Flame Monaco overfire.......

[mjstef]

So I've had this Monaco for about 2 months. When i am burning dry maple or oak the fireplace sometimes starts to run away. All i have for temp monitoring is a 2" on the door which is not accurate and a laser gun which agrees with another brand laser gun to shoot the area where i SHOULD have a thermometer. NOBODY makes anything 1 1/2" to mount on the stove itself and if i use a 2" where it would fit the temp is 100+ degrees less than the hottest part of the stove (which is 1 1/2") per the laser gun. Tonight the hottest part was 599* and rising. I was able to shove everything to the back and stuffed a frozen piece of wet maple in the front. This brought it back to around 550* in a couple minutes. My biggest concern is the EXTERNAL temp of my Selkirk Suretemp chimney. The fireplace got away from me last week and was north of 650*. I got it slowed down again and the EXTERIOR temp of the insulated chimney was right at 300* To me that is WAY to hot for the outside of a chimney! And YES, The draft is totally shut off when this happens. I am thinking of installing this to further control my air intake baring any other ideas. Any thoughts?? (broken link removed to https://www.osburnwoodstoves.com/AC01347_4_FRESH_AIR_INTAKE_REGISTER_p/ac01347-4-air-intake-register.htm)

 

[mjstef]

I can also say the colder it has gotten, the hotter the stove runs. 20' of 6" straight up and a 4" intake from under the deck that the chimney is built over. I'm going to look it over tomorrow and see if i can get the factory draft damper to close further......

 

[Sodbuster]

So I've had this Monaco for about 2 months. When i am burning dry maple or oak the fireplace sometimes starts to run away. All i have for temp monitoring is a 2" on the door which is not accurate and a laser gun which agrees with another brand laser gun to shoot the area where i SHOULD have a thermometer. NOBODY makes anything 1 1/2" to mount on the stove itself and if i use a 2" where it would fit the temp is 100+ degrees less than the hottest part of the stove (which is 1 1/2") per the laser gun. Tonight the hottest part was 599* and rising. I was able to shove everything to the back and stuffed a frozen piece of wet maple in the front. This brought it back to around 550* in a couple minutes. My biggest concern is the EXTERNAL temp of my Selkirk Suretemp chimney. The fireplace got away from me last week and was north of 650*. I got it slowed down again and the EXTERIOR temp of the insulated chimney was right at 300* To me that is WAY to hot for the outside of a chimney! And YES, The draft is totally shut off when this happens. I am thinking of installing this to further control my air intake baring any other ideas. Any thoughts?? (broken link removed to https://www.osburnwoodstoves.com/AC01347_4_FRESH_AIR_INTAKE_REGISTER_p/ac01347-4-air-intake-register.htm)

All I can say is none of the temps that you are concerned about are alarming to me. I start to get concerned at 800+ F shy of that you should be fine.

 

[mjstef]

All I can say is none of the temps that you are concerned about are alarming to me. I start to get concerned at 800+ F shy of that you should be fine.

The 300* exterior flue temp is what bothers me. That and the amount of wood this thing eats. We had an old drafty farmhouse when i was a kid with a Captain Hot woodstove piped into the furnace. Heated the whole house with it and it ran 450-500*. Actually asked my 71 yr old father tonight about temps. Difference was we could choke it down and keep the temps in that 450-500 range. This one i can't. Not sure where it would have went if i didn't get it slowed down.....

 

[Sodbuster]

Where is that 300 deg. temp, near the stove top or higher up on the stove pipe? If you want to slow the burn, I think your money would be better spent on an additional stove pipe damper.

 

[mjstef]

Where is that 300 deg. temp, near the stove top or higher up on the stove pipe? If you want to slow the burn, I think your money would be better spent on an additional stove pipe damper.

About 4' up where the chimney enters the chase. No way to do a stovepipe damper. This is a ZC fireplace with insulated pipe right to the connector on it.....

 

[mjstef]

And now this....... https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/2-month-old-flame-monaco-cracked-top-baffle.165374/

 

[BenTN]

Have you checked your door gaskets? I knocked a hinge pin with the door (reinstalling after flue cleaning) on our stratford last year and fought runaways for few days before i found the leaky doors. I have not measured our pipe temps due to incased in chase until attic. Your reading on the glass will read high, ours runs hot on the glass as i believe stoves with glass do.

 

[Woody5506]

599 and rising sounds prime to me.

 

[mjstef]

599 and rising sounds prime to me.

Not prime when the outside of the insulated flue is hitting 300*. In talking to SBI tech support this morning the gentleman feels that i have an over-draft issue especially since running temps are getting hotter the colder it gets outside. He suggested switching to inside air for combustion to see if it makes a difference. He also thought an Anti- Downdraft cap would equalize the draw better than the standard cap especially when it gets windy here. He told me that 500 - 550 is an ideal cruising temperature and agreed their was not a good place to take a reading on this fireplace. He said i COULD use a probe style thermometer in the collar on top of the stove where the warm air blows out to get a flue gas temp reading. Just have to drill the proper size hole and insert the probe. He thought the cracked baffle may have happened in shipping and i didn't notice it when i did the install. They are sending me a new one today.

 

[Woody5506]

Not prime when the outside of the insulated flue is hitting 300*.

Sure, I guess what I mean is you aren't over firing the stove at that temp.

 

[Sodbuster]

I didn't realize this was a ZC fireplace. The outside of my double wall insulated pipe is 300 degrees at 4 " above my stove, and cools quickly after that. I have a PE Summit however, totally different beast. Agree with BenTN about checking the door gaskets, and any other source for additional combustion air.

 

[Squisher]

To clarify. The OP is talking about double wall chimney pipe right to the unit, not double wall stovepipe.

Sounds like the manufacturer is giving good advice/support.