New Auber AT200 installed

[NickW]

So I finally broke down and ordered the Auber AT200 digital probe. Installed at 18 1/4" above the stove top (just below the joint on my slip pipe) in double wall stovepipe on the NC30 at home. Crazy watching the instantaneous readings! Came set at 480 for the alarm, so that went off first fire rather quickly. No directions so had to find the manual online to shut it off, almost had a household mutiny!😉

So I've been watching some other threads and set the high alarm to 900F. Pretty sure I've gone over the 1000F no-no level more than once previously (with no apparent damage). Interesting how quickly shutting the air down can start the flue temps dropping. Didn't really see a good cruising temp for flue temp, but may have missed it. Guessing to aim to not set off the alarm on startup, once settled in cruise at 700-750 or so and slowly drop? Any other tips?

I am betting I'm going to have a lot of charcoal and tan residue on the glass in the morning just judging by how this startup went. It seems like I tend to lose draft pretty bad as I approach the coaling stage, so if there's anything not burned enough it'll smoke it up some. I have 4' vertical, then just under 4' horizontal, then I think 16' of insulated liner. Yes it's dry...nice, dry ash and beech; 16-18% with the occasional small round that randomly decides to juice out the end. This years been better than last, so now that I'm on the 3 year plan I can only imagine it will continue to get better.

 

[Highbeam]

So I finally broke down and ordered the Auber AT200 digital probe. Installed at 18 1/4" above the stove top (just below the joint on my slip pipe) in double wall stovepipe on the NC30 at home. Crazy watching the instantaneous readings! Came set at 480 for the alarm, so that went off first fire rather quickly. No directions so had to find the manual online to shut it off, almost had a household mutiny!😉

So I've been watching some other threads and set the high alarm to 900F. Pretty sure I've gone over the 1000F no-no level more than once previously (with no apparent damage). Interesting how quickly shutting the air down can start the flue temps dropping. Didn't really see a good cruising temp for flue temp, but may have missed it. Guessing to aim to not set off the alarm on startup, once settled in cruise at 700-750 or so and slowly drop? Any other tips?

I am betting I'm going to have a lot of charcoal and tan residue on the glass in the morning just judging by how this startup went. It seems like I tend to lose draft pretty bad as I approach the coaling stage, so if there's anything not burned enough it'll smoke it up some. I have 4' vertical, then just under 4' horizontal, then I think 16' of insulated liner. Yes it's dry...nice, dry ash and beech; 16-18% with the occasional small round that randomly decides to juice out the end. This years been better than last, so now that I'm on the 3 year plan I can only imagine it will continue to get better.

I have the auber above my nc30 too. It’s pretty fun. I warm up to about 850 before starting to close the draft and aim for 700-750 when I want more heat. As low as 650 when I’m trying to heat less. Much below that and I risk a dirty burn.

I might just put another auber on the house stove.

I adjusted the alarm much higher like maybe 950. I don’t remember but I do remember it’s a pain to adjust.

The nc30, at least on my install, is very responsive to throttle changes so I feel totally in control.

I added a key damper last year just for fun and to try and gain some efficiency.

 

[Gearhead660]

So I finally broke down and ordered the Auber AT200 digital probe. Installed at 18 1/4" above the stove top (just below the joint on my slip pipe) in double wall stovepipe on the NC30 at home. Crazy watching the instantaneous readings! Came set at 480 for the alarm, so that went off first fire rather quickly. No directions so had to find the manual online to shut it off, almost had a household mutiny!😉

So I've been watching some other threads and set the high alarm to 900F. Pretty sure I've gone over the 1000F no-no level more than once previously (with no apparent damage). Interesting how quickly shutting the air down can start the flue temps dropping. Didn't really see a good cruising temp for flue temp, but may have missed it. Guessing to aim to not set off the alarm on startup, once settled in cruise at 700-750 or so and slowly drop? Any other tips?

I am betting I'm going to have a lot of charcoal and tan residue on the glass in the morning just judging by how this startup went. It seems like I tend to lose draft pretty bad as I approach the coaling stage, so if there's anything not burned enough it'll smoke it up some. I have 4' vertical, then just under 4' horizontal, then I think 16' of insulated liner. Yes it's dry...nice, dry ash and beech; 16-18% with the occasional small round that randomly decides to juice out the end. This years been better than last, so now that I'm on the 3 year plan I can only imagine it will continue to get better.

After installing one its like learning the stove again. Don't want to use a stove without one now.
The alarm is handy when a certain someone has to load the stove... and forgets to throttle it back.

 

[Todd]

I have the auber above my nc30 too. It’s pretty fun. I warm up to about 850 before starting to close the draft and aim for 700-750 when I want more heat. As low as 650 when I’m trying to heat less. Much below that and I risk a dirty burn.

