pen said:
Steel stoves can take quite a bit of abuse.
For future reference, some people have actually found that they can drop their temps by opening up the primary air all the way or even opening the door. It seems counter-intuitive but doing either thing shifts the balance in the stove away from the secondary burn action which is getting the stove top so hot.
My wife has a tendency to see the stove do this sort of thing quite often. As such, I installed a flue pipe damper and when she's got things ripping a bit more than she anticipated she closes that down which reduces the draft and helps regain control.
glad it didn't split in 1/2 (BTW, my stove saw 904 °F on the IR the other night after one of the aforementioned loads) This is why I think I'll only ever own a steel stove and will only ever buy one of the plain Jane budget friendly models like I have. If this gets tweaked, I can buy another and still be in it for less than the cost of one of the more expensive brands.
pen
I don't think I would recommend that, while it may cool down the stove top I think that flue temp would go sky high.
I just did a little experiment, my stove top was at about 550* and the flue temp was at about 650*, I opened the door slightly and the stove turned into a blast furnace, the flue temp went up 300* in less than a minute. :ahhh:
On my stove I like to keep it under 700* My blower will turn on high at 675*, even with a full load of pallet wood it generally won't go above 700*
I think if your stove is getting too hot, turn on the blower on high, if that does not work, plug the secondary air intake with foil, that should bring the temp down quickly.