Old condar probe meter vs. new auber digital thermocouple

[Highbeam]

I heard this funny rumor that bimetallic probe meters fail after a few thousand hours. Mine has been in service for like 15 years and we have an 8-9 month burn season. I picked up a digital probe meter for the shop single wall pipe stove but thought I would check the accuracy of the well used but perfect looking condar in my house stove. This is in the flue of my BK that has been cruising along for about 8 hours at a thermostatically controlled constant output level.

I confirm that the condar is still accurate even if it is slower to react than a digital meter. I reject the theory that these meters die of old age and plan to keep using it until it stops working.

 

[bholler]

I heard this funny rumor that bimetallic probe meters fail after a few thousand hours. Mine has been in service for like 15 years and we have an 8-9 month burn season. I picked up a digital probe meter for the shop single wall pipe stove but thought I would check the accuracy of the well used but perfect looking condar in my house stove. This is in the flue of my BK that has been cruising along for about 8 hours at a thermostatically controlled constant output level.

I confirm that the condar is still accurate even if it is slower to react than a digital meter. I reject the theory that these meters die of old age and plan to keep using it until it stops working.

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I have seen plenty of old ones that seem to work fine still. But I also see them reading 100 or 150 on a cold pipe

 

[Highbeam]

I have seen plenty of old ones that seem to work fine still. But I also see them reading 100 or 150 on a cold pipe

I'll keep an eye out for that as an indicator of failure. I know you can adjust them to rezero the dial but if that is necessary then something has changed.

 

[Diabel]

From what i see, your condar reads a bit high......haha.
I will do the same test tomorrow on my VC probe meter. On a side note, my old VC magnetic griddle top meter (never look at it anymore) reads very close to 70 on cold stove but it is exponentially off at 500 i.e. magnetic read 650-700 but IR gun says 500

 

[begreen]

I suspect yours may have been more accurate than ours. IIRC you were consistently seeing very high flue temps on the Heritage which I could not repro. Ours reads about 75 at room temp, but is consistently 100-150º low and is about the same vintage as yours.

 

[Highbeam]

I suspect yours may have been more accurate than ours. IIRC you were consistently seeing very high flue temps on the Heritage which I could not repro. Ours reads about 75 at room temp, but is consistently 100-150º low and is about the same vintage as yours.

There is always this other possibility that the error will grow as the temperatures rise. This is just one data point on the scale but arguably the most important one for my application since it helps me avoid creosote condensation and also tells me when to engage the catalyst.

This condar saw 1250 pretty often when it was above a hearthstone at full chooch.

 

[Diabel]

Thank you @Highbeam i just stuck the cat probe that is attached to my auber at100 into the flue probe hole. The Imperial flue probe read 200 and when i put the at100 probe it read 293. I have a feeling that my Imperial probe in my BK might be off too. I believe a condar flue guard is in order.

 

[Highbeam]

Thank you @Highbeam i just stuck the cat probe that is attached to my auber at100 into the flue probe hole. The Imperial flue probe read 200 and when i put the at100 probe it read 293. I have a feeling that my Imperial probe in my BK might be off too. I believe a condar flue guard is in order.

Whoa that’s a big error. These k type thermocouples should be the proper tool to check on the accuracy of other probe meters.

I thought about pulling out my cat meter, also a condar, and dropping the thermocouple in that hole but it was registering 1300 degrees and my bare fingers aren’t up to that.

 

[Diabel]

I did that last year. I had a spare meter from Alibaba that i bought for 3.99. It read C* only. My probe was 6” long so I attached a bear clip to it. As the probe got hot the clip kept coming off. The two readings i did get, both were lower than the manual probe. Over Christmas i will be spending more time with the BK and i will bring the at100 with me. Will try to hook it up to the stovetop hole and will report on the readings. I believe someone else here is already using at100 on the BK.

 

[begreen]

There is always this other possibility that the error will grow as the temperatures rise. This is just one data point on the scale but arguably the most important one for my application since it helps me avoid creosote condensation and also tells me when to engage the catalyst.

This condar saw 1250 pretty often when it was above a hearthstone at full chooch.

I think you are going to love the responsiveness of the digital probe. It is one of the few things that have changed my burning behavior in years. I just ordered new one with the wireless feature so that I can track the flue temp from my office. Need another for the 30NC?

 

[Diabel]

Thank to this forum and few VC folks here, i bought my at100 and it made me operate my encore much better. Knock on wood, nothing is warped and discolored in three years after rebuild. Pretty much 24/7 burner when I am here.

 

[Highbeam]

I think you are going to love the responsiveness of the digital probe. It is one of the few things that have changed my burning behavior in years. I just ordered new one with the wireless feature so that I can track the flue temp from my office. Need another for the 30NC?

This one was meant for the nc30. Couldn’t wait to install it. Used a 1/8” drill bit which was plenty large.

This thing is lots of fun. Open the door to throw in an oily rag and the meter drops 50degrees. Very fast. The factory alarm goes off at just 500 so I’ll need to fix that.

 

[Highbeam]

 

[Gearhead660]

My AT200 just arrived today and I installed it right away. Very responsive.

 

[Diabel]

The 200 has what options? On top of the 100

 

[Highbeam]

The meter doesn’t come with instructions and it is obviously not built for consumers. Changing the alarm settings seems to require a phd! The instructions are good and available online.

 

[Diabel]

The meter doesn’t come with instructions and it is obviously not built for consumers. Changing the alarm settings seems to require a phd! The instructions are good and available online.

I thought all wood burners had phds. Follow the online instructions and set the alarm according to your needs. Originally, I set mine to 1600 on the VC. At one point i removed the setting. Sometimes the alarm will randomly go off in the middle of the night. Maybe three times a year. Not a big deal.

 

[ABMax24]

I just put an imperial probe thermometer in my stove pipe this fall, now this makes me want to get a digital probe, it would sure be cool to have instant readout of temperature changes.

I wonder if a person could use a pyro gauge kit from a diesel truck in a stove pipe? I used to have one in my old Duramax, with the probe in the manifold upstream of the turbo, I could make that thing go from 400F to 1600F in under 5 seconds.

 

[Gearhead660]

Opened box and was like, "no instructions?" Easy to adjust once I checked the website for them. Not sure what the 100 has but the 200 has 2 alarms. Can set one for high and one for low.

 

[Highbeam]

I just put an imperial probe thermometer in my stove pipe this fall, now this makes me want to get a digital probe, it would sure be cool to have instant readout of temperature changes.

I wonder if a person could use a pyro gauge kit from a diesel truck in a stove pipe? I used to have one in my old Duramax, with the probe in the manifold upstream of the turbo, I could make that thing go from 400F to 1600F in under 5 seconds.

While I was installing this meter tonight I was waxing the f350 which I installed a pyrometer into the exhaust manifold years ago. As near as I can tell it’s the exact same thing.

So do you think this probe will get carboned up and be impossible to remove from the pipe?

 

[begreen]

So do you think this probe will get carboned up and be impossible to remove from the pipe?

I don't think so. It's never been an issue to pull out the Condar probe.

 

[MTASH]

...This is in the flue of my BK that has been cruising along for about 8 hours at a thermostatically controlled constant output level.

I confirm that the condar is still accurate even if it is slower to react than a digital meter. I reject the theory that these meters die of old age and plan to keep using it until it stops working.

View attachment 268067View attachment 268068

I am curious to see how much temperature oscillation you see while cruising your BK. At optimal turn-down setting, my Condar fluctuates somewhere between 50-100 degrees.

 

[Highbeam]

I am curious to see how much temperature oscillation you see while cruising your BK. At optimal turn-down setting, my Condar fluctuates somewhere between 50-100 degrees.

This thermocouple system is intended to live in the shop above the NC30. I put it in the probe hole of the BK just to verify the accuracy of the condar mechanical probe. If I was starting with a new flue system above a BK I really don't know if I would drill the hole in front for the condar or choose a thermocouple to mount on the back of the pipe since these things are pretty cheap, accurate, reactive, have an alarm, and the display is more visible from a distance.

Heck, I might just buy a second at200 for the BK if the wife can live with the aesthetic. I would probably pay extra for the longer thermocouple wire though since the base model has a 6' cable that limits the placement of the display which has only a 3 foot power cord.

I did set the high alarm for 1000 last night and hopefully shut off the second alarm. I was a little afraid that the alarm would be buzzing this morning but it was nice and quiet telling me that the flue gasses were still 81 degrees.

 

[MTASH]

This thermocouple system is intended to live in the shop above the NC30. I put it in the probe hole of the BK just to verify the accuracy of the condar mechanical probe.

Shoot, I knew that already but spaced it for some reason. You guys have turned me enough into a stove nerd I would probably start with an Auber from scratch, knowing what I know now.

 

[Highbeam]

I’m afraid this thread reads like an advertisement. I paid full price for my at200. It was 69$ shipped. I’ve never talked to anybody for auber.