I might just put another auber on the house stove.

I adjusted the alarm much higher like maybe 950. I don’t remember but I do remember it’s a pain to adjust.

The nc30, at least on my install, is very responsive to throttle changes so I feel totally in control.

I added a key damper last year just for fun and to try and gain some efficiency.

I don’t have the NC30 but if I ran those flue temps my stove would look like the gates of hell! I start shutting down when my Auber hits 500 or sometimes 600 if it’s a lousy draft day. 400-600 flue temps seem to work best for me, anything less than 380 or so and I see smoke. Colder weather the flue temps creep up to the 600 range.

 

[NickW]

So I was right about the charcoal, unburned wood, and smoked glass this morning. I think I need to spend more time charring the load first on the big overnight loads. Just opened the air up a little more this morning and got the flue temp up almost to 400. Last nights load the flue temps were climbing high quickly so I started to shut down. Ended up cruising around 400 flue temp but didn't burn the load complete.

Just reloaded now with 5 chunks of aspen and set the alarm off after shutting down to 1/2 air and not getting down to 1/4 air quick enough. Went to 1/4 air and temp dropped 250 degrees quickly and now is climbing again. Closed to 1/8 open and temps started dropping slowly. Have secondaries and light primaries, flue temp of 678, stt about 460.

 

[Highbeam]

I don’t have the NC30 but if I ran those flue temps my stove would look like the gates of hell! I start shutting down when my Auber hits 500 or sometimes 600 if it’s a lousy draft day. 400-600 flue temps seem to work best for me, anything less than 380 or so and I see smoke. Colder weather the flue temps creep up to the 600 range.

I have no interest in babying the noncat for maximum burn time. It’s a stove in an application that needs lots of heat. That said, you seem to be barely burning out of the creosote “too cool” range which is under 400. “Normal” is 400-900.

 

[NickW]

10 minutes later flue is up to 723, stt is about 500, still nice lazy secondaries and primaries. Again, this is a half load of Aspen so it took off quick and won't last very long.

Overnight load I'll need to work on. Last night was a top down cold start after emptying some ash. Pretty rare occurrence for me on an overnight burn. Usually clean ash in the morning. We'll see what happens on a big overnight hardwood load on hot reload tonight...

 

[Todd]

I have no interest in babying the noncat for maximum burn time. It’s a stove in an application that needs lots of heat. That said, you seem to be barely burning out of the creosote “too cool” range which is under 400. “Normal” is 400-900.

Yeah I get close to that too cool range mostly during the shoulder season, this time of year it’s more in the 500-600 range burning 3/4 to full loads 3-5 times per day. So far chimney has been very clean.

 

[NickW]

So just an update on my experience for anybody searching threads for research purposes... This may be redundant and boring for experienced burners.

I've been taking it (flue temp) up to 800, shutting the air halfway, continues to climb, at 850 shut to 3/8 open, holds steady or drops a little and starts coming back up, shut to 1/4 open, drops a bunch (100-150 degrees) then starts coming up again, close to 1/8 open and it's good but I can't leave it there or I have a lot of charcoal and even some unburned wood in the morning.

So last night I started earlier, followed the above, after 1 hr flue temps were still over 800, after 1 1/2 hours it was down around 700 so I opened up to 1/4 open and had a nice bed of coals and way less charcoal and no unburned wood this morning.

As a side note, shutting down from 1/2 open directly to 1/4 open causes a huge temperature drop (over 200 degrees) and it takes way longer to recover. Going from full open to 1/2 open slows the increase but doesn't level it off. If I shut down faster it can take off on me a half hour or longer later...

Also, on startup the stt lags waaaaay behind flue temps. I can be at 800 flue temp and 300-350 stt on startup. Once it settles in there is generally about a 100-200 degree difference. Currently at 1/8 open, 556 flue, 440 or so stt on a half load of aspen that went over 800 on startup. Will open to 1/4 open shortly to keep it burning clean, then I'll rake it all forward with air full open to fire the coals up for the overnight.

Yesterday was decent out so I went up on the roof to check the screen on the chimney cap. Cleaned the creosote buildup off the screen and took it off for a peek down the flue. Just a little buildup at the very top so I scraped it off. The rest should be good until burning season is done. Just a light coating of soot.

 

[begreen]

I have no interest in babying the noncat for maximum burn time. It’s a stove in an application that needs lots of heat. That said, you seem to be barely burning out of the creosote “too cool” range which is under 400. “Normal” is 400-900.

That might be right for a cold exterior chimney, though 400º is more than 150º above the condensation point. My guess is that the BK runs around that temp, no?

