Fire Temps lower

[soupy1957]

I find it interesting that even though I build my starting fire pretty much exactly the same way, each morning, SOME mornings it takes no time at all (good draft going) to get to the "red" zone on my flue thermometer, and OTHER mornings, the temp seems to sit in that "good" zone barely REACHING the red zone. For example THIS morning.........temps on the Flue Pipe Thermometer were reading 600ºF which is not into the "Red Zone" yet on the Condar, and interestingly enough, the stove Thermometer was reading the SAME temp. Now THAT'S unusual as well!

Like I said, this difference occurs even using the same amount of wood, the same amount of start up material.....all seems equal except the temps I'm reading on the flue thermometer.

The thermometer is new for this year, the wood is mixed somewhat, the moisture content stable. The only thing I see that seems to be different is the last few days that this has happened, there is not much of any wind at all.
(which would speak to drafting, but I have good draft).

I have a clean system, (wasn't more than a month ago that the chimney was cleaned), and all things seem equal.

I'm not complaining, mind you...........just observing.

-Soupy1957

 

[Skier76]

I've had a hard time getting decent fires going this fall. I've got nice dry wood, good fire starters...it just takes awhile for things to ramp up. Shoulder season can be a real bear at times. It'll get easier once things cool off a bit.

 

[soupy1957]

Temps are typically about 35ºF overnight these days, and mid-sixties during the day.

Back in September I had NO trouble seeing temps on the Flue Pipe Thermometer that would easily enter the "Red" zone, and would watch for that, so I could pull out the damper (closing it gradually) til the temp came OUT of the "Red" zone, and didn't really pay all THAT much attention to the stove Thermometer.

When I DID do a comparison between the stove temp and the flue temp, they were varied somewhat. Which sort of surprised me this morning, when I saw them about the same, with the damper fully open.
-Soupy1957

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Soupy, be advised that everyone experiences somewhat the same thing. Like the old song says, "Some days are diamonds, some days are stones." A lot also depends upon what type of wood you are burning, but still sometimes you will just find a few pieces of wood that just do not want to burn good.

I will add that my wife, although she is doing better so far this year, still has problems in loading the stove correctly and has a hard time figuring it out. She asks me to give that magic poke and then the fire goes good. She does not understand. One of the things she has a tendency to do is put a log with a knot (it is usually a small knot) on the bottom. Either that knot pokes down, keeping the log off the bottom or else it pokes up, keeping the top log from making contact. I simply turn the knot and all is well. So I try to teach her that if a knot is on the log, put that log on the outside facing towards the side of the stove and not towards the other log.

 

[oldspark]

I'm sure you read my ramblings yesterday, still trying to get stove top up to a high temp with out cooking the flue, bigger fire this morning (windows open later) and having a hard time finding the balance between the two temps.

 

[soupy1957]

Speaking of windows.........we have two 10" W x 30" H sliders on either side of the big picture window in the room where the stove is. Those narrow side slider windows are TERRIFIC for those times when I have to cool down that room.

I figure that the cold coming in the room, helps push the heat around as well.

-Soupy1957

 

[Todd]

She asks me to give that magic poke and then the fire goes good.

Your still talking wood stove right? :lol:

 

[shawng111]

I'm sure you read my ramblings yesterday, still trying to get stove top up to a high temp with out cooking the flue, bigger fire this morning (windows open later) and having a hard time finding the balance between the two temps.

That's interesting, I have the exact opposite problem, stove temp keeps climbing but the flue is barely in the burn zone, sometimes under, maybe i should switch the gauges around and see what happens, I guess I should'nt complain, the stoves cranking the heat insted of it going up the flue.