Stove Thermometer for inside the stove

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joescho

Feeling the Heat
Hearth Supporter
Feb 11, 2009
391
Northeastern PA
Is there such an animal? I have a Jotul insert and I know people have been putting thier thermometers in the out port for the fan, but it just does not seem like it anywhere near correct. The most believeable temps I ever got was from the sides of the stove.

At this point, I'm not even sure if placing in the stove is worth it either, but its got to be more accurate. All I'm interested in is overfiring. I've come pretty close a few times, but I do n ot believe I've ever overfired.
 
That is a tough one. First, you would probably need to go to an industrial type thermo - something like they would use in a lab or kiln (maybe adios Pants could help as I know he uses one on his kiln).

The other part to this is the relationship of internal temps / stove body temps. I don't think it would be linear - and I would believe that "where" you are in the burn cycle could make a big difference in those relationships. I think it would be tough to try and follow. Ever play with an IR thermo? You can pinpoint where you are taking the reading from. And they are a blast to freak out the cat with.==c ( I guarantee you will giggle.)
 
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That is a tough one. First, you would probably need to go to an industrial type thermo - something like they would use in a lab or kiln (maybe adios Pants could help as I know he uses one on his kiln).

The other part to this is the relationship of internal temps / stove body temps. I don't think it would be linear - and I would believe that "where" you are in the burn cycle could make a big difference in those relationships. I think it would be tough to try and follow. Ever play with an IR thermo? You can pinpoint where you are taking the reading from. And they are a blast to freak out the cat with.==c ( I guarantee you will giggle.)

Yeah they are pretty cool. I have used one on my stove and it seems to work ok, its just it would be convienent to have one at the stove that I can see readily.

The other thing I was thinking about is the thermometer would give the temperature of the fire, not necessasarily the temperature of the stove (however, if you've got it cranking, it would give a good indication of where you are in the overfire situation).

It just seems that readings I get from the traditional thermometers do not seem correct. Especially if I put it near the air ports. Way lower readings.
 
Any cheap type K thermocouple would work. They are good to 2200F.
 
I don't think it would be the answer to the problem of catching an overfire. What you're trying to do is prevent damage to the stove itself, so that's what you want to be measuring. I have a K-type thermocouple on a PID controller and an alarm hooked up to that. The thermocouple is just on the stove top and I have it calibrated and set for a stovetop temp of 625F. It lets me know if I'm getting uncomfortably close to being too hot.

Some other members here have built PID setups.

Unfortunately, the few high temp thermometers with alarms built in are expensive, but that's really the nice way to go.
 
I don't think it would be the answer to the problem of catching an overfire. What you're trying to do is prevent damage to the stove itself, so that's what you want to be measuring. I have a K-type thermocouple on a PID controller and an alarm hooked up to that. The thermocouple is just on the stove top and I have it calibrated and set for a stovetop temp of 625F. It lets me know if I'm getting uncomfortably close to being too hot.

Some other members here have built PID setups.

Unfortunately, the few high temp thermometers with alarms built in are expensive, but that's really the nice way to go.

That does sound a little expensive, but you're right, that's what I'm looking for.
 
What I use to prevent an over fire is I have a magnetic thermometer attached to my stove pipe.
I use that to attach one of those BBQ thermometers that have an alarm when it gets over X temp.
I then set it to go off when the temp gets to 300::F.
 
Any cheap type K thermocouple would work. They are good to 2200F.
Careful. The K-type can indeed measure those temperatures, when the bead is placed on a surface, but very few of these general-purpose thermocouples are made with wiring insulation that will survive the woodstove interior environment. Make sure you check your wiring spec's, before assuming it will.
 
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Careful. The K-type can indeed measure those temperatures, when the bead is placed on a surface, but very few of these general-purpose thermocouples are made with wiring insulation that will survive the woodstove interior environment. Make sure you check your wiring spec's, before assuming it will.
They do make thermocouple assemblies that have a long probe, but I just don't recommend going there. There's no real point anyway unless you're a testing facility.
 
Those long K-type probes are actually what I use for monitoring cat temperatures, but there are very few probes even rated at 1800F. Most of the probes rated that high are only rated at the tip, and will fail if inserted full-depth into that environment. I know, because I've killed more than half a dozen of them in the last two years!
 
It would be nice to put it on a stove pipe, but I've got an insert so the stove is connected to the pipe in the back of the fireplace. But even if I had a stove with a visible pipe I think in the case of an overfire the pipe would be red before the stove got to the overfire point wouldn't it?

I'm going to stick with the thermometer on the side of the stove.
 
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