Princess temperature control w/o side panels

[RustyShackleford]

I don't know how common this is, but I've never installed the side panels on my free-standing Princess. I don't have fans and don't feel that I need them - the stove keeps our 600 sq-ft " great room" (living/dining/kitchen) quite cozy without them - and I think the mostly radiant heat emission works better without the side panels. I am open to different opinions on this though.

What this means is that the control knob has no scale to adjust it against. It just hangs out there several inches from the side of the stove.

This is not ideal for setting the level for overnight burns, so as to avoid stalling the cat while also avoiding burning up most of the wood load. I've been winging it for awhile now, but I'd prefer better control. Has anyone addressed this issue ? I suppose one option would be to cut off a few inches of the rod that holds the knob, so that it's very near the rear edge, and then fabricate some sort of gauge and screw that to the back of the stove using the screw hole that holds the little panel on the back where I guess the fans mount. Any other ideas ?

 

[Murray01]

I’d get a replacement shaft just in case you want to bring the stove back to OEM before you start modifying.

If you’re the only operator of the stove, do you really need a scale?

 

[Whitenuckler]

I don't know how common this is, but I've never installed the side panels on my free-standing Princess. I don't have fans and don't feel that I need them - the stove keeps our 600 sq-ft " great room" (living/dining/kitchen) quite cozy without them - and I think the mostly radiant heat emission works better without the side panels. I am open to different opinions on this though.

What this means is that the control knob has no scale to adjust it against. It just hangs out there several inches from the side of the stove.

View attachment 342319

This is not ideal for setting the level for overnight burns, so as to avoid stalling the cat while also avoiding burning up most of the wood load. I've been winging it for awhile now, but I'd prefer better control. Has anyone addressed this issue ? I suppose one option would be to cut off a few inches of the rod that holds the knob, so that it's very near the rear edge, and then fabricate some sort of gauge and screw that to the back of the stove using the screw hole that holds the little panel on the back where I guess the fans mount. Any other ideas ?

Get a bar magnet and then a small piece of sheet metal painted black- high heat. Make a bend to attach it to the magnet. Then cut a slot slightly bigger than the shaft and slide it on. Then attach a metal pointer to the shaft with Black RTV.

 

[Dieselhead]

Why don’t you put your side panels on?

 

[RustyShackleford]

Why don’t you put your side panels on?

Like I said, I don't want or need fans, and I think it'd just reduce the radiant heat. And the radiant heat (and of course convection around the stove) heats the space just fine.

 

[RustyShackleford]

I’d get a replacement shaft just in case you want to bring the stove back to OEM before you start modifying.

Pretty sure it's literally just a piece of steel rod. Not sure how it disconnects at the thermostat end though.

If you’re the only operator of the stove, do you really need a scale?

Reproducibility of the perfect overnight setting, the minimum possible that prevents cat stall.

 

[Dieselhead]

Like I said, I don't want or need fans, and I think it'd just reduce the radiant heat. And the radiant heat (and of course convection around the stove) heats the space just fine.

BTUs coming off the stove box reflected off the side shields are the same BTUs without side shields either way. It’s not like the side shields put btu back into the firebox. Radiant heat and convection are 2 different things but the same common denominator is in play, btu’s outside the firebox.

 

[RustyShackleford]

BTUs coming off the stove box reflected off the side shields are the same BTUs without side shields either way. It’s not like the side shields put btu back into the firebox. Radiant heat and convection are 2 different things but the same common denominator is in play, btu’s outside the firebox.

I'm not convinced that's true (nor that it's untrue). The amount of heat the stove radiates is defined by Stefan-Boltzmann law (which says it's proportional to the 4th power of its temperature). I've got to think the panels would be cooler than the sides of the firebox. But that's only because of convection - if the gap between them were sealed, then yes the panels would get to the same temperature as the firebox. So maybe the net heat coming from the stove IS the same - a little less radiant and a little more convection.

If a certain amount of wood burns at the same efficiency, then those BTUs gotta go somewhere, as you say. There's only one other place: the flue. Maybe the panels DO make the firebox hotter - they are insulative, of course - and thus the flue gasses hotter.

The other issue (assuming you're right): does that shift to less radiative heat and more conductive heat increase or decrease the comfort level in the room ?

Do we have any physicists here ? I'd be curious as to the thoughts of @BKVP . Or I could just put the panels on and see how I like it

 

[Montanalocal]

The BTUs may be the same. However, there is another factor to consider, and that is how your body feels in the presence of either convection or radiant energy. Most people who burn remark on how heating with firewood just “feels” different. I would think that that difference has to do with how your body feels when it receives radiant energy, which it does not get under most any other form of heat. Just why that is I am not smart enough to know.