Today I had loaded on top of an existing bed of coals-a short 6" round of walnut + maybe 6-8 - 2" rounds of walnut, willow & maybe some misc stuff. The wood was normal dryness. The fire seemed to be well established like on any other day so I left it. I closed the air control to 20% at the most. (on an NC30 this is where the brass knob is just even with the ash lip). This is where I almost always let it cruise at. 30-45 minutes later I went downstairs to check on it and started to smell that hot overfire smell. The flames where whirling in there. My flue temps (2-1/2' up the 6" stack) were at 900 and the thermometer mounted on the side was at 650. I shut the air off, turned the blower to high, took a look at the chimney outside and within 5-10 minutes it was back to normal. I don't think I have ever had it this hot. What would cause this? I could understand if I forgot and left the air control fully open, but when it happens under these circumstances I find it a little concerning. I could have easily left the house or gone to bed with the same situation.
Overfire in an NC30
- Thread starter dboone
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Six to eight 2" pieces of wood on top of hot coals in a hot stove? That stuff is like kindling. It is gonna explode. Well, it did explode.
Whatever the reason I am glad there is some reason? Not knowing would have driven me crazy. I must have gotten the right mixture of dryness in this kindling to set it off. I have done this many times before with no problems. I seem to have an abundance of 2" pieces from some tree clearing that I have done. More than I could use for kindling alone. I will definately be more careful in the future when I use this. I mistakenly thought that setting the air control in this nearly closed position would prevent a runaway fire.
650 ain't all that hot for da big boy. If the thermo on the side is on the spot between the bricks and the secondary manifold. That spot runs at the same temp as the top plate.
I was probably more concerned with the 900+ going up the stack. Yes, I have the temp on the side as high as it will go and in the center. I don't like it on the top because with the blower air going through it I felt that it was giving me inaccurate (too low) readings.
900 on the stack ain't bad either. The chimney components are rated for a thousand degrees continuous heat. On the stove in the basement I kick it up to a thousand regularly on start up.
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