Stoves Damaged By Overfiring During Cold Spell

It shouldn't happen as long as they have a stovetop thermometer, know how to read it, and use their heads and realize their stove might not be large enough to handle being "pushed". But I'm sure there are some who don't care and try to make the stove exceed it's limits like you said!

Seems I can push the stove hard, as long as stove top temps are under 600f or so, and if loading do so when the stovetop is under 400f. I've heard it said before, never put wood on a 400 degree stove (cast iron, tube type). Seems to work well here. Fresh fuel, on a hot bed of coals and a hot stove, will off gas flammables to the point where temps can spontaneously rise and become out of control. If you look up cast iron critical temperature, it comes up as 1450F. Over that cracking will occur. And if stove top surface gauges generally read 1/2 of internal temps, then 600f external would equate to 1200 internal, and allow for a margin of safety. I was able to get through the coldest of outside temps lately, but also was well aware of the limits of the equipment.

wooduser said:

So.... how many stoves do you suppose are damaged by overfiring during a cold spell such asd much of the country has soldiered through in recent days?

I would suppose people may overfire their stoves to keep the temperature up when it's beyond the design limits of their stove, causing damage as a result.

Perhaps best to let the central heating come on to supplement the stove if the stove is too small, but I expect there are people who can't make that judgement.

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I live near you and we've just had to turn the house stove up from really low to almost medium output. It's just not that cold since winds are low with this event. I saw 4 degrees on the way to work today! I throw in three or four extra splits per day on my way out the door in the morning.

The barn stove is undersized and I always run it really hard. It's no problem to reload a 500 degree stove on top of hot coals if your particular stove is one of the more controllable ones.

Just don't let anything glow is what most owner's manuals say.

Geez, that cold spell was the first time I could let my 30 even start to stretch its legs this year. I enjoyed being able to keep an active fire going the whole time.

I suppose folks that have undersized stoves or lack the necessity knowledge of how to operate their stoves properly ma have had trouble, but I nope that isn’t a widespread issue!

-SF


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Highbeam said:

I live near you and we've just had to turn the house stove up from really low to almost medium output. It's just not that cold since winds are low with this event. I saw 4 degrees on the way to work today! I throw in three or four extra splits per day on my way out the door in the morning.

The barn stove is undersized and I always run it really hard. It's no problem to reload a 500 degree stove on top of hot coals if your particular stove is one of the more controllable ones.

Just don't let anything glow is what most owner's manuals say.

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Color chart for reference from the hearth wiki:

https://www.hearth.com/talk/wiki/know-temperature-when-metal-glows-red/
How to tell what temperature a glowing object (metals) might be:
It doesn't really matter what the emitter is...stainless steel, cast iron, tungsten in your light bulb, the temps are about the same for a given color.

You mean they arent supposed to look like this?

Looks ok to me.
Just peachy.

We finally got winter here too! Well below freezing and a windchill well below 0f!! Been pushing the summit hard to keep the house at 70. Reloading about every 4 hrs to keep active flame and the stove above 500, and quite happy to see the stove up at 750-800 peak STT. Also glad I put in a pipe damper as I need it in the cold with the wind.

Ludlow said:

You mean they arent supposed to look like this?

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I think that stove just has the red enamel finish.

wooduser said:

I would suppose that there are internal parts to many stoves that can be damaged by excessive temperatures well below the point that the whole stove starts to glow. When I see reports on stoves manufacturers claim have been overfired, they usually refer to those internal parts which may be warped or otherwise damaged and not to the stove as a whole.

Usually I consider 600 degree stack temperature a useful maximum, but in relatively cold weather we've has recently (down in the 20s!) I operated with a 700 degree temperature in my steel stove.

I was figuring that it would be all too easy to let the temperature get to a point that would be damaging in the effort to squeeze a few more BTUs out of a stove on a cold night.

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Are those internal flue temperatures? You might want to bump those up a bit if you need more heat. 500-900 is fairly normal and is coded the “good” range on flue thermometers. Class a is rated for 1000 degrees continuously.

If 600 internal flue temperature does the job that’s a perfectly safe temperature.

My noncat stone heritage would cruise at 800 internal flue temperatures with the intake fully closed!

wooduser said:

I know that will cause amusement from some of our friends in the midwest

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Not at all. I have relatives in Tuscon - that's a little different story.

Highbeam said:

500-900 is fairly normal and is coded the “good” range on flue thermometers.

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Common range here with class a stainless.

Woody Stover said:

I think that stove just has the red enamel finish.

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Thats Photoshop enamel.

wooduser said:

Yes, those are flue gas stack temperatures.

I wasn't seeing any signs of stove distress even at 700 degrees, and that was keeping things warm during current periods of what is very cold temperatures around here ----down in the 20s and occasionally down in the 'teens.


I know that will cause amusement from some of our friends in the midwest who didn't come up to the teens as a high temperature for days on end recently!

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I know, I came here to complain about it being 5° one day and there was a whole thread full of people saying -30°, -50°....

That's hot jack!

jetsam said:

I know, I came here to complain about it being 5° one day and there was a whole thread full of people saying -30°, -50°....

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No comparison for those who have to work outside in this chit. But for the rest of us, it all comes down to what you’re built for. When it goes sub-zero here, usually only a few days each year, folks have trouble with pipes freezing and their heat pumps fail to keep up. I’d bet @Poindexter’s well-insulated Alaskan home is more comfortable inside at -40F than most mid-Atlantic homes at 0F.

What amuses me (sorry to our friends in the North) is when he writes about having to go outside every 2 hours all night long to start and run his truck, even though it has a block heater and heated blanket on the battery. Apparently things can still freeze solid at -50F, with all of that.

A “cold spell” is a week in the 50’s, on the gulf coast.