Flue temp

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Do you have a flue probe ....the stove is easier to adjust with an auber. It's much faster than any magnetic stove pipe measurement. Also a draft guage would help.
 
I light my stove with the flue damper fully open and the stove air control fully open but the door is closed immediately after the wood lights.
Once draft is established I immediately close the damper to half way.
Once the fire is established with some flame at the secondaries the stove control is set to 2/3, the fire will slow a bit.
Once the fire begins to increase in strength again I close the flue damper some more to about 25% open, and set the stove control at half.
As the stove warms some more I set the stove control to 1/3 and the damper to about 15%.

Now this is where the fine tuning comes in based on variables like outside temps and needed heat output. Personally I watch the front most secondary tube, if I'm getting large consistent flames coming off that tube then it's likely the stove is a little short on draft. So I close the stove control a little and open the flue damper a little until smaller flickering flames comes off the tube. Conversely if there is no flames off the front tubes I close the flue damper a little and open the stove control some. A flue damper to some extent can allow you to control the primary to secondary air ratio, that is what I am doing here. A person can drive themselves crazy at this stage trying to get perfection. All we are trying to do is ensure there is enough air to burn everything at the secondary tubes, but not so much we loose heat up the flue, or cool the secondaries so much that smoke escapes unburnt.

I've never really got the slow wispy flames others seem to be able to, at least not for an extended period of time. That output is just too low and my stove eventually cools off and the wood goes from burning to smoldering.
 
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Fwiw, this is what I'm aiming for.

The stove is burning fairly hard here, but it's -35c (-31f) right now, and I need the heat.

Edit: I could actually close the flue damper just a little bit here, as I'm not getting a whole lot of flame from the front 2 tube like the back 2 are, but if I get it adjusted this close I just walk away, I'm not loosing enough heat up the flue to be worth the extra time adjusting the stove or damper.
 

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Thank you. That is similar to what mine looks like as opposed to lazy flames. It looks like you had 4 splits across the bottom? I have had success without using the key damper but thos one got away from me. Ideally, I wouldn't use it unless necessary for control. I will look to close air down sooner with still keeping and active primary flame.
 
Do you have a flue probe ....the stove is easier to adjust with an auber. It's much faster than any magnetic stove pipe measurement. Also a draft guage would help.
I do not have a probe or a draft guage. I have singe wall pipe also, so the probes I have seen say they aren't intended for single wall?
 
Thank you. That is similar to what mine looks like as opposed to lazy flames. It looks like you had 4 splits across the bottom? I have had success without using the key damper but thos one got away from me. Ideally, I wouldn't use it unless necessary for control. I will look to close air down sooner with still keeping and active primary flame.

Yeah that's just 4 across the bottom. Just got home from a Christmas gathering, so a small load to get the stove warm and a layer of coals before bed. I apply the same process to a full load though. Although the stove control is usually turned down just a little bit more with more wood.

I have 7ft more height than you in my flue, I can get a raging inferno very quickly with the damper left open, hence closing it quickly after ignition.

I have found I get a more consistent burn when I operate the flue damper in conjunction with the stove control. I have also found I burn less wood and get higher stove top temps by using the flue damper. I simply have so much draft that it pulls an enormous amount of air through the stove and I loose a lot of heat up the flue, because much of that air goes through the secondary tubes and dilutes and cools the hot gases from the fire.
 
I do not have a probe or a draft guage. I have singe wall pipe also, so the probes I have seen say they aren't intended for single wall?
I have found these to be invaluable. Dwyer Mark II Model 25 manometer for draft and PID temperature controller that I use monitor the flue temp. The PID controller was built for monitoring a Kamodo style cooker and would turn a fan on when the heat was too low. Look at the Auber. I have used the temp probe and the manometer with single wall stove pipe. I am still learning how to get high heat but I have stopped sending all my heat up the chimney, and have longer, more efficient burns.

Manometer and Temp Guage.jpg
 
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