Meat thermometer says????

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ghandy131

Member
Oct 14, 2011
140
Central MA
In an attempt to determine the output air temp of our newly installed 10-CPM I stuck a meat thermometer in the front grill where the heated air is blown into the room. I set the stove at 1/1 and the reading was 160 F degrees. I changed the setting to 9/9, waited an hour and the temp was 160 F degrees. Hmmmm I said to myself. I'm using Fireside Ultras (got 3 tons in the garage), being the 4th day of pelleting (is that a word?) I understand that I have no clue as to good or bad, and the gurus in this great forum will probably lead me down the right path of understanding. I love this place and can't learn enough. Perhaps I should continue using my meat thermometer to regulate the doneness of my meat.
 
Something is surely not right. I burn somersets. Although i never measured the temps from 1-1 to 9-9.

ITs a day night difference. at 9-9 it puts out so much heat its almost scarey for i can smell an odor like something is getting really overheated almost like some oil burning off or paint curing in the stove.

On 9-9 your flame should be huge. How tall does it get?
 
jdempsey said:
Something is surely not right. I burn somersets. Although i never measured the temps from 1-1 to 9-9.

ITs a day night difference. at 9-9 it puts out so much heat its almost scarey for i can smell an odor like something is getting really overheated almost like some oil burning off or paint curing in the stove.

On 9-9 your flame should be huge. How tall does it get?

Oh, the flame is raging, the blower is blowing a ton of 160 degree hot air, the house temp rising as expected, the blower is rated at 250 cfm which is a ton of air replacement, but the output temp at the stove didn't change. It probably has to do with the heat generation and volume of air passing the exchanger but I was expecting a higher temp out put at a higher setting not just more heat being pumped into the space at a constant output temperature.
 
I was having a similar issue with burning natures heat. A good pellet makes a world of difference.
 
I used a digital cooking thermometer with wired temp sensor. Its basically the same thing I have now. The Electronic cooking thermometer was $17-$19 from Target.
I now use a Cole Parmer K-type thermocouple that is a little more accurate and reads the temp much faster (real time/cooking probe lagged a little). The thermocouple was less than $30 from Amazon. Great tool.

Whatever you use. Make sure it does not touch steel. Gives an inaccurate reading. You want to measure air temps, not steel temps.

Put your thermo in boiling water. If it still reads 160*, then its not functioning properly.
 

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Thanks for the tip. Tested thermo in boiling water and it read ok. I see your getting 214 degrees out of you stove. I've got to wonder whats going on with my 160 degrees. Cold weather is coming and hope someone with a 10-CPM can give some guidance.
 
Did full clean today after 5 bags of Fireside Ultras. Set machine at 9/9 and allowed 1 hour - took another reading and got 165 degrees. Your 214 makes me envious. I have 3 ton of Ultras for my first season - hope this isn't a great disappointment. Called my propane dealer today, the thief, and told him that the $3.49/gallon he charged for the 420 gallons he delivered was a bit outrageous. He said oh! how about we lower the price to $2.89. Saved $250 for a phone call. Sure hope this stove helps.
 
Your 10 CPM has a larger convection blower compared to the quads., Your temps may be lower but your moving much more air around the shack. You can raise the convection temp by lowering the blower speed, But you will not move as much air. Too many variables between stove brands, I would only compare to same models.

Burning different pellet brands could provide you with more heat/temp from the convection side. Something you need to tinker with.
 
ghandy131 said:
Did full clean today after 5 bags of Fireside Ultras. Set machine at 9/9 and allowed 1 hour - took another reading and got 165 degrees. Your 214 makes me envious. I have 3 ton of Ultras for my first season - hope this isn't a great disappointment. Called my propane dealer today, the thief, and told him that the $3.49/gallon he charged for the 420 gallons he delivered was a bit outrageous. He said oh! how about we lower the price to $2.89. Saved $250 for a phone call. Sure hope this stove helps.

The higher the Convection fan output (level 9) the lower the temp. This is because the air is moving through the exchanger at a very fast rate. The slower the air flow (my Low setting) the more time the air has to exchange heat..

I am.looking to sell my Quad at the end of the season for a CPM. I am sure you will be fine. 50,000 BTU's is a lot of Heat. You should try something like 4-4 and measure the temps. This may or may not be higher. Either way, every stove is different. Every pellet is a little different..

Measuring heat output in your stove and comparing to mine, is like apples and oranges. Way to many variables. That Englander is very capable of heating a large area. And doing it efficiently.

Also. Good "Call" on the phone call to the Gas Man. Nice.
 
If England did a good job matching the convection system to the combustion system, a 1-1 setting and a 9-9 setting should be providing the same air temperature on the same pellets. The 9-9 setting will produce a lot more heat than the 1-1 setting. Temperature is not the same as heat.
 
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