Concern about burning my stove too hot

[johnblacksox]

I have a fireplace insert woodstove, with a cat. Recently, I was burning a very hot fire for a few hours, and re-loaded it up with wood. Cat was glowing orange, and secondary burn was going strong. I looked up into the stove at one point, and the middle inside ceiling of the stove was glowing orange. I know that's not good, so I choked the air back and got the temp back down a little.

Obviously, I'll try to never do that again. I checked the stove out after it cooled the next day, and the metal on the interior ceiling looks fine, no damage.

My question is, how dangerous is it to do that?

 

[Woodsplitter67]

What stove do you have. You should look in the manual it came with and read up on it. You should be using a bimetal thermometer or an IR gun. Taking the temperature to high will warp things in the stove.. you dont want that

 

[gibbs906]

I have a fireplace insert woodstove, with a cat. Recently, I was burning a very hot fire for a few hours, and re-loaded it up with wood. Cat was glowing orange, and secondary burn was going strong. I looked up into the stove at one point, and the middle inside ceiling of the stove was glowing orange. I know that's not good, so I choked the air back and got the temp back down a little.

Obviously, I'll try to never do that again. I checked the stove out after it cooled the next day, and the metal on the interior ceiling looks fine, no damage.

My question is, how dangerous is it to do that?

fwiw, 20yrs ago I ruined a Riteway wood boiler with burning too hot, the bottom grates got so hot they sagged down to where I couldn't pull out the ash tray any more.

 

[begreen]

Is this with the Lopi Large Flush insert? What we don't know is how hot the stove was being run during the previous few hours. What part was glowing orange, the secondary tubes? If so, this probably did not damage the stove but it illustrates the value of instrumentation on the stove and the importance of not putting a large load of wood on a large bed of hot coals.

 

[hoot]

I have a fireplace insert woodstove, with a cat. Recently, I was burning a very hot fire for a few hours, and re-loaded it up with wood. Cat was glowing orange, and secondary burn was going strong. I looked up into the stove at one point, and the middle inside ceiling of the stove was glowing orange. I know that's not good, so I choked the air back and got the temp back down a little.

Obviously, I'll try to never do that again. I checked the stove out after it cooled the next day, and the metal on the interior ceiling looks fine, no damage.

My question is, how dangerous is it to do that?

Really dry wood can do that

 

[Caw]

If your stove is prone to running away like that there are things you can do to fight it. #1 would be a key damper to slow down draft but that's not really feasible after the fact with just inserts. Other things are using thicker splits, waiting longer to reload, smaller loads, turning down the air sooner, or any combination.

 

[hoot]

The first stove I ever installed I had a garage full of sweetgum. It was in the garage for probably five years so it was bone dry.
Not understanding this, once I had the stove broken in I did a full load. It went off and out of control. I had it fully shu down but the draft overcame all control and the temps began to skyrocket. Not knowing what to do, I pulled out a couple of splits and threw them out the door.
After talking the the stove manufacturer, who didn't give me a good answer, I figured out that the wood was simply too dry.
After doing some research I found two ways to regain control.
One way is to open the door wide. The fire will increase but the influx of fresh air will drop the temp quickly.
I found the best way if you have wood that is prone taking off is to keep a few splits of fresh cut, unseasoned wood. When the stove gets away from you, throw one of those splits in. Works like a charm.