Expanding & contracting stove pipe

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When I installed my condar probe yesterday the stove pipe was cool and it went in straight. Now that the stove pipe is hot the probe is tilted a bit. Its this normal, or will it break the shaft of the probe. Don't need that happening in the middle of three night. Thx
 
it it opens it shouldnt matter since the chimney will suck air in, unless you got a blocked chimney.
 
I have the same problem. It is normal with double wall pipe since the inner wall expands at a different rate. You did the right thing drilling while the pipe was cold since most of the time it will look plumb. I can tell by the angle of the dial viewed from the side just how hot the flue is.

If you had drilled the pipe hot then you would have a retarded looking meter all summer long.

Figure that the two walls of the pipe are each holding the solid steel probe rod. The rod would have to be at an extreme angle before it would be pinched by the pipes. To make you feel good about this, get an oven mit and remove the probe meter while the stove is hot. If it slides right out then you know that there is plenty of clearance.
 
It won't budge. In fact... I could move the dial and the needle wouldn't budge. Well, it is what it is. I'm not gonna tinker with it. Its not that crooked, maybe an 1/8th inch.
 
My Condar probe on single-wall was too long, so I cut the tip off (per instructions, to get the tip into the center of the pipe). The probe shaft was a solid piece of metal, so I doubt seriously that it will break.
 
DanCorcoran said:
My Condar probe on single-wall was too long, so I cut the tip off (per instructions, to get the tip into the center of the pipe). The probe shaft was a solid piece of metal, so I doubt seriously that it will break.

Why did you decide to go with a probe on a single wall instead of a simple magnetic one?
 
I have a magnetic on the stove top. The probe measures the temp of the flue gases, not just the outside wall of the pipe. There's a big temperature difference, even with single-wall pipe.
 
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