Anyone use these ?

[Robbie]

The first one shown is the one I am thinking about getting. Are these handy ? Accurate ? Needed ? Thanks.


http://www.condar.com/meters.html



Robbie

 

[begreen]

Which one Robbie? In general I find a stove thermometer very helpful to judge how the wood is burning. Good for avoiding overfiring too. Mine also helped me diagnose an install error with the Jotul.

 

[Robbie]

BeGreen, ChimGard® Energy Meter is the one I would like to get. Looks like all I should need for keeping up with the temps on my pipe etc.

I just wonder if they really work and since I already burned my stove a season last year and remember the nice hot fires, I am hoping it would not read in the danger zone when I test it this year by using this meter........if you know what I mean.

In other words, since I used my stove last year and it performed very well. I would hope the way I burned it was not too hot for my new temp. guide.

It really should not be since my stove never did really get too hot except for a couple times (maybe), and then it was just the pipe seeming to get a little hotter than usual, of course I dampered it down.

I did however have one "swoosh" in my pipe last year, lasted about 3 seconds, learned a lot on this forum about that (below).

https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/forums/viewthread/2422/

Robbie

 

[precaud]

I've had the one you're thinking of getting for maybe 15 years, it continues to work great. I've checked it a few times against calibrated temperature meters with probes, and the accuracy is just fine for the seat-of-the-pants diagnoses you'll use it for.

 

[Robbie]

Can you tell me what temp. on your meter you consider time to pull back a bit or any other advice ? Or do you go entirely by meter ? Do you ever go over ? If you do, are you still in the safe zone and can easily control ?

Robbie

 

[precaud]

Can you tell me what temp. on your meter you consider time to pull back a bit or any other advice ? Or do you go entirely by meter ? Do you ever go over ? If you do, are you still in the safe zone and can easily control ?

I may be the wrong guy to answer this, because I have always run my stoves hot... in part because we only have softwood to burn here, and it burns faster hence hotter... In general, I look for where the stove's "sweet spot" is and run it there, regardless of what the meter sez. With the F602, that's in the 650-750 range on the top; with the Morso, it's more in the 550-650 zone, but it's a much bigger stove. And yes, sometimes it goes over that, but it's not a big deal.

I used to burn with a pre-EPA Jotul 602, and every load would bury the meter above 900. That thing cranked! I used it this way for 19 years and never had a crack or warp. It's sitting in the garage now, waiting for me to have a workshop or something to use it in...

 

[DonCT]

I picked up the same meter. As you, I was worried about overfiring. But once I had the meter, I learned how to get my stove running in the desired range (fullest burn of combustibles). Your stove manual should list the operating ranges.

I would think you would want to stay as close to those as possible. For example, I ran my Heritage @ approx. 600-630 on the top and that was a HOT fire. I mostly kept it around 550 or so and worked great!

It's more a peace of mind knowing I'm going to melt my hearthpad

 

[Todd]

Robbie,
Check your stove manual. It should tell you what temps to run your stove at, and what is a overfire. I use 3 thermometers. Stove, pipe, and cat. I like to keep an eye on all.

 

[Robbie]

Thanks for all the answers and information. This really helps and it's good to know many others have used this temp. gauge.

I will be ordering one shortly.

Todd, where do you put your "stove" gauge ?



Robbie

 

[Todd]

Thanks for all the answers and information. This really helps and it's good to know many others have used this temp. gauge.

I will be ordering one shortly.

Todd, where do you put your "stove" gauge ?



Robbie

Right on the top in the middle.

 

[hilly]

Do stove gauges give accurate readings on inserts? I ask because I think the firebox is surrounded by a steel liner so I wasn't sure if the reading would be true.

 

[Robbie]

I got the temp. guage. http://www.northlineexpress.com/detail~PRODUCT_ID~5CN-3-4.asp

Seems to be made pretty well, hope it works well. I am looking forward to seeing how the guage operates.

It will be like driving a car without a speedometer..........now I will get to see just how fast my stove was really going last year.



Robbie

 

[DonCT]

That's the same one I picked up. It is put together well, and works like a charm. Just make sure to find the part of your stove that runs the hottest and place it there. I can get 4 different readings on my stove depending on where I put it.

 

[Robbie]

DonCT, thanks, that will help. I was thinking there might be a hotter place on my pipe than what the instructions called for. I'll look forward to finding that hot spot.

It sure will be nice to see just where we were running last year. A few times I could smell "new pipe" smell so I'm sure we were getting close to the right temps.


Robbie

 

[DonCT]

I know what you mean about new pipe smell. I burned mine for the first time this spring and it was pretty cool.

Can't wait for that this fall/winter

 

[tradergordo]

Is there any advantage or disadvantage to useing the "probe" type flue thermometers? Obviously they are going to give higher readings (no idea how much higher) - but you have to drill a hole in your flue (which doesn't "feel" right )

 

[Roospike]

Is there any advantage or disadvantage to useing the "probe" type flue thermometers? Obviously they are going to give higher readings (no idea how much higher) - but you have to drill a hole in your flue (which doesn't "feel" right )

On a single wall pipe i would think not . The temps or going to be a little different . I would think the probe style would have to be used with double wall pipe . The flue thermometers are not going to do any good on a double wall pipe with out the probe . my .02

 

[BrotherBart]

I have never understood why ya wanna know the temp in the pipe anyway. I have never seen any point of reference for what is a good pipe temp or a bad one. Now pretty much every stove manual will tell you what an efficient burn temp is measured on the stove top. Put the thing on the stove top.

The only use I see for the probe thermos is inserted into a cat chamber to know when to light off the cat.

If you go by the ranges on the thermometers for a pipe, the stove will be melting down by the time you get to the "good" range on the thermo with the newer stoves with cooler exhausts.

 

[Robbie]

Well, after much thought and consideration, I realized I made a boo-boo. :cheese: I did not read the directions (imagine that) and now that I did found out this thermometer I got only works on single wall pipe. I have double wall black from my stove out to the wall.

This means I am going to have to figure out where to put this thing or what my temps are really running. Though I am considering doing what BrotherBart said and put it on my stove somewhere. I can't get an accurate reading on my stove top because it has a double top, (air blows under top and out, see pic of stove in my sig.) The actual stove top is about 3/4 inch under top shown.

Oh well, it will all be fine, I will some how figure it out. I wonder if the front of my stove, near the top would give an accurate temp. to be able to see how it's doing. It is a single wall in that area I checked and about a quarter inch thick.


Robbie

 

[jabush]

When I looked at your stove I was wondering if you could fit the thermometer above the door on the left side just below the stovetop.

 

[tradergordo]

My thinking was that secondary combustion is only going to work at a certain flue gas temp (I don't actually know what that temp is, my manual doesn't seem to provide info on ANY temps whatsoever, the only temperature I can find in the entire manual is in a sentence that says "Don't burn below 290F or creosote can form").

Then again, I would assume the flue gas temp is going to be pretty closely correlated with external temp measurements (stove or pipe) even though the stove might take a long time to heat up, you should still be able to determine what external temps secondary burn will work at while the fire is building.

I have never understood why ya wanna know the temp in the pipe anyway. I have never seen any point of reference for what is a good pipe temp or a bad one. Now pretty much every stove manual will tell you what an efficient burn temp is measured on the stove top. Put the thing on the stove top.

The only use I see for the probe thermos is inserted into a cat chamber to know when to light off the cat.

If you go by the ranges on the thermometers for a pipe, the stove will be melting down by the time you get to the "good" range on the thermo with the newer stoves with cooler exhausts.