Quick!!!!! How hot is too hot for Napoleon 1402 Insert?

[kbrown]

Sitting here enjoying a nice fire on a fairly cool evening; after getting some nice coals, I put in about a half dozen splits of what I call crappy wood. It's kinda punky and misc junk, but dry. About 30 minutes later I am sweating in the next room and find the stove top temp is 745F via my HF digital thermometer. I'm wondering if that's too high and what is normal for stove top temps for this unit. Being that we are not even close to the real heating season and not even using the good wood, will I overfire this unit later on? The damper was almost fully closed and a wicked secondary burn was going. What's the best way to cool down a too hot fire?

 

[myzamboni]

your under 800. you're ok

 

[kbrown]

just realized i was in the wrong forum..this needs to be moved to the hearth room! Sorry guys! :red:

 

[North of 60]

You will be OK. Been there several times before with the Nap. Just dont reload with such a large coal bed and throttle it down sooner. Keep your fan on HIGH. Your paint should be cured now. ;-)

 

[Joey]

Posted about this topic a few weeks back. I was also concerned about overfiring my stove and couldn't get a hard number for an overfire condition. Emailed Napoleon and they responded " any temperature above 700 degrees would be considered overfiring the stove". The stove likes to run hot..I run mine around 550, which seems to be a good number, with the blowers on. The air adjustment on the bottom of the stove comes with a factory setting. You can adjust the air damper to close even further then the factory settings, but you would have to remove the stove, which is a pain. As you know, there is no adjustment for the secondary burn tube.

 

[velvetfoot]

Where are you measuring 745F with your HF digital gun?
I too have a small insert that doesn't protrude much-there's really no 'stove top'.

 

[kbrown]

Where are you measuring 745F with your HF digital gun?
I too have a small insert that doesn't protrude much-there's really no 'stove top'.

This one has about an 8" top which is pretty good; we can put a small pot for water, etc. Yes, the temp was with the digital gun; the magnetic thermometer was reading around 600F. I closed the damper all the way and it soon settled to around 450 for the remainder of the night. House sure stayed warm for the rest of the night..was 71F at 6:30am. We like the unit, but one complaint would be no adjustment to the secondary burn; once you have too hot of fire you are just gonna have to ride it out from what I have been able to find.

 

[kbrown]

Posted about this topic a few weeks back. I was also concerned about overfiring my stove and couldn't get a hard number for an overfire condition. Emailed Napoleon and they responded " any temperature above 700 degrees would be considered overfiring the stove". The stove likes to run hot..I run mine around 550, which seems to be a good number, with the blowers on. The air adjustment on the bottom of the stove comes with a factory setting. You can adjust the air damper to close even further then the factory settings, but you would have to remove the stove, which is a pain. As you know, there is no adjustment for the secondary burn tube.

Yea, I had the unit completly out earlier this fall for a maintenance and took a look under there to see how that works; I don't think I will mess with that. Did find that you WILL boil water regardless of having a full lid on the pot or not at that temp!! :lol: Should have thrown in some pasta and had a late dinner!

 

[ControlFreak]

In my opinion anything above 650 is higher than you need to go, but don't get excited if it's even up to 800. It's not going to burn your house down, you're just wasting your wood because at that temp, the whole load is going to be burning all at the same time, and much of it is just going up the chimney. Burn a little cooler by closing the draft down a little earlier and you won't get that hot. Of course, that all depends upon how much moisture is in your wood, how small you have it split, and how you load it into the firebox. Start closing off the draft in small increments at 400 and have it fully closed at 550 watching to make sure that you're not putting out the secondary along the way.

 

[kbrown]

That is some good advice Control. Thanks a bunch! Not closing it down sooner was probably my mistake. I normally leave it wide open until it reaches 400 then slowly work it down after that; I just didn't do it soon enough.

 

[Capt]

I am suprised you didn't call me! hahaha. Karl, I found even with a hot bed of coals, a full reload with ash or cherry, to leave the damper at 5, and close it to 3 when it hits 450ish. When it hits 500, I'll close it down completely or atleast 1, and I will have a good secondary burn going. Stove right now is at about 450, with half a load left.

BTW, have you checked the accuracy of that IR thermo? See what it reads on boiling water.

 

[velvetfoot]

I tend to aim mine through the glass.

 

[kbrown]

I am suprised you didn't call me! hahaha. Karl, I found even with a hot bed of coals, a full reload with ash or cherry, to leave the damper at 5, and close it to 3 when it hits 450ish. When it hits 500, I'll close it down completely or atleast 1, and I will have a good secondary burn going. Stove right now is at about 450, with half a load left.

BTW, have you checked the accuracy of that IR thermo? See what it reads on boiling water.

I was goin to BB you on it but figured you were out for the night! It got pretty toasty in here. Secondary was certainly going full blast! I tend to think the IR is better than the stove top spring one. After a while I would think that the spring would become distorted after multiple hot/cold cycles.