Starting fires in "Top-Down" arrangement on a 1979 Kodiak Stove...

[Old_Skewler]

... I like how much easy it is to start the fire doing this European top-down setup BUT I am concerned that temperature skyrockets to 700~800F with the flue and stove making some noises...

Should I be concerned about this? Is 700~800F safe on these older stoves?

 

[begreen]

Is there a damper on the stove pipe? If so, start closing it down around 500-600º

 

[fbelec]

my stove is a old cast iron and i do a top down everytime i start which is daily. my manual says i can go up to 750 on a initial start. i have taken that to 800 to 900 hundred on more than one occasion. use less wood when starting it helps. i have a thermostat so it's wide open when starting and when the stove gets warmer it closes. i normally go with half a firebox full when starting and it stays at 700 or so then comes down. when it's down to coals about 3 to 4 hours later i stuff it with about 9 splits and go to bed.

 

[coaly]

Steel plate stoves such as the Kodiak are more forgiving than cast iron. The larger the cast iron part, the more mass, so that is the direction of the most expansion. Starting from the top down allows more heat up the chimney, increasing draft. This brings more air into the stove intake, burning harder, heating the stove faster. You then have cooler parts that contribute to uneven expansion. This can warp steel plates or crack welds.

As an example, we heat with a cookstove with removable eyes. The lids are removed for loading and cooking over direct heat of the firebox. The top down method heats the top so fast, the eyes get tight in the stove top and cannot be removed until the entire top heats. I’m concerned about warping the large cooktop, so we start bottom up for slower and more even heating of stove parts.