2 years ago i went christmas shoping for a heat reclaimer for a present for Pa, fortunatly i looked at the local stove shop and talked to the guy who'd been doing this for some years. His response to my request was if you want to burn the house down they are sold at menards, he also added that in all likelyhood the insurance would be refused since the exhaust had been altered and the insurance company looks for such things. Has your homeowners agent seen it?
Anyway the reclaimer is history. Pulled it all apart this AM and discovered I had very heavy creosote from the stove top to the reclaimer. Just as I was advised here! Also. Super Cedar fire starter is a godsend.
. Cool house, great project bringing it into 21st century. As mentioned, the temp gauges can be a handy reference but they can vary. I replaced an Osburn flue temp gauge with same model (new) and I swear it's 30 - 50 deg off of the previous unit. In time you'll be dialing in your fires based on "gut feel" and what the fire is telling you, the gauge will just be a sanity check. Never ran a heat exchanger but those here in the know won't steer you wrong. Good on you for following through and doing the inspection and fix. Yeah the missing baffle bricks are interesting. Looks like you're in the zone now.....
. I couldn't help but to look at the floor, shuffle my feet, and quietly ask the man "um,,,are you sure?" Doing some rudimentary mathmatics I quicky concluded that I had used 191.5 gallons ALL year.