued burning at even slightly lower maximum levels. And when the Fireview gets to 700, it has usually been rising rapidly in temp and is taking off, so you want to close it down quickly. It responds immediately to air shutdown.
 
I regularly see 650 on my FV and have hit 700 but never higher.

To cool it, assuming you already had the cat engaged, I disengage the cat an open the air to cause a rapid drop in firebox temp. I've had to do that once, and thought I had to (but probably was really fine) one other time.
 
Close the air down to the next step, take a deep breath and relax. The stove will be fine. You just had a brief peak.

Actually, going the opposite has a much better effect. By giving it more air, the sides of the stove will get warmer but the stove top temperature will drop.

I'll never forget the day when I came home to find my wife standing at the stove and afraid to walk away. I asked the normal question and she said she'd been fighting it for quite some time (had forgotten the instructions). Don't remember for sure but seems like at least 15 minutes but probably longer. She would open the bypass when the temperature got to 700 and when it dropped then she'd close the bypass again and repeat. I looked and sure enough, she had gone so far as to close the draft. Wrong! I told her to set it on 1 or a little above and she about freaked. But after convincing her, we opened the draft and watched the stove top temperature drop.

I've checked the stove with the IR gun when we reach 700 degrees. Seems our gauge is off about 10 or 20 degrees so when it reads 700 it is actually slightly below. Also checking the sides and front of the stove they are more like 400 degrees.

If the stove is run with some flame, it is odd for ours to go over 700. Last night it looked like the pits of Hell in there with all sorts of flame and it still got to 650 but that is as high as it went. If I'd closed the draft some then it no doubt would have went over 700.
 
Different stove but I am often at or near 700 without issue. If we am talking about two completely different appliances please forgive my ignorance - just trying to let you know 700 is common and ok from what I understand. I learned this here on hearth. Prior to hearth I was afraid at 500 that things were getting out of control.

I also have found that 700 on my stove top therm is about max. I am burning very good ash mostly and even on a perfect load with nuclear secondaries it stops at or just short of 700 and sits there for a long time. I will say the 30 is throwing so awesome heat when it is that high!!

Bob, the 700 is what Woodstock recommends for the highest temperature. Many have had their Fireview stoves well over 700 with no harm but I still would not recommend it for sure.
 
The Woodstock stoves are not intended to be operated at 700. 650 is the top Woodstock wants us to see, but prefers continued burning at even slightly lower maximum levels. And when the Fireview gets to 700, it has usually been rising rapidly in temp and is taking off, so you want to close it down quickly. It responds immediately to air shutdown.


650 is the high recommended for the Progress but 700 is for the Fireview.

I think I'll start a new thread because of the misunderstanding on how to cool the Fireview stovetop.
 
  • Like
Reactions: mattjm1017
My biggest concern now is what should I do in the future if I do have an overfire? Close the air more open the bypass?
 
Thanks rideau I posted that before I saw his post. Hes a wealth of information.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Backwoods Savage
Status
Not open for further replies.