n00b stove temp question

[Mike Jones]

New Kodiak 1700 insert installed last week and browsing through these forums have really helped educate how to use a stove safely and properly. One thing I cant make sense of is the temps of stove top thermometers Ideal burn zones seem to vary from product to product

Rutland is 275-575F
Condar is 400-650F

What is the ideal stove temp?

 

[BrotherBart]

Some of the thermos have ranges for stove pipe temp and some are for stove top. Best to just go by the temp and ignore the ranges printed on them.

 

[Mike Jones]

ok, so what temperature range should I shoot for using an IR thermometer?

 

[BrotherBart]

Gonna be hard to read a temp on the stove top on that insert. But with steel stoves I try to keep'em under 700 degrees. They can handle higher but on regular basis it will shorten the life of the stove over time. 500-650 will give you a clean burn and good heat with good dry wood. It will drop off in the last half of the burn but the nasties have cooked off of the wood by then.

 

[Mike Jones]

is this a steel stove? man I got some more research to do...

are there any big differences between cast iron and steel?