We sometimes run at a lower flue temp in mild weather and also at about 5-6 hrs into the burn depending on the load size. Once the fire is in the coaling stage this is a non-issue. The wood has already outgassed and doesn't smoke, We can run at low flue temps for hours this way. For example, currently, our flue is 325º after a loosely packed 6:30am loading. It's been under 400º for at least an hour. I will reload around 5pm. Room temp around the corner in the kitchen is 73. Morning outside temp was 29º, but now it's up to 46º.

 

[Highbeam]

That might be right for a cold exterior chimney, though 400º is more than 150º above the condensation point. My guess is that the BK runs around that temp, no?

We sometimes run at a lower flue temp in mild weather and also at about 5-6 hrs into the burn depending on the load size. Once the fire is in the coaling stage this is a non-issue. The wood has already outgassed and doesn't smoke, We can run at low flue temps for hours this way. For example, currently, our flue is 325º after a loosely packed 6:30am loading. It's been under 400º for at least an hour. I will reload around 5pm. Room temp around the corner in the kitchen is 73. Morning outside temp was 29º, but now it's up to 46º.

Sounds like you’re mixing up internal and skin temperatures. 400 internal corresponds with skin temp of 200 which is below the condensation point. Shouldn't matter if it's a cold exterior chimney or not, condensation temperature is constant. The effects are probably worse on a masonry chimney.

My BK on low runs 400 degrees internal flue temps though I could force it lower if I want to flirt with cat stall.

I agree that after your fuel in your noncat is down to coals, the flue temperatures aren’t so important to monitor due to lack of creosote forming gasses. I have found that the offgassing stage in a simmering BK can be very very long and can really gunk up a flue if run too low.

 

[begreen]

Sounds like you’re mixing up internal and skin temperatures. 400 internal corresponds with skin temp of 200 which is below the condensation point. Shouldn't matter if it's a cold exterior chimney or not, condensation temperature is constant. The effects are probably worse on a masonry chimney.

Nope, I know the difference well and am only referring to internal flue temps with the Auber. I think all in this thread are referring to the same. @Todd, @NickW please correct me if this is a wrong assumption and you are referring to single-wall, surface temps.

 

[NickW]

Internal flue temp with the digital probe 18 1/4" above stove top in double wall for me.

 

[koodjack]

So I finally broke down and ordered the Auber AT200 digital probe. Installed at 18 1/4" above the stove top (just below the joint on my slip pipe) in double wall stovepipe on the NC30 at home. Crazy watching the instantaneous readings! Came set at 480 for the alarm, so that went off first fire rather quickly. No directions so had to find the manual online to shut it off, almost had a household mutiny!😉

So I've been watching some other threads and set the high alarm to 900F. Pretty sure I've gone over the 1000F no-no level more than once previously (with no apparent damage). Interesting how quickly shutting the air down can start the flue temps dropping. Didn't really see a good cruising temp for flue temp, but may have missed it. Guessing to aim to not set off the alarm on startup, once settled in cruise at 700-750 or so and slowly drop? Any other tips?

I am betting I'm going to have a lot of charcoal and tan residue on the glass in the morning just judging by how this startup went. It seems like I tend to lose draft pretty bad as I approach the coaling stage, so if there's anything not burned enough it'll smoke it up some. I have 4' vertical, then just under 4' horizontal, then I think 16' of insulated liner. Yes it's dry...nice, dry ash and beech; 16-18% with the occasional small round that randomly decides to juice out the end. This years been better than last, so now that I'm on the 3 year plan I can only imagine it will continue to get better.

 

[koodjack]

Did you drill the temp probe thru the double stove pipe? Any smoke leaking through it? Ty for your review

 

[begreen]

Did you drill the temp probe thru the double stove pipe? Any smoke leaking through it? Ty for your review

No smoke will leak through if there is any draft at all. The stovepipe is under a vacuum.

 

[MR. GLO]

There are rules when having two aubers or more in same house . I think you can have one main unit and a secondary that mirrors it but you might need a b unit to measure for the stt or another area. i run 3 aubers. I would just check with them to make sure. 2.5 to 3 year old covered wood has the best results.

 

[koodjack]

No smoke will leak through if there is any draft at all. The stovepipe is under a vacuum.

Thank you sir, I’ve read your Alderlea t6 review, i would like to ask if you are having any issues with it. I’m narrowed my next woodstove to Woodstock progress, T6, BK princess 32.

 

[begreen]

Thank you sir, I’ve read your Alderlea t6 review, i would like to ask if you are having any issues with it. I’m narrowed my next woodstove to Woodstock progress, T6, BK princess 32.

These are all good choices. Our T6 is the original model. The stove is still going strong, now in its 14th season. Besides the good steady and soft heating, it is the lowest maintenance stove we've owned. We love the fire view and the cooking flexibility of this stove.