stove & flue temps

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Jesepi

New Member
Nov 19, 2021
56
NW Pennsylvania
newbie here again,
I have a Pleasant Hearth WSL 1800 stove. The highest I have gotten my stove temp is about 350 degrees F.
The highest I have gotten my flue pipe is 200 degrees F. My stove is brand new. I start the burn and after the wood catches good I shut the door and adjust the air. I also close the Baffle to try to initiate the secondary burn.
Is there a particular temp that I should wait for before closing the Baffle ?
I want to get my stove up to about 450 degrees and my flue to around 300 degrees. The thermometers I am using for stove top and on the single wall flue pipe is RUTLAND and the flue pipe thermometer is located 18" above the stove top. Also the wood im using was bought at Tractor Supply in a bundle. I am having a dump truck deliver a mix of Cherry and Oak this week. All cut and split last year sometime. Will having seasoned hard wood like Cherry and Oak make that much difference ?
Any info will be greatly appreciated !
Thank you all,
Don
 
Hello Don!

For your stove, it is non-catalyst, so id say those temperatures sound good. Maybe someone with more experience with that stove could chime in :D

what type of wood is in the bundle? usually the stuff ive seen at Tractor Supply is a type of softwood like pine, pine will burn quicker and hotter than hardwood.

That cherry and oak wood may not be seasoned yet, depending on the conditions it was in, usually it takes 14 months minimum for most hardwoods and Oak is notoriously difficult to season, taking up to 2 or 3 full years to season completely. Wood also loses most of it's moisture during the hottest, driest summer days. I would recommend buying a $30~ moisture meter, you can get them from Amazon and maybe they have them at Tractor Supply too.

Burning cherry / oak wood is great though! each piece holds a large amount of heat, you only need 2 or 3 good pieces to get the stove nice and hot.

Here is a BTU chart of the different types of wood: btuchart.jpg
 
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For flue temp (measured ~18" above the stove), you want >400F <800F for minimal creosote buildup (I have double wall pipe). Having 200F in the flue is too cold. Flue gas is hotter than STT so I wouldn't worry if it's within the range above. Single wall pipe may have a lower threshold to operate in.

I'm not sure how accurate measuring a single wall pipe with a magnetic thermometer is. With double wall pipe, I use a prob thermometer to measure the gas directly. Hope this helps.
 
Ok the temps are to low assuming they are taken with a surface thermometer. You should run the pipe up to 400 or so at the start of each burn then shut back. You will need to learn your stove to know when you need to start shutting back to accomplish that without overshooting.
 
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Yes, that's too cool for secondary combustion.
I also close the Baffle to try to initiate the secondary burn.
What do you mean by this? Is there a stovepipe damper?
 
Yes, that's too cool for secondary combustion.

What do you mean by this? Is there a stovepipe damper?

I was looking at that too, there is some kind of bypass on the baffle, but the manual seems to be pretty short on details, other than to close it once the fire is established.