Best thermometer location

[Country Gentleman]

Morning, lads. I have a Regency large i3100 insert and have always used my best judgment as to when the fire is hot enough to reduce the air. I've decided to get a magnetic thermometer to ensure that I'm burning as efficiently as possible however they all seem to offer locations for stove pipe or stove top.

Where should I put it on my Regency? On the cooktop? What adjustments should I make to the temp reading bearing in mind it won't be as hot as a stove pipe?

Many thanks.

 

[pen]

Yep, cooktop would be my choice. Even if the spot you place it isn't the hottest location of the insert, it still should give you information about how hot it is there when the stove is burning a certain way. I don't leave mine in the hottest spot on the stove. I moved it to a spot that's about 75 to 100 degrees cooler so that the "overfire" area on the thermometer matched with what I feel the stove's actual hottest temps should be.

Have you done a chimney cleaning yet? Is that staying in good order? Is the glass staying clear on the door? If these things are good, just use the readings of the thermometer compared to your normal practices to let you know what normal likes like by a different indicator, the thermometer.

The reason for this proved itself to me this year burning mostly locust for the first time (only ever had small bits mixed in with other woods like ash, beech, maple). I was amazed at how hot my stove top was with straight locust. With this wood alone, what appeared to be less flames in the stove than I was used to seeing was giving me much hotter temps than I was used to with other species of wood.

pen