Max temps???

[scotsman]

I'm curious what y'all have found to be maximum temperatures for "normal" operating conditions. Does your stove heat up to higher temps than it runs at when it's being started? Maybe what I'd like to know is what is the maximum fire up temp and then running temp.

How many of you use ceiling fans to distribute heat? Any adverse effects from doing that? Just trying to gather intel.

Also, how many of you cook on your stoves? That work okay?

Thanks--

 

[buffygirl]

Texas boy -- can't help you with max temps cause I'm still learning how to operate this new EPA stove -- but I can tell you for sure a ceiling fan in the room with the stove is a big help. Have used wood burning stoves for 30 years and always used a ceiling fan - makes circulating air so much easier - have to have the fan turned so blades push toward the ceiling and push the hot air around. That's my 2 cents.

Buffygirl
Learnin to burn Jotul Oslo

 

[learnin to burn]

You'll get lots of different answers for this question assuming guys start to chime in. Max temps are going to be different for different stoves however normal operating temps will range from 450 - 650 °F.

 

[thinkxingu]

Tex,
Temps depend on what I'm tryin' to do: 500-550 to heat up the house, 400-450 to keep it stable, 300-400 to 'take the chill off.'

S

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Some will say they get 800+ degrees but few will and if they do, not for too long. Our stove's maximum temperature is 700. During the cold of winter we regularly get in the 600+ temperatures but spring and fall usually don't get over 500.

Ceiling fans are good but it is best to run them the correct way. Up in winter; down in summer. I used to think the opposite but you can teach old dogs new tricks. Same thing for moving warm air to the cooler rooms. Rather than trying to blow the hot air towards the cool, do the opposite. Blow the cool air towards the heat; but do it on a low speed.

As for any adverse effects with a ceiling fan, I have no idea what might be an adverse effect there.

Many of us do a lot of cooking on the stove. But the cooking is for something that needs to be cooked slow. If something needs high heat or needs to be cooked fast, use the range. Otherwise the heating stove works well and we save a bunch every winter by cooking on the stove; even heating water at times. One more thing my wife does is dry clothes with the wood heat. She simply hangs clothes on racks near the stove. One big plus is the raise in humidity levels because as you know, winter air is drier and then we cook the moisture out by heating it.

 

[Battenkiller]

My stove top gets up to about 750ºF (flue pipe temp is about 550-600º) after about 20 minutes of getting it running full tilt. I've had it reach to the 800º+ range a few times, but it wants to stabilize there and not run away. Once it is running stable, I then fill it up, shut it down (close the internal damper, open the secondary air flap) and temps quickly drop to about 600º (flue pipe at about 450º). Over the course of the next few hours, flue pipe temps drop to about 300º and stove actually goes up to 650º for an hour or so (more if I really filled it to the top), then slowly drops to about 400º at the end of the burn (no more wood or flames, just coals on the bottom).

Bear in mind, I only have been using this particular stove for a little over a month, but this seems to be the pattern over a wide range of outside conditions and even wood types, so I feel safe in saying that that's how my Vigilant burns for me - in its present location (basement), with the chimney I have (25' interior masonry chimney with 7" x 7" square liner) and the way I prep and load it. Others might have somewhat different results with the same setup.

The Vigilant was designed to be a cook stove as well as a heater. It even has a ground cast iron griddle top. The Vermont Castings instructions even tell how to season it so stuff won't stick to it (you do it just like a regular cast iron fry pan), and it comes right out for easy cleaning. My wife think's it would be just too gross to cook pancakes on it, but I'm sure as shootin' gonna give it a go when she ain't looking. ;-P