Opinions on seasoning

[ArsenalDon]

I am still down to crappy wood that is under seasoned and had a thread titled 'Bacon wood' and will let that one lie.. Anyway I have both small rounds and large splits the rounds maple and birch and the splits oak. They measure about 17% on the outside and 23 to 24% on the inside. I have been splitting them down to approximate 2 X 3 size and letting them sit in the heated space for a day. How far am I away from well seasoned? I can get 550 degree stove top temps and around 280 to 300 on the surface on the flue if the thermometers are to be trusted..sigh.. I need to go out in the shop and finish the mount for my flue probe to get that one right. I don't care if the stove top is 50 degrees off but do care that the flue is hot enough. The local wood situation has me thinking coal for next year..

There is a mix of ideas here and all good. If you can save it for next year it will be good to go perfect...if you need it for this year I have good luck with taking mediocre wood and first lining the bottom of the stove solid with 11% hot and fast burning wood such as cedar....then putting mediocre wood like you have on top of it..I know it creates more crap in my stack than I would like, but I can clean that out...It sounds like you are in the situation I was this year...some good, some bad and need to burn it. I am 100% confident I can get 3 years ahead this year...but being a new burner it does take me time to catch up

 

[Ashful]

I think old spark actually makes a good point, in that it doesn't matter so much what the gas temp may be... water vapor and creosote will condense on a cool pipe, even if the gas temp in the pipe is well above condensation temp.

However... my liner is surely almost always well below 212F, and yet... no creosote! The beauty of a secondary burn stove, I guess.

 

[ArsenalDon]

I think old spark actually makes a good point, in that it doesn't matter so much what the gas temp may be... water vapor and creosote will condense on a cool pipe, even if the gas temp in the pipe is well above condensation temp.

However... my liner is surely almost always well below 212F, and yet... no creosote! The beauty of a secondary burn stove, I guess.

Agreed...my flue at the top has to be dead cold...It is a 2 story pipe yet there was not creosote at my first cleaning....only light fluffy ash

 

[oldspark]

At roughly 2 to 1 ratio a 250 degree flue temp (internal) means a external temp on the flue of 125 degrees, any body here have an external temp on their flue that low, mine goes above that with kindling.

 

[ArsenalDon]

At roughly 2 to 1 ratio a 250 degree flue temp (internal) means a external temp on the flue of 125 degrees, any body here have an external temp on their flue that low, mine goes above that with kindling.

hmmmmm. I asked this question in a thread a while ago and all the "powers that be" said no correlation between external and internal flue temps...I thought there must be something here....I can run my IR on the outside and get 350 so you are saying my internal is 700 ??

 

[rideau]

I know that's the point of your post. But I believe they are talking about surface temps of the flue pipe. That's the point of my post. It would be contradictory to what they have written on their instructions that come with their probe thermometer, for one thing, and not in keeping with what happens with a good cat burn, if they were talking about internal temperatures.. Before the cat is engaged the flue temp will be 500. Once the cat is engaged, the flue temp drops. An internal flue temp of 400 to 450 is great. You are losing very little heat up your chimney, but temperatures are hot enough to keep creaosote from forming. Not that is should be a problem with a clean burn.
I always aim for a flue temp of 450, and I have never had more than a cup of light fluffy stuff come out of my chimney, even when cleaning after 18 months.

 

[ArsenalDon]

I have never had more than a cup of light fluffy stuff come out of my chimney, even when cleaning after 18 months.

Those are good numbers...good job!!

 

[Ashful]

hmmmmm. I asked this question in a thread a while ago and all the "powers that be" said no correlation between external and internal flue temps..

You are correct, there's no hard and fast correlation. The 2:1 ratio oldspark mentions is a very rough estimate. External stovepipe temps are a combination of construction, internal flue gas temperature, room temperature, air flow around the pipe, the temperature of the stove to which it's connected, the temperature of the liner to which it's connected, etc., etc., etc...

However, given internal flue temps vary by hundreds of degrees, while your room temp, air flow around the pipe, and liner temp are all relatively constant (by comparison), the 2:1 guess might be reasonable.

 

[ArsenalDon]

You are correct, there's no hard and fast correlation. The 2:1 ratio oldspark mentions is a very rough estimate. External stovepipe temps are a combination of construction, internal flue gas temperature, room temperature, air flow around the pipe, the temperature of the stove to which it's connected, the temperature of the liner to which it's connected, etc., etc., etc...

Sounds scientifically sound...a lot of variables

 

[oldspark]

The 2 to 1 ratio was verified by some members of this forum who did some testing.

 

[ArsenalDon]

The 2 to 1 ratio was verified by some members of this forum who did some testing.

helpful. Thank you

 

[oldspark]

This is a good link and it mentions using the probe on double wall pipe.
https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/is-this-flue-temp-probe-full-of-it.46304/

 

[ArsenalDon]

This is a good link and it mentions using the probe on double wall pipe.
https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/is-this-flue-temp-probe-full-of-it.46304/

Thanks, but now I am more confused than ever ...what a crazy bunch of results from everyone.

 

[oldspark]

"hmmmmm. I asked this question in a thread a while ago and all the "powers that be" said no correlation between external and internal flue temps"
I might have found the post you are talking about and they were talking about double wall stove pipe, sometimes that is where the confusion starts.

 

[ArsenalDon]

"hmmmmm. I asked this question in a thread a while ago and all the "powers that be" said no correlation between external and internal flue temps"
I might have found the post you are talking about and they were talking about double wall stove pipe, sometimes that is where the confusion starts.

mine is a double wall insulated pipe

 

[oldspark]

Are you reading the outside of your class a pipe? What do you connect to the stove with?