PE Summit stovetop discoloration..normal?

[Jwilliam]

I've been burning pretty much 24/7 for about 6 months with a new PE Summit and I'm starting to see some faint greyish blotching on the top. I keep the top plate temperature under 750 degrees but have hit 850 once or twice. Just wondering if this is normal or if I'm burning too hot?

 

[webby3650]

You are running it pretty hot. But not hot enough to damage it, I just wouldn't leave it at these temps for long periods of time.
Fading paint is normal in the hot spots, especially in flat black. Just grab a can of Stove Bright and touch it up after the season is over.

 

[Jwilliam]

You are running it pretty hot. But not hot enough to damage it, I just wouldn't leave it at these temps for long periods of time.
Fading paint is normal in the hot spots, especially in flat black. Just grab a can of Stove Bright and touch it up after the season is over.

Thanks for the info.

 

[Osagebndr]

I run mine the same and haven't noticed any discoloration .+ 1 in the paint , how did you break it in by the way?

 

[Jwilliam]

I run mine the same and haven't noticed any discoloration .+ 1 in the paint , how did you break it in by the way?

I started with a small fire and let it go out and cool down.. then I did that again a few times but made the fires bigger each time.

 

[webby3650]

I run mine the same and haven't noticed any discoloration .+ 1 in the paint , how did you break it in by the way?

There is no real break in procedure for a steel stove. Many people choose to do one or more break in fires, but it's not necessary. Stove Bright is who makes the paint, they say to run the stove up to 450 for an hour and then run it up to 700, then the curing process is done. If I remembering correctly, it's something real close to that.

 

[begreen]

I like to do a small break in fire for a steel stove when it's new and at the beginning of the season. The purpose is to gently drive out moisture from the firebrick. It may not be necessary, but our firebrick seems to be standing up well after 7 seasons of use, so I will continue this practice.

Jwilliam, are you seeing the 750-800F temps with the blower on or off? If the blower is on, that's much too hot. If the blower is off, then it's about 100F hotter than I run our stove.

 

[Jwilliam]

I like to do a small break in fire for a steel stove when it's new and at the beginning of the season. The purpose is to gently drive out moisture from the firebrick. It may not be necessary, but our firebrick seems to be standing up well after 7 seasons of use, so I will continue this practice.

Jwilliam, are you seeing the 750-800F temps with the blower on or off? If the blower is on, that's much too hot. If the blower is off, then it's about 100F hotter than I run our stove.

Those temps are with the blower off although it has been at 700 with the blower on low. I'm pretty sure it was before the stove had ever been to 750 when I started to see the discoloration on the top

 

[Osagebndr]

I started with a small fire and let it go out and cool down.. then I did that again a few times but made the fires bigger each time.

Just checking in the break-in fires. I run my summit from 600-750 most of the time and recently with really cold temps I try to keep it at 650-750 for as long a period as she will cruise at. Is your baffle set in the stove correctly? Mine came off the rail and I didn't notice it ( only on one side )

 

[begreen]

Those temps are with the blower off although it has been at 700 with the blower on low. I'm pretty sure it was before the stove had ever been to 750 when I started to see the discoloration on the top

OK, that sounds more normal. I try to keep it a bit lower. Our thermometer only goes up to 750F. Over 750F causes our thermometer to round trip past 0F. With good hard wood we've seen it pass 750F on occasion when burning good hardwood. This mostly has happened due to my turning down the air too late. Turning on the blower quickly drops the stove top temp down 100-150F.

This summer with the windows wide open you could repaint the stove top with StoveBrite metallic black. If you do put an fan in one nearby window exhausting out the fumes. They are brain-rottingly bad.

 

[Oldman47]

The instructions for my steel stove do tell me to run several small break in fires and specify how to do it and how hot to go each time. The issue is to get the paint and the fire brick broken in without destroying the fire brick, at least according to the instructions. I am a total newb at this so I will follow those instructions.

 

[madison]

What about kettles? Have you placed anything on top of the stove with water ?

 

[Jwilliam]

What about kettles? Have you placed anything on top of the stove with water ?

Actually I had put a kettle with water in it on there for one evening but that was a while before I started noticing the paint. I also put an eco fan on there once in a while but not really where the paint is changing color

 

[kennyp2339]

I got the same thing on top of the bk, you can actually see the square imprint of the cat chamber

 

[Jwilliam]

I got the same thing on top of the bk, you can actually see the square imprint of the cat chamber

Is yours very old?

 

[kennyp2339]

Nope only 3 months

 

[Osagebndr]

Did your stove pipe fade also?

 

[kennyp2339]

yes, slight fade, doesn't really bother me.

 

[Jwilliam]

Mine didn't fade. It is double wall so maybe that helps

 

[Osagebndr]

Just curious about that one. Paint it it's probably all good

 

[Jwilliam]

Just curious about that one. Paint it it's probably all good

Did you notice any sag in your baffle? I noticed a small amount of sag in mine after about 3 months or so. I was worried I got a bad one at first but apparently its normal

 

[Osagebndr]

I'm at the 3mo mark now and haven't noticed any sag. I do start turning my air down at 300-350 and pretty much have it shut down by 450. I haven't always been able to run it with the air shut down completely. It does pretty good with the cracked open and cruises At 650 for quite awhile. Although my heat times are shorter than what I had expected.

 

[Seanm]

Did you notice any sag in your baffle? I noticed a small amount of sag in mine after about 3 months or so. I was worried I got a bad one at first but apparently its normal

Im on season three of my PE stove and have a sag in my baffle as well. Not sure when it happened but I've been told that this is normal. I burn soft woods and have seen it as hot as 850 on a few rare occasions but those times have been few and far between. I try to keep my peak temperature under 725 as much as possible but I do get it peaking out at 750 from time to time. I just checked my stove top and dont see any discoloring.

 

[Hogwildz]

That haze looks like possible beginning signs of over-firing. You may want to run a pipe probe or surface mount on the pipe also and keep track a while.
The stove top and pipe doing the same looks like running too hot to me. But, I have been know to be wrong from time to time.
The baffle sag is normal and doesn't affect performance.
When you have an expanse of metal that large, it is going to sag some in time.
I did notice they put stiffeners inside the baffle on the B and prolly C body styles.
Mine actually bows up now in the front, and has a slight sag/buckle in the middle.
The stiffeners work, but it is going to give somewhere, which now some goes up and some sags down.

Try experimenting with working the air down sooner, in stages.
The new flame shield inside the newer stoves ceilings now has a deflector which basically is a wall the flames hit and go around, prior to reaching the outlet. This to me creates a hot spot where the flames are being blocked and diverted in front of the deflector.
This is right where your fading is in front of the outlet.

Not sure I likes this, going to be thinking up some options.

 

[Jwilliam]

That haze looks like possible beginning signs of over-firing. You may want to run a pipe probe or surface mount on the pipe also and keep track a while.
The stove top and pipe doing the same looks like running too hot to me. But, I have been know to be wrong from time to time.
The baffle sag is normal and doesn't affect performance.
When you have an expanse of metal that large, it is going to sag some in time.
I did notice they put stiffeners inside the baffle on the B and prolly C body styles.
Mine actually bows up now in the front, and has a slight sag/buckle in the middle.
The stiffeners work, but it is going to give somewhere, which now some goes up and some sags down.

Try experimenting with working the air down sooner, in stages.
The new flame shield inside the newer stoves ceilings now has a deflector which basically is a wall the flames hit and go around, prior to reaching the outlet. This to me creates a hot spot where the flames are being blocked and diverted in front of the deflector.
This is right where your fading is in front of the outlet.

Not sure I likes this, going to be thinking up some options.

Yes its exactly where that deflector is. You wouldn't think it would be so easy to over fire these stoves? It gets up to 500 easily with just a small fire