Oh dear lord!

[NH_Wood]

Loaded the stove too early - leaving for the day and won't be back till tomorrow. Loaded up the stove with about 7 splits. Stove had good coals and was at ~ 300*. Wanted to make house real warm so wife wouldn't have to load. Stove top now at ~ 625*. Completely shut down early - fire raging. VERY worried about the stones. Should I open or close the stovepipe damper??? Egad - won't do this again - any quick advice! Cheers!

 

[pen]

close up everything as much as possible and just let it go. You certainly aren't the first this has happened to. You should be fine but it doesn't hurt to cross your fingers.

I'd try bigger pieces next time and it should not go so nuts so quickly.

pen

 

[NH_Wood]

Shut the pipe damper all the way? Wasn't sure if that would trap heat in the stove - had it 1/2 open. Cheers!

 

[BrowningBAR]

Loaded the stove too early - leaving for the day and won't be back till tomorrow. Loaded up the stove with about 7 splits. Stove had good coals and was at ~ 300*. Wanted to make house real warm so wife wouldn't have to load. Stove top now at ~ 625*. Completely shut down early - fire raging. VERY worried about the stones. Should I open or close the stovepipe damper??? Egad - won't do this again - any quick advice! Cheers!

You should be fine. If you shut down the air controls the stove probably won't be at those temperatures very long. Is this with a magnet thermometer or an IR thermometer?

 

[BrowningBAR]

Shut the pipe damper all the way? Wasn't sure if that would trap heat in the stove - had it 1/2 open. Cheers!

Closing the damper will help.

 

[NH_Wood]

Measured with a magnetic thermometer. I'll close the damper all the way. Thanks, but still worried....secondaries are HUGE - filling 1/2 the box. Can't get the fire and lower. Cheers!

 

[BrowningBAR]

Measured with a magnetic thermometer. I'll close the damper all the way. Thanks, but still worried....secondaries are HUGE - filling 1/2 the box. Can't get the fire and lower. Cheers!

We all know magnet thermometers are off. Two of the three I own over shoot the temperature by 20-50 degrees. It will die down and your nervousness will end... Though the next several days you will question ever nick and scratch on the stove insisting it wasn't there before the overfire and you will be convinced you broke the stove. Even though it is fine.

 

[NH_Wood]

Measured with a magnetic thermometer. I'll close the damper all the way. Thanks, but still worried....secondaries are HUGE - filling 1/2 the box. Can't get the fire and lower. Cheers!

We all know magnet thermometers are off. Two of the three I own over shoot the temperature by 20-50 degrees. It will die down and your nervousness will end... Though the next several days you will question ever nick and scratch on the stove insisting it wasn't there before the overfire and you will be convinced you broke the stove. Even though it is fine.

I'm sure you are right - might not be laughing about it a few days from now, but perhaps a little less worried......seems to be holding steady at 600* now, so......hopefully on the downward slope......Cheers!

 

[FireWalker]

Sounds like a good time for one of my 4" green rounds.

My Equinox has been over 600 before, it's just fine. I know exactly what you are dealing with, I have loaded my stove up to the gills thinking I needed a good hot long lasting fire only to get.........well just what I asked for. I just don't do it anymore maybe 70% full at most. If you want hot, load loosely spaced criss-cross splits, want long lasting, load tightly packed towards the back. Your going to miss the skin show this afternoon, gonna be warm in there!

 

[Backwoods Savage]

The secondaries are working so just let them do their thing. I know Hearthstone says 600 for the high temp but I'd bet it will take much more than that. 625 is not bad at all in my book.

Good luck. Now relax if you can.

 

[NH_Wood]

The secondaries are working so just let them do their thing. I know Hearthstone says 600 for the high temp but I'd bet it will take much more than that. 625 is not bad at all in my book.

Good luck. Now relax if you can.

Thanks Dennis! Finally relaxing - down to 575* and no more secondaries. Closing the damper really helped a lot. Now I can leave for the trip - thanks for all of your quick responses - pretty nerve-racking, but I guess I'll be more calm next time! Cheers!

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Well, it certainly had to be nerve wracking but you will remember it for sure. Have a good trip.

 

[Highbeam]

Most of us load up the stove for an overnight burn, char, and set the draft to zero and go to bed. Not knowing what happens in the wee hours of the night. I have come to trust that the stove won't explode if the draft is closed. Nothing else you can do anyways so just keep your smoke alarms